Memorial Day 2022

 Make it a safe and reflective one.

White Sox finally stand up to Yankees in doubleheader sweep

The White Sox lost five of six games to the New York Yankees in 2021, and through the first five meetings of 2022, not much had changed. The Yankees won four of the five.

So, it was a real pleasant surprise when the Sox finally stood up to New York and swept a doubleheader Sunday at Yankee Stadium.

The strange part was I didn't feel as though the Sox played any better than usual. When the Sox have won this season, they've done it with pitching. Sunday was no exception, as the South Siders limited the Yankees to one run in 18 innings. They won, 3-1, and 5-0, respectively.

The Sox offense was generally substandard, as they left a combined 16 men on base in the doubleheader and misfired on numerous scoring opportunities. But hey, you don't have to cash in many of them if you can keep the opposition off the board, and that's what Sox pitching did. 

I will bring up a couple of encouraging signs about the offense, but first, credit has to go to Sox starting pitchers Johnny Cueto and Michael Kopech. Neither of them allowed a run to the Yankees across 13 innings pitched.

Cueto went six shutout innings in Game 1. He allowed six hits, struck out five and walked two. When he left the game in the seventh inning, the Sox were leading 1-0. He got a no-decision because the Yankees tied it in the eighth before the Sox won it in the ninth, but the veteran Cueto has been better than expected since being added to the roster. 

He's yet to allow a run across two starts. His first outing was against the lowly Kansas City Royals, so maybe that's not overly impressive. But six scoreless against the Yankees, the second-best offense in the AL, that gets your attention.

Speaking of getting your attention, Kopech (1-1) retired the first 17 batters he faced in Game 2. He ended up going seven innings and allowing only one hit. He struck out six and walked two, with both walks coming in the seventh inning when he was starting to run out of gas.

Kopech threw 92 pitches, 65 strikes, and got 16 swings and misses. It's hard to believe Sunday was his first victory of the season, for as well as he's pitched. He ranks second in the AL with a 1.29 ERA. Opponents are batting just .122 against him, as he has allowed only 17 hits in 42 innings pitched. He has yet to allow a hit on a first pitch to any batter this season.

I think it's fair to say Kopech has made the transition from reliever to starter successfully. The big test is whether he can hold up physically through the whole season. On Sunday, his fastball topped out at 100.2 mph. So far, so good.

Now, back to the offense. Game 1 was tied 1-1 going into the ninth inning. AJ Pollock's home run off New York closer Aroldis Chapman gave the Sox the lead for good.

It was easily Pollock's biggest hit of the season, as no one would say he's played up to his capabilities to this point. For the season, Pollock is batting .245/.277/.383 with only two homers and 10 RBIs.

But ....

In his last 13 games, Pollock is batting .326/.362/.581 with two homers, five doubles and six RBIs. There are signs of life from the 34-year-old veteran outfielder.

And, then there's Tim Anderson. I don't have any hot takes on Anderson's altercation with Josh Donaldson. You can find those all over the internet. The Sox shortstop capped a 3-for-5 night with a three-run homer in the five-run eighth inning in Game 2. 

Anderson is batting .359/.400/.517 with five home runs and 18 RBIs. He leads all major league shortstops in WAR, wRC+, wOBA, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS.

So, whether you like traditional statistics or the more new-age stuff, Anderson's your guy at shortstop. And while he does have nine errors this season, he has not committed an error in 21 of his past 22 games, so perhaps his defensive slump is over.

And even with those errors, he's a 2.0 WAR player a quarter of the way through the season. That's how good his bat is. If this keeps up, it will be hard to deny Anderson a spot on the AL All-Star team this season. Right now, he's the best in the league at the position, no matter what New York fans have to say about him.

White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson swings hot bat in Kansas City

Tim Anderson

The White Sox won three games out of a five-game series against the Kansas City Royals over the past four days. It wasn't the most rousing series ever -- the Sox scored only 18 runs in those five games -- but at least they left Kansas City with a better record than when they arrived.

Thursday afternoon, the Sox won, 7-4, to improve to 19-19. Since the team won today, I don't want to be too dour, so I'll point out that Tim Anderson had a really good series against the Royals.

