On most nights, the White Sox are must-see TV.
Or should we say must-TV see.
For fans, the television screen is the only way to see them in 2020, and for those old enough to recall watching the Sox on snowy UHF channels 44 and 26, we’re thankful for digital screens showing them every day in crisp, living color.
It’s been a while since fans have couldn’t walk away from a Sox game or channel surf when a certain Sox player is up to bat, but that’s the case now, for ultra-talented 22-year-old rookie Luis Robert.
And Eloy Jimenez, Yoan Moncada and Tim Anderson, rounding out the Sox’ foursome of explosive 20-something hitters.
If you missed Sunday’s game against the Cardinals and Monday night’s against the Tigers, you missed 10 home runs. The Sox are tied for fifth with the Twins in baseball with 37.
Moncada, Yasmani Grandal, Abreu and Jimenez strung together four consecutive homers Sunday, the 10th time it happened in the history of the game. If you tuned in late Monday, you missed Anderson and Moncada launching back-to-back home runs against Tigers left-hander Matthew Boyd to start the first inning. In the second, Anderson fouled off four pitches before poking an opposite field homer inside the right-field foul pole for another homer. Robert homered twice and Danny Mendick homered, too, jacking the total to six for the game.
“It’s incredible when they turn it on,” Sox let-hander Gio Gonzalez said afterward. “It’s definitely fun to watch, it’s definitely a light show.”
One that sometimes repeats itself. Anderson and Jimenez opened a win over the Tigers Wednesday with back to back homers on a day Anderson had four hits and fell a double short of the cycle.
Fun, electric stuff.
It’s not like this every day. On Saturday the Sox looked flat and sloppy and didn’t hit and got swept by the Cardinals in a doubleheader.
Twenty-three games in, these are your 12-11 Sox: Talented and youthful with lots of upside, boasting an explosive offense that often fizzles at the wick. Grandal, Edwin Encarnacion and Nomar Mazara have been slow out of the gate, and the Sox are third in baseball with 222 strikeouts.
Jimenez, the 23-year old team leader with seven homers, has also flopped into two nets and crashed into one wall in left field.
Anderson, the self-proclaimed “engergizer bunny,” is the 2019 batting champion showing no signs of regression with a .340/.375/.679 hitting line. He also led baseball in errors last season at the most important position on the field, shortstop, and he strained his groin fielding a ground ball in Kasas City a week into the season and was out 10 days.
“There’s no secret I have to get better, I have to continue to get better on defense,” Anderson said.
Good on him for facing the facts.
The Sox are a playoff contender and but as general manager Rick Hahn said Monday, they are still “a work in progress. We know that.”
“We know this year was always going to be about taking that next step to putting ourselves in the best long-term position. Doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t have high expectations for this season. Doesn’t mean we won’t be able to meet the high expectations for this season.
“But we wanted to see this team progress, becoming a championship caliber team. We’ve shown flashes of that. If we were fully healthy, I would probably feel a little better seeing those flashes on a more consistent basis.”
The Sox have lost two fifths of their starting rotation and their top reliever to injuries, not to mention Anderson on the IL for 10 days, Nick Madrigal separating his shoulder and not expected back till later this month at the earliest and Leury Garcia out for the regular season.
They’ve had their share of coronavirus issues as well, including Adam Engel getting sidelined Monday for precautionary reasons.
“It’s a reminder not to get perhaps too wrapped up in what’s going on on a nightly basis because there’s a lot of challenges associated with just getting them out on the field right now,” Hahn said.
When they are on the field, a potential “light show” is always just a click away.
