Poor execution continues to cost White Sox
The White Sox's stumble to the finish line continued on Tuesday.
It's just a matter of time before they clinch the AL Central, but the Sox are going to have to regroup in a hurry if they hope to make a deep run when the playoffs open.
While they've had to deal with one injury issue after another, that's not the only reason the Sox are 31-31 since the all-star break after losing to the Tigers 5-3 Tuesday afternoon at Comerica Park.
Coupled with Cleveland's 4-1 win over Kansas City, the White Sox's magic number remains stuck at 2.
"The wins and losses and results are a result of how well you play or didn't play," manager Tony La Russa said after the Sox lost their second straight game at Detroit. "We've been treading water for a while, we've been a .500 club. It'd be worse if we had nothing going for us. I think the right way to handle it is to figure out that we had to win at a higher percentage than we've been winning. Is it defense? Is it pitching at times? Is it the offense?
"It all starts with being ready to compete. Today in the dugout, it was alive the whole time. But then you've got to translate it. You play hard, then you've got to play well. If it was all about playing hard, I'd have been a star. But you've got to be able to execute in this league. Our execution is not what it has to be, in all phases."
Injuries to the starting rotation have been a major concern over the last several weeks, and there have also been issues with the bullpen and defense.
The offense is also on the watch list. While dropping five of their last seven, the White Sox have scored 12 runs in the losses.
In the back-to-back defeats to the Tigers, the Sox have gone 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position.
"What you do is you look at the run-scoring opportunities, and we had more than a handful, how the outs were made, how you could have changed the outcome," La Russa said. "You learn more from getting beat than you learn from winning sometimes. We had a chance to blow that game open, score more runs than we did. And that's actually happened quite a bit lately.
"We're looking at it. (Hitting coach) Frank (Menechino) and (assistant) Howie (Clark) don't settle for it and our guys don't settle for it, either."
Dallas Keuchel started for the White Sox Tuesday and he's likely to remain in the postseason rotation if Carlos Rodon can't get healthy.
After pitching 5 innings and giving up 2 runs on 11 hits and a walk, Keuchel was asked about the current state of the floundering Sox.
"Are we going to come out really strong like we know we can or are we going to come out and not put all three phases of the game together? I don't know," Keuchel said. "I'd like to say I've seen a lot, but I know I haven't seen it all. When that time comes, I know we'll try our best, but I would like to see all three phases put together."