As is often the case with anonymously-sourced reports, it led to more questions and a lot of potential scenarios being thrown around. Quite simply, the possibility of the White Sox acquiring Machado brought more than enough “ifs” and “buts.”

IF the White Sox acquire Machado, it would give them an established star who is still in his mid-20s. Machado has made three All-Star teams and finished in the Top 5 of AL MVP voting twice (and Top 10 three times), is a Gold Glove-caliber third baseman (and still very good defensive shortstop), has played in 156 games or more in three of his four full seasons, and won’t turn 25 until next July.

BUT Machado is a free agent after the 2018 season, meaning whatever price the White Sox would need to pay to acquire him would come with the caveat that they may only retain his services for one year.

BUT IF the White Sox can convince Machado to sign long term, they would have an already established superstar in his prime to pair with even younger up-and-coming superstars Yoan Moncada and Eloy Jimenez, giving the White Sox a lineup for the next 5-8 years that can wreak havoc on the American League.

HOWEVER (sorry that’s not an if or a but) reports that Baltimore would not grant an extension negotiating window with any trade partners increase that risk ten-fold. Regardless of the presumed price the White Sox would have to pay for Machado’s services, (reports circulated Thursday that Michael Kopech was not included in the White Sox offer, and Jimenez is a presumed non-starter) the White Sox would be acquiring a star one year away from a pay day the White Sox have never before been willing to pay, and would surely be giving up multiple Top 10 prospects from their stacked system.

BUT the White Sox have, as I just noted, a stacked farm system, and while even the least prospect-huggiest among us would wince at the idea of giving up the future potential of a Dylan Cease or Carlos Rodon or Lucas Giolito or Reynaldo Lopez, the White Sox have put themselves in a position where even acquiring a super-duperstar like Machado would not leave them a barren wasteland from a young talent perspective.

BUT what if the White Sox acquire Machado with the intention of flipping him for even more young talent? The Yankees farm system is ripe with talent, and Orioles owner Peter Angelos would likely be hesitant to deal with their divisional overlords, so maybe this all ends with the White Sox simply trading out prospects or young players for ones they like even more?

BUT as farfetched as that sounds, it’s even more so when you figure a team as ripe with cash as the Yankees would be even more likely to just wait for Machado to hit free agency, unload a dump truck of cash on top of his head, and continue on their war path toward world domination.

EVEN IF that’s not the immediate plan, the White Sox presumed fallback should they acquire Machado and fail to come to a long-term agreement would be to flip him before July 31. This would, of course, mean his value would be lower as he would be a mere ~3 months from free agency.

One of the things that makes this alleged pursuit so enticing (ya know, other than the idea of your favorite team acquiring a player of Machado’s ilk) is the presumption that it means the White Sox are prepared to do things differently than in the past.

As the White Sox completed their scorched-Earth rebuild, tearing down the core of yesteryear for new hope and promise years down the road, the fear has always been that when Moncada, Jimenez, and the rest of the White Sox young prospects reach their peak, the White Sox wouldn’t be willing to spend the money it would take to supplement that presumed core, just as they weren’t with Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, Adam Eaton, and Jose Abreu.

Hahn addressed that on Thursday after the White Sox failed to make any news in the Rule 5 draft.

“If a high percentage of the players we have internally are able to contribute to a championship club in Chicago, it should be fairly cost-effective from a payroll standpoint which would allow us some freedom to be more aggressive on spending either on higher-price players via trade or in free agency,” Hahn said. “There’s been a lot of things over the last year that I think perhaps may have surprised people or at the very least deviated what people have perceived the way we would do things.

“There was certainly a notion that the Chicago White Sox would never rebuild, there was certainly the notion that the White Sox would never incur a substantial penalty or substantial tax in order to sign a player, as we did with Luis Robert. There was repeatedly written and reported, even a year ago at this time, that the White Sox would never make a trade with the Chicago Cubs, so we’ve repeatedly shown that what you’ve assumed about our actions in the past doesn’t indicate how we’re going to act going forward. So the notion that we wouldn’t potentially be aggressive when the time is right in free agency or would not spend big on a premium ticket item, I would say probably fits in with those old narratives that we’ve already proven to be false.”

