The White Sox continued their Extreme Bullpen Makeover on Thursday when they acquired lefty reliever Dan Jennings from the Miami Marlins in exchange for Andre Rienzo.
Read MorePrepare yourselves for my controversial, hard-hitting analysis: The White Sox bullpen is bad and ineffective. Obviously, the past offseason they dealt heavily from this area of the roster, sending Addison Reed and Hector Santiago out to the West Coast for badly needed help in the form of position players. One of them has worked out beautifully - Adam Eaton has played good center field, provided another left-handed bat, and getting on base at a .371 clip heading into Friday night. Matt Davidson is struggling to stay above the Mendoza line in AAA. So it goes...
Read MoreBoy, this is getting fun, isn't it?
Friday's 13-3 loss at the hands of the Seattle Mariners was yet another showing — the third in recent memory — in which the White Sox's pitching woes somehow managed to overshadow the offensive dry spell that is getting more and more pathetic by day.
Read MoreJose Abreu hit his 29th home run on Saturday, a 2-run shot that would give the White Sox a lead they would not surrender on their way to victory. Abreu's blast was a laser to opposite field in the fourth inning off a Zach McAllister who had yet to give up a hit to that point. Despite a stint on the 15-day DL with an ankle injury, despite being a rookie, and despite playing through ankle injury for a while before succumbing the DL, Jose Abreu leads the majors in home runs coming into today.
Read MoreAs much as the White Sox look like a real damn team when Jose Abreu is making the field look 200-feet long and Conor Gillaspie's dinked singles are making the outfield look like an ocean, they play a real convincing last-place team when they're sleepwalking through an entire series against the Minnesota pitching staff and trying to prop up an overwhelmed starter who mysteriously spins apart in multiple trips through the order.
Read MoreHector Noesi actually looked pretty good to start the game on Saturday. He had a very clear plan the first time through the lineup, getting ahead of hitters on strike one, sitting about 92, and then attacking very aggressively once getting to two strikes, dialing it up to 94-95, going up and in on righties, and sweeping his breaking stuff everywhere. At first he only allowed a few unlucky hits on weak contact that went for no damage. Then the fourth inning was a combination of poor control by Noesi, atrocious defense (a Leury Garcia error and a Dayan Viciedo-it-wasn't-called-an-official-error-but-he-messed-up) meant the Royals would put up a 5-spot. Danny Duffy was on his game and that was far more than he would need.
Read MoreThere's a world of difference between the pedigrees and skill sets of White Sox starter Andre Rienzo and Angels starter Jered Weaver, but Friday night they could have convinced you it was just a matter of a few pitches; Weaver's get out of jail swing-and-miss offerings that Rienzo can't find, and the Rienzo's back-breaking hangers that Weaver would never throw.
Read MoreDespite being drafted nearly 24 hours ago and the Sox picking up his college catcher today, Carlos Rodon has yet to sign and slide into the starting rotation. Maybe by the end of the weekend.
In the mean time, the battery of Andre Rienzo and Adrian Nieto goes into place, represent a rare voyage outside of Nieto's partnership with John Danks. Nieto, who has allowed 12 wild pitches and three passed balls in 19 games, will get to deal with Rienzo's erratic, tumbling curveball.
Read MoreThis picture is the game. Look at this picture. You have seen the game.
It's surprising the White Sox were even in this game. They should not have been in this game. Only you the viewer, could have observed the early portions of this game, as Andre Rienzo traipsed around like a man casually smoking at a gas station, courting disaster, and had thoughts as drenched in hubris and deluded exceptionalism as to think the Sox should be competing to win this game. Really, Saturday's 4-2 loss to the Padres was a big referendum on you.
After blowing through the first innings and getting two beautiful strikeouts with a tight overhand curveball, Rienzo burnt himself out after 3.1 innings of wildness and hanging cutters, and has now effectively followed two of the most promising outings of his career with two duds that call his future of the rotation into question.
