Time To Shake Off The White Sox Opening Series Against The Royals

Nothing to sugar coat here; that was about as bad as a first series could have gone, and I’m really fucking pissed as a fan right now.  With that said, it was almost as if an entire off season wasn’t enough to cool down Kansas City.  They dinked, dunked, hit bombs, played lights out defense, and had shut down pitching for three straight games.  They played with a lot of TWTW. The Sox did not.  Simple as that.

I said in previous offseason blogs that what I want most from this team is to play like their balls have been drenched in Icy Hot.  With that said, any time and in any sport, when a roster is almost completely overhauled in an off season, there will be an adjustment period and learning curve on how to play together. I put my stellar reputation as a baseball genius on the line and said this team has a good enough core to make a serious run at the division and even after a lackluster opening series, I am in no way, shape or form jumping ship.  The lineup is too balanced top to bottom and the starting pitching 1-3 is as good as any 1-3 in the American League.

I don’t want to overanalyze 3 games or overreact to the sloppy play, but here’s a few take aways after the season’s first series:

* I would absolutely love Lorenzo Cain to play for the Sox.  Dude goes hard every single play.  Reminds me of Yasiel Puig a little bit.  He KILLED the Sox this series, and did it the right way.  Saved run after run in LF and had great timely hitting.  He’s that guy that will never put up huge numbers, but will always be a complete pain in ass to play against.

* Carlos Rodon makes his first start for Charlotte on Saturday.  Like Kris Bryant, if the Sox call him up after the 12th, they gain an extra year before he’s eligible for free agency.  Here’s to hoping he dominates his first 2-3 AAA starts, gets called up, and is immediately inserted into John Danks spot in the rotation, which brings me to my next point:

* The Cubs are basically paying Edwin Jackson to not play for them this year.  I’m not saying John Danks shouldn’t be on the team or even starting rotation, but if it were up to me I’d say fuck his contract and move him to the pen.  He did throw decent yesterday, but Rodon is the better pitcher as it sits right now.  If the Sox are serious about winning, which I know they are judging by the money they spent this offseason, Rodon needs to be in the rotation by May.  Sale, Shark, Q, and Rodon would be the best 1-4 in the AL Central, and there is no arguing that.

* It’s too early to go into individual player breakdowns, but 1. Abreu is absolutely pissing on the ball, even when he records and out and 2. We are going to love Micah Johnson. The 9-1 tag team of him and Eaton is going to be a perfect table setter for Cabrera, Abreu, and Garcia. Speed, speed and more speed.

* Again, it’s going to take a while for the team to mesh, especially the lineup.  But once it does it’s going to be fun to watch.  There’s too much of a balance of speed, power and gap to gap hitters for it not to click and click soon.  I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt for after the KC series, but shit needs to change starting today.

We saw a lot of 2013 in the opening series, but like I said, the Royals rode momentum from their World Series run into 2015.  I’d be lying if I said it didn’t take a bit of the buzz I had going into the season away, but today is a new day, Sale is starting on Sunday, and the Cell will be a rockin’ all weekend long.  I wish I could say I was attending the opener today, but work obligations won’t allow me to.

Also, don’t forget to tickets to Barstool at the Park on June 20th.  Tickets are selling like hot cakes, and there’s a limited amount, so if you’re into eating as much food and drinking as much beer as possible for $55, get your tickets today.