July 3, 2019
Just watched White Sox pitcher, Dylan Cease, make his much
anticipated pitching debut. He had a horrible start with three walks, one hit
batter and two runs. In spite of this, you could see he has the “stuff” to be
something special. Over the next four innings he gave up a wind-blown homer,
struck out six and walked only one, notching up his first big league win.
The Sox have been playing well as of late. They survived a
grueling schedule of 15 games against some of
the best teams. The White Sox split a 4 game home series against the New
York Yankees. The Yankees have the best record in baseball but the Sox won the
season series 4-3. Next up was a brief two game series against what was a first
place Cubs team. They split that series as well. Then they traveled to meet the
Texas Rangers, who would be a wild-card playoff team if the season ended today. By throwing second tier starters they lost
two of three. They went to Boston and lost two of three. These losses didn’t
hurt as much as losing Tim Anderson. He is the heart and soul of this team.
He’ll miss 4-6 weeks. The Sox returned home to face first place Minnesota. They
held this hot hitting team in check and won two of three.
All in all they finished 7-8, which is pretty remarkable
with a three man starting rotation. This young team has to play clean, error
free baseball to win games. This, and some bullpen breakdowns cost them a couple
of wins in Texas and Boston. The schedule gets a little easier and who knows:
they may be .500 heading into the all-star break.
White Sox all-star pitcher, Lucas Giolito has gone from the
worst to one of the best starters in the American League. However, he is not the
only white Sox contender for comeback player of the year. Yoan Moncada
continues to have an excellent season. He has 14 home runs and has broken into
the top ten with a .304 batting average.
All-star James McCann has come out of nowhere to solve the catching
problem. No one could have predicted he
would hit over .320. He also drives in big runs.
Things are not running smoothly on the north side of town.
The Cubs seem unable to hit with runners in scoring position. Cub wins usually come
when they hit homers. The Cubs have to learn how to manufacture runs. They have
to improve on their situational hitting. They keep changing hitting coaches but
this problem hasn’t gone away. I am at a loss for why this is when you have a
line-up with Anthony Rizzo and all stars Kris Bryant, Wilson Contreras, Jason
Heyward and Javier Baez.
Previously I’ve discussed how important it is to win home
games when struggling on the road. On their last home stand they went 5-5. This
is not acceptable for a team with playoff aspirations. Their road woes (16-25)
continue. They have lost four of five in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. They no
longer are in first place. They are tied with Philadelphia for wild card spots,
with Colorado a half game back. The Central Division is still up for grabs.
The Cubs are in the latter stages of the window for success.
However, like last year, injuries are
hindering their chances. It gets harder when
you suffer major injuries. Cub starter Kyle Hendricks missed three starts. In
his return he only lasted 3 innings. Their best starter, Cole Hamels, is out through
July. The starting rotation is down to Jon Lester, Jose Quintana and Hendricks.
How much confidence do Cub fans have in Yu Darvish and most likely Tyler
Chatwood as the fourth and fifth starters?
Things aren’t pointing up but there is still a half season
to go. It’s not time to panic. However, if the pattern continues then come
September it may be panic time.
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