 I’ll be frank about this, I don’t expect the White Sox to acquire Machado. There’s a chance these reports are being used as leverage against other potential suitors, and there’s an even better chance Machado remains with the Orioles for at least the start of the 2018 season.

But whether or not the White Sox tipped their hand toward future plans or if this is merely white noise serving as a distraction during an otherwise moribund time for news around the organization, the Machado rumors show, if nothing else, that the White Sox are again willing to do business in a way we’re not normally accustomed to.

The risks, they are aplenty, but the reward is worth dreaming on.

Lead Photo Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

2. The prospect who had the best weekend of them all, however, was Yoan Moncada. He’s been hitting well all season long, but his performance over the weekend was outstanding. Naturally, questions have been raised about when he’s going to get brought up to the big leagues. He’s hitting .337/.412/.519 on the season with five home runs. He’s also striking out at a clip of 26.6 percent. The contact rate and ability to handle certain types of spin are certainly relevant and concerning, although he has cut the strikeouts down considerably in the last few weeks. Even so, the power and hitting ability are clearly there as well.

Financial considerations cannot be so quickly ignored, either. In order to gain an extra year before Moncada reaches free agency (i.e. Moncada reaches free agency in 2023), the White Sox would have to wait until after May 15 to call him up. At this point, there is absolutely no reason to not wait until that date. Where things get a bit dicier is in the possibility of Moncada avoiding becoming a Super Two player. That would require waiting until after the All-Star break to call him up. The benefit for the White Sox would be another year in which Moncada’s salary is fixed rather than going to arbitration. The gains from such a decision may not be obvious in comparison to the desire to see Moncada at the big league level. That’s completely fair. However, the White Sox have made it clear that they’re an organization very much interested in spending as little money as possible.

If they are going to compete for a long enough window to win a championship, keeping the core players at a controlled cost will be vitally important. Despite his slump, having Tim Anderson locked up for the next six seasons is a good start. It’s unlikely that Moncada signs a deal similar to Anderson’s because he’s already earned much more money from his initial contract with the Red Sox. In that sense, the ability to avoid arbitration for an extra season could potentially lead to an extra free agent signing that puts the team over the top.

When the financial considerations are mentioned, the tendency is to put blame on the team for exploiting young talent. Perhaps that is and will be partially true about the White Sox treatment of Moncada. However, the White Sox made it clear before the season began that they would take things slow with the newly acquired prospects for reasons that had nothing to do with money at all. Recent memory haunts most White Sox fans when thinking of prospects precisely because they weren’t patient with hitters.

Moncada is still having struggles with striking out to go along with his monstrous power. That is concerning. Purely for baseball reasons, the contact issues might indicate more time is needed. Even though the White Sox are technically competing in the division for the time being, the bottom line is that they are a rebuilding team without any intention of winning ballgames. They don’t need Moncada right now. While the financial considerations have and will play a role in Moncada’s stay in Charlotte, the baseball reasons are still enough to argue that he should spend more time in Triple-A. With such a small amount of experiences in the higher levels, the failures of his time in Boston, and a concerning strikeout rate the White Sox have good reason to take it slow with Moncada. That is disappointing to hear as a fan who wants to see fun baseball. It’s great to hear as a fan who remembers the failures of prospects past. The White Sox have one shot to get this right. They shouldn’t be in a rush to possibly ruin the best talent they’ve seen in their minor league system for a long, long time.

3. The White Sox had a no good, horrible, very bad weekend in Baltimore. The pitching performances left quite a bit to be desired, but the offense didn’t show up at all. That led to an easy three game sweep for the Orioles.

Avisail Garcia’s hot start to the season has been chronicled and pondered over since a week or two into the season. The general consensus has been that, for many reasons, he’s likely to decline at least a small amount. His BABIP is at an unreal mark of .418 mostly because of an inordinate amount of infield hits. There’s also the fact that everything we’ve seen from Garcia thus far indicates there isn’t going to be a sudden jump in production. Everything seems to scream regression is coming.

