Matchups and lineups and whatnot get focused on a lot by us blogging types, since what other updates are there to focus on on a day-to-day basis? But rarely does every single way a team is hamstrung on a particular day play a prominent role in a game. 1. Before the game, the White Sox […]
Author: James Fegan
Two months in, White Sox still waiting on the Jose Abreu they need
For a few moments on Wednesday, Matt Albers stepped up to be the big and lumbering power-hitting presence in the middle of the White Sox lineup that has been missing for most of 2016, and kick-started a cathartic game-deciding rally. The very next batter, Jose Abreu dug in, as a reminder of where that presence […]
White Sox 2, Mets 1: The Matt Albers Game
Most of our time on Earth is pretty pedestrian, a mundane commitment to routine, while we cling to memories of the few cathartic moments that come along, and stay foolishly hopeful for new breakthroughs to come along and convince us that our endless waiting around is worth it. 1. Or so it seems when a […]
South Side Morning 5: Slump busted in just in time
1. The 2008 and 2005 White Sox both dealt with seven-game losing streaks at one point. When the 2005 club did it in August, they immediately ceded four games of their once enormous AL Central lead to the Indians, who would eventually shrink a 15-game deficit into just 1.5 games before being finally beaten back […]
South Side Morning 5: Life is Hell and death is no escape
1. Jose Abreu‘s OPS for the month May is nearly 100 points better than it was in April, and if he’s lucky, it will only be the third-worst offensive month of his career, rather than the second. He came into this season with three months in his career where he had hit as few as […]
Mets 1, White Sox 0: White Sox sow horrible things, reap them
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 […]
South Side Memorial Day 5: Disasterpiece Theater
1. If forced to pick a single head-scratching moment from this weekend’s neverending bullpen meltdown–from which Robin Ventura might have come out looking better than expected since absolutely nothing worked–it would have been the fifth-year manager realizing that closer David Robertson was in a crisis on Saturday from which he could not pull himself out […]
They’re Still The Royals
The Royals, these Royals, these unkillable machines, will be out of the race when they are mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, and even then, not until this fact is verified by three credible outlets. But the double blow of them losing Alex Gordon and Mike Moustakas in the same collision/near miss–the latter gone for the season with an ACL […]
Indians 4, White Sox 3: Very close to avoiding disaster but not quite
It’d take a real creative bent to characterize the White Sox recent performance in a manner more generous than “freefall.” They have dropped three in a row to the now barely second place Indians and have lost five series in a row. But it’s more eye of the beholder whether another one-run loss that was […]
South Side Morning 5: Why did Chris sale deviate from his plan?
1. Why did Chris Sale do what he did? Why did the man who has built his season on filling up the zone and conserving energy, suddenly find himself starting the night in fire-and-brimstone mode, burning 43 pitches in an inning, and ending his night overthrowing his way to the backstop? Sure, he had awful command […]