CHICAGO _ From the start of Saturday night's game against the Astros, it seemed clear the White Sox players' heads were elsewhere.
With reliever Danny Farquhar hospitalized and in critical but stable condition after suffering a brain hemorrhage during Friday night's game, you couldn't blame anyone for lacking the focus necessary to compete at the highest level.
Still, the game had to be played, and the White Sox had to try to find a way to get through the night. As James Shields said beforehand, Farquhar would "probably want us to keep rolling."
So the Sox took the field against the defending world champions, hoping to stop their losing streak, honor their friend and teammate and provide a little bit of entertainment for a decent turnout of 23,908 on a cool night on the South Side.
But this was one of those rare nights when the Sox didn't bother to show up, and the outcome was decided before most of the crowd had settled in.
The Astros scored four runs against Lucas Giolito in the first and four more in the second en route to a 10-1 win. The Sox have allowed 10 or more runs in four straight games.
With one game left in the series, the Sox have been outscored 20-1 by the Astros, looking like a bunch of backups scrimmaging against the varsity.
The Sox have lost six straight games and 13 of their last 15. They're 1-7 at home for the first time since 1971, and their 4-13 start is their worst since 1968, when they lost 95 games under three managers.
Sox starting pitchers are 1-10 with a major-league-worst 6.80 ERA, with the only victory coming from Shields on opening day in Kansas City.
With an ERA of 9.00 after four starts, Giolito (0-3) suddenly has joined fellow starter Carson Fulmer in the rebuild dog house. He looked out of sorts from the beginning Saturday, allowing seven walks, five hits and nine earned runs in two innings. Of his 72 pitches, 31 were strikes.
The Astros batted around in the four-run first before Giolito walked the bases loaded to start the second. A grand slam by Josh Reddick made it 8-0, and the Sox were toast.
It's obvious that the Astros have enjoyed schooling the Sox, who hope the series at least has provided some "teachable moments" along the way.
One day after shortstop Tim Anderson was criticized for "overexuberance" by Astros ace Justin Verlander, Yoan Moncada was yanked by manager Rick Renteria in the third inning, apparently for not running hard on a grounder to third.
After the game, Renteria said Moncada had a hamstring issue but would not say if he was pulled for not running hard.
Renteria had inserted Anderson in the leadoff spot Saturday against left-hander Dallas Keuchel, moving Moncada down to the six hole.
Moncada had led off every game until Saturday, and his .212 average was second worst among American League leadoff men. But Renteria said they only wanted to give him a "little break" and still liked him in the leadoff spot.
But Moncada may get a longer break than he'd like if he doesn't hustle on every play.
Anderson's incident with Verlander would've been bigger news if it happened in New York or Philadelphia. Verlander was upset with the young shortstop "celebrating" after trying to steal on a 3-0 pitch, and then making second when the batter walked.
"I don't even know what he was celebrating," Verlander said. "He didn't even get credit for a stolen base. Maybe he thought he did, I don't know.' "
After Anderson was caught in a rundown trying to steal third with the Sox trailing by five runs, he gave the Astros an easy out and was thanked for doing so by Verlander. Anderson reportedly responded with a profanity, which led to the post-game lecture from Verlander on how to play the game.
"I don't care what other people think," Anderson said of Verlander's complaint. "That doesn't bother me."
Astros manager A.J. Hinch downplayed the incident Saturday.
"There were a couple disagreements out there, (but) it seemed like that never really escalated a ton," Hinch said. "We all have our natural opinions on situations like that that come up in the competition. You can argue stealing (on) 3-0 and then celebrating after a walk, to just the talking and banter back and forth. ...
"I know (Anderson) wasn't happy with (Jose) Altuve standing at second base for some reason, which is not his job. And then he got picked off and ended up in the rundown. Competition will bring out a little bit of talk here and there. Whatever."
Of course, every team seems to have some celebratory gimmick when players reach base nowadays, so it's hard to say Anderson's "celebrating" crossed the line.
"It's an entertainment business more and more every year," Hinch said. "I never read the book of unwritten rules, or when you're supposed to do things, when you're not supposed to do things. I mostly roll my eyes at stuff like that.
"But if players want to police players and keep the game going, all the better, as long as they don't end up in a fight."