Perhaps that time has started. In the first month of the season, Garcia went hitless just five times. A week into the second month of the season, he’s been hitless twice. While that isn’t super meaningful, his 2-for-12 performance in Baltimore is even more indicative of the fall that he’s slipping into. Extend the time constraints to the entire road trip (nine games) and you see that he’s gone 10-for-36, which translates to a .278 average. While that isn’t horrible, it’s certainly a fall from how he has been hitting. His BABIP has also dropped considerably, as predicted. It could just be a small slump for the White Sox right fielder, but it also might be the start of what we’ve been expecting for a while now.

4. Jose Quintana’s start to the season is starting to be a little more troublesome. While no good scout is allowing a few bad results change their mind about a pitcher who has been very good over the last four seasons, there is growing concern about the market for Quintana. He’s shown troubles in the early parts of games only to settle in and pitch enough innings to remain valuable. That’s worrisome. However, it’s not time to panic yet.  It’s not encouraging that Quintana struggled to put away hitters once he had two strikes on them on Sunday, but he also got zero good luck on weak contact against a quality offense.

The White Sox appear to have passed on some subpar trade offers for Quintana during the offseason. The bad news is that they didn’t take them and Quintana proceeded to have a poor start. The good news is that they have Quintana under team control for another three-plus seasons. In the same way that Garcia never performing in the past tends to indicate he won’t suddenly be amazing, the fact that Quintana has only shown success in the past, and his peripherals don’t show reason for decline, indicates that he hasn’t suddenly dropped into a bottomless pit of despair. The worries about Quintana are growing, but White Sox fans should remain at ease about the White Sox ability to get high end talent for the young lefty.

5. Jose Abreu has been as hot as they come in the past week or so. His start to the season was icy cold, so this certainly bodes well for both Abreu and the White Sox. He has three home runs in the past five games. Over the past week, he has an OPS of 1.074 and ISO of .407. Those numbers can be somewhat misleading in a small sample size, but the point is generally just that he’s hit the ball really well lately. If that continues the White Sox are in a great position to move him at the deadline or keep him around as a valuable veteran presence.

Lead Photo Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

While waiting for a garishly large chicken parmesan sandwich, I spied James Shields on the monitor striking out Adam Jones with a 2-2 curve, and thought he might have some of his sharper stuff Sunday. This was a misleading observation.

It was not until a later portion of the game, upon checking my phone, that I became aware that Manny Machado had three home runs. The bleachers are mostly appealing for their inexpensiveness, and it’s fun to see the outfielders move and respond to contact, but the distance from the plate makes it very easy for the game to become a faceless wave of Orioles hitters effortlessly swatting home runs into the seats; which it became by, oh, the second inning. One of them was clearly Chris Davis, what with his exaggerated uppercut, which produced a ball that seemingly went as high as it did far, one of them was clearly Machado, who was to say that two of the others were Machado? It had shifted from “let us watch a baseball game and hope for good things” to “let’s drink beers in the sun and chill” before Shields left the game, and he threw 1.2 innings.

I didn’t actually miss a historical baseball moment at a game I attended due to complete ennui, I just almost did. I have made peace with it.

“JUST YOU AND SPANKY, TRADE EVERYONE ELSE,” hollered one importing/exporting enthusiast a couple rows behind me to Tim Anderson, after he slapped his one hit of the day. Given the events of this day alone, it could be seen as a reasonable proposal if one of the principals was switched. Jose Abreu collected three of the Sox four hits and finished a triple short of the cycle. His opposite field home run in the sixth, and the hope it provided that his power stroke has returned is probably the only events of the day I would recommended making a semi-permanent memory. Adam Eaton, on the other hand, struck out three times, but did make a leaping catch at the wall to stop the Orioles from getting six home runs.

Dylan Bundy struck out the side in the first, threw ridiculous stuff all afternoon long, and briefly provided dreams that I would see a perfect game, or 25 strikeouts, or 37 strikeouts, or some sort of memorable moment of ascent of a great young pitcher that I would retell later with exaggerated details due to both hubris and sunstroke. But no, he just pitched well.

Whatever, it is over now and we are still alive.

Team Record: 53-58

Next game is Tuesday at Kansas City at 7:15pm CT on CSN

Lead Image Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki // USA Today Sports Images

1. Carlos Sanchez was already having a bad game, in the middle of a bad year, having misjudged or just dropped two soft pop-ups in short center on defense, so naturally his brief respite from a nightmarish 2016–an RBI double off the edge of Nolan Reimold‘s glove in right that plated the Sox third run of the inning, and brought them within 7-5 with the tying runs in scoring position–was short-lived. Having improbably rallied off Darren O’Day with the bottom of the order, Adam Eaton represented the White Sox best arming up to take control of the game, and yet he still chopped an easy grounder to first, which drew Sanchez off base, which in turn prompted a confused and slow Dioner Navarro to drift toward home. A not-so quick throw to third from Chris Davis was still quick enough to nab the glacial Navarro as he dove back to the base and ended the threat with a double play.

Zach Britton quickly disposed of any efforts of a comeback in the ninth, despite Justin Morneau‘s angry protests that the game-ending groundout was fouled off his foot.

2. The comeback was set up by the seemingly tension-free situation of O’Day coming on in the eighth to protect a 7-2 lead, and instead allowing a ripped leadoff single to Jose Abreu, before O’Day walked Morneau and Todd Frazier to load the bases with no one out. The seemingly red hot Avisail Garcia was only able to chop a routine grounder to short, which the Orioles turned into a fielder’s choice, before Jonathan Schoop tossed a bounced feed to the right of first base that went down as Baltimore’s fourth error of the game, but the first that produced a Sox run. Two runners crossed to push the Sox to 7-4, leading up to Sanchez’s big, but not big enough hit.

3. Strangely enough, this long path to a comeback was built out of Robin Ventura conceding that a 4-2 deficit with the Orioles’ best relievers at the ready didn’t merit using Nate Jones (though he did warm him up multiple times). Tommy Kahnle came on instead and gave up hits to four of the five Orioles’ he faced–including a solo bomb to Pedro Alvarez–and was credited with three earned before Michael Ynoa could clean things up for him.

4. Coming off a dream-like month of July, Sox starter Miguel Gonzalez certainly didn’t have his best stuff Friday night. He hung a second inning curve for Alvarez’s first of two solo moonshots on the night, and struck out just one batter over six innings. Still, his night would have been a lot cleaner if not for Manny Machado following a cutter off the outer edge and drilling it for a two-run double to the right-center gap in the third, and Tyler Saladino‘s attempt a jump throw from the hole careening up the left field line and allowing Machado to jog home easily from third. Bad execution battled bad ideas to a gruesome draw all night for both clubs, but Saladino’s botched jump throw probably was trumped by Navarro trying to bunt for a base hit in the bottom half of the inning.

5. After going over 30 games without a home run, Abreu wasn’t willing to suffer even one night off Friday, slamming a Yovani Gallardo fastball well out to left in the fourth. He collected three hits on the evening, and Garcia slapped an RBI double, so it was a decent night for dreaming on scuffling hitters.

Team Record: 52-57

Next game is Saturday vs. Baltimore at 6:10pm CT on WGN

Lead Image Credit: David Banks // USA Today Sports Images

-On the whole tapering velocity, ‘starting out in the low-80s and ramping up’ gambit:

“He’s adding and subtracting (velocity). He’s getting them to hit the first or second pitch, and if not, he’s ahead in the count.”

-On trying to sacrifice strikeouts to go deeper into games:

“Last year, he was throwing well, getting an awful lot of strikeouts, but sometimes that would add up to six innings, and another job of a starter is to take the bulk of a game.”

-On the confidence for this new plan coming from confidence in an improved defense.

“He’s not maxing out on every pitch, every inning…Last year, our defense wasn’t that good, and he felt he had to strike more guys out.”

Sale was undeniably the most dominant pitcher in baseball for an eight-start stretch last year, but saw his performance and his team fade down the stretch. Now, he’s set about fiddling with what he can hold back from any given start or pitch to create a better final result.

If aliens descended on the city of Chicago this afternoon, and held the city and all its citizens hostage under the threat of death unless their extraterrestrial squad could be defeated in a single baseball game, I might be obligated to tap Jake Arrieta for the start; an elite talent at the peak of his physical abilities, amid a historic run of success (though he’s out of there at the first sign of trouble, I mean my God think of the stakes). But if these same violent aliens arrived and were set upon kidnapping every Chicago starter save for one that I could pick to keep on Earth and observe and appreciate, it would be Sale; the proven ace exploring the different ways he can succeed, and prodding the limits to how much or how little he can do each time.

Despite this unprecedented level of experimentation, Sale is so far surrounded by more success than he’s ever enjoyed as a White Sox starter, and has a shiny 6-0 record and a 1.66 ERA after Sunday, but probably got the first significant, negative feedback to his plan, in the form of a stubborn and unforgiving Baltimore Orioles lineup.

Sitting at a lower velocity than ever, Sale was unable to translate that into increased control, walking a season-high four, and rather than cruising deep into the game with low effort, he needed to be pulled with a runner in scoring position at 112 pitches with one out in the sixth. Rather than a relaxed outing with low effort, Sale didn’t have a single 1-2-3 inning.

Pitch f/x data may take a while to bear out that Sale was sitting lower than ever with his fastball, since so many of his high-80s offering were grouped as his changeup, which used to sit at that speed when he was at top velocity. But while sitting at lower speeds might save his arm, when does he cash in?

During April 15th’s shutout vs. the Rays when Sale was first witnessed to be prominently using his lesser fastballs, he still went to the well repeatedly to find the high-90s when needed, maxing out at over 98 mph and eclipsing 96 several times.

But on Sunday, Sale maxed out at 96 mph, and only did it once. Brooks Baseball showed Sale’s fastball, which it classified as averaging 92.3 mph, still being as effective as his typical heater, and getting whiffs on a fourth of the swings made at it. But it classified his changeup as averaging 87.6 mph and maxing it out over 90 mph, which stands in contrast from the broadcast, which thought he barely threw his change at all, and the knowledge that he’s actively tamping down his fastball. As a whole, that group had much more pedestrian results–less control, more balls in play, one whiff out of 11 swings–and combined with the loopier slurve that’s most replaced his hard slider, he frequently looked like he was going to war without his best stuff, possibly willingly, and didn’t have much weak contact to show for it.

At no time did Sale look more ordinary than his last war with Manny Machado, who in fairness makes a lot of pitchers look ordinary these days. After yielding hits in Machado’s first two trips to the plate, Sale jumped ahead 1-2, but simply couldn’t reach back and find anything with which to blow him away. Machado fouled off 96 mph (Sale’s hardest pitch of the day) up and away, and was able to track and foul a slurve in on his hands, and was able to fend off lower velocity fastballs in the zone. Machado eventually worked a walk when he wasn’t fooled by Sale’s last attempts to have him chase out of the zone.

This battle came near the end of Sale’s day, after he had already needed 77 pitches to get through the first four innings, and was looking to be economical to eke out a six-inning start, and instead pretty much sealed his fate. Maybe it’s by design to spend less time and energy trying to ace all the Manny Machados of the world, but they and tough lineups like Baltimore hold the potential to derail his plan to save his maximum effort for a later date. When they did just that Sunday, the countermove was too late arriving to change the face of the outing. Sale struck out five in the fourth and fifth innings combined, but by that time, was already ticketed for a short afternoon.

Sale critiqued his performance Sunday postgame as “erratic,” and it’s true that better execution–and a less fickle strike zone–could have made this day seem prettier and less like a paradigm shift, where Sale has to adjust to hitters no longer primed to get themselves out early, fearing the typically far worse fate that comes with deep counts against Sale. But we have seen the benefits and what can be done when Sale neglects to burn out his A+ material when it’s not needed. The next question is flexibility, and whether the strikeout king of 2015 is still available when the situation summons him.

Lead Image Credit: Evan Habeeb // USA Today Sports Images

1. The Sox torched Jimenez for a five-run fifth inning in which his control problems erupted. After Dioner Navarro and Austin Jackson led off the innings with hits, Jimenez loaded the bases by plunking Adam Eaton in the back of his shoulder. After a run apiece scored on Carlos Sanchez‘s fielder’s choice and a Jose Abreu single, Jimenez loaded the bases again by nailing Todd Frazier on the hand, inducing a brief scary moment.

Abreu was barely thrown out at home when he tried to make Melky Cabrera‘s RBI knock into a two-run single, but Jimenez still did the work of pushing Frazier to third with a wild pitch, and loaded the bases again by walking Brett Lawrie. Pushing Cabrera to second allowed for a bloop single from designated hitter Jerry Sands to plate two, giving the Sox a five-run inning with just one hard-hit ball.

Of course Lawrie punished Jimenez plenty when he launched a solo shot to center the previous inning, his third in as many games.

2. That outburst put Sale’s shaky day with his new approach into a softer focus. Despite staring down the most powerful offense he’s dealt with this season, Sale still started the game sitting as low as 87 mph with his fastball, but wasn’t showing any increased control to justify it. A fastball-heavy approach combined with a lack of top-end velocity didn’t do much to fool the likes of Manny Machado (2-for-2 with a walk against Sale), and the poor control combined with a wacky zone from home plate umpire Gerry Davis (four walks) meant Sale didn’t have a single 1-2-3 inning in five and third innings.

Sale showed some vintage fight in his later innings. He struck out Mark Trumbo with a slider that hit the right-handed DH in the knee after letting the first two runners reach in the third, and struck out five over the fourth and fifth innings. Despite the worst stuff of his year and a somewhat disconcerting lack of ability or willingness to charge up into the upper-90s, he left in the sixth without a run against him.

3. Sale would get charged with a run anyway, since he was brought back out for the sixth despite already having 107 pitches and 6-0 lead. After Chris Davis led off the frame with a single to right, Sale induced a would-be double play ball from Pedro Alvarez that Lawrie bobbled.

Jake Petricka came on to relieve and for the most part couldn’t hit a target even if he was inside of one, immediately allowed an RBI single to Nolan Reimold that got placed on Sale’s tab, hurling a two-base wild pitch and walking another. Matt Albers came on and provided a momentary fright when his inning-ending flyout to Joey Rickard was a few feet shy of a three-run homer to drag the Orioles back in it.

4. Lawrie had a huge day at the plate, reaching base all five times, with a homer, double and two walks. He and Cabrera, who also collected three hits, have matching .377 on-base percentages a day into the month of May. All told, the bottom of the White Sox order collected 11 hits, scored and drove in five runs each, and drew four walks. There must be a sort of ‘don’t fix what ain’t broke’ logic playing into not moving Cabrera or Lawrie up in the order despite their nuclear starts, and as long as that results in wins, I can only work up so much breath to complain.

5. With a day off on Monday, the White Sox closed up their east coast road trip with a 5-2 mark and finished a slate of 19 games in 19 days with a 13-6 mark and a three-game lead in the AL Central.

Team Record: 18-8

Next game is Tuesday at 7:10pm CT vs. Boston on CSN.

Lead Image Credit: Evan Habeeb // USA Today Sports Images

Chris Sale has been cruising to the best season start of his career with an array of unusual approaches; tamping down his fastball, using more of a slurve and taking things easier on himself with a pitch-to-contact approach. The question is whether he can remain as successful with that setup against an offense slugging .463 as a group, one that can punish him in the zone unlike the teams he has faced before. Sale has a 1.86 ERA, but hasn’t faced an offense that is slugging even .400 so far this year, so this will a real eye-opening test of his newfound approach.

In roster news: Avisail Garcia remains out of the lineup with his tweaked right hamstring, and might not be ready even by Tuesday, creating the uneviable situation where Jerry Sands is the full-time designated hitter, even against right-handers. David Robertson is back from bereavement leave and ready to pitch, and Carlos Sanchez is starting at shortstop, and is apparently on the roster for the time being after having survived the roster cut that Robertson’s return brought.

Ubaldo Jimenez starts for the Orioles Sunday, and is sticking close to his career 4.1 BB/9 on the year, so a patient approach could pay big dividends.

White Sox Lineup

1. Adam Eaton – RF
2. Carlos Sanchez – SS
3. Jose Abreu – 1B
4. Todd Frazier – 3B
5. Melky Cabrera – LF
6. Brett Lawrie – 2B
7. Jerry Sands – DH
8. Dioner Navarro – C
9. Austin Jackson – CF

SP – Chris Sale

Orioles Lineup

1. Joey Rickard – RF
2. Manny Machado – 3B
3. Adam Jones – CF
4. Mark Trumbo – DH
5. Chris Davis – 1B
6. J.J. Hardy – SS
7. Nolan Reimold – LF
8. Jonathan Schoop – 2B
9. Caleb Joseph – C

SP – Ubaldo Jimenez

Today’s game is a 12:35pm CT on CSN

Lead Image Credit: Dan Hamilton // USA Today Sports Images

I had previewed this game warning about the possibility of lots of home runs by the Orioles.  As if to ridicule me, the Orioles jumped out to a 1-0 lead based on a string of singles, including a bunt by Chris freaking Davis of all people.  “Fortunately,” vindication on my prediction would come, first with a Brett Lawrie solo shot, then behind an Orioles rally that included Pedro Alvarez and Jonathan Schoop going yard.

This was easily Mat Latos‘ worst outing of the year, although that’s sort of a loaded way of describing it.  He had the good sense to give up home runs when nobody was on base, but his problems missing bats stung quite a bit more against the best offense he’s faced.  It’s a miracle that Latos came out of it as well as he did, given how many baserunners he allowed.  In fact, in the third, he allowed the first two baserunners to reach and the White Sox nearly turned their second triple play on the young season.  Adam Jones grounded to Frazier who stepped on third, threw to Lawrie at second, who was unable to pull the trigger on a throw to first.  It was unlikely they would be able to throw out Jones, but Machado’s slide was extremely questionable and Ventura challenged the play.

The umpires declined to reverse the call and turn it into a triple play based on interference. Ventura was Really Mad and got himself ejected.  As this was Ventura’s first ejection of 2016, this was also our first chance to see Rick Renteria manage the team.

Over the next few innings, each team tacked on runs, eventually pushing to a 5-5 tie, when Todd Frazier smashed a two-run homer off of the extremely capable Darren O’Day.  It was a 1-2 pitch, but a mistake, and one of the beauties of having the power that Frazier does is that a single mistake can be cashed in for runs immediately.

Unfortunately, Matt Albers–bumped up to 8th Inning Duty in David Robertson‘s absence–would lose his scoreless streak at 33.1 IP thanks in part to Jose Abreu failing to scoop a throw that would have ended the inning cleanly.  Renteria brought in Zach Duke to face Chris Davis, which resulted in a two-run double and another lead for Baltimore.  The Orioles would bring in their closer, Zach Britton, who got two quick strikeouts before injuring himself while trying to nab Adam Eaton on a bunt hit.

That meant the White Sox got to try their hand at a two-out rally against Vance Worley instead of a typical late-inning reliever.  They succeeded.  Carlos Sanchez worked a walk before Jose Abreu singled on a grounder to put them ahead 8-7.  Nate Jones would lock things down for the save.

Given that the White Sox were on the road against an absurdly potent lineup with the 3-4-5 slots of their rotation, and with their closer on the bereavement list, I consider stealing one out of three games a resounding success.

Team Record: 17-8

1. It turns out it was, but “anything” always winds up encompassing too much. A stalwart at second base for most of April, Brett Lawrie nudged the fifth inning–which the Sox entered leading 1-0–off a cliff by botching a routine double play ball, allowing Adam Jones to reach third after a leadoff walk. A nice decision and play by Todd Frazier on a J.J. Hardy tapper to third trapped Jones in a rundown at home, but was immediately followed by a swinging bunt from Nolan Reimold that Frazier couldn’t find the grip to barehand, loading the bases.

It was then that Rodon got in on the sabotage, leaving a slider up that Jonathan Schoop lined for a two-run single. But he induced yet another easy double play ball to potentially end the threat, only to have Jimmy Rollins trip during the turn and fling his throw high and wide of Jose Abreu, allowing the Orioles to creep ahead 3-1. Machado lined a single to right field that looked like it might score Joey Rickard from second, but he was gunned down at home by an Adam Eaton laser beam throw.

