Do networks know the Boston Red Sox aren't going to make the playoffs?

Dave Dombrowski

The Boston Red Sox on Monday fired Dave Dombrowski, their president of baseball operations.

The move comes only 11 months after the Red Sox won 108 games and claimed the 2018 World Series championship. Boston has won the AL East the past three seasons, but it will not be repeating this year.

While the Red Sox were a respectable 79-64 entering Monday's play, they were 17.5 games behind the New York Yankees in the AL East. And, they were eight games out of a wild-card spot with two teams to pass. With only three weeks left in the regular season, they need a miracle to qualify for the 2019 postseason, and we don't believe in miracles here at The Baseball Kid.

So, Dombrowski was fired, because he's handed out some big contracts that didn't net Boston ownership a good return on investment, and he is no longer seen as the right guy to lead the Red Sox moving forward. Standards are high in Boston, and the tolerance for losing is low.

I can recite the Red Sox's problems chapter and verse:

1. Chris Sale has been a combination of injured and bad all season. He's out for the year with elbow inflammation.
2. Injuries have limited David Price to 22 starts this season.
3. Rick Porcello has had a terrible year, with an ERA up near 6.
4. Postseason hero Nathan Eovaldi was given a big contract as a reward, but he too has been injured and ineffective.
5. Craig Kimbrel and Joe Kelly, key Boston relievers a year ago, left the team via free agency. And while neither man has had a great season for their new teams, the Red Sox haven't had a reliable back end of the bullpen. No current Boston reliever has more than 11 saves.

Why do I know all this about the Red Sox? Because they are on TV all the time! On any day of the week, you can find Boston on one of the networks, and the announcers will inevitably touch on the five bullet points listed above.

The Red Sox are completing a four-game series Monday against the Yankees, and literally all four games were televised here -- in Chicago. MLB Network had the New York-Boston game on Friday Night Baseball and Monday Night Baseball.

The Saturday Game of the Week on FS1? Yep, New York at Boston.

Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN? Yep, New York at Boston.

Meanwhile, there were four weekend series in Major League Baseball that were more compelling and more vital to the playoff races: Indians-Twins, Nationals-Braves, Brewers-Cubs and Phillies-Mets.

I know the Red Sox are defending champions. I know they play in a big market. I know they are a TV draw. But can't these networks flex to some other games? This is September, and there is plenty of meaningful baseball being played, and this year it just doesn't involve Boston.

If the Red Sox were in it, Dombrowski probably wouldn't be getting fired.

White Sox salvage 1 out of 3 against Los Angeles Angels

Tim Anderson is leading the AL in hitting.

The White Sox kicked away a winnable series at Guaranteed Rate Field over the weekend, losing two out of three games to the Los Angeles Angels.

It's disappointing because the Angels (67-77) had lost 11 out of 13 games coming into the series, and Mike Trout left in the middle of Friday's game and didn't play the rest of the weekend. This was a favorable situation for the Sox (63-80), and they failed to take advantage.

But, the win Sunday was the Sox's 63rd of the season, which means they will not duplicate last year's 100-loss campaign. So, at least there's that.

Here's a look back at the weekend that was:

Friday, Sept. 6
Angels 5, White Sox 4: The Sox had been 49-1 this season when leading after seven innings. Make it 50-2, as relievers Aaron Bummer and Alex Colome combined to let this one get away.

Lucas Giolito was seeking his 15th victory of the season, and he did not disappoint, turning in another strong outing. He went seven innings, allowing two runs on only three hits. He struck out six and walked one. Tim Anderson backed Giolito with a two-run homer, and the Sox led, 4-2, going into the eighth inning.

But that's when Bummer walked pinch-hitter Taylor Ward, and two batters later, gave up a two-run homer to Brian Goodwin, who had taken over in center field after Trout left the game with a foot injury. The blast tied the game at 4.

Colome entered to try to preserve the tie in the ninth, but Justin Upton homered on the first pitch of the inning to put the Angels ahead to stay. The Sox could get nothing done against Los Angeles closer Hansel Robles (5-0), who retired all six batters he faced over the final two innings.

Daniel Palka struck out looking to end the game. He is now 1 for 54 this season.

Saturday, Sept. 7
Angels 8, White Sox 7: What will it take for the Sox to stop using Dylan Covey as a starting pitcher? Covey (1-8) was shelled for seven earned runs on seven hits over just 2.2 innings. His ERA is 7.69. It's baffling that this "experiment" has not ended yet. For goodness sake, put Hector Santiago out there. He usually can at least get to the fifth inning before having a meltdown on the mound.

