The losses have at least gained a measure of uniqueness, after a somewhat boilerplate weekend pattern of triumph-nagging, dread-utter desolation.
1. Then again, hanging Jose Quintana out to dry had become old hat before this year, and the round of applause bands get for playing old favorites will likely be withheld this time.
The AL leader in ERA struck out seven batters in as many innings, lowered that league leading ERA to 2.13, and the only mark against him came when one of the many fastballs he pumped in the zone all day, a 90 mph center-cut mistake to Neil Walker got taken up, up and out to left-center for a solo shot that wound up being the only run scored.
Quintana logged 115 pitches — laboring through a trying seventh inning that started with that Walker bomb — in the quest to save the bullpen from itself.
2. Matt Harvey, coming in with an ERA over 6.00 and fighting off questions of whether he was hurt, out of shape, an agent of terror, etc., was still was able to climb off the mat and fillet the Sox lineup with seven easy shutout innings of two-hit ball.
Harvey retired the first 13 batters he faced Monday before injury-replacement J.B. Shuck finally laced a single to right, and left with just 87 pitches, as the Mets lifted him for a pinch hitter and/or simply could no longer believe their luck.
3. The one threat launched against Harvey also came in the seventh, as Adam Eaton walked and Jose Abreu singled to lead off the frame in almost stunningly positive fashion. Despite having the recently recalled and reverse-split having Shuck hitting fifth, Robin Ventura had his No. 3 hitter Melky Cabrera bunt runners over to second and third.
Playing for a run quickly became perilous when Todd Frazier popped out in foul territory, leaving things up to Shuck, and well, you can see the final score in the headline.
Those constituted the only White Sox at-bats with runners in scoring position.
4. Just for kicks, Robin Ventura brought in left-handed Zach Duke specifically to face Walker with two outs in the eighth. Walker was hitting .324/.359/.703 against lefties this year.
5. Maybe only history will be able to truly judge whether the White Sox should have addressed their obvious need for another bat before season, or should have abandoned their tactically challenged manager while they spurned a massive early-season head start, but consistently irrelevant mediocrity tends to not be chronicled.
Team Record: 27-25
Next game is Tuesday at 6:10 p.m. CT at New York on CSN
Lead Image Credit: Adam Hunger // USA Today Sports Images
You really wanted to believe they had their stuff together and their plan was working. Then the calendar flipped to May and they show they are the same bungling outfit we’ve known them to be under Reinsdorf.
I’m ambivalent to firing Ventura if it means Williams, Hahn, and Cooper remain.