The last day at Guaranteed Rate Field

My White Sox family (from left): Brian , Doug , Jen , Tom and me.

Kudos to the White Sox for having a respectable last homestand of 2019. It was rain abbreviated -- the Sox only played 161 games this season because of bad weather Friday -- but they closed it out with a 4-2 week at Guaranteed Rate Field.

The Sox took two of the three from the Cleveland Indians, basically knocking their AL Central rivals out of the playoffs with an 8-3 win Wednesday night and a 8-0 win Thursday night.

The Sox then won two of three games from the hapless Detroit Tigers over the weekend, which allowed them to finish 72-89 -- a 10-game improvement over 2018.

Despite that improvement, it was still a non-contending year for the Sox, and a difficult season for me to watch at times. As we sat at the ballpark Sunday, watching the South Siders beat Detroit, 5-3, I had mixed emotions.

The Sox are concluding the season with only two healthy starting pitchers, Reynaldo Lopez and Ivan Nova. Yes, I know the injuries to Lucas Giolito (strained lat) and Dylan Cease (strained hamstring) are not considered serious, but the bottom line is they aren't pitching.

The team has had no choice but to make seemingly every other game a "bullpen day." If there was a game Monday, who would be the starting pitcher for the Sox? I have no idea, because Lopez and Nova both pitched in Saturday's doubleheader against the Tigers.

From that perspective, for everyone's health and sanity, it is good the season is ending now. The Sox are almost out of starting pitching, and they don't need anyone else getting hurt while being pushed beyond their limits.

That said, while I know the season needed to end, that doesn't make me happy that it has. I always miss baseball during the winter, and this year will be no different.

You see, the beauty of the game is that it is played every day. Win or lose, there's always another game tomorrow. Until you get to the last day, and then you have to wait 179 days before the next meaningful ballgame is played. That stinks.

But at least we got to enjoy one last day with our friends at the ballpark. Believe it or not, they still had food at ChiSox Bar & Grill. (This is an improvement over previous season finales, if you can believe it.) The weather wasn't great, but the company was, and the Sox won.

My final attendance record for 2019: 10-10. That's not too bad when cheering for a 72-89 team. Let's hope that by next September, the Sox will be playing games that mean something in the standings for the first time since 2012.

An important September series at Guaranteed Rate Field ... for Cleveland

Mike Clevinger

With one week remaining in the regular season, the closest playoff race is in the American League.

Three teams are fighting for the two wild card spots, with Oakland (94-62) holding a two-game lead for the first spot over Tampa Bay (92-64) and Cleveland (92-64), which are in a dead heat for the final playoff berth entering Monday's games.

I think the A's are going to secure home-field advantage in that wild card game this week. Their six remaining games are all on the road, but they are against the bottom two teams in the AL West. Oakland plays two against the Los Angeles Angels and four at Seattle. A 3-3 record this week should be good enough for the A's. They'll manage.

The battle between Tampa Bay and Cleveland is much more interesting. I think the Rays are the better team, but based on strength of schedule, the Indians have a slight edge in this race.

Mainly, that edge involves Cleveland getting a chance to play three games against the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field from Tuesday through Thursday.

To be fair to the Sox, they have more than held their own against the Tribe this season. Chicago owns a 9-7 edge in the season series. However, the pitching matchups this week strongly favor Cleveland:

Tuesday: Mike Clevinger (12-3, 2.54 ERA) vs. Hector Santiago (0-1, 5.23 ERA)
Wednesday: Shane Bieber (15-7, 3.23 ERA) vs. Ross Detwiler (2-5, 6.98 ERA)
Thursday: Aaron Civale (3-3, 1.82 ERA) vs. Dylan Cease (4-7, 5.79 ERA)

The first two games of the series, the Indians are throwing starting pitchers who will get Cy Young votes. The Sox are throwing starting pitchers who are lucky they are still in baseball. It will be Thursday before the Sox use a pitcher who could make the game interesting, and even then, the rookie Cease is no sure bet.

