Sad offensive numbers for the White Sox in recent games

The only photo I could find of Daniel Mengden ...

So, the White Sox have gone 2-9 with four postponements since the calendar turned to April. And, like most losing streaks, the problem has been of combination of different things.

We've seen bad bullpen work, poor starting pitching and inept defense (three errors in one inning in Monday's 8-1 loss to Oakland!), but most of all, we've seen a teamwide outage in hitting with runners in scoring position.

The Sox went 5 for 10 with runners in scoring position in their season-opening win over the Kansas City Royals. Since that game, they have gone for 12 for 100. You don't need a calculator to know that pencils out to a .120 batting average.

This offense is 3 for 52 with runners in scoring position over the past seven games. I did get out the calculator for that, and it's an .058 batting average. Wouldn't you think a group of major league hitters could do better than that just on accident?

The Sox will never be a good team this year, but the law of averages says they have to be a little better than their 4-9 record indicates, right?

It's one thing to have your bats stuffed up your rear end by Jose Berrios, the talented right-hander of the Minnesota Twins. It's quite another when you're getting owned by Daniel Mengden.

Coming into Monday's game, Mengden was 0-10 with a 6.45 ERA in 13 career starts at the Oakland Coliseum.

He is now 1-10 with a 5.88 ERA in 14 career starts after limiting the Sox to a run on six hits over eight-plus innings. Jose Abreu broke up Mengden's shutout with a solo home run leading off the ninth inning.

Mengden had not made it out of the sixth inning in any of his first three starts of the season, so forgive me if I'm not interested in hearing about how good his stuff was Monday night.

At some point, you stop "tipping your cap" to the opposing pitcher and just say, "This is bad offense."

White Sox home opener a brutal one

Pregame ceremonies for Opening Day 2018 at Guaranteed Rate Field

It's hard to say what the worst thing about the White Sox home opener was: the weather or the outcome of the game.

It was 41 degrees for first pitch, and temperatures were in the upper-30s for most of the game, accompanied by snowfall. Actually, the Sox played well while it was snowing -- they led the game, 7-3, after seven innings.

But a combination of terrible relief pitching and horrible defense allowed the Detroit Tigers to rally for a 9-7 victory in 10 innings. Detroit scored one run in the eighth off Nate Jones, three in the ninth off Joakim Soria to tie the game and two off the combination of Greg Infante and Aaron Bummer in the 10th inning to secure the win.

Most galling, with the Sox still ahead 7-4, Soria had two outs and two strikes on some guy named Niko Goodrum, but the veteran reliever could not put the game away. Goodrum smacked a two-run homer to make the score 7-6.

Soria also had two strikes on the next hitter, Nicholas Castellanos, but Castellanos managed a single to keep the game alive. That brought up Victor Martinez, whose RBI "double" tied the game at 7.

We put double in quotes, because this is where the Sox's lack of competent play in left field and weird roster construction finally cost them.

Martinez hit what I thought should have been a routine single to left field. But Leury Garcia tried to be a hero and make a catch on a ball he had no chance to reach. He took a bad route, and the ball skipped past him and rattled around in the left field corner, allowing the slow-footed Castellanos to score the tying run all the way from first base.

This cannot happen at the MLB level. Garcia needs to pull up, concede the single, keep Castellanos at second base and give Soria one more chance to retire the next hitter with a 7-6 lead. Soria did retire James McCann to end the inning, but the damage had been done.

We can't put all the blame on Garcia because he's an infielder being asked to play the outfield. In fact, the Sox have only two true outfielders on their roster -- Avisail Garcia and Adam Engel. They are trying to plug left field with two converted infielders -- Leury Garcia and Nick Delmonico -- and it's just not a very good idea.

I understand the desire to carry eight relievers. We are six games into the season, and the Sox have yet to have a starting pitcher go deeper than six innings. That's going to be the norm, not the exception, with this group, so all those arms in the bullpen are going to be needed and used.

That gives the Sox just a three-man bench, which is tough, but I think one of those three bench players needs to be an outfielder. As it stands now, the bench consists of catcher Omar Narvaez, infielder Tyler Saladino and whoever doesn't start in left field between Delmonico and Leury Garcia.

For me, Saladino and Leury Garcia are redundant on the roster. Both are utility infielders, and Leury Garcia is being miscast as "defensive replacement" in the outfield. Leury Garcia has a better bat than Saladino -- he had two hits and two RBIs in Thursday's game, but Saladino can play every position on the infield competently, while Garcia is a question mark with the glove no matter where you put him.

Let's not forget that while Yolmer Sanchez is the starting third baseman at this point, he is another player who can provide competent-to-good defense at any position on the infield.

Right now, the Sox have too many utility infielders on the roster and not enough outfielders. The two biggest warts on a limited Sox roster -- a shallow bullpen and a lack of competency in left field -- led to a brutal loss before a big crowd in the home opener.

Maybe the White Sox should pitch around Josh Donaldson ...

Josh Donaldson

Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson has homered in each of his past five games against the White Sox.

For his career against Chicago, Donaldson has posted a .344/.407/.725 slash line with 14 home runs, eight doubles and 34 RBIs in 35 games.

That's enough production in enough of a sample size to get my attention, and it should get the attention of the Sox coaching staff.

Donaldson continued his mastery of the Sox on Tuesday night, going 2 for 4 with a home run, three RBIs, two runs scored and a walk in Toronto's 14-5 victory.

The score is a little bit misleading -- the Blue Jays broke open a 7-5 game with seven runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Toronto was ahead for most of the night, although the Sox remained within striking distance until the last two innings.

It was frustrating that the Sox allowed Donaldson to hurt them twice while the outcome still was in doubt. On two occasions, Donaldson came to the plate with two outs, first base open and a man in scoring position. Both times, the Sox opted to pitch to Donaldson. Both times they paid.

The Jays' third baseman hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning off Miguel Gonzalez to increase a 4-2 Toronto lead to 6-2. In the seventh inning against Hector Santiago, Donaldson hit an RBI single off the top of the left field fence to move the Jays' lead from 6-4 to 7-4. Another foot higher and it would have been Donaldson's second two-run homer of the game.

There probably isn't any circumstance in which the Sox would have won Tuesday anyway. Gonzalez was poor, allowing six runs (five earned) over five innings. Santiago, Greg Infante and Juan Minaya combined on a preposterous bullpen meltdown in the eighth inning that erased any hope of a Sox comeback.

However, if the Sox happen to be in a close game in Wednesday's series finale against Toronto, I have a word to the wise: Make somebody other than Donaldson beat you.

Reynaldo Lopez good, White Sox bullpen bad

Reynaldo Lopez

The White Sox lost for the first time this season Monday night, 4-2 to the Toronto Blue Jays, although it was not Reynaldo Lopez's fault.

The right-hander's 2018 debut was an impressive one. He went six innings, allowing only one run on two hits. One of those hits was a solo home run by Josh Donaldson, the other an infield single by Curtis Granderson that could have just as easily been an error on shortstop Tim Anderson.

Lopez struck out six and walked two, and the Sox led, 2-1, in the seventh inning when he left the game.

Alas, relievers Luis Avilan and Danny Farquhar could not hold the lead. We're told that Avilan is a lefty specialist, but the early returns have not been impressive in a small sample size.

In the season opener, Avilan gave up a ringing double to Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas. On Monday, he walked Granderson, allowing the tying run to reach base. Farquhar entered the game and served up a two-strike meatball to Russell Martin, who hit a two-run homer to put Toronto ahead, 3-2.

I don't like the home run at all, but I like the walk in a one-run game even less. Avilan has to get left-handed batters out -- that's his one purpose on the roster.

Farquhar (1-1) gave up another home run in the eighth inning, this one to Aledmys Diaz, that made it 4-2. I don't think this will be the last time the Sox struggle to get outs in the seventh and eighth innings of close games -- the bullpen is the biggest weakness of the team.

