Regular Season, Week 19: August 4-10
Last Week’s Results
8/4: Sacramento Mad Popes @ Chicago Black Sox - Loss, 5-4.
Mad Popes Win at Chicago, 5-4
W: D. García (11-5) L: P. Jaramillo (9-9) S: M. Cruz (32).
HR - SAC: C. Feliciana (9), E. Encarnación (3) CHI: J. Figueroa (8), T. Durán (13)
8/6: Chicago Black Sox @ Valencia Stars - Win, 8-4.
Black Sox Upend Stars, 8-4
W: A. Moelling (9-9) L: N. Hanlon (1-4) S: G. Sosa (28).
HR - CHI: R. Wattson (21) VAL: A. Haney (31), J. Barney (8)
8/7: Chicago Black Sox @ Valencia Stars - Loss, 2-4.
Stars Bridle Black Sox, 4-2
W: J. García (8-13) L: D. Bates (12-6) S: J. Olson (7).
HR - CHI: R. Wattson (22) VAL: G. Meade (8)
8/8: Chicago Black Sox @ Valencia Stars - Win, 5-2.
Chicago Gets 5-2 Win
W: J. Nicto (9-7) L: D. García (1-6) S: G. Sosa (29).
HR - CHI: S. Fradesso (15) VAL: G. Meade (9)
8/9: Chicago Black Sox @ San Fernando Bears - Loss, 9-10.
Richardson Hits 2 home runs in Bears Win
W: S. Harrison (4-0) L: G. Sosa (6-5) S: C. Padilla (12).
HR - CHI: D. Dave (23), S. Fradesso (16) SFB: A. Ramírez (23), C. Dickens (15), Q. Richardson 2 (12)
8/10: Chicago Black Sox @ San Fernando Bears - Win, 8-4.
Lee Slugs Black Sox to 8-4 Win
W: P. Jaramillo (10-9) L: S. Hopkins (10-6) .
HR - CHI: G. Lee 2 (17) SFB: C. Martínez (32), B. Okorafor (21), Q. Richardson (13)
Heroes of the Week
Sebastian Fradesso, OF: 21 AB, 7 H, 2 HR, 8 RBI, .333 AVG, 1.059 OPS
Grant Lee, OF: 21 AB, 7 H, 2 HR, 7 RBI, .333 AVG, 1.036 OPS
Rocky Wattson, 2B: 21 AB, 5 H, 2 HR, 6 RBI, .238 AVG, .989 OPS
Zeroes of the Week
Aarnaud Budding, 1B: 10 AB, 0 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, .000, .286 OPS
Paul Kemp, SP/RP: 1 GS, 3.1 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 2 W, 2 K, 18.90 ERA
Mark Simpson, 1B: 8 AB, 1 H, 1 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, .125 AVG, .250 OPS
Injury of Note
Jeremy Smith, who has split time between the rotation and bullpen for Single A Grand Junction, went down on August 8 with bone chips in his elbow. The Gold Sox placed him on the Injured List, and he will be out of action for the next two months, ending his season.
Smith is one of Chicago’s more promising pitching prospects. Scouts place his overall potential at 25/60, and currently rate his stuff at 8/8; movement at 4/6; and control at 3/6. Although he has, primarily, started for Grand Junction this season, the Sox project him as a bullpen arm.
He was 7-8 with a 3.49 ERA in 116 innings of work this season.
Transactions of Note
After two ineffective weeks back in the majors, Aarnoud Budding was returned to AAA Carolina with the expectation that he’ll remain there until rosters expand in September.
Budding’s slashline actually dropped from .189/.270/.376 to .179/.280/.348.
Club executives decided his best use in coming weeks would be to help Carolina in its push to make the AAA postseason. The Flight currently have a record of 74-46 and are tied for the lead with Brooklyn in the GL East Coast Division.
Meanwhile, veteran 1B Emilio Lugo was promoted to Chicago to take Budding’s spot on the roster. Lugo is slashing .256/.365/.512 on the season with 17 homers and 58 RBIs.
Record as of Aug. 10
W-L Record for Week 19: 3-3, .500
Overall Record: 66-52, .559
Position in Division Standings: In 2nd place in the Frick Heartland, 13 games behind Yellow Springs.
Position in the Wildcard Race: In 1st place, 2 games ahead of Louisville.
StatsPlus Postseason Odds: 79.9 Percent.
Hot Take
This is more like a lukewarm take – pretty much like the Black Sox play of late.
For two weeks in a row now (and three of the last four), Chicago has gone 3-3. That, more or less, is the baseball equivalent of kissin' yer sister.
Wake us when it’s over.
The hitting has been, uh, sporadic. On second thought, that’s too kind. Let’s make it pathetic. On a brighter note, the pitching has been fine, but there have been a few unfortunate lapses (most recently a 2-run homer yielded by closer Gilberto Sosa in the bottom of the 8th that resulted in a 10-9 loss to San Fernando). And the fielding has been pretty good, with costly lapses here and there).
It all adds up to “Meh.”
Even though the Sox have hung on to 2nd place in the Heartland through it all, the cushion keeps shrinking and the position looks more and more precarious with each passing week.
So, on second thought, maybe don’t wake us up.
We’re scared to look.
The Week Ahead
1 Game at San Fernando
3 Games at Madison
2 Games at Louisville