Meanwhile, the Rays are playing the Boston Red Sox on Monday night. They then will host the AL East champion New York Yankees on Tuesday and Wednesday before an off day Thursday.

So, between now and Thursday, the Indians have a golden opportunity to seize the lead in this race.

Once we get to the weekend, the schedule tilts back in Tampa Bay's favor, as it will go on the road to face also-ran Toronto, while Cleveland travels to Washington. The Nationals still are fighting to secure home-field advantage in the NL wild card race, so they likely will have something to play for.

From the Sox perspective, it sure would be nice to play spoiler against the rival Indians, but if we're making an honest assessment of the situation, the Sox would be fortunate to take one out of three in this series.

Reynaldo Lopez's struggles prevent White Sox from sweeping Detroit Tigers

Reynaldo Lopez

When people speak about the projected 2020 White Sox pitching staff, it is assumed that the starting rotation will include Lucas Giolito, Michael Kopech, Dylan Cease, Reynaldo Lopez and a veteran free agent to be signed later.

Perhaps those people are correct, but that's not the way it should work.

Giolito is the only Sox pitcher who has performed well enough in 2019 to where it can be assumed that he's a member of the rotation to open next season. In fact, barring an unforeseen big-name free agent acquisition, I would expect to see Giolito on the mound when next season opens March 26 against the Kansas City Royals.

All others should have to compete for a spot, and that includes Lopez, who pitched poorly Sunday in a 6-3 loss to the Detroit Tigers. The loss prevented the Sox (68-87) from sweeping the hapless Tigers (46-109).

The Sox offense totaled 36 hits through the first two games of the series. They won 10-1 on Friday and 5-3 on Saturday, and neither Cease (4-7) nor Ivan Nova (11-12) found it all that difficult on their way to wins against the weak Detroit offense.

But on Sunday, Lopez got torched for three home runs and five earned runs over four innings, and he also received two lectures from manager Rick Renteria -- one a stern discussion on the mound during the second inning, and then another lengthy dialogue during the top of the fourth inning in the dugout.

The loss drops Lopez to 9-15 on the season, with an ugly 5.57 ERA. The right-hander had one of the best starts of his career Sept. 5, a complete-game one-hitter against the Cleveland Indians. However, in three starts since then -- against the Royals, Minnesota Twins and Tigers -- Lopez has given up five or more earned runs in every outing.

He's 0-3 with a 10.29 ERA in that span, having allowed 16 earned runs on 27 hits -- including six home runs -- over 14 innings.

Does that sound like somebody we should be "penciling in" to the 2020 rotation? Not in my world.

I realize two full seasons have been invested in Lopez's development now, so it's hard to give up on him. And the Sox shouldn't give up on him. He has some of the best fastball velocity in the league -- he's consistently throwing 95-plus. However, that's not good enough. The fastball has to be located, and the secondary pitches have to be better. Lopez surrendered three homers on sliders Sunday.

So where do the Sox go from here? To me, this is simple. The Sox need to sign two veteran free agent pitchers this offseason, not just one. And, if they must bring back Nova, tell him he's going to be serving as a long reliever and spot starter -- and he should only be retained *in addition* to two other acquisitions from outside the organization.

Create a situation where you have Lopez, Cease, Kopech and three veterans vying for the four spots in the rotation behind Giolito. The four best of the six are starters, and the other two can go sit in the bullpen.

If Lopez cannot command his fastball, if he cannot maintain his focus from start to start, if he cannot execute his breaking pitches -- even against a Triple-A lineup such as Detroit's -- then he needs to be removed from the rotation.

You see, this season the Sox are so short on pitching that Lopez, Cease and Nova are guaranteed to retain their spots in the rotation, no matter how bad they pitch. Hell, even Dylan Covey has been allowed to make starts when he's healthy, because there is no depth to speak of whatsoever.

This should not be. Everybody should have a little bit of fear that they could lose their job if they don't perform. As it stands right now, no matter how many lectures Renteria delivers, Lopez is in the rotation regardless of results.

This is a situation that must change this offseason. Invest in the pitching staff, White Sox. Create internal competition. Don't accept mediocrity or worse. No more scholarships for anybody.

Here's me with the San Diego Chicken ...

All of these White Sox losses are wearing on me, so I'm going to take a break from complaining about them (for now).

So, all you're getting from me today is this photo of me with the San Diego Chicken.

Maybe I'll have something nice to say by Monday. Cheers!

On the bright side, Eloy Jimenez has been hitting

Eloy Jimenez

The White Sox are continuing their September death march, but this extended stretch of losing hasn't been void of good individual performances.

Take rookie outfielder Eloy Jimenez as an example.

Jimenez, 22, was named the American League Player of the Week for Sept. 9-15. During that time, he went 10 for 23 with three home runs, a double, 11 RBIs, three walks, six runs scored, three multi-hit games and a 1.370 OPS.

The biggest highlight was his first career grand slam Sept. 10 against the Kansas City Royals.

Now, it is true that Jimenez had his big week against the Royals and the Seattle Mariners, two teams that reside below the Sox in the American League standings. Was Jimenez bumslaying? Yeah, probably.

However, his good performance has carried over into this week against the first-place Minnesota Twins, a team that needs to win each and every time it takes the field to wrap up the AL Central title.

As of this writing, Jimenez is 5 for 12 with a homer, a double and two RBIs in the series. The Sox lost the first two games, but that wasn't Jimenez's fault.

For the year, the rookie has 28 home runs in 114 games. He's got a week and a half to reach the 30-homer plateau, which would be a good accomplishment, especially considering Jimenez had two stints on the injured list.

Lucas Giolito out for rest of season with lat strain

September baseball has been painful to watch for White Sox fans, and it looks as though the final couple of weeks are going to be even more nauseating.

Lucas Giolito's season is done. He has been shut down with what the team termed a mild lat strain. There are no long-term concerns associated with this injury, but the Sox's best pitcher will not make his final three starts of the season.

Ross Detwiler was starting in Giolito's place Tuesday against the Minnesota Twins. What could go wrong?

However, this injury does not diminish the fine season Giolito had. He finishes 14-9 with a 3.41 ERA and 228 strikeouts in 176.2 innings. Last season, he struck out only 125 in 173.1 innings, when he went 10-13 with a 6.13 ERA. Add in the fact that Giolito cut his walks from 90 to 57 in a similar number of innings, and you have to say this is one of the better one-season improvements we've ever seen from a Sox player.

Giolito is tied for first in the American League in complete games (3) and shutouts (2). He's tied for fourth in strikeouts (228), fourth in WHIP (1.06), fifth in bWAR (5.9), sixth in ERA (3.41), sixth in FIP (3.44), seventh in ERA+ (135) and seventh in wins (14) on an absolute garbage team.

Obviously, Giolito got the velocity back on his fastball with his new mechanics and shorter arm swing this season. He was consistently between 94 and 96 mph with his heat, and he could touch 97 at times. During 2018, I didn't see too many fastballs above 92 or 93.

He also learned to command his changeup, and it became a lethal weapon against left-handed hitters. The 2018 version of Giolito didn't have an offspeed pitch he could reliably throw for strikes, let along a swing-and-miss pitch like his changeup became.

The games in which Giolito could throw his slider for strikes in any count, those were the games he dominated. He isn't quite consistent with that breaking ball yet, and I think that's the final frontier for him in his development as a pitcher.

If he can refine his breaking pitch to the point where it's working more nights than not, he can be a perennial All-Star with the fastball and changeup he possesses. It will be interesting to see what he can do for an encore in 2020.

