White Sox look bad in lopsided loss to Twins
As the Twins were circling the bases and scoring 7 runs in the third inning against ace starter Chris Sale and the White Sox on Thursday night at Target Field, TV broadcaster Ken "Hawk" Harrelson offered this observation: "A good baseball team that's playing bad baseball."
As the first month of the season came to a close, there is little doubt the Sox are playing bad baseball. Their lopsided 12-2 loss to Minnesota dropped the White Sox' record to 8-11, and heading into May they trail the first-place Royals by 5½ games in the AL Central.
That leads to the obvious question: Are the Sox a good baseball team?
So far, the answer is no.
The bullpen is good, thanks to the additions of newcomers David Robertson, Zach Duke and Dan Jennings.
Before allowing 9 runs (8 earned) on 9 hits and 2 walks against the Twins, Sale was predictably good in his first 3 starts of the season.
Jose Abreu is off to another good start with the bat, and Avisail Garcia, Melky Cabrera and rookie Micah Johnson carried their offensive weight in April.
But overall the Sox' offense had a bad opening month.
While they were limited to 19 games with two games being postponed at Baltimore due to rioting and one being rained out, the White Sox entered the four-game series at Minnesota ranked last in the league with 62 runs scored, a .289 on-base percentage and 41 walks while batting .236.
The Sox did get 12 hits off Twins starter Trevor May and three relievers Thursday, but they managed just 2 runs in the third inning.
Individually, new designated hitter Adam LaRoche is batting .191, Adam Eaton .192, Conor Gillaspie .196, Alexei Ramirez .209 and Tyler Flowers .214. Looking at those numbers, you can argue the White Sox are fortunate to be 8-11.
Eaton was so frustrated after the loss to Minnesota, he shaved his beard.
"That guy (stunk)," Eaton told reporters. "I've got to get rid of him."
Throw in more sloppy defense and baserunning, which were staples of two really bad Sox teams in 2013-14, and it's easy to understand why fans already are angry and calling for manager Robin Ventura's job.
There still are five months to play in a very long season and there is plenty of time to turn things around.
The White Sox might want to check the calendar and start playing with more focus.
"It just has to be better," Ventura said. "We have to clean it up. Both sides of the ball have to be good. Offensively, you saw a better thing today, but defensively there wasn't really much there."