ANAHEIM, Calif. — Andrew Vaughn, the Chicago White Sox outfielder, grew up in Santa Rosa, the Northern California city finest identified for its wineries and because the residence of the cartoonist Charles M. Schulz. Vaughn stated his father knew Schulz, the creator of the “Peanuts” caricature, just a little and spent a variety of time at Snoopy’s Home Ice, an ice rink in city.
As for himself, Vaughn stated, he bypassed the rink as a result of he didn’t belief the blades.
“I didn’t want to lose my fingers,” Vaughn stated.
As the White Sox proceed slipping and sliding by a disappointing summer season, what has grow to be readily obvious is {that a} staff ravaged by accidents is leaning tougher than ever on the nice fingers and surprising manufacturing of fellows like Vaughn. And the staff’s finest likelihood to regain its grip on the American League Central begins on Monday, when the White Sox play the primary of 19 consecutive video games in opposition to division rivals Minnesota, Detroit and Cleveland.
Fifteen of these video games are in opposition to the 2 groups forward of them in the standings, the Twins and the Guardians. On Sunday, Chicago beat the Giants in San Francisco, 13-4, to finish a three-game sweep heading right into a stretch that appears prone to set the tone for the remainder of the White Sox season.
“One hundred percent,” stated Vaughn, who was first on the staff in batting common (.301) and second in doubles (14) by Sunday and was ranked second in on-base plus slugging proportion (.806). “We’ve got to go play our game, take advantage of opportunities and play well.”
“I’m excited,” Manager Tony La Russa stated. “We’ve got our pitching lined up.”
The pitching is not any small a part of the equation. Starter Lance Lynn injured his proper knee in spring coaching and didn’t make his first begin till June 13. La Russa famous that having Lynn; Lucas Giolito, who allowed one run over six innings Sunday; Michael Kopech; Dylan Cease; and Johnny Cueto lastly up and working collectively “is the most positive thing we’ve got going.”
Closer Liam Hendriks, who was 16 for 19 in save alternatives earlier than straining the flexor tendon in his forearm on June 10, is near returning.
La Russa is loath to debate the squad’s plethora of accidents, noting that such troubles should not distinctive to his staff following a truncated spring coaching. But with the White Sox, it’s not simply the variety of accidents, it’s who has been injured. The Sox at present rank fourth in the majors in most cash spent on injured checklist gamers ($22,578,203), in line with Spotrac.
Much of the staff’s drop-off may be defined by these absences.
Last season, Lynn ranked first in the A.L. in E.R.A. (2.69) and opponents’ O.P.S. (.605) and second in opponents’ batting common (.209) amongst pitchers who threw greater than 150 innings. He has thrown solely 22 innings this season.
Third baseman Yoan Moncada was third in the A.L. with a .375 on-base proportion final season and his 33 doubles led the White Sox. He began the season on the I.L. with an indirect pressure, returned on May 9, damage his quad, then went again on the I.L. with a strained hamstring. After going 0 for 5 with two strikeouts Sunday, he had performed in solely 34 video games this 12 months and was hitting .181 with a .230 on-base proportion.
Activated final Tuesday in Anaheim, Moncada, 27, confirmed flashes of his previous self, going 2 for 5 with a double and two R.B.I. Then he fouled a ball off his proper foot throughout Wednesday’s sport, went for X-rays and completed the evening together with his foot wrapped in ice.
Even with Moncada’s return, the White Sox at present have 9 gamers on the I.L., together with the outfielders Eloy Jiménez and Adam Engel, catcher Yasmani Grandal, reliever Aaron Bummer and infielder Danny Mendick.
The 2022 M.L.B. Season
“Relax, all right? Don’t try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring! Besides that, they’re fascist. Throw some ground balls, it’s more democratic.”
- An Outlier Who Wants to Fit In: She tried her hand at school softball, however Kelsie Whitmore is the place she belongs: Playing skilled baseball in Staten Island.
- An Ace Seeks a New Title: Dave Stewart has been a star participant, a coach, an agent and an govt. To actually change baseball, he needs to personal a staff.
- Look Good, Feel Good, Play Good. Smell Good?: For quite a few gamers, a heavy dose of cologne or girls’s fragrance is the unlikeliest of efficiency enhancers.
- King of Throws: Tