Column: Chicago White Sox are trying not to panic after a mind-numbing series against the San Francisco Giants
The Chicago White Sox were in town long enough to unpack, get a nice meal, serve up 13 home runs to the San Francisco Giants, give infielder Hanser Alberto two relief appearances and lose two games in embarrassing fashion in front of their fans.
After the briefest of homestands, the Sox packed up after a 16-6 loss to the Giants and got on a plane to Pittsburgh to start a six-game trip.
If the Sox were a dating app, they’d be a quick “swipe left.” And if first impressions are lasting, this team is deep trouble.
We saw enough this homestand to discover manager Pedro Grifol has no problem sticking with struggling starters or sending the same position player out to the mound twice in three days to save his bullpen.
We saw Andrew Vaughn and Tim Anderson chirping at Giants pitchers who had the audacity to retire them. We learned Anderson getting himself ejected early in Wednesday’s game was OK with Grifol because he was showing “passion,” and that starter Lance Lynn was a “warrior” Thursday for trying to pitch through the fifth inning on a bad day.
“It’s a long season,” Anderson said. “This is just the second series. So we’ve just got to keep pushing and not sit in this moment. Embrace it and learn from it.”
The Sox can mitigate the damage with a strong showing in Pittsburgh and Minnesota. If not, it could be a really long season.
Catcher Seby Zavala said “one bad series doesn’t mean we’re done” and that “panic” is not a word that needs to be on anyone’s mind.
“If we panic we’re just going to shoot ourselves in the foot,” Zavala said.
The Sox can’t afford any more injuries, especially to their feet.
The 13 home runs in a three-game series tied a Giants franchise record, set in 1961 in Milwaukee. The 15 home runs allowed over the first seven games set a Sox franchise record.
Grifol repeatedly said Lynn “battled” and “gave us everything he had.” Maybe Lynn deserved a postgame snow cone. He gave up eight runs on nine hits over 4⅓ innings, allowing three of the Giants’ five home runs.
“I wasn’t good,” Lynn said. “There’s no way to sugarcoat it. All in all, it was a piss-poor day.”
After giving up three singles and a walk during the two-run fourth, Lynn was sent back out for the fifth trailing 6-3. Grifol said he knew his bullpen options were limited, adding “at that point you start thinking about (using) a position player.”
That would be Alberto, who made a major-league record 10 appearances for the Los Angeles Dodgers last season and is on pace for 46 appearances.
“I don’t know if that’s who they are or they came in hot,” Grifol said of the Giants’ slugging. “We’ll find out.”
We’ll also find out whether Eloy Jiménez’s offseason conditioning program can keep him on the field after his first hamstring injury. The header on an item in the Sox game notes Thursday read: “Best Ability is Availability.” The item noted Lynn, Anderson, Jiménez, Yoán Moncada and Luis Robert Jr. “all missed significant time in ‘22.”
But Jiménez was already on the 10-day injured list, and Moncada was out of the lineup against left-hander Alex Wood. Moncada has been one of the league’s hottest hitters but got the day off. Grifol said it was to keep Moncada “fresh and healthy.”
“They could play four days in a row and have a low workload,” he said. “Or they could play three days in a row and have a very high workload. So it’s all about that. We’re monitoring that kind of stuff, and we think that that’s going to turn out to be a very effective method for us to keep these guys on the field, and that’s how we’re going to approach it.”
The Sox need Moncada and Jiménez to have big years and for Anderson to avoid getting ejected from games. His first ejection of the season didn’t bother Grifol.
“Tim Anderson is a passionate player, an exciting player, and part of that passion comes with a little bit of an edge, and that’s how he reacted,” Grifol said. “Tim is a smart kid, he knows what he’s doing. I don’t have a problem with that.
“That’s how he plays the game. That’s how I want him to play the game. That’s what we want as an organization to bring to this team. For me, I don’t have a problem with it.”
Anderson agreed.
“Yeah, we’re always trying to find a positive,” he said. “We’re always competing. Competing at a high level is something I always want to do and just keep going.”
Anderson wasn’t in the batter’s box Wednesday when Logan Webb struck him out. He was ejected moments later for complaining to Webb that he was quick-pitched. Webb didn’t feel Anderson should’ve been tossed, but it’s too late to matter.
Anderson declined to revisit the incident and said anyone watching understood what occurred.
“You guys seen what happened, you see what I said,” he said. “You have all the resources that you need to understand the situation. We should just keep going and move on and not really make it a topic. It was a topic (Wednesday). I’m all about moving forward and trying to find the positivity.”
Moving forward is the only option for these White Sox, who can’t afford to be looking back.
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