Rienzo yielded a leadoff walk to Yonder Alonso to start the second and quickly went down 1-0 when Wil Venable ripped an RBI double down the line. The lanky Brazilian looked like he had rescued himself from a big inning when he caught Venable coming home on a comebacker, but the rundown took so long that it allowed Cameron Maybin run his way back into scoring position (though he hurt himself to do so).
The first of two booming doubles Rienzo would allow to backup catcher Rene Rivera would put the Padres up 2-0 early. And when the Sox scratched a run back in the bottom half after a heroic 'RBI GIDP' from Alejandro De Aza, Rienzo responded by loading the bases with no one out to start the third. It was here, after two innings spent on the lamb, that Rienzo's curveball came back to strike out Alonso, and even an RBI single from Venable was limited in damage since Carlos Quentin--oblivious as he is powerful--was the trailing runner, and ran into the tag at home.
Because of the limited damage, the Sox were within their usual firing range despite having to go to Scott Carroll in the fourth inning, Despite May's persistent offensive struggles...
For May: The White Sox offense is 13th in the AL in runs and leads all of baseball with a 24.6% strikeout rate
— The Catbird Seat (@TheCatbird_Seat) May 31, 2014
...the opportunities were there for an absurd comeback and triumph over poor starting pitching, there just wasn't the big hit to make much of it hurt. De Aza burned alive the second inning rally for one run. Adam Dunn stranded two in the first amid an 0-4, 3K day. Dayan Viciedo, who had two hits and drove in the Sox other run with a double in the fifth, first-pitch hacked all day, including an inning-ending double play with two on in the third, right after Conor Gillaspie had worked his second walk of the day.
They stranded a runner in scoring position on an effectively wild starter Tyson Ross in the fourth and fifth as well, before going to sleep again for the second-straight day against the Padres bullpen. San Diego trotted out the same trio of Nick Vincent, Joaquin Benoit and Huston Street from Friday night, and a two-out walk from Street was the only baserunner they allowed. Each guy even finished his inning with 13 pitches each.
Carroll could be commended for doing his job and keeping some illusion. He filled in 3.2 innings and only allowed a single run despite three walks. However, that run came right after the Sox drew within a run again in the bottom of the fifth. Shutdown innings are aesthetic illusions, but since the Sox didn't have anything actually going, some aesthetics and more false hope would have been nice.
Team Record: 28-29
Next Game: Tomorrow at 1:10 p.m. CT vs. San Diego on CSN Chicago
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As the White Sox had finally reached the lofty height of one game over .500, it was inevitable that they would have to lose last night. After all, they haven't been two games over .500 since April 15th, why should they start now? On the optimistic side, it's impressive that they've managed to survive at a .500 clip given that they have been without the services of their best reliever all season, their best starter for most of the season, and now arguably without their best hitter for a few weeks. Today they face off against Tyson Ross, who has salvaged his career in San Diego.
Read MoreAndre Rienzo has had worse starts than the outing he put together in Sunday's 7-1 loss to the Yankees, but the numbers might not necessarily show it.
Read MoreThe man to carry the Sox to this mystical lead against Masahiro Tanaka is Andre Rienzo, who seems to have flown under the radar. He's both been surprisingly bad to not be discussed: roughly a 1.5 K/BB ratio, six home runs in 36 innings, ~40% groundball rate while averaging under six innings per start. And he's been surprisingly successful: the White Sox have won all seven games he's appeared in. He's magic. He's Rick Helling. This game is a mortal lock because of his mere presence
Read MorePitching, hitting and defense—the White Sox did just enough of all three to beat the Royals 7-6 for their second-straight victory over their divisional foes.
Offensively, the top of the order consistently got on base, as Gordon Beckham and Conor Gillaspie collected a combined six hits and scored four runs. Each of them scored on Adam Dunn’s three-run home run in the eighth inning, which extended the White Sox lead at the time to 7-2.
