1. Shields struck out two in a perfect first inning, which is pretty amazing considering how far things still managed to go south before the end of the fifth inning. By the time he was walking ninth hitter Max Muncy with the bases loaded in the second, it was clear Shields had not suddenly happened upon newfound command. For emphasis, Khris Davis bombed a flat changeup four miles out to left in the third to put the A’s up 3-0, and Shields made up for the lost time of a scoreless fourth by giving up two homerss in the fifth. One came on a hanging curveball to Stephen Vogt, and a two-run shot on another bad change to Yonder Alonso, a formerly lauded first baseman prospect whose career prospects on dimmed due to his failure to…produce power. So at the least it was 375-feet of irony, or just a particularly bad changeup.

2. Tim Anderson lazily hucking a low throw that Jose Abreu couldn’t pick, nor find, after it kicked 20 feet behind him, was finally what wound up chasing Shields as the Sox fell behind 7-0 in the fifth. It was not actually his fault that this play allowed Marcus Semien to advance two bases and score, but then, why should he really be allowed to escape this?

3. An undersold element of this whole affair is that the White Sox had no chance Friday night even if 1999 Pedro Martinez and Keith Foulke were pitching in a tandem, because they got two-hit by Kendall Graveman in 98 pitches. There wasn’t even anything notable that happened–it’s Kendall Graveman! He had a 5.82 ERA for the month with nine strikeouts in 17 innings coming in, because he’s mid-tier strike-thrower with mediocre stuff. Even on the night of his life, Graveman struck out just five, and the Sox just made a bunch of weak outs.

4. Abreu lined a solid single to center in the second inning, Adam Eaton singled to center himself in the seventh. Both were immediately wiped off the bases by double plays. Justin Morneau, who reached on an error in the eighth inning, was stranded on first, making him the Sox most successful baserunner, and also the only reason Graveman didn’t face the minimum

That was it, unless we want to get into more granular analysis of individual groundouts.

5. There are 41 more games left, which doesn’t seem like it will be very useful.

Team Record: 57-64

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

Lead Image Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski // USA Today Sports Images

Although no single game is dispositive of anything when it comes to baseball, Mat Latos presents as a much less known commodity to White Sox fans than the three starters who have gone thus far.  Latos presents a wide range of possibilities, given his once-glittering track record contrasted against his recent struggles with health and effectiveness.  His Spring Training starts were not exactly reassuring, but then again, that could be explained by the oddities of Spring Training, but could also be consistent with him being cooked.  The acquisition of Miguel Gonzalez was definitely a prudent one, but it may also be interpreted as a lack of confidence in Latos.  If Latos can, in fact, be a solid fourth starter that would be a significant boon to the season.  If not, they’re going to have to identify it as quickly as possible and start moving on to other options before it does lasting harm.

So, if Latos can go out and at least look effective, even if the results aren’t there today, it could go a long way towards his continued presence.

Oakland counters with Kendall Graveman.  I discussed him with David Wiers on the preview podcast, but if you did not have a chance to listen, he has a back-end starter’s arsenal, and therefore relies on command in order to muddle through.  Whether or not he has that command today remains to be seen.

White Sox Lineup

1. Adam Eaton – CF

2. Melky Cabrera – DH

3. Jose Abreu – 1B

4.Todd Frazier – 3B

5. Avisail Garcia – RF

6. J.B. Shuck – LF

7. Brett Lawrie – 2B

8. Dioner Navarro – C

9. Tyler Saladino – SS

Athletics Lineup

1. Billy Burns – CF

2. Jed Lowrie – DH

3. Josh Reddick – RF

4. Danny Valencia – 3B

5. Stephen Vogt – C

6. Chris Coghlan – 2B

7. Yonder Alonso – 1B

8. Marcus Semien – SS

9. Coco Crisp – LF

Given that this is Oakland’s first look at a right-handed starting pitcher, Melvin is able to deploy his full complement of lefty bats.

Ventura is making some rather significant tweaks to the lineup, although most of those tweaks can be attributed to “day game after a night game” and “Saladino and Shuck need to get reps at some point.” I’m glad to see that he is looking for opportunities to give Alex Avila rest as opposed to simply operating on a strict platoon.  Similarly, Jimmy Rollins gets the day off, which seems advisable given his age.

Avisail Garcia has looked horrid through the first three games, and now he has an opportunity to do more damage in the field.  One hopes that the boost to the outfield defense provided by J.B. Shuck will offset the weaker configuration of benching Austin Jackson (who has gotten off to a strong start) and replacing his glove with Avisail’s.  Latos isn’t exactly getting the best defense behind him, but Saladino should also be an upgrade on Rollins in that respect.

Lead Photo Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports