HOUSTON — The Chicago White Sox were loose, carefree and confident heading into Thursday’s opener of the American League Division Series against the Houston Astros.
One after another, the players said this was a better team than the one that bowed out to the Oakland A’s in the wild-card round last October, that their experience would be beneficial in the return to the postseason.
But none of that seemed to matter in a 6-1 Game 1 loss to the Astros, a day in which veteran starter Lance Lynn floundered and the Sox offense was non-existent.
The Sox will get an early wake-up call for Friday’s 1:07 p.m. start at Minute Maid Park, and they had better shake the cobwebs if they hope to make this a competitive series.
The suspense ended early, and the Astros even trolled the Sox by playing a version of “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” over the PA system when reliever Reynaldo Lopez was removed in the sixth inning.
It could not have been a more disappointing way to open the postseason for the Sox, but at least they’ll have Lucas Giolito on the mound for Game 2. They finished with seven hits, all singles, and all but one coming after the sixth inning, by which point they trailed 6-0.
Lynn allowed five runs on six hits and two walks over 3 2/3 innings, frequently falling behind hitters and failing to locate his fastball. He was given the Game 1 start because of his experience, though five of the Astros' hitters in the lineup came in hitting .382 or higher off Lynn in 11 or more career at-bats, and he was 0-5 with an 8.80 ERA against Houston in his five previous starts.
“I wasn’t good, I wasn’t making pitches when I needed to,” Lynn said. “I gave up some two-out runs on pitches that could’ve been better. When all is said and done, I just wasn’t making quality pitches when I needed to, and that’s pretty much it.”
Yep. He was not good, and with Lance McCullers dealing, the Sox had no chance. The Astros played like the Astros, doing the little things like bunting, advancing on a fly ball and hitting the ball through the shifts.
It was a clinic in hitting and doing the little things.
“These little things, it’s kind of like stacking pennies,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “And when you do the little things, it adds up to big things. Outstanding baserunning by Yordan Alvarez to tag up from second to go to third. These are the things that if you don’t do them, they usually come back to haunt you because you know all these games are going to be close. They are never going to concede.”
Before the game started the drama centered around the availability of Sox slugger José Abreu.
White Sox manager Tony La Russa wasn’t sure Abreu could hit after a bout with the flu, and Baker seemed perturbed about the lack of a Sox lineup during his pregame press briefing. When asked how he had used Zack Greinke, Baker replied: “I can’t tell you how I’m going to use him because I don’t want to tell the White Sox how I’m using him because they haven’t even given us their lineups yet, so I can’t give them too much information.”
La Russa eventually wrote two lineups, one with Abreu at DH and one without him in the lineup.
“This guy’s a beautiful, beautiful soul, boy,” La Russa said of Abreu. “I mean, he’s as beautiful a person as I’ve ever been around. That’s tied for first with a lot of beautiful ones. … I hope he plays if he’s capable of playing, but definitely don’t want him to play because he thinks he has to.”
Abreu was dancing to Portugal. The Man’s “Feel It Still” before taking batting practice. After Abreu passed the La Russa eye test, the Sox manager pronounced “He’s in,” then circled back to reporters, opened up his jersey and said: “I’ll show you the spike mark on my chest.”
Abreu wound up with two of the Sox’s seven hits and their only run batted in, but it was too late to make a difference.
“I played today because of the commitment I have with this team,” Abreu said through an interpreter. “I have to give my best to this team every day. It doesn’t matter how I feel or how many day I had without playing. It was important for me and for the team for me to play today.”
All in all, it was a good playoff atmosphere at Minute Maid Park and an impressive showing by the favored Astros.
“This is what keeps me coming back,” Baker said before the game. “It’s just the thrill of — I know this sounds corny, but Howard Cosell said, ‘The thrill of competition and the agony of defeat.’ That’s what it’s all about.”
Actually, it was the voice of Jim McKay that spoke of “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat,” but no matter. The thrill was all Baker’s to enjoy after Game 1, and the agony was La Russa’s to endure.
It’s only one loss, though, and now it’s up to Giolito to try to help the Sox salvage a split in Houston. If not, they’ll come home facing elimination — and the task of trying to beat the Astros in three straight games.
“We finally got that postseason experience last year that left us wanting more,” Giolito said beforehand. “So now we’re very hungry. We’re here to do as well as we can.”
But they’ll have to do much better than Game 1.
“If you watch, our club doesn’t get discouraged,” La Russa said afterward. “If they beat you, tip your cap. ... There’s no doubt in my mind we’ll come out ready to play.”
