White Sox continue to waste everyone's time with lousy performances

Dylan Cease

Change the game? More like change the channel.

The White Sox continue to make their fans wish this 2020 season had never gotten off the ground. The South Siders fell to 1-4 Tuesday with two lousy performances in a doubleheader at Cleveland.

The Indians took the opener, 4-3, and won the nightcap, 5-3.

Both games were characterized by horrendous starting pitching by the Sox. The Indians scored two in the first inning in Game 1, and three in the first inning in Game 2. For those wondering, the Sox have now been outscored 13-1 in the first inning through five games.

That is not a recipe for success.

Game 1 starter Dylan Cease didn't make it through the third inning. He gave up as many hits (seven) as he got outs. He allowed four runs, including homers to Francisco Lindor and Bradley Zimmer.

And, oh yeah, the Sox offense stinks too. They left 11 runners on base in the one-run loss and twice failed to score when they had bases loaded with one out. Cleveland starter Aaron Civale totaled a career-high nine strikeouts, and Indians pitching racked up 14 strikeouts overall.

This reminds me of 2018, not the competitive Sox team we were told to expect in 2020.

You know what else reminds me of 2018? Nicky Delmonico hitting in the cleanup spot in Game 2. Yep, that happened. You start to wonder whether manager Rick Renteria is trolling fans with these lineups.

It doesn't help that two starting outfielders, Eloy Jimenez (concussion protocol) and Nomar Mazara (COVID-19, I presume) are currrently unavailable. But Delmonico hitting fourth is not good lineup optimization.

Of course, the starting pitching was again horrendous in Game 2. Carlos Rodon put the team in a 3-0 hole in the first inning. He lasted 3.2 innings and allowed five runs on four hits.

The first time through the rotation, Dallas Keuchel was the only Sox starter to last five innings. That's also the only time the Sox have won a game.

My preseason prediction of 27-33 is looking pretty optimistic right now. Of course, the Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers -- two teams that lost more than 100 games last season -- appear on the Sox's schedule 10 times each. You'd like to believe the Sox could go 12-8 or 13-7 against those two clubs.

If that happens, they'd only need to go 14-26 against all other teams to reach my lofty prediction. So far, they are 1-4.

It's still doable, right? What a mess.