The second inning of Wednesday night’s contest against the Kansas City Royals summed up the White Sox evening in a nutshell.
Jose Abreu led off the inning with a double. Andrew Vaughn and Yoan Moncada drew back-to-back walks to load the bases and set the table for Gavin Sheets with one out. To Sheets credit, he lined the first pitch he saw to left. MJ Melendez, who is a catcher by trade, came racing forward to secure the out and then began to jog in, thinking there were three outs. But Jose Abreu did not tag up from third and wound up slipping, killing any chance he had to score.
Lenyn Sosa then struck out to squash the rally. That set the tone for the rest of the game—missed opportunity after missed opportunity. Through five innings, the White Sox were 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.
Leaving that much meat on the bone came back to bite the White Sox. In the sixth inning, Johnny Cueto was left in the game a batter too long and gave up a two-out game-tying single.
Jake Diekman served up a home run to MJ Melendez in the following inning, and the wheels fell off. Four runs later, the White Sox found themselves on the wrong end of an 8-3 deficit.
The loss cost the White Sox a chance to gain ground in the division. With a win, the White Sox would have pulled just a half-game back from the Cleveland Guardians and taken possession of second place in the division. Instead, they fell to two and a half back and third place in the AL Central.
The White Sox have now fallen to 39-50 when anyone not named Dylan Cease takes the mound for them. After the game, Johnny Cueto questioned the White Sox fight.
“We can’t get comfortable. We need to go out and play and play hard and show what we can do,” Cueto said after the game.”We need to fight. We have to show the fire that we have-if we have any.”
That last statement from Cueto is a statement that has been indicative of the White Sox season to this point. Much has been made about the White Sox lack of energy at times. Fans have noticed it, broadcasters have seen it, and now it appears some players in the locker room are aware of it as well.
The Kansas City Royals are 46-66, with the fourth worse pitching staff in baseball. The fact the White Sox have only been able to score eight runs in 27 innings is pathetic.The schedule won’t be getting easier any time soon either. Series against the Astros, Guardians, Mariners, Padres, and Twins are on the horizon.
Piddling around during the easy portion of the schedule could come back to bite the White Sox. As Johnny Cueto said, they need to show that fire. That is, if they even have any.
Johnny is spot on, and not all of this is on the incompetence of LaRussa. After all, they are professionals being paid well. The guy we got from the Dodgers is having a miserable year after hitting 27 HRs and batting high .270s. Now, he’s very mediocre. The team is a mess. I would keep as many pitchers as fielders, and re-build. This is now a lousy team. Fans should boycott unless they enjoying seeing other teams come to town. No one in their right mind should be paying for driving, parking, and tickets to see a professional shZZ show.
The lethargic, listless Sox dugout is totally on LaRussa. I’ve had it with BS “cerebral” type managers. Someone needs to get after these guys asses and LaRussa obviously doesn’t have it in him and never will.
And I’m also tired of continually hearing about all of the “talent” on the team. When the “talent” is as inconsistent as these guys are, then we should quit referring to them as talent.
Kudos to Ceuto for operating as close to a leader as this leaderless team has in their locker room.
Opportunistic baseball requires constant situational dialogue between coaches and players. The body of work this season suggests that is absent too.
With a new Manager, coaching staff and a few tweaks on the roster this team could be a force next year.
When your manager is taking his Wine Naps in the dugout, I’m pretty sure that sets the tone for the whole team.
Reinsdorf-owned teams are pathetically disappointing. He’s a loyal employer which is great for the employee, but not good for the fans. He left John Paxson in charge of the Bulls for waaaaay too long, and the hiring of LaRussa was a complete joke. Rick Hahn? Just a ‘yes’ man with no apparent baseball skills. And If Reinsdorf was truly serious about winning they would have done something at the trade deadline. Diekman is the best move the Sox could make??? Pu-leez. So now the fans are saddled with a mediocre .500 team in an awful division. Root for Cease big-time,… Read more »