He appeared in four of the games. He went 7 for 17 with two walks and an HBP, so he reached base in 10 of his 20 plate appearances. That's what you want from a leadoff guy. Too bad he only scored two runs in the series, but that's not his fault.

Anderson had a good game Thursday, going 2 for 3 with two walks, two stolen bases, two RBIs and a run scored.

The Royals stink. They are 14-23, so it would have been really disappointing to not win the majority of the games in this series.

Up next for the Sox, three games in New York against the Yankees, starting Friday night.

That series will conclude the eight-games-in-seven-days road trip. I came into this week hoping the Sox would go 4-4. They need to win one game against the Yankees to achieve that modest goal.

The Yankees are 28-10. They are legitimate World Series contenders. They are a better team than the Sox. But, they have lost 10 games this year, so the Sox need to man up, find a way to get a win sometime this weekend, and then regroup on the off day Monday.

Despite all the issues, the Sox are only three games behind the Minnesota Twins in the AL Central entering Friday's play.

Big-picture observation from the White Sox-Yankees series

Guaranteed Rate Field on Sunday

The New York Yankees took three games out of four from the White Sox this weekend at Guaranteed Rate Field.

The Yankees outscored the Sox, 32-15. In short, they clobbered the Sox (16-17) in each of their three victories. The two games I attended, Friday and Sunday, were basically over after the second inning.

The one game the Sox won was a 3-2 squeaker Saturday, behind five shutout innings from Dallas Keuchel, of all people.

I don't feel like rehashing this whole series, because it was bad. The atmosphere at the stadium, at least for Friday and Sunday, was dead. I came away feeling fortunate that the Sox managed one win, because it was like watching a varsity team vs. a junior varsity team. 

So my big-picture observation is this: It’s Year 6 of general Rick Hahn’s master plan. By now, shouldn’t we feel like the Sox match up with these top teams such as the Yankees? Instead, we’re hoping and praying to win one game out of four at home.

Is that really the standard? The Sox intentionally punted three seasons from 2017-19. They did so while promising fans that an extended contention window was coming. That contention window is supposed to be right now. 

However, the Sox still haven't proven they belong on the same field with the American League's elite. That's irritating.

White Sox game postponed because of COVID; Yankees up next

The White Sox game against the Cleveland Guardians was postponed Wednesday because of a COVID-19 outbreak in the Cleveland organization.

Seriously? This is still happening in 2022? OK, whatever. I don't care about viruses, so let's get back to baseball.

The Sox will welcome the New York Yankees for a four-game series from Thursday through Sunday at Guaranteed Rate Field. I don't believe in "measuring sticks" in May, but it's worth noting that the Yankees are a league-best 22-8 entering Thursday's action. It will be interesting to see whether the Sox can hold their own and win a couple of games.

Here are the pitching matchups:

Thursday: Dylan Cease (3-1, 2.38 ERA) vs. Luis Gil (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

Friday: Vince Velasquez (2-2, 3.97 ERA) vs. Gerrit Cole (2-0, 2.67 ERA)

Saturday: Dallas Keuchel (2-3, 6.86 ERA) vs. Jordan Montgomery (0-1, 2.90 ERA)

Sunday: Michael Kopech (0-0, 0.93 ERA) vs. Nestor Cortes (1-1, 1.41 ERA)

Some Sox fans have expressed bewilderment that Keuchel is being allowed to pitch in this series. The unexpected off day Wednesday theoretically would allow the Sox to skip Keuchel. Kopech could pitch on regular rest Saturday, and then Lucas Giolito would be lined up to pitch Sunday.

But here's what I think is going on: The Sox have Johnny Cueto getting ready in the minors. They have add him to the active roster by Sunday, or he can opt out of his contract. 

Cueto's fate is intertwined with Keuchel's. Velasquez has outpitched Keuchel and deserves to keep his spot. So the question becomes, "Cueto or Keuchel?"

In his last start, Keuchel had a good outing and picked up a win against the Boston Red Sox. He's getting one more chance to prove he can string together a couple of good performances, and to prove he can still keep the Sox competitive against a quality opponent.

