ST. LOUIS -- Hello from St. Louis, where we’re all meeting old friends!
Paul DeJong did a session with St. Louis media and will probably get a nice applause Friday night. Mark Buehrle probably won’t make a “public appearance,” but is expected to make it out to a game this weekend. Did you know what team John Brebbia made 161 major league appearances with prior to joining the Giants? Guess what! It was the Cardinals.
– Lance Lynn, as is his right, had no interest in rehashing his White Sox tenure with the beat writers who made the trip out to St. Louis and found him in the Cardinals locker room.
“I’ve enjoyed all my stops,” Lynn said, professing no unique emotions heading into facing his old team on Saturday. “Just like facing any other team. Do your homework and get ready to pitch.”
Pleasantries were exchanged. On behalf of Sox Machine, I wished him the best of luck going forward.
Pedro Grifol also did not regard the idea of facing Lynn as a huge change of perspective.
“I’ve seen Lance Lynn across the field for years and years,” Grifol said. “He’s done a good job for them, like he’s always done. Have to find a way to beat him. I’ve seen him against me for 11 of the 12 years I’ve been in the big leagues.”
– Danny Mendick was scratched from the lineup pregame for lower back tightness. Grifol was optimistic that Mendick would be available Saturday, and thought Mendick waking up with discomfort could just be the cost of him starting 10 games in a row since being selected from Triple-A Charlotte. Braden Shewmake is working in Mendick’s stead.
– Tommy Pham first became a big league regular with the Cardinals in 2017. Since then, he has the seventh-lowest swing rate on pitches out of the zone among all qualified hitters. Pham said his emphasis on plate discipline comes from Matt Carpenter, who preached to him that pitch selection was as important as anything else they worked on in the batting cage back when they were teammates at the Cardinals High-A affiliate in 2009.
Pham is 9-for-24 since debuting with a pair of doubles and a homer, but he feels his plate discipline is lagging behind due to lack of reps with live pitching. He has a whole routine of visual training that he relies on to get up to speed, but obviously has gotten by while still chasing more than he’d like.
"Sometimes you'd rather be lucky than good,” Pham said. “Really haven't barreled a ball 110+ mph yet so I'm still waiting for that."
– It’s still listed as TBA, but Kyle Gibson is likely the Cardinals starting pitcher on Sunday. You might remember Gibson from “This gangly guy throwing 92 mph is stomping us” and the sequel “Ugh, this guy again!”
Gibson has a 3.46 ERA against the White Sox in 20 career starts against them.
– It’s still listed as TBA but Mike Clevinger 2024 major league debut is likely Monday in Tampa.
– Brad Keller is not expected to have any specific workload limitations in his start Friday.
First Pitch: White Sox at Cardinals
TV: NBC Sports Chicago
Lineups:
| White Sox | Cardinals | |
|---|---|---|
| Nicky Lopez, 2B | 1 | Brendan Donovan, LF |
| Tommy Pham, CF | 2 | Willson Contreras, C |
| Eloy Jiménez, DH | 3 | Paul Goldschmidt, 1B |
| Gavin Sheets, RF | 4 | Nolan Arenado, 3B |
| Andrew Vaughn, 1B | 5 | Alec Burleson, DH |
| Andrew Benintendi, LF | 6 | Masyn Winn, SS |
| Paul DeJong, SS | 7 | Lars Nootbaar, RF |
| Martín Maldonado, C | 8 | Nolan Gorman, 2B |
| Braden Shewmake, 3B | 9 | Michael Siani, CF |
| Brad Keller | SP | Sonny Gray |