The Sox showed an ability to come from behind in each of their first two games, which is a good habit to get into. However, you can't come back every day, and the Toronto bullpen was up to the task the last two innings of Monday's game.

It's unfortunate, because a two-homer game from Welington Castillo went to waste, not to mention the strong outing from Lopez, whose performance would oftentimes be good enough to earn a win.

Kansas City's bullpen -- it's not what it used to be

Brandon Maurer

Remember the time when it was a six-inning game against the Kansas City Royals? It wasn't that long ago that they had Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland at the back end of their bullpen.

If you were trailing in the late innings against the Royals, you were done. Plain and simple. Kansas City used that dominant bullpen to win back-to-back American League pennants in 2014 and 2015, and it won it all in 2015.

Those days now are gone. Only Herrera remains from that juggernaut bullpen, and he's pitching the ninth inning these days -- not the sixth or the seventh as he did during the Royals' heyday.

And right now, it looks as though Kansas City is going to struggle to get through the seventh and eighth innings and get save opportunities for Herrera.

The White Sox on Saturday victimized Kansas City's setup-man-for-now, Brandon Maurer, scoring three runs in the top of the eighth inning to rally for a 4-3 victory.

Sunday's game was snowed out, so the Sox left Kansas City with a 2-0 record.

With the Sox trailing 3-1, Yoan Moncada started Saturday's rally with a 433-foot home run off Maurer. Two outs, a single and a walk later, Welington Castillo took a 3-0 fastball from Maurer off the right-center field wall for a two-run double to give the Sox a 4-3 lead they would not relinquish.

Give manager Rick Renteria credit for green-lighting Castillo on a 3-0 pitch. It wasn't an obvious call because Castillo was 0 for 8 on the season to that point, while the on-deck hitter in that situation, Tim Anderson, already has two home runs this year.

Bullpen management was the other storyline in this game. Nate Jones worked a scoreless eighth, while Joakim Soria held off Kansas City in the ninth to earn his first save in a Sox uniform.

Is that the way Renteria is going to handle late-inning, high-leverage situations moving forward? Possibly, but not necessarily.

Jones likely is the Sox's best reliever when healthy, and he was summoned to face the heart of the Kansas City order in the bottom of the eighth. He struck out Mike Moustakas and Lucas Duda, before a single and flyout concluded the inning.

That left Soria to face the bottom of the order in the ninth, and he worked around a broken-bat single by Alex Gordon and a walk to Jon Jay to get the save.

But what if the bottom of the order had been due up in the bottom of the eighth? Would Renteria still have used Jones, and then gone to Soria to face the top of the Kansas City order in the ninth? We don't know, but I will say I like the idea of using Jones to pitch in the most high-leverage situation.

In this particular game, that situation was the eighth inning, with powerful left-handed hitters Moustakas and Duda coming up for the Royals. Renteria went with Jones, and the move worked out for the Sox in this case.

White Sox tie MLB record with six home runs on Opening Day

Matt Davidson

Let's take a moment to rejoice: It's March 30, and the White Sox are alone in first place in the American League Central Division.

OK, that isn't worth much, but the traditional day off after Opening Day is much more enjoyable when your favorite team's record is 1-0.

I wasn't expecting the Sox to win Thursday, especially with James Shields on the mound, but an offensive onslaught allowed the South Siders to blow out the Kansas City Royals, 14-7.

The Sox hit six home runs on Opening Day, which ties a major league record -- the 1988 New York Mets were the other team to do it. And Matt Davidson became only the fourth player in MLB history to hit three home runs in an opener -- George Bell (1988), Tuffy Rhodes (1994) and Dmitri Young (2005) were the others.

Davidson's performance overshadowed a two-homer game for Tim Anderson. Jose Abreu also homered for the Sox.