The Sox trailed 7-2 when Covey left in the third inning, and they tried to come back. But, the hole was too deep. Jose Abreu's 30th home run of the season, a 3-run shot in the seventh inning, brought the Sox to within a run. However, they were unable to mount a threat in either of the last two innings, with Robles nailing down his 20th save.

Anderson went 2 for 5 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored. The Sox shortstop got the day off Sunday, so he exits this series with a .334 batting average. He leads the American League in hitting. New York's DJ LeMahieu was second at .328 entering Sunday's play.

Sunday, Sept. 8
White Sox 5, Angels 1: It wasn't a great day for Sox rookie Dylan Cease, but it could have been worse. Cease needed 36 pitches to get through the first inning, and 30 more to get through the second. However, the Angels managed only one run in those two innings and left the bases loaded both times.

The pitch count caught up with Cease, as he lasted only 3.1 innings. He allowed the one run on four hits with five walks and four strikeouts. Fortunately, the Sox bullpen bounced back from Friday's debacle. Josh Osich (2-0), Bummer and Colome combined for 5.2 innings of one-hit relief.

Osich allowed one hit over 2.2 scoreless innings. Bummer allowed only a walk in two innings, and Colome worked a 1-2-3 ninth.

Abreu hit his 31st home run of the season in the third inning to give the Sox the lead for good. The slugger now has a career-high 112 RBIs.

Danny Mendick also connected for his first career home run. The 25-year-old September call-up started at shortstop with Anderson getting the day off, and he has not looked out of place thus far. Mendick is 5 for 14 in five games, three of them starts.

The Sox will get an off day Monday before hosting the Kansas City Royals for a three-game series Tuesday through Thursday.

White Sox outfielder Daniel Palka is batting .019 ... .019!

Do you suppose it's safe to delete this picture of me with Daniel Palka from SoxFest 2019? I get the feeling Palka is not going to be in the big leagues -- or with the White Sox -- for too much longer.

Palka is 1 for 53 at the big-league level this season. His slash line sits at .019/.133/.019 after an 0-for-4 performance in Wednesday's 8-6 loss to the Cleveland Indians.

He's batting .019!

I'm trying to think of another case where a position player had a batting average that low. Sure, some pitchers have had a crummy average like that over the course of a season -- Al Leiter in 2003, for example. Leiter was 1 for 53, just like Palka.

But typically, a position player will run out of chances when he gets around, say, 1 for 30. Palka, however, is getting a chance to redeem his season as the Sox made him one of their September call-ups.

He's started two of the three games since rejoining the South Siders, and he's 0 for 8 with four strikeouts.

It's actually a little confounding that Palka is this miserable at the plate. He led the Sox in homers with 27 in 2018, and it isn't as if he had a bad season at Triple-A Charlotte:

2018 with White Sox: .240/.294/.484, 27 HRs, 15 2Bs, 67 RBIs in 124 games
2019 with Triple-A Charlotte: .263/.374/.527, 27 HRs, 23 2Bs, 72 RBI in 106 games

Maybe Palka hasn't set the world on fire with these numbers, but he also hasn't done so poorly that you would expect historic ineptness from him at the plate.

I was watching Palka's at-bat against Cleveland pitcher Tyler Clippard on Wednesday night, and he fouled off five pitches before grounding out to second base. Normally, you would say it was a good battle -- fouling off five pitches -- but four of those were pitches were right in the center of home plate. We're talking middle-middle strikes.

One of the four was a high changeup, a pitch that MLB hitters regularly put in play hard. The other three were hittable fastballs. Palka could not put any of them in fair territory, and that suggests his struggles have become a mental thing.

It may be about time to send him home for the year, then designate him for assignment at the end of the season. Palka was a fun story last year, but it just isn't working out anymore.

Lopez shuts down Cleveland

Maybe I'll keep this photo of me and Reynaldo Lopez a little while longer, after Lopez had one of the best outings of his career in a 7-1 win over the Indians on Thursday.

Lopez (9-12) became the first Sox pitcher to throw a complete-game one-hitter with 10 or more strikeouts since Floyd Bannister did it in 1987.

The right-hander's final line: 9 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 11 Ks, 3 BBs

I missed the game because I was at work, but it was real nice to hear that Lopez had bounced back after getting knocked out in the first inning against the Atlanta Braves in his previous start.

Lopez has shown us that he can be an effective starter at times. There's just not much consistency. But the guess here is he's shown enough flashes of brilliance to be in the Sox's starting rotation once again in 2020.