2. A bit of the late-inning offensive heroics emerged in the sixth. Eaton worked a one-out walk off Orioles starter Mike Wright, scooted to third when Jones had trouble fielding a single from Rollins to center, and scored when Abreu fisted a single off an face-high fastball to right. A big comeback looked imminent when Frazier took a close 3-2 pitch to walk the bases loaded, but Melky Cabrera’s liner found Jones in center, who combined with Matt Wieters for a perfect peg and tag to nail Eaton at home.

Despite having their sixth-inning rally stifled, the Sox were able to square the game at 3-3 when Lawrie tomahawked a high fastball out to left in the seventh, but that would serve as the last high point.

3. Rodon returned in the seventh without any of his fastball command, and accordingly his third mistake up in the zone in a row got taken over the wall in right by Reimold for a back-breaking three-run bomb. Despite some of his most electrifying stuff of the year, Rodon finished with four earned runs to his name and a 1-3 record.

4. A booming RBI triple off the bat of Avisail Garcia to left-center in the second inning put the Sox ahead 1-0, but before we could get through one night of contemplating the return of his power, he tweaked his hamstring trying to duck a tag on the final out. Robin Ventura said he will be re-evaluated Saturday in his post-game availability.

5. Tommy Kahnle made his White Sox debut in the bottom of the eighth inning, after Daniel Webb was placed on the disabled list with elbow flexor inflammation earlier in the day. Kahnle walked two batters in an inning of work and threw just five of his 14 pitches for strikes. He will probably not be challenging for save opportunities very soon.

Team Record: 16-8

Next game is Saturday at 6:05pm CT at Baltimore on WGN

Lead Image Credit: Tommy Gilligan // USA Today Sports Images

1. It was an odd strike zone on the night, but not odd enough to justify Danks working frequently behind hitters while using maximum effort just to fling the ball in the high-80s with no life. A sharp relay from Austin Jackson and Jimmy Rollins off a booming Adam Jones double to center field saved Danks from more than a single run in the first, but the smoke-and-mirrors act fell apart in the fourth. Chris Davis took Danks deep for a two-run shot on one of the gentlest home run swings ever seen, then Mark Trumbo followed it up with one of the most violent, as all of Danks’ ability to miss bats evaporated and the Sox fell down 5-2.

In true Danks fashion, he managed to nearly take it through the sixth without another run on him, but a leadoff double by J.J. Hardy ended his evening.

2. Danks wound up getting charged with six runs on the night, because a series of unfortunate events befell reliever Jake Petricka — an error on a hard-hit grounder to Brett Lawrie and a tapped infield single in front of home plate — before Manny Machado blasted a grand slam to left-center to cap a five-run inning that put the game out of reach.

Dan Jennings and Daniel Webb both pitched in mop-up work, and the latter somehow pulled out a scoreless inning.

3. The stat line for Danks, (5 IP, 9 H, 6 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 2 HR) will not tell the story or accurately reflect what was troubling about his outing Thursday night. The stuff just wasn’t there at all. He was using an incredibly high-effort and off-balanced delivery to pipe in flat 87 mph fastballs with no real sense of location. The marvel here, and what has been the incredible thing about Danks’ past few years, is that he’s worked his way through so many games with so little in his arsenal. But he has lost another 2-3 mph on his fastball even from last year’s version of Danks and asking him to continue like this is just asking too much.

4. The White Sox took an early first inning lead Thursday night with Todd Frazier‘s sixth home run of the season; a long fly ball that just carried out to left off Orioles starter Tyler Wilson.

That was the only mark the Sox offense scratched all night, but they showed their fighting spirit in the fifth. A couple of grinding PAs from Jackson and Adam Eaton drove Wilson out of the game early after 25 pitches in the fifth, and Jose Abreu working a full count walk gave the Sox a chance to bring the go-ahead run to the plate in the presence of Frazier while they were still down just 5-2. Frazier whiffed and the rally sputtered, but it does not appear that it would have mattered anyway.

5. Abreu and Avisail Garcia both collected two hits and each drew a walk, a positive note from the two struggling behemoths in the lineup.

Team Record: 16-7

Next game is Friday at 6:07 p.m. CT at Baltimore on CSN

Lead Image Credit: Tommy Gilligan // USA Today Sports Images