Red Sox 16, White Sox 3: Dylan Cease shelled

Dylan Cease’s night was as long as it was short.

He gave up a homer on the first pitch of the game, and when he lost a seven-pitch battle to Trevor Story for a three-run homer before the close of the inning, the Red Sox had all the runs they needed.

Cease gave up seven runs on eight hits and two walks over three innings in his worst start in quite some time, and neither José Ruiz, Bennett Sousa nor Matt Foster could stop the bleeding. Boston posted 16 runs by the game’s halfway point, and while Vince Velasquez stepped up to provide three scoreless, hitless innings in his White Sox relief debut, it was hard to tell whether he was responsible, or if the Red Sox were just ready to go home.

Likewise, the White Sox either needed one time through the order to get a read on Nick Pivetta, or the Red Sox’s 10-0 lead caused apathy to set in. Tim Anderson had two more hits to raise his average to .365, and José Abreu continued his upswing with a two-run homer that at least put the White Sox on the board, but those two and Andrew Vaughn were responsible for all six Chicago hits, with the rest of the lineup going 0-for-23.

Really, after Cease’s short start, there were only two real surprises:

No. 1: Jake Burger made his debut at second.

On the roster thanks to Luis Robert heading to the COVID-19 list, Burger came off the bench to get his first MLB reps at second base. Unfortunately, he was not tested, as everything in the infield stayed to the left side.

No. 2: A position player did not pitch.

I kinda figured Leury García might get the nod, but once Anderson left the game with García taking his place, the White Sox didn’t have another shortstop to fill in. Then again, Burger was playing second, so anybody really could’ve handled the position without damaging the game’s credibility.

Record: 21-21 | Box score | Statcast

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itaita

Goofy blowouts like this happen from time to time and the way this team has been playing so far they were overdue. As long as Cease comes out next start and gets back to what hes doing then its a whatever.

Just John

One might hope that would go both ways, especially for “contenders.” Feels like the Sox haven’t blown one open since facing the tigers in the Opening week?

ParisSox

put it away and come back tomorrow. but what about this starting staff? Giolito, Cease, Lynn, Kopech, Cueto, that’s the type of staff that can get some nice winning streaks together. Plus Keuchel and Velasquez to eat some innings to manage Kopech’s workload. Play it right and this team can be formidable come September.

To Err is Herrmann

When did the expression “getting/being shelled” enter sportswriting lexicon?Was it after World War I or World War II? What was the sportswriting cliche before then? Getting spritzed?Getting sprayed with mud?

Root Cause

Yes, but it didn’t catch on as ‘Spritz Shocked” didn’t capture the players’ emotions either.

soxfan

“The Boston Red Sox scurvied the White Sox of Chicago like a sailor’s citrus-free diet. The Pale Hose will look to return the favor as they seek to gangrene the Carmines like a MASH unit that’s run out of antibiotic.”

As Cirensica

The team keeps trotting line ups with at least 3 automatic outs: A combination of Reese, Grandal, Moncada, Leury and Harrison.

Only 2 (Yo, and Yaz) should be regulars. This is on Hahn and his poor roster construction. Hahn is back at subtracting value of the core players with lousy complementary pieces. I have seen this movie so many times. It has no happy ending.

Last edited 1 year ago by As Cirensica
jhomeslice

That’s a large part of why they have had zero offensive consistency. Actually they have been pretty consistent as a group – lousy. They don’t have a great offense to begin with, and they only play their best lineup 1/2 the time, if that.

texag10

It’s worse than that. We’ve had 40+ different lineups that we may not have ever actually played our best lineup.

As Cirensica

TLR lineup tinkering is getting on my nerves. I once read that lineup construction don’t matter too much in a vacuum, but baseball games aren’t played in a vacuum. I guess moving around bad hitters in the lineup will produce the same lousy result. There is no much platoon advantage gained if we replace a bad hitter vs a RHP for another bad hitter whose only attribute is handedness.

jhomeslice

Yeah, I maintain that the Russa is the worst manager I’ve ever seen. That’s not hyperbole, I can’t think of anybody who is even close. Even non Sox fansites have talked about how bad he is.

texag10

It feels like he did this stuff last year too but we were just too focused on the fact that we were playing Jake Lamb and Billy Hamilton that we didn’t care who was batting where.

FishSox

I’m curious to the logic from the lackofbrain trust that brings up a slumping Burger to play 2b over Yolbert? Things that make you go….WTF?

BenwithVen

Probably because Burger’s only up here for a week and his role is literally just to be a body.

Last edited 1 year ago by BenwithVen
As Cirensica

Is Yolbert even in the 40-man roster?

soxfan

Not if you understand how the 40-man roster works, it doesn’t. Sanchez isn’t on the 40-man roster so he’s not eligible to be called up without risking losing another player that is on the roster or moving Jimenez to the 60-day IL (which really only delays the risk of losing another player until once Jimenez is eligible). I probably would’ve called up Mendick or Haseley because they can stand in the outfield, but this harkens back to the Konerko victory tour – if you’re arguing about the 26th man you’re not really focusing on the big picture.

FishSox

I actually do understand how the 40 man works, and if anyone thinks that Yermin Mercedes is more deserving of a slot on it, than Yolbert Sanchez, please state your case.

soxfan

It’s not a question of whether or not Mercedes or Sanchez are more deserving of a spot on the 40-man roster. It’s a question of whether or not you’d prefer to have both Mercedes and Sanchez in the system or just Sanchez. I’d be happy to see Sanchez on the 40-man roster (and the 26-man roster!) if Harrison gets cut or there’s a long-term injury to a middle-infielder, but to risk losing Mercedes for the negligible WAR that Sanchez could provide in a backup role during Robertson’s 10-day IL stint is just silly.

FishSox

 but to risk losing Mercedes for the negligible WAR that Sanchez could provide in a backup role during Robertson’s 10-day IL stint is just silly.

While on the surface, that does seem silly, not so much so when in the cold light of day, Yermins value is negligible. Debuting a position specific young player with a hot bat in a sputtering lineup, to a position currently fielded with aged utility players well past their ceiling, even for a 10 day looksee, looks less silly, at least to me.

LamarJohnson

The last sentence was gold. And I can’t be the only one who checked here this morning hoping to see the headline, “Field Player X pitched.”

texag10

Reminded me of the Giolito start from last year. It happens, move on.

calcetinesblancos

Yeah it’s funny how it’s one game out of 162 but psychologically it seems way worse than that.

calcetinesblancos

Go to a game they said. You’ll have fun they said.

texag10

Oh, so its your fault.

calcetinesblancos

I will admit that I was heard saying “it’s no big deal” after that first pitch homer.

texag10

We’ve all been there…

*sharpens pitch fork*

jhomeslice

When I lived in California, I went to see the Sox play the Angels in Anaheim a few times. One of those games was a 19-0 loss, if that makes you feel any better.

FishSox

My wife refuses to go to Kaufmann anymore, after being there watching the Sox get swept during the Sale years there….We’re moving to KS in July to be closer to Son#1 at Ft Riley.