TCS Morning 10: Say, those WERE a lot of Rodon strikeouts

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Carlos Rodon split the plate with the first fastball he threw to Delino DeShields, and after getting taken into the gap for a leadoff double, he looked lost missing badly with fastballs and walking Shin-Soo Choo.

And then just like Chris Sale the night before, Rodon snapped into place. Or it's better said, his slider took control of the game. The only run he allowed all night came that same inning, when he completely overwhelmed Prince Fielder, only for that brilliant hitter to poke an off balance seeing-eye single through on him. No one else fared better. Rodon's slider filleted everyone, overwhelming a lefty-centered lineup, covering up his walks, putting away hitters who fell behind, enticing swings from hitters who were ahead and had to know the slider was coming. He recorded 10 of his first 15 outs via strikeout, and braved six outstanding innings with two pitches, and really only one pitch worth worrying about.

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TCS Morning 10: Back to feeling awful about Samardzija, Sox again

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It would have been nice to realize while it was happening that May was Samardzija's hot stretch of command. Instead, I didn't realize until his last two starts that he was beginning to look as advertised, and now he's pounding the zone with mistakes on the upper half again and getting pounded in return. Samardzija was annihilated for nine runs on 12 hits in five-plus innings in Tuesday night's 15-2 demolition in Arlington, but probably could have taken the game into the seventh if they wanted to stretch his pitch count. He was so efficient at pounding the zone with pitches to drive, floating every cutter and slider over the center of the plate, that he still was on 95 pitches despite facing 28 batters on the night. 

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TCS Morning 10: On to Texas

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The cruelest mockery: The Rangers will mark the arrival of the White Sox in Texas by calling up the type of fearsome, high-ceiling, top-10 offensive prospect that the Sox have been unable to generate in over a decade. Joey Gallo will reportedly be called up to the big club on Tuesday, straight from Double-A.

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TCS Morning 10 is a work-in-progress

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What the hell got into John Danks? What got into the White Sox in general? How have the Astros been winning? Danks' shutout was very him; a combination of his best control, consistent contact but avoiding the huge, deflating bomb, and a definitively weird event that kept his tab empty. In another world, Jonathan Villar's triple-that-wasn't-quite-an-inside-the-park-home-run is a lineout to center that Adam Eaton reads correctly, but let he who has not allowed the speeding bullet over his outfielder's head cast the first stone.

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TCS Afternoon 10: Oh yeah, Chris Sale exists

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Not to be even momentarily outshined in the rotation by Jeff Samardzija, Chris Sale overcame a dreadful history against the Baltimore Orioles (who came in the game hitting .352/.436/.614 off Sale for his career) for his finest outing of the year, striking out 12 O's over 7.2 shutout innings. His now 3.66 ERA is only barely better than average (108 ERA+) which reiterates what we addressed with Samardzija yesterday: even if the putrid White Sox offense is possibly an overwhelming yoke for this team to bear, they should start getting more of their fair share of extremely low-difficulty games handed to them by the top-half of their rotation.

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TCS Morning 10: A Smardj shall lead them

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With all his early struggles, it's hard to conceive of Jeff Samardzija being the model of relative stability in the White Sox rotation, since he comes off as someone just kinda crossfire flinging the ball in the general direction of the plate on his best days, but seven innings of one-run ball in Toronto Wednesday was his fourth start of the month where he went at least that deep into the game, and all of those outings were quality.

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