White Sox falling on tough times
The Chicago White Sox got off to a great start in the 2016 Major League Baseball regular season, causing some to talk about the notion of an all-Chicago World Series. Nobody is talking like that at the moment.
After racing out to a 24-16 start to the season, the White Sox are only 3-7 in their last 10 games and have lost five straight, including two horrific contests to the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium this weekend. On Friday, Chicago had a 5-2 lead in the seventh inning before watching the bullpen have a meltdown. On Saturday, Chicago had a 7-1 advantage going into the ninth inning, only to allow an unfathomable seven runs in the bottom half of the frame.
After beginning the campaign looking like an unstoppable locomotive, the White Sox have seen wrenches get thrown into their machine. Chicago has fallen to third place in the America League Central, trailing both the Cleveland Indians and Royals.
So what has gone wrong? In April and the early portion of May, the White Sox were getting incredible performances from a trio of starting pitchers in Chris Sale, Jose Quintana and Mat Latos. Recently, while Quintana and Sale have maintained their excellence, Latos has fallen off. In May, Latos has allowed 17 earned runs in 21.2 innings, forcing his ERA to balloon north of 4.00.
Another issue has been fourth starter Carlos Rodon, who also has the unsightly ERA of 4.24. Rodon has thrown quality starts in each of his last three appearances, although he has never reached a full seven innings, leaving a battered bullpen to finish the job.
However, the largest culprit has been the bullpen in recent times. Closer David Robertson has been excellent throughout most of the season but was the reason for Saturday’s meltdown, giving up six earned runs in two-thirds in of inning. The other options in front of Robertson have been spotty as well with Mat Albers and Zach Duke struggling to put hitters away.
The White Sox aren’t getting any relief soon from the schedule. After finishing this series in Kansas City, Chicago goes to Citi Field for an interleague matchup against the New York Mets. The trip concludes with three games at Comerica Park against the Detroit Tigers, but the following homestand features the Washington Nationals, Royals and Tigers.
The next time Chicago faces a team with a losing record, it is the June 28-30 series at home against the Minnesota Twins.
If anything can be a positive, the White Sox are buoyed by having had such a good start. While the last few weeks have been terrible, they sit only a half-game out of first place in the Central.
The question facing this group is simple. Which version are the real White Sox?
