1. Logan Forsythe – 2B

2. Brandon Guyer – RF

3. Evan Longoria – 3B

4. Steve Pearce – 1B

5. Desmond Jennings – LF

6. Logan Morrison – DH

7. Curt Casali – C

8. Kevin Kiermaier – CF

9. Brad Miller -SS

Given the normal day-game-after-a-night-game substitutions, we also get to see Tyler Saladino and Dioner Navarro fortuitously aligned with their platoon advantages.  And with Jimmy Rollins getting a day off, we also get to see new configurations of the lineup without the ancient shortstop etched in stone at the two-spot.  When Adam Eaton was off becoming a new dad, Austin Jackson was Robin Ventura’s choice to lead off, and so with Melky Cabrera resting as well, he slides back up to the top of the order.  Jackson has looked better than his results so far this year, reflected in his just-missed home run in Cleveland, several line drives to the warning track in brutally cold weather, and in his .240 BABIP to date.

It is also reassuring to see Ventura leaping on one of the rare occasions to deploy Jerry Sands against a LHP.  Given how few non-White Sox lefties there are in the AL at the moment, Sands should play 100% of the time when they come up to justify his existence on the roster.  They need all the help they can get on offense, as they have only been averaging 3.36 runs per game thus far.  Granted, two of their three losses have come on days where John Danks got absolutely shelled, and even if they had scored four or five runs they would still have lost.  However, the new catching duo is a combined 4/38 on the year with two walks and no extra-base hits, and Todd Frazier has stumbled out of the gate as well.  The offense was terrible last year, and while in a tiny sample the defense has been massively better in 2016 (currently 2nd in MLB with a superlative PADE of 7.32, up from 27th in 2015), the new-look lineup hasn’t been much better at all.