Indeed, Sox fans are feeling good today, but they weren't feeling so good at 3:28 p.m. Thursday afternoon, about 13 minutes after the season began. The Sox went three-up, three-down in the top of the first inning against Kansas City starter Danny Duffy, and Shields put the Sox in a 4-0 hole only four batters into the bottom of the first inning.

Lucas Duda's three-run homer put the Royals ahead 4-0, as the first four Kansas City batters recorded hits. Same old Shields, right.

Well, it's no secret I'm not a fan of the 36-year-old veteran, but after that horrible start, the right-hander settled down and gave up nothing over the next five innings. He got through six innings, allowing only the four runs that came across in the first.

If you would have told me Thursday morning that Shields would get through six innings and give up four runs, I would have taken it. So, I'll take it.

Not to mention, Shields was better than Duffy, who fell apart the second time through the batting order. The Kansas City left-hander battled shoulder problems during spring training, so perhaps he just wasn't ready to go more than a few innings. He limited the Sox to one hit through the first three innings, but the roof caved in on him in the fourth.

Avisail Garcia doubled. Abreu homered. Davidson homered. Anderson homered. Yolmer Sanchez walked. Adam Engel singled. Yoan Moncada doubled. All of a sudden, it was 5-4 Sox, and the rout was on from there.

The Sox added three runs in the fifth, three in the seventh and three in the eighth.

The only concern I have from this game is the struggles of relief pitcher Juan Minaya, who gave up two runs and could not finish the ninth inning. Minaya walked a batter and threw two wild pitches in his two-thirds of an inning, and that wildness has been a pattern going back to his last couple of spring training outings.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, he was 9 for 10 in save opportunities down the stretch in 2017, but I don't think he should be the closer now, with Nate Jones healthy and Joakim Soria also on the roster.

It will be interesting to see how manager Rick Renteria uses the bullpen the first time the Sox are in a late-inning, high-leverage situation.

The Sox have two more games with the Royals this weekend, weather permitting. Right-hander Lucas Giolito will pitch for the Sox at 6:15 p.m. Saturday. He'll be opposed by Kansas City right-hander Ian Kennedy. Reynaldo Lopez gets the start for the Sox at 1:15 p.m. Sunday. The Royals will counter with right-hander Jason Hammel.

White Sox Opening Day roster taking shape

White Sox catcher Kevan Smith -- with Yasiel Puig

With the news over the weekend that pitchers Jeanmar Gomez and Bruce Rondon have been reassigned to minor league camp, the White Sox's 25-man roster for Opening Day is starting to take shape.

The Sox are down to 27 players, and one of them -- Carlos Rodon -- is going to start the season on the disabled list. That means there only is one more cut to make, and it will be a catcher. Both Kevan Smith and Omar Narvaez remain with the team. Smith sprained his ankle in his last spring training appearance, so the guess here is he stays if he's healthy, but if he's not, he goes to the disabled list and Narvaez makes the club.

Manager Rick Renteria announced that Carson Fulmer won the job as the fifth starter, so here's your projected rotation:

1. James Shields
2. Lucas Giolito
3. Reynaldo Lopez
4. Miguel Gonzalez
5. Fulmer

The Sox have stated a preference for having an eight-man bullpen. They have eight rostered relievers, and here they are:

Right-handers
1. Joakim Soria
2. Nate Jones
3. Greg Infante
4. Juan Minaya
5. Danny Farquhar

Left-handers
1. Luis Avilan
2. Hector Santiago
3. Aaron Bummer

That leaves 12 spots for position players. Here's a projected starting lineup:

1. Yoan Moncada, 2B
2. Avisail Garcia, RF
3. Jose Abreu, 1B
4. Nick Delmonico, LF
5. Welington Castillo, C
6. Matt Davidson, DH
7. Yolmer Sanchez, 3B
8. Tim Anderson, SS
9. Adam Engel, CF

There are three bench spots. Utility players Leury Garcia and Tyler Saladino both are on the club. That leaves one spot to decide between Smith and Narvaez.