So they're playing a game without fans

I thought it would be hard for the White Sox to play a game against the Orioles amid soul-shaking unrest in Baltimore that didn't seem ghoulishly out of place, but a rushed Wednesday day game closed to the public--the first of its kind in any recorded MLB history--is just the kind of surreal that can slide along with the rest of this week in the Charm City.

Excluding the fans seems at its core, self-defeating (what is a ball game without the fans?) but also speaks to how far we've moved beyond the simple setup of putting on show to draw people through the turnstiles, to the more adult concerns of churning through a marathon schedule, fulfilling TV contract obligations, and getting to the next town. They don't need gate receipts to fill out the bills every month. They certainly don't need to win over the hearts of an aggrieved and distracted Baltimore populace to complete the needs of their trip.

It's still a bizarre fix. The Orioles' relations with the Washington Nationals are reportedly acrimonious enough that they never even inquired about playing in DC. A doubleheader a month from Tuesday will fill out the rest of the series, they just have to play one game on the edge of the void before going back to business as usual.

We've been staring at games developed for public presentation for so long, it will be fascinating to see what elements are stripped away at the first opportunity. Walk-up songs and fireworks seem like the obvious things that will be scrapped for the day, but how much more subdued do players become without the energy and attention of a live audience? How does communication geared around secretively passing instructions amid crowd noise change? Does it at all? How many other ceremonial items like this will they cling to for normalcy?

#Orioles WILL have a national anthem at Camden Yards today. Not clear if it will be a live performance or recording. @FOXSports @FoxNews

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) April 29, 2015

Lurid curiosity is definitely ruling the day, since Morosi is also reporting that the Orioles have received more credential requests than they have spots. Also Morosi, a national reporter, is there, which is telling enough for a game between two slow-starting ballclubs. Because of this, a game that offers the possibility of being jarringly intimate--manager-umpire fights audible, players being able to hear announcers, cracks of the bat echoing through the park like gunshots--will also be a media circus, with everyone getting blitzed with questions about how weird it was, a self-fulfilling line of inquiry since this will also be the most covered game of the season for both teams. 

Hawk is a element. He repeatedly and firmly endorsed the conduct of the Chicago Police during the NATO protests a few years back--something far less relevant to current protests and riots to the proceedings he was being paid to observe at the time --and it's not hard to map out his reaction to the events of the past week from there. It would stand to reason that he would be approached about how to handle such a sensitive and widely-monitored broadcast, but this is the same guy who bragged in a recent profile about how he wants to remain unbowed from the type of instincts that lead him to physically confront members of opposing teams for on-field conduct. There's an element of dread to imagining what he might say or prescription he would offer, which is the most normal thing about this game.

Mostly, MLB is ill-equipped to develop an appropriate response to this situation. They're the wrong organization to put together any kind of cogent statement about the elements at play here, and the teams, coaches and players involved are at best going to seem underinformed and uninvested in their surroundings if questioned on them. Even the journalists present are being yanked out of their element. Things will be better when MLB and the White Sox get the hell out of Baltimore. At least they seem to be expediting the process.

Baltimore doesn't need baseball right now

The White Sox could just leave town. It wouldn't be a bad move.

This doesn't have anything to do with any concerns with the security of the team; easily some of the most well-protected individuals in the city at the moment, or even much to do with the area around Camden Yards, largely reported to be isolated from the unrest that's gripped Baltimore. There's just no easy way to try to cram in your mid-April baseball game amid historic protests, and  riots, against city police. 

Baseball can and has provided a necessary and therapeutic return to normalcy after trying times, but that's not where Baltimore is at. Securing a stadium half-full of transplants from the suburbs won't quell the frustration of a part of the city that feels so detached and disenfranchised they've taken their rage out on their surroundings. Moreover, with curfews and school closings being issued from the city, bending restrictions to make sure a nine-figure independent company can do business could be seen as a shade, or worse, too much of a reinforcement of suspicion of the city's true priorities.

Speaking of telling, the ideas floating around to play the game out of town, would quietly escort this series from the fray, but would also further demonstrate how detached from their surroundings the Orioles really are. They wear Baltimore on their chest and profit off the marketability of regionalism, then flee the region when the imagery of Baltimore stops being business-friendly. Really, no major sports' franchise's relationship with their city looks perfect when scrutinized, and crisis brings scrutiny.

The proposed happy alternative: an early starting time in accordance with impromptu city curfews.

No more White Sox-Orioles updates tonight. Game time for Tuesday to be decided in the morning. Expect an earlier start w/ 10 pm curfew.

— Doug Padilla (@ESPNChiSox) April 28, 2015

The only trouble with this being that it calls for a rapid transition from Monday, and, well...

We are receiving reports of criminals throwing cinder blocks at passing fire engines as they are responding to fires on Fulton Ave.

— Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) April 28, 2015

The Orioles and White Sox have played in front of enough empty houses to know sports persist without the whole city being at leisure and ready to receive them. If the Sox held off on playing in every major city stirring in the wake of contested police killing, they might not crack 50 games played this year, but if MLB continues to be cautious here, if they put aside banal concerns of late-seasons schedule crunches and travel headaches to let a shocking crest in the building tide of unrest and scrutiny over police use of force, recede and heal...it wouldn't be wrong. It wouldn't be bad.

White Sox Promote Carlos Rodon

The White Sox have promoted top LHP prospect Carlos Rodon, according to Ken Rosenthal, who says he will initially work out of the bullpen. Rodon, who was MLB.com's 15th best prospect in baseball, will join presumably the White Sox Monday.

Though Rodon will initially work out of the bullpen, one would think (and hope) that is not a permanent move. Given how both John Danks and Hector Noesi have pitched this year, Rodon would seemingly be a current upgrade to the MLB rotation.

Rodon last pitched for AAA Charlotte on Thursday, giving up 3 earned runs in 5 IP with 4 Ks and 2 BB. He (presumably) finishes his minor league career with a ungodly 13.1 K/9 rate. 

Rodon's premium stuff presumably profiles as near unhittable in one inning bursts. Paired with Zach Duke in a setting up David Robertson, there could be plenty of strikeouts at the end of games on the South Side.