Signs

The arrows kept pointing in both directions early on in game one of the White Sox-A’s wildcard series yesterday afternoon. Tim Anderson led off the game with a single and went to third on a hit by Jose Abreu, only for James McCann to strike out. Starter Lucas Giolito retired the side in order in the bottom of the first, but all three outs were solid contact to the outfield. And then Adam Engel stepped to the plate in the second inning. And what did Engel do? Why, he put a ball over the left field wall on an 0-2 pitch, that’s what. After the game, Engel talked about how he tries to “envision” his at-bats, and he sounded just like my daughter, which makes perfect sense; choppy swing and all, Engel is one of Clare’s favorite players, and, yes, mine, too. Not that I have problems with Anderson (three hits) or Abreu (two hits, including a two-run homer). Yasmani Grandal? Now him I have problems with, but if he keeps on hitting homeruns like he did in the eighth inning yesterday’s 4-1 win, I may revise my opinion. As for Giolito, isn’t baseball grand? Here’s a guy who stunk up the joint in his Opening Day start (seven runs in 3.2 innings); throws a no-hitter a month later; and comes out yesterday to throw six perfect innings in Oakland. Giolito is what you would call a thinking person’s pitcher, always talking about mechanics and emotional states and whatnot. Well, the proof’s in the pudding, at least it was yesterday. I’m hoping Engel is back in the lineup against right-hander Chris Bassitt, but with Rick Renteria, you never know. Fingers crossed.

Gale Sayers

Words fail to describe Bears’ great Gale Sayers on a football field. “He ran like the wind”? Only the wind can’t change directions the Sayers could. Like Mercury? Like Hermes? Please. The only way to appreciate Sayers in all his jaw-dropping artistry is to watch clips of his runs; remember when you saw those runs live; or both. Anything else is a waste of time. The only comment of any value said about Sayers was spoken by the man himself: “Just give me eighteen inches of daylight. That’s all I need.” Amen. Sayers died last week. The obituaries were a reminder to anyone who’d forgotten just how petty an organization the Bears are. At one point when his playing career was over, Sayers contacted every NFL team for a front-office job and received zero offers. Shame on them, and shame most of all on the team that employed him in the first place. Repeat after me, “how Bear.” Paul Sullivan in the Tribune noted that the McCaskeys let a strike player wear Sayers’ number 40 in 1987 and were ridiculously slow in retiring it. Michael McCaskey, team president at the time, said it was hard “because of our long history and how many numbers have [already] been retired.” On the scales of football talent, how many Michael McCaskeys would it take to equal one Gale Sayers? A hundred? Or am I giving McCaskey more gravitas than he deserves?

If Only

In what I pray is his last regular-season game as White Sox manager, Rick Renteria showed off that head-scratching loyalty he has for his pitchers. In what I pray is his last-ever appearance in a White Sox uniform, starter Reynaldo Lopez had already given up three runs in the top of the second inning when he decided to get seriously bad. And Renteria let him. Lopez walked one batter, then another, then Billy Hamilton, and, if you don’t know how pathetic that is, you don’t know much baseball. So, let’s recap here—three runs in, bases loaded, postseason seeding on the line. What do you do? Renteria let Lopez give up a two-run single to Cameron Maybin, and if you don’t know how… Speaking of pathetic, Sox pitching yielded ten—count them, ten—runs to a Cubs’ lineup heavy on scrubs and subs. In what I pray are their last-ever appearances in a Sox uniform, Jace Fry grooved one to the aforementioned Billy Hamilton while Jimmy Cordero gave up another three runs in just one inning of work. But wait. There’s more. In what should be his last appearance anywhere, Sox dh Edwin Encarnacion went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts, pushing his batting average down to an anemic .157 with 54 strikeouts in in 175 plate appearances. But I’m sure Renteria will use jibber-logic to play on Tuesday. The hope now is that the Sox win in spite of their coaching staff. (Yes, that means you, too, Don Cooper.) May Jose Abreu lead them and Luis Robert, who shook off his batting stupor to go 3 for 5 Sunday, be the surprise of the series against Oakland. That’s the team that will be playing ex-Sox Marcus Semien at shortstop and starting Chris Bassitt in the second game of the series. Make that in spite of the front office, too.

KISS

The White Sox woke up last night to beat the Cubs 9-5 and break a six-game losing streak. Jose Abreu—who else?—led the way with a bases-clearing double. On Friday, the Cubs’ Willson Contreras took it upon himself to outdo Tim Anderson by doing a bat flip worthy of Cape Canaveral after hitting a three-run homerun off of Dylan Cease. Sox reliever Jimmy Cordero later hit Contreras, accidentally, of course. Las night, the Sox found a better way to go after Contreras, by running on him. They stole two bases and, but for James McCann oversliding, would’ve had three. Rookie and 2020 first-round draft pick Garrett Crochet pitched two scoreless innings totaling 23 pitches. According to MLB.com, 21 pitches were 99-mph+ and 15 were 100-mph+. On the season, Crochett has thrown all of 85 pitches in six innings, 45 at 100-mph+, second-most in the majors, and 69 at 99-mph+. I wonder what happens once pitching coach Don Cooper gets his hands on Crochet.

Rebuild? What Rebuild?

The handiwork of White Sox GM Rick Hahn was on full display last night during his team’s 10-0 beat-down by the Cubs. There was catcher Yasmani Grandal, with his .223 BA—he’s a switch-hitter, don’t you know—to go with an error for dropping a perfect throw to the plate from Luis Robert. There was dh Edwin Encarnacion, whose latest 0-fer has his average down to .167. And, lest we forget, right fielder Nomar Mazara also went 0 for 3, which left him batting .219 on the year. But, hey, Mazara is off the schnide on homeruns. Those are just the hitters Hahn went out and got this past postseason. He also signed pitcher Gio Gonzalez, who gave up two runs last night in 1.1 innings of relief; Gonzalez now has a 4.88 ERA. In case he’s wondering, Gonzalez should be safe until his ERA reaches the neighborhood of 5.40. That’s what it was for Hahn-find Steve Cishek, when the Sox let him go. So, including Dallas Keuchel, Hahn went out one for six in big roster moves. He also relented and finally let top-prospect Luis Robert start to play. Well, maybe if Robert had gotten his feet wet last September, he wouldn’t be so lost, as he is right now. You do not win Rookie of the Year batting .222, in case anyone is wondering. This is where I could toss in a quote by skipper Rick Renteria, but that would be too cruel, sort of like watching Renteria manage his bullpen. Better for my wellbeing to focus on Frank Thomas, who had a meltdown during the postgame show. The Big Hurt said the game he’d just watched was an embarrassment; that the team lacked energy; and there was a clubhouse problem—by which I think he meant the team’s general drift—that needed to be fixed immediately. But not to worry, Sox fans. Because I’m pretty sure there’s a spreadsheet somewhere in the front office with columns titled “ticket prices 2021”; “ticket prices 2022” and so on; and “new suite deals” and “new special-member club offerings.” Ownership won’t hit the revenue numbers it wants to with who it has coaching right now. Bye, Rick. Bye, Don. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Oh, and Rick…

Presto, Change-o

The White Sox took a three-run lead into the bottom of the seventh innings last night when Sox manager Rick Renteria set about working his magic. First, Renteria brings in Jimmy Cordero from the bullpen. Presto. Three singles and two non-scoring outs later, he has Carlos Rodon face switch-hitting Cesar Hernandez, who delivers a two-run single. Next up is Jose Ramirez, who hits a two-run double off the left-field wall. Change-o. Gosh, who’d think Rodon would be so rusty after not pitching since August 3rd? Oh, and Rodon hasn’t pitched in relief since 2015. In his post-game comments, Renteria said he wanted to see how Rodon would do in relief, which is how the Sox intend to use him in the postseason. A question that might have gone unasked—then why have him on the roster at all? I mean, fifteen pitchers? Evan Marshall is an honest-to-goodness reliever currently on the IL. When he comes back, are they going to send down another position player in order to carry sixteen pitchers? Most likely, reliever Jose Ruiz gets demoted. And Danny Mendick has to wonder what exactly it was he did wrong. Fifteen pitchers versus thirteen position players? This ain’t baseball like I know it. Here’s why most Sox fans are going crazy—for the first time in over a month, Renteria had Aaron Bummer available, and he puts in Rodon first; Bummer pitched a scoreless eighth. That’s a move right out of Jim Boylen’s playbook. I wonder, how long until Renteria joins Boylen on the unemployment line? Boylen could use the company.

Matchups

The White Sox lost in Cleveland, again, on a walk-off homerun, again, this time by Jordan Luplow off Gio Gonzalez in the bottom of the ninth. Sox manager Rick Renteria was quoted on the team website, saying after the game, “It’s tough, it’s tough. I’m not going to lie because we’re still trying to continue to move forward.” Coulda’ fooled me. Maybe Renteria was looking at Luplow’s .190 BA or career .193 mark against righties, in which case, shame on him. First, Luplow was batting .278 on his career against lefties. Second, lefty-reliever Gonzalez hasn’t exactly been fooling people; right-handed batters were hitting .310 against him coming in. Third, of Luplow’s 22 career homeruns, 17 were off of lefties and six were against the White Sox. Shades of Ryan Raburn there, my friends. Did Renteria know any of that? If not, why not? Isn’t that what bench coaches are for? And, if he did know, why not switch to a rightie and force Cleveland’s hand? I mean, if it’s all about moving forward.