If Keuchel gets cuffed around and the Sox get destroyed Saturday, then I think we see Cueto added to the roster. He'd take the last spot in the rotation, at least until Lance Lynn returns from knee surgery, presumably in early June.

Lucas Giolito (finally) slays the Guardians

Lucas Giolito

Monday night's loss to the Cleveland Guardians was probably the worst one the White Sox have endured in nearly six years. (Think May 28, 2016, in Kansas City.)

If nothing else, the fan base needed a win Tuesday night, because we might have all slit our wrists if we had to watch another game like Monday's.

Fortunately, Lucas Giolito (2-1) came up with his best outing of the season so far, and the Sox beat the Guardians, 4-1.

Final line for Giolito: seven innings pitched, allowing one run on six hits. He struck out five and walked only one. Josh Naylor hit a home run off him in his seventh and final inning, but by then, the Sox already had a 3-0 lead, so no harm, no foul.

Giolito generated 11 swings and misses and got 23 called strikes out of his 91 pitches. That means 37% percent of his pitches fell into the category of either a whiff or a called strike.

The league average at last check was 27%, and I always say if a pitcher is about 30% in that department, that's a strong performance.

The game remained scoreless until the fifth, when the Sox finally solved Cleveland starter Cal Quantrill (1-2). Josh Harrison doubled with two outs and scored on a single by Tim Anderson.

Gavin Sheets added a two-run homer, his third of the season, in the sixth inning to make it 3-0. After the Naylor homer, Anderson's RBI double in the bottom of the seventh scored Adam Engel, who had singled. That brought the score to 4-1. Anderson was 3 for 4. He's now hitting .347.

Jose Ruiz and Bennett Sousa combined to pitch a scoreless eighth inning. Closer Liam Hendriks was given the night off -- he had pitched six of the past eight days, and after five consecutive saves, he contributed greatly to the meltdown on Monday night.

That gave Kendall Graveman a chance for his second save of the season, and he converted -- albeit not without some drama. Graveman got the first two batters out before a walk and a single brought the tying run to the plate.

Andres Gimenez grounded out to Jose Abreu to end the game. It was a bang-bang play at first, and Gimenez was initially called safe. However, the Sox challenged the call, and it was overturned for the final out.

The Sox are 15-14, and they have their first win against the Guardians in five tries.

White Sox remind us that they are pretenders

That six-game winning streak was fun, right?

Well, back to reality. On Monday night, the Sox took an 8-2 lead into the ninth inning against the Cleveland Guardians. They blew the whole thing. The committed two errors during the six-run Cleveland rally, which culminated with Josh Naylor hitting a game-tying grand slam off Liam Hendriks.

The Sox left the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning. They left the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th inning. Then Naylor hit a three-run homer off Ryan Burr in the top of the 11th. 

The Sox lost, 12-9.

The Sox committed four errors and wasted a brilliant six-inning start by Michael Kopech, who struck out seven and gave up no earned runs on two hits.

Just in case you needed a reminder that the Sox are pretenders, there you go. They are 3-10 against the mighty AL Central. World Series contenders my ass.

Good night.

White Sox sweep Red Sox at Fenway Park

Jose Abreu

The White Sox have scored four runs or fewer in each of their past six games. However, they've won all six of them. That's never happened before in franchise history.

As Chris Kamka pointed out on Twitter, the Sox once had a five-game winning streak where they scored four runs or fewer in every game -- from Sept. 18-25, 1904.

Has the dead ball era returned? The run-scoring environment has certainly been low in Major League Baseball so far this season, but this weekend in Boston, the Sox managed to score a run or two more than the Red Sox every day and complete a three-game sweep.

Let's look back at the weekend that was:

Friday, May 6

White Sox 4, Red Sox 2: A three-run third inning ended up being all the Sox needed in this game. Tim Anderson and AJ Pollock singled. Jose Abreu hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Anderson, and Luis Robert hit his fourth home run of the season -- a two-run shot -- to put the Sox ahead 3-0. Boston never caught up.

