Home no help for White Sox
Talk before the White Sox' home opener Friday was about patience after an 0-3 start in Kansas City.
Manager Robin Ventura said he learned all about patience "when you don't get a hit in 41 at-bats," such as he did early in his career as a Sox third baseman.
General manager Rick Hahn noted that the 0-3 looked worse than it was because it came at the beginning of the year.
"It lends to people extrapolating out trends or themes which frankly are very likely not there," Hahn said. "I know you have to go back to 2014 to find the last playoff team who started off 0-3. Our plan is to turn the page and start a winning streak of our own today."
Instead, the same-old, same-old streak continued in an uninspired 6-0 loss to the Minnesota Twins, who also entered U.S. Cellular Field with an 0-3 record.
Afterward, the talk in the White Sox' locker room was about not panicking.
"There's no panic, I promise you, in this clubhouse," said Gordon Beckham, who played third base Friday. "We've got a good team. We know it. We've just got to put it together one day."
The 0-4 start is the first for the White Sox since 1995. That team also was supposed to be good, but it ended up getting manager Gene Lamont fired early in the season.
The Sox on Friday were completely shut down by Twins lefty Tommy Milone. Micah Johnson bunted for a single off Milone to lead off the third, but that was it until Tyler Flowers doubled with two outs in the eighth, ending Milone's day.
In the ninth, Adam Eaton led off with a double and moved to third on a groundout. But he was thrown out at the plate on a popup caught going away from the plate by shortstop Eduardo Escobar in short left field.
"That's where you're forcing it," Ventura said. "Just play the game. Let the game come to you."
Ventura is holding out hope that if and when Sox players overcome this poor start they'll be better off for it.
"We haven't done a whole lot well, pitching wise, today with the hitting," he said. "You just get a sense guys are trying to hit a 5-run homer with one guy on. In the end, you're going to be better off when you go through this, but these guys got to fight through it.
"It's tough when it's at the beginning of a season like this, but you have to see your way through it and see the light at the end of the tunnel. At the end, you're going to be better off for it. Nobody likes going through it."
The Sox have yet to get much from their starting pitchers, either. Hector Noesi plodded through the early going, giving up a run in the first inning and leaving the bases loaded. He also left the bags loaded in the second.
The Twins finally chased him in the fifth, when they scored once more, but once again, they stranded three. Noesi lasted 4⅔ innings, giving up 4 hits and 2 runs while throwing 110 pitches.
"At the beginning of the game I was feeling really comfortable, but I tried to go out there and do what I can for the team to get a win," he said. "I don't feel pressure knowing it's early in the season and we're going to get it some point."
The Twins got 1 in the sixth and 3 in the ninth, but by that time, most in the sellout crowd of 38,533 had gone home, and those who stayed let the Sox hear it.
"There's a lot of good on this team, a lot of positive things we have here in this clubhouse," Beckham said. "Maybe people don't see, and haven't seen the first four games. We've got guys who can do it. They've done it before. They'll do it again. We'll show up every day and keep grinding."