By Roger Wallenstein

We love underdogs. Especially when they’re right in our backyard on the South Side. Watching the White Sox, the American League’s worst team, sweep the league’s top ballclub, the Houston Astros, in three games last week was a welcome antidote for the losses that have been piling up in near-record fashion.
Houston invaded with a 71-40 record, while Rick Renteria’s outfit crawled along at 41-68. Only the Phillies and Giants have performed worse than the Sox this season. Nevertheless, the Sox won all three games with a combination of timely hitting, improved defense, and strong starting pitching, a commodity lacking in availability this season.

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Posted on August 14, 2017

By Roger Wallenstein

Kids really do have it tough these days. Much tougher than we had it.
All we had to do was memorize batting averages, RBIs, home runs, pitching won-loss records and ERAs. If anyone wanted to know what Nellie Fox was hitting, we could immediately answer. Was Maris going to break Ruth’s record? We had the up-to-the-minute information. Was it possible that Denny McLain could win 30 games? We were the guys to ask.
The kids I hung out with, for the most part, struggled with the Periodic Table, but we sure knew how close Ted Williams was to .400.
Pity the youngsters of today. They are deluged with Batting Average on Balls in Play (BABIP), slash lines, Rbat (runs batting), Rfield (runs from fielding), and WHIP. We thought WAR meant the Russians were going to nuke us. Kids today ponder the real meaning of WAR: wins above replacement.
Baseball has always been a statistical smorgasbord, but the sabermetricians have gone slightly nuts.

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Posted on August 7, 2017

By Roger Wallenstein

It’s been 11 games now, and the kid has just four hits. He’s hitting .111. Of 36 official at-bats, he’s trudged back to the dugout 15 times having struck out.
Nevertheless there have been highlights, such as a line drive home run to centerfield off Jake Arrieta last Wednesday. And the two sensational plays on consecutive batters and pitches in Saturday’s 5-4 loss to Cleveland were the finest plays by a Sox second baseman since the famous Tadahito Iguchi gem back in April of 2006. In fact, he’s handled all 49 chances in the field without a flaw.
But Yoan Moncada was brought here to hit, and so far that hasn’t happened. However, history, along with his immense talent, dictates that it’s just a matter of time.

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Posted on July 31, 2017

By Roger Wallenstein

Goodbye, David Robertson. So long, Todd Frazier. See ya, Tommy Kahnle. (Was it Con-lee or Cain-lee; I was never quite certain.) We hardly knew ye.
Paul Konerko played 16 years for the White Sox. So did Frank Thomas. Mark Buehrle pitched on the South Side for 12 years. Now that Chris Sale (seven seasons) and Jose Quintana (5½) have departed, Avisail Garcia enjoys the greatest longevity as a member of the White Sox, having made his Sox debut on Aug. 9, 2013. Times change.

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Posted on July 24, 2017

By Roger Wallenstein

Your attention! Your attention, please. Have your pencils and scorecards ready for today’s 2020 starting lineup. Let’s glance into the future by looking at a hypothetical cast of White Sox and how they’re performing today.
In center field, we have Luis Robert. Playing in the Dominican Summer League, the soon-to-be 20-year-old Cuban prospect, who signed in May with the Sox for an astounding $26 million, is slashing .255/.479/.872. He’s hit one homer, but more importantly, the kid has walked 17 times while striking out just 14. MLB Pipeline says, “[Robert] pairs electrifying bat speed that should translate into considerable power with well above-average speed.”

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Posted on July 17, 2017

By Roger Wallenstein

We’ve been forewarned. There are no guarantees. Prepare for loss upon loss. However, somewhere out there on the far horizon, like, say, 2019, there is reason for optimism. Simply witness what occurred on the other side of town.
So goes the preparation for fans of a ballclub in the midst of a rebuilding plan. Just be patient. Don’t panic. Please do not become upset, and, above all else, keep the faith.
But this is not pleasant nor painless. Not when our White Sox are no-hit Sunday until Melky Cabrera’s one-out single in the ninth inning en route to an embarrassing 10-0 loss to the Rockies in the thin air of Denver. Not when the Rox thump the Sox 12-4 on Friday, thrashing the eminently hittable Derek Holland in the first two innings as Colorado assumed command at 6-1.
If you tuned in late last Wednesday, the Sox already were behind Oakland 6-0 after four innings as journeyman Mike Pelfrey continued to serve up cookies. The Sox lost that one 7-4.
This season’s edition of the White Sox carries a “never quit” tag, but the bottom line is that they’ve come up short far more often because of a lack of talent and young players who are still developing.
Heading into this week’s All-Star Game break, Ricky Renteria’s outfit occupies last place in the Central Division of the American League with a 38-49 record.

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Posted on July 10, 2017

By Roger Wallenstein

As much as anything else, baseball is a game of rituals, and the White Sox practiced one on two occasions last week.
I’m talking about the Art of the Walk-Off.

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Posted on July 3, 2017

By Roger Wallenstein

This will be mostly about numbers. If you’re looking for solace and comfort after the weekend sweep by the A’s, whose road record was 9-25 prior to arriving in town, you won’t find it here. The warm, fuzzy words about Mark Buehrle, whose number 56 was retired on Saturday, can be appreciated elsewhere.
No, this will be more about the methods employed last Tuesday when the Sox knocked out 16 hits, including eight for extra bases, in a 9-7 loss to the Twins in Minneapolis. Rick Renteria’s outfit also collected four walks while Twins’ starter Ervin Santana, who entered the game with a 2.56 ERA, contributed an error, giving the Sox 21 baserunners.
Even though Sox pitching wasn’t exactly stellar, you’d think that a team that is 10th in batting with a .261 mark could plate more than seven runs while stranding 14 potential tallies.
But this is the ballclub we’re stuck with. Hawk Harrelson says a bunch of silly stuff, but, “Don’t tell me what you hit, tell me when you hit it,” is something worth investigating with this season’s edition of Chicago’s American League ballclub.

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Posted on June 26, 2017

By Roger Wallenstein

“We work harder when we have something to prove.”
So writes L. Jon Wertheim in a neat little book, This Is Your Brain on Sports, his second anthology where the Sports Illustrated editor teams up with a psychologist – in this case Sam Sommers of Tufts – to investigate certain aspects of the games we watch such as home field advantage and the appeal of the underdog. It’s entertaining stuff.
Sox pitcher Mike Pelfrey is a good example of the above declaration which Wertheim included in a chapter about the tendency of athletes – regardless of their fame, talent, or ability – to feel disrespected. Many times it’s the thin-skinned superstars who moan and groan, especially when they lose.

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Posted on June 19, 2017

By Roger Wallenstein

Back on May 17, a post on the White Sox website claimed, “White Sox Creating Winning Culture In Minors.”
But the question is, “Can you create a winning culture by losing?”

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Posted on June 12, 2017