Andre Rienzo had a quality start, allowing only two earned runs on five hits in six innings. Rienzo also struck out eight, while walking just two Royals hitters. The outing brought Rienzo’s season ERA down to 4.00 and raised his record to an unblemished 4-0.
Young phenom Yordano Ventura pitched for the Royals and the four earned runs he gave up over six innings matches his season-high. Ventura allowed seven hits, while only striking three White Sox hitters.
“Fresh” off a two-inning appearance last night, Zach Putnam pitched out of a jam in the eighth inning to help preserve a two-run lead going into the ninth inning.
Putnam was helped out on a spectacular defensive play from Alexei Ramirez, who robbed Norichika Aoki of an RBI single. Ramirez threw out Aoki from his knees on a ground ball in the hole.
The dramatic anticipation of who would be the White Sox closer after Matt Lindstrom was placed on the 15-day disabled list lasted only one night as Ronald Belisario struck out Lorenzo Cain with the tying run on second base to preserve the one-run victory.
The White Sox go for the sweep tomorrow and a chance to return to breakeven on the season when Jose Quintana opposes Jeremy Guthrie at 7:10 PM.
Last night was a rare occurrence. The starter gave up 6 runs in just 4 innings of work and somehow the team emerged victorious. Help from the opposing pitcher is necessary for this of course. Tonight that help is unlikely to come. Royals fans have come to look forward to Yordano Ventura outings much the same as White Sox fans do with Chris Sale. They don’t win every time he steps out but there’s always strikeouts. Lots of strikeouts.
Read MoreAbreu hit a bomb, so who cares about war?
The White Sox are a messy team, besot with injuries, cycling through bad contracts they'd clearly just as soon dump if given the right opportunity, and finding just...dudes to pitch their games these days. And Jose Abreu is a messy player--big and hulking, clumsy at first base and prone to big, waving strikeouts--but with such a pure and overwhelming power stroke that everything gets wiped away and made to be the foreshadowing and the denouement of his big moment.
Read MoreThe White Sox's personal House of Horrors has proved to be just that as they have dropped the first two of a three-game series against the Oakland Athletics, last night by a miserable 11-0 margin.
Or, ya know, the A's are just a much better team than the White Sox.
Either way, the White Sox will look to salvage the series finale and snap a four-game losing streak with Wednesday's afternoon tilt at O.co Coliseum.
Read MoreThe White Sox went 4-3 this week. This is my first week in review, but I imagine each has had the Sox go 4-3, or 3-4, or 3-3, or maybe 2-4, but quickly followed by a 4-3. They haven't been more than a game over .500 since Tax Day. Their longest winning streak ended this week at four games. It immediately followed a four-game losing streak. If they weren't coming off a 63-99 season, they might be the most frustrating team in the world.
Read MoreAs it turns out, all the White Sox needed to break out of their offensive "slump" was a visit from old friend Brandon McCarthy and the worst-record-in-baseball Arizona Diamondbacks as the White Sox used a big fourth inning to cruise to a 9-3 victory Friday night at U.S. Cellular Field.
Read MoreDo you remember Brandon McCarthy?
You probably do, as if you're on this website and reading this article you're probably pretty well-educated about recent White Sox history. But in case you're not, here's a little refresher on the pitcher the White Sox will face when they open up a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks Friday night at U.S. Cellular Field.
Read MoreWhen the White Sox agreed to bring back Paul Konerko on a "last hurrah" contract for 2014, one had to wonder how the roster would fare with three DH/1B types on the roster in Konerko, Adam Dunn and Jose Abreu. (Well, four if you count Dayan Viciedo).
Early-season injuries to Avisail Garcia, Conor Gillaspie and, now, Adam Eaton made that a conundrum earlier than most expected, and when the White Sox played their fourth of 10 games in National League parks Monday against the Cubs, the issue was further magnified.
Read MoreThe Catbird Seat is a White Sox blog by White Sox fans that focuses on intelligent and humorous baseball commentary. Brought to you by ESPN's SweetSpot Network.
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