White Sox pitcher Ivan Nova's hot streak is over

Ivan Nova

The White Sox had a bullpen meltdown Sunday, which is a lucky thing for Ivan Nova. Many of us overlooked his bad outing against the Seattle Mariners, a game in which the Sox blew a 10-5 lead and lost, 11-10.

Nova lasted only 3.1 innings, allowing five earned runs on 10 hits. The rough outing was the continuation of what is now a four-game cold streak for the veteran right-hander. This was an inevitable regression, after Nova was one of the hottest pitchers in the league from late July until the last week of August.

From July 22 to Aug. 24, Nova made seven starts. He went 5-1 with a 0.94 ERA. He allowed seven runs, only five earned, on 36 hits over 48 innings pitched. He struck out 25 against only seven walks. He also saved the Sox bullpen by tossing two complete games in that stretch.

Alas, since Aug. 30, Nova is 1-2 with a 9.35 ERA in four starts. He's allowed a whopping 19 runs (18 earned) on 35 hits over 17.1 innings. He's struck out nine and walked five, and only once during that stretch has he made it through the fifth inning.

When Nova was rolling, we heard whispers that the Sox should consider bringing him back next season -- he's a free agent at season's end. Here at The Baseball Kid, we cautioned against that, and we remain against the idea of a new contract for Nova.

In total, this pitcher is 10-12 with a 4.86 ERA over 31 starts. That's below league average in his age-32 season. Why would we believe Nova would be any better than this at age 33 and beyond?

The Sox will tell you that Nova is a "great mentor" for Reynaldo Lopez and other young pitchers, but the fact of the matter is the team needs better production from Nova's spot in the rotation.

We're starting to hear talk from the Sox about being "ready to win" in 2020. If that's the case, it's time to move on from mediocre-at-best rotation pieces such as Nova.

When you have five relievers, you have no relievers

In a different sport, commentators sometimes say, "When you have two quarterbacks, you really have no quarterbacks." The thinking is, if either of your quarterbacks were actually good, he would be playing, and the lesser guy would be sitting on the bench. There wouldn't be a need to toggle back and forth between players.

Likewise, if the White Sox had a reliever available they could trust Sunday, maybe they wouldn't have needed to use five of them in the eighth inning of a ghastly 11-10 loss to the Seattle Mariners.

You see, the Sox's reliable relievers -- Alex Colome, Aaron Bummer and, to a lesser extent, Evan Marshall -- were not available Sunday.

That left the rest of the bullpen to protect a 10-5 lead in the eighth inning. It should have been doable. Hector Santiago had done much of the heavy lifting. He replaced a struggling Ivan Nova in the fourth inning, and he tossed up zeroes in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.

But Santiago tired in the eighth, allowing a two singles and a walk to start the inning. But the veteran lefty left the mound with the Sox still in decent shape, leading 10-6.

Unfortunately, Kelvin Herrera gave up a three-run homer to Kyle Lewis. 10-9. Then Jace Fry came in and walked the only batter he faced. (Surprise, surprise.) Then Jimmy Cordero faced one batter and struck him out.

Maybe Cordero should have been left in ... nah, why do that when we can go with some more stupid lefty-righty matchups?

Josh Osich entered and finished the eighth inning, but not before walking another batter and surrendering a game-tying single to Mallex Smith. The lefty-on-lefty stuff didn't work there, did it? 10-10 after eight.

The Sox had a pathetic offensive inning in the top of the ninth. Tim Anderson, Yoan Moncada and Jose Abreu all swung for the fences. All of them struck out on pitches out of the zone against Austin Adams (2-2). Great discipline, guys.

Jose Ruiz (1-3) became the sixth reliever used in less than two innings in the ninth. Long story short, Anderson and Ryan Cordell made defensive mistakes behind him, an intentional walk was issued to load the bases, and then Ruiz walked in the winning run.

Good job, good effort.