Luis Robert named USA Today Minor League Player of the Year

Luis Robert

Accolades are starting to roll in for White Sox top prospect Luis Robert, who on Wednesday was named USA Today Minor League Player of the Year.

This won't be the last such honor that Robert receives, and it is well deserved.

Robert played for three teams this year -- Class-A Winston-Salem, Double-A Birmingham and Triple-A Charlotte -- and he posted a .328/.376/.624 slash line with 32 home runs, 36 stolen bases, 92 RBIs, 31 doubles, 11 triples and 108 runs scored in 122 games.

And, oh yeah, he's considered a topnotch defender at a premier position -- center field.

Typically, guys who win this award don't become busts. The recent winners include Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Ronald Acuna Jr., Alex Bregman, Blake Snell, Kris Bryant and Xander Bogaerts.

There's not a single bum on that list, so we all look forward to seeing Robert on the South Side in 2020 -- hopefully on Opening Day, but you know how that goes. If Robert signs a team-friendly, long-term deal, similar to the one Eloy Jimenez signed in March, he'll be in Chicago when the season starts.

Otherwise, the asinine service time manipulation will continue into April, as the Sox front office continues to prioritize money and years of control over winning.

Here's me with the Phillie Phanatic ...

I recently read in Sports Illustrated that there's a lawsuit that could lead to the demise of the Phillie Phanatic.

That would be a shame. I'm much more eager for the demise of the 2019 White Sox season, and I don't feel like writing about them today. So, all you're getting today is a photo of me with the Phillie Phanatic (encased in glass) in Cooperstown, N.Y.

If you don't like it, oh well, we could go back to talking about bad Sox baseball, I suppose.

Charlotte Knights blow opportunity to go to Triple-A playoffs

If you've been watching White Sox games lately -- and you deserve a medal if you have -- you have probably noticed that the TV broadcast team of Jason Benetti and Steve Stone has been touting the potential benefits of a deep playoff run for the Sox's Triple-A affiliate, the Charlotte Knights.

It was hard not to feel as though Benetti and Stone were preparing fans for the inevitable -- the fact that top prospects were not going to be called up for September, and that "going to win a championship together" would be ideal for the better players on that Charlotte roster.

Well, guess what?

Charlotte lost eight of its last nine games and blew a four-game lead in the wild-card race over the last 10 days. So, I guess you might say the Knights had the experience of "choking together," and we can only hope the players involved will deal with the situation better should they receive such an opportunity again.

The losing streak was characterized by a three-game sweep at the hands of the Durham Bulls, the team that ultimately took the playoff spot away from Charlotte. Here's a true story: Manny Banuelos and Carson Fulmer basically blew it for the Knights.

Banuelos made a rehab start Aug. 27 and got shelled for seven earned runs over four innings. He gave up seven hits, including three home runs, as Durham beat Charlotte, 10-6.

The very next day, the Knights took a 2-1 lead into the seventh inning, only to see Fulmer come on and allow three of the four batters he faced to reach base -- two on walks and one on a hit. Two of those runners ended up scoring as Durham topped Charlotte, 3-2.

If the Knights win either of those two games, they are in the playoffs, Durham is not, and the season continues for two of the Sox's top prospects -- Luis Robert and Nick Madrigal.

Instead, Robert and Madrigal are going home without a September call-up -- money and service time are most important, you know? -- while Fulmer and Banuelos hysterically were the only two men the Sox called to the big leagues on Sept. 1.

Both these two failed pitchers were seen on the mound Monday, giving up runs as the Sox lost, 11-3, to the Cleveland Indians. With the defeat, the South Siders (60-77) tied their season-worst losing streak at seven games. Will these guys ever win a game again? It doesn't seem like it.

For the record, the Sox did make some call-ups on Tuesday now that Charlotte's season is over. Zack Collins is back, as he should be, and Danny Mendick is rightfully getting a shot. With Jon Jay going on the 60-day injured list with a hip problem, Mendick was added to the 40-man roster.

Let's hope both Collins and Mendick get some playing time from manager Rick Renteria. It would be nice to have more information on these two players going into the offseason. Can Collins be on this roster as a catcher in 2020? Is Mendick a viable option as a utility infielder? I don't know, but now is a good time to see what we can learn about these two guys.

Outfielder Daniel Palka and pitcher Dylan Covey also were recalled, in two moves that we need not get excited over. Let's just hope we don't see Covey back in the starting rotation, and let's hope we don't see Palka getting at-bats ahead of Collins.

Happy Labor Day from The Baseball Kid