Vince Velasquez (2-2) pitched five innings of one-run ball to earn his second victory during this winning streak. Four relievers combined to limit the Red Sox to one run on three hits over four innings. Liam Hendriks worked a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his eighth save of the season.

Saturday, May 7

White Sox 3, Red Sox 1 (10 innings): This was an extremely frustrating game for eight innings. Boston starter Nick Pivetta entered the game with a 7.64 ERA, and he blanked the Sox for six innings.

In fact, Boston took a 1-0 lead into the ninth inning. The Sox offense woke up just in time. Jake Burger drew a leadoff walk, advanced to third on a double by Adam Engel and scored on a sacrifice fly by Leury Garcia to tie the game and force the extra inning.

In the 10th, Abreu doubled in the ghost runner to put the Sox up 2-1. Robert then singled to score Abreu and account for the final margin.

Hendricks worked a 1-2-3 10th for his ninth save of the season, making a winner out of Reynaldo Lopez (4-0), who escaped a second-and-third, one-out jam in the bottom of the ninth.

Dylan Cease struck out eight over five innings of one-run ball for the Sox.

Sunday, May 8

White Sox 3, Red Sox 2: Just like Friday night, a three-run third inning was all the Sox needed. The rally featured an RBI infield single by Garcia and a two-run double by Abreu. The Sox had only six hits in the game, but at least they bunched three of them in one inning.

Dallas Keuchel (2-3) might have been pitching for his job, and it showed. He kept Boston off the scoreboard for the first five innings, before cracking and allowing two runs in the sixth. Keuchel struck out five and walked only one, and he ended up getting the win because the lesser-known relievers in the Sox bullpen were able to hold a one-run edge over the last three innings.

Hendriks had worked five out of six days and was unavailable. Kendall Graveman and Aaron Bummer were also unavailable, with Bummer headed to the injured list with a knee problem.

Turns out Ryan Burr, Matt Foster, Jose Ruiz and Bennett Sousa got it done. Burr had a 1-2-3 seventh. Foster struck out the side in the eighth. Ruiz gave up a leadoff double in the ninth to J.D. Martinez, but he recorded two outs after that. Sousa came on and got pinch hitter Kevin Plawecki to fly out to Robert to end the game. For the left-handed rookie, it was his first career save.

The Sox are 14-13.

White Sox put Andrew Vaughn on IL, recall Danny Mendick

The White Sox on Thursday placed outfielder/first baseman Andrew Vaughn on the 10-day injured list because of a bruised right hand.

Utility infielder Danny Mendick has been recalled from Triple-A Charlotte to take Vaughn's place on the roster.

The question here is, what took the Sox so long?

Vaughn was struck on the hand April 29 by a pitch from Los Angeles Angels right-hander Mike Mayers. Basically, the Sox have hoped for a week that Vaughn was a day away from returning, but he's still reporting pain and inflammation in the hand.

The move is retroactive to May 2, because teams can only make retroactive moves three days in the past. So, Vaughn isn't eligible to come off the injured list until May 12. Had he been placed on the IL the day after the injury, he'd be eligible to play May 10.

Vaughn has been one of the Sox's most productive hitters in the early season. He's batting .283/.367/.566. He's tied for the team lead with four home runs and leads the club with 12 RBIs.

Matt Foster unlikely hero for White Sox

The White Sox completed a sweep of the crosstown Cubs on Wednesday with a 4-3 victory at Wrigley Field. And just like we all expected, the hero of the game was ... Matt Foster? 

Yep, that's right, Matt Foster, the 27-year-old reliever who spent most of the 2021 season bouncing back and forth between Chicago and Triple-A Charlotte. And when Foster was in Chicago last season, he posted a 6.00 ERA and a 1.436 WHIP in 37 appearances.

Coming into spring training, he wasn't really in the plans. However, extended rosters and injuries created opportunity, and Foster made the team out of camp. 

And he's pitched really well in his opportunities in 2022. Coming into Wednesday night, he had allowed only one earned run in 11 innings across 10 appearances.