The Sox dropped two out of three in the weekend series to the mighty Mariners (62-88). That means the South Siders have now lost three consecutive series, all to losing teams -- the Angels, Royals and Mariners.

And we're told we should be excited about 2020. Well, you know, you have to have more than four people who can get opposing batters out on your pitching staff in order to contend.

The Sox are now 65-84 on the season. There's a ton of work to be done over the winter to get anywhere near contention, and team brass has no track record as far as signing the right free agents.

They will have to sign the right free agents, because there are no internal solutions here. Colome and Bummer have had good seasons, but two pitchers does not make a bullpen.

Arrow pointing down: White Sox lose season series to Kansas City Royals

Remember the good ole days, back in mid-July when the White Sox were 42-44 at the All-Star break and the optimists had a leg to stand on?

The Sox were flirting with .500, and even with inevitable second-half regression, we couldn't rule out a 75-win season -- which would have been somewhat tolerable given where this team has been the past couple of years.

Well, there's regression, and then there's falling off a cliff. The Sox (64-82) are 22-38 in the second half, and they'd have to go 11-5 in their last 16 games in order to reach 75 wins.

Fat chance.

During the first half of the season, the Sox played the Kansas City Royals (55-92) 12 times and won eight of those meetings. But since the All-Star break, the Sox have gone a ghastly 1-6 against the lousy Royals.

Kansas City took two out of three this week at Guaranteed Rate Field -- even though they sent Glenn Sparkman and Jorge Lopez to the mound -- and that means the Royals win the season series from the Sox, 10 games to 9.

What an embarrassment. Once again, the Sox rebuild is going in reverse, and there's no rational reason to think this team can contend in 2020. The Sox sent their three most reliable starters to the mound against Kansas City, and they still managed only one win.

Here's a brief look back at the crapfest:

Tuesday, Sept. 10
White Sox 7, Royals 3: The series started off well enough as Eloy Jimenez hit his first career grand slam in the first inning. Adam Engel hit a solo home run in the second, and Yoan Moncada added a two-run, 452-foot homer in the seventh.

That made a winner of Ivan Nova (10-12), who gave up three solo home runs in the first two innings but settled down to get through 5.2 innings with no further damage. Four Sox relievers combined to allow only two hits the rest of the way and close it out.

Jimenez and Moncada homered in the same game for the first time in their careers. For Jimenez, it was his 25th homer, for Moncada his 23rd.

Wednesday, Sept. 11
Royals 8, White Sox 6: Sparkman (4-11) threw a complete-game shutout against the Sox the first week after the All-Star break, and then proceeded to go 0-6 with an 8.32 ERA over his next nine starts. The Royals did not win a single one of those nine games.

But they won this one, with Sparkman allowing three runs over five innings to pick up the victory. Jimenez hit his 26th homer in the first inning, a three-run shot, but the Sox couldn't get anything else done against the Kansas City starter.

Meanwhile, Reynaldo Lopez (9-13) got roughed up, giving up six runs, four homers and nine hits over 4.2 innings. This was not the same Lopez who threw a complete-game one-hitter in his previous start against Cleveland. He slider was hanging, his fastball was not well located, and he didn't seem interested in using his changeup.

At least Jose Abreu hit a two-run homer and increased his league-leading RBI total to 114 in the loss.

Thursday, Sept. 12
Royals 6, White Sox 3: Even with Lucas Giolito on the mound, the Sox can't win. Giolito (14-9) struck out a team-record eight batters in a row at one point, and finished with 12Ks, but he also gave up a crushing 3-run homer to Hunter Dozier in the sixth inning that turned a 2-2 tie into a 5-2 Kansas City lead.

The Sox, of course, scored only two runs off Lopez (4-7) and his 6.09 ERA.

Scraping for something nice to say, Abreu is up to 115 RBIs now after he had a sacrifice fly. And Tim Anderson had his second consecutive two-hit game to keep his league-leading average at .333.

But other than that, the Sox are a disaster right now. Not a single starting pitcher got through the first inning without giving up a run in this series, and the Royals scored 17 runs over three games -- 15 of them on home runs.

This was a pathetic showing in a season full of pathetic showings. All of us here at The Baseball Kid would like to congratulate Rick Hahn on clinching his seventh consecutive losing season as Sox GM.

Rick, if we had our way, you would have been fired long ago. Your rebuild sucks.

White Sox have two big lineup holes -- I mean, big lineup holes

Leury Garcia

When Leury Garcia lined the second pitch he saw Tuesday night off the top of the right-field fence for a long single, he narrowly missed hitting the fourth home run of the season for White Sox right fielders.

Yes, you read that right. It is not a misprint.

Major League batters have hit 6,085 home runs coming into Wednesday night's play. If 20 home runs are hit in Wednesday night's games -- a good bet -- a new single-season record will be set.

However, only three of those 6,085 home runs have been hit by Sox right fielders. That's pathetic, given that corner outfield is considered an offensive position.

I don't mean to single out Garcia, who has seven home runs and has seen most of his playing time in center field this season. He is a very small contributor to the lack of power in right field -- Jon Jay, Ryan Cordell, Charlie Tilson and Daniel Palka are the main culprits in this outage.

Here is the season slash line for Sox right fielders: .212/.270/.272 with three home runs and 35 RBIs.

Yikes. Remember when we used to complain that Avisail Garcia wasn't hitting for enough power? His 19 home runs with Tampa Bay would look pretty good on the South Side right now, don't you think?

This problem is compounded by the fact that Sox designated hitters stink. They've hit .195/.276/.320 with 11 home runs and 55 RBIs.

It's pretty tough to compete when you're getting such poor production out of two offense-oriented positions.

The average big league team has hit 203 home runs this season. The Sox have hit 155. Let's say the Sox need to add one, if not two, middle-of-the-order bats for 2020.

Jose Abreu, Tim Anderson have chance to lead AL in key offensive categories

Jose Abreu

Jose Abreu has a chance to do something no other White Sox hitter has done in my lifetime: lead the American League in RBIs.

Believe it or not, Hall of Famer Frank Thomas never led the league in RBIs. The last Sox player to do it? That would be Dick Allen, who drove in 113 runs during his MVP season of 1972.

Abreu entered Tuesday's game against the Kansas City Royals with 112 RBIs. That's five more than Boston third baseman Rafael Devers. Here's the AL leaderboard:

1. Abreu, CWS, 112
2. Devers, BOS, 107
3. Xander Bogaerts, BOS, 105
4. Mike Trout, LAA, 104
5. Alex Bregman, HOU, 103
6. Jorge Soler, KC, 102

That probably exhausts the list of players who are close enough to possibly win the RBI title. Abreu hasn't been doing it with home runs either. While he leads the Sox with 31, that ranks only 12th best in the AL.

Meanwhile, shortstop Tim Anderson has a chance to win the batting title. He's hitting a league-best .334 entering Tuesday's play. Thomas was the last Sox player to lead the league in hitting. He batted .347 in 1997.

Batting titles have been rare in Sox history -- only Thomas and Luke Appling (1936, 1943) have done it. Here's what the competition looks like for Anderson:

1. Anderson, CWS, .334
2. DJ Lemahieu, NYY, .326
3. Michael Brantley, HOU, .323
4. Hanser Alberto, BAL, .321
5. Devers, BOS, .314

The Sox (63-80) basically are landlocked into third place. With 19 games to go, they are 20 games behind Cleveland (84-61) for second place, and 10.5 games ahead of fourth-place Kansas City (53-91). The Sox are mathematically eliminated from contention, and there's nothing to cheer for in terms of wins and losses.

So, I'd say let's cheer for Abreu and Anderson to finish as league leaders in these offensive categories. What else is there to do over the last three weeks of the season?

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