The assignment Foster received Wednesday night was his toughest yet. He was asked to clean up Aaron Bummer's mess in the bottom of the eighth inning. The Cubs had runners at first and third with one out, and the Sox were clinging to a 4-3 lead. Seiya Suzuki and Ian Happ, the No. 2 and No. 3 batters in the Cubs' lineup, were due up.

Foster got Suzuki to foul out to first baseman Gavin Sheets on a fastball up and out of the zone. The Cubs' runner on first, Nick Madrigal, was going with the pitch, so perhaps that enticed Suzuki to swing at a pitch that was not a strike. No matter. Either way, it was the second out.

Happ followed, and on a 2-2 pitch, Foster aced him with fastball at the bottom of the zone and struck him out looking. Jam escaped. Lead perserved. Foster's ERA is down to 0.77.

Liam Hendriks worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his seventh save in eight opportunities. That allowed Lucas Giolito (1-1) to pick up his first victory of the season. The right-hander allowed three runs across 5.2 innings, but he struck out 10 Cubs batters.

Jose Abreu (3rd of the season) and Leury Garcia (2nd of the season) homered for the Sox, who overcame an early 3-1 deficit. Sheets had a two-out RBI single in the fourth to tie the game. AJ Pollock had a two-out RBI single in the sixth that put the South Siders ahead for good.

The Sox are now 11-13. The Cubs drop to 9-15.

Stop the presses: White Sox finally win 2 in a row

Tim Anderson

The White Sox have won two games in a row for the first time since April 15-16, as they defeated the crosstown Cubs, 3-1, on a rainy Tuesday night at Wrigley Field.

This was not a good night to be a hitter. The game-time temperature was 45 degrees. The wind was blowing in from left field at 23 mph, and most of the game was played in a persistent rain.

You know that whole urban myth about how the Cubs sell out every game? Yeah, no, not tonight. The announced attendance was 34,206, but I'd be willing to bet they didn't have even half that many people there. And who can blame fans from staying away from this one?

Both the Sox and the Cubs are off to poor starts this season, and you might say these March-like conditions during the first week of May are less than ideal for baseball.

Anyway, the Sox got all the runs they needed in the first three innings. They scored two in the second. Jake Burger's infield single scored Jose Abreu, who had reached on an error earlier in the inning. Reese McGuire's safety squeeze bunt scored Adam Engel, who had doubled.

In the third inning, Tim Anderson connected for his fourth home run of the season to put the Sox ahead 3-0. Anderson drive off Keegan Thompson landed in the right-field seats, which is the direction you needed to hit it to get one out of Wrigley on this night. Anything to left field wasn't going anywhere.

Sox pitching did the rest, with six players combining on a six-hitter. Michael Kopech worked four scoreless, but inefficient, innings. He was removed with a man at first base and no outs in the bottom of the fifth inning. He had thrown 83 pitches at that point.

Reynaldo Lopez (3-0) relieved and got a double play and a strikeout out of the two batters he faced. For that, he earned his third victory of the season.

Jose Ruiz allowed the lone Cubs run in the sixth. But Aaron Bummer, Matt Foster and Liam Hendriks each worked 1-2-3 innings with one strikeout each, as the Cubs surrendered relatively quietly in the late innings.

For Hendriks, it was his sixth save in seven opportunities. The Sox are 10-13. The Cubs are 9-14. The two teams play one more time in this brief two-game set Wednesday night.

Dylan Cease pitches better than he ever has

Dylan Cease

Here's my hot take for the day: Dylan Cease, not Eloy Jimenez, is the most productive player the White Sox acquired in the 2017 trade that sent Jose Quintana to the crosstown Cubs.

While Jimenez (torn hamstring) is injured for the third season in a row, Cease is the best starting pitcher the Sox have right now. The right-hander has made five starts this season, and the Sox are 4-1 in those games -- given that the team is 9-13, almost half their wins have come in Cease starts.

On Monday, Cease (3-1) had the best start of his career. He worked seven dominant innings against the Los Angeles Angels, allowing only one hit and two base runners in a 3-0 victory. He struck out 11 and walked nobody, including three strikeouts of the best player on the planet, Mike Trout.

Cease threw 93 pitches, 64 of them for strikes. And given that he had 11 strikeouts, you would think he would have gotten a ton of swings and misses, right? Not really. The Angels swung and missed 11 times. However, they took 20 called strikes and seemed totally off balance, as Cease had all four of his pitches working.

On fastballs, Cease got seven called strikes and seven whiffs. His slider produced eight called strikes and one whiff. His knuckle curve produced three called strikes and three whiffs. He also got two called strikes on his changeup.

All total, 31 of his 93 pitches produced either a called strike or a swing and miss. That's 33%, and at the major league level, anything over 30% qualifies as dominant. No Angels player reached third base against him. Cease's season ERA is down to 2.48.

There was more good news for the Sox on the pitching front Monday, as Liam Hendriks looked like his former dominant self for the first time all season.

Hendriks earned his fifth save in six opportunities, striking out Taylor Ward, Brandon Marsh and Trout in succession to close the game. He needed only 12 pitches to retire the side.

He threw fastball-fastball-slider to Ward, who is batting .390 and has been one of the league's best hitters so far. But in this at-bat, Ward was out on three pitches and basically had no chance.

Marsh struck out on four pitches -- fastball, fastball, slider, slider -- and he was lucky to check his swing on a 0-2 slider. On the 1-2 slider, he swing and missed.

Trout stayed in there for five pitches, but he also fanned on a Hendriks slider. In previous outings, Hendriks was a one-pitch pitcher; it was fastball or bust. When opposing batters have to worry about his slider, that's when he finds his dominant form. We saw it Monday; the Sox need more of that.

 

Is it time for the White Sox to cut Dallas Keuchel?

White Sox left-hander Dallas Keuchel has faced 82 batters through his first four starts of the 2022 season. Thirty-five of them have reached base either by a hit or a walk.

That means opposing batters have a .427 on-base percentage against Keuchel. It's stating the obvious, but this is not good.

Keuchel (1-3) took the loss in the latest South Side debacle, a 6-5 defeat against the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field. He allowed four earned runs on six hits over five innings, while striking out only one and walking five (!). His ERA is 8.40.

We know the Sox are reluctant to release high-salaried players in the middle of the season, but such a move is not unprecedented. John Danks, another left-handed starter, was designated for assignment after making four starts in the 2016 season. Danks, like Keuchel, was in the last season of a lucrative contract at the time.

Earlier Sunday, Jordan Lazowski from Sox on 35th tweeted a helpful comparison:

2016 John Danks after four starts: 22.1 IP, 7.25 ERA, 6.10 FIP, 16 SO, 11 BB  

2022 Dallas Keuchel after four starts: 15.0 IP, 8.40 ERA, 6.78 FIP, 8 SO, 11 BB 

Danks was owed $14.25 million in 2016. Keuchel is owed $18 million this season. But as you can see from the numbers, Keuchel is actually pitching worse now that Danks was when he was designated in 2016.

Why would now be a good time to cut losses with Keuchel? Well, the Sox don't need a fifth starter until May 10.

Dylan Cease is pitching in Monday's series finale against the Angels. Michael Kopech and Lucas Giolito are lined up to pitch Tuesday and Wednesday against the Cubs.

Then comes an off day Thursday before a three-game series in Boston. Vince Velasquez could pitch Friday, having gotten an extra day of rest. Then Cease and Kopech could pitch on regular rest to finish that series.

The Sox come home May 9 to open a series with the Cleveland Guardians, and Giolito would be available on regular rest.

By May 10, perhaps veteran right-hander Johnny Cueto will be ready to pitch in the majors. Cueto is ramping up at Triple-A Charlotte, and he pitched four innings of one-hit, shutout ball with six strikeouts and no walks (!) in his last appearance.

If Cueto is not ready, the Sox still have other options for that fifth spot. How about using Reynaldo Lopez as an opener, and backing him up with Tanner Banks? 

There is a great chance that Keuchel is going to be out of the rotation anyway when Lance Lynn (knee surgery) rejoins the team, likely in late May. But why wait that long?

The Sox are 8-13 and already 4.5 games back of the Minnesota Twins in the AL Central. It's time to think about moving some underperforming players out of the way, and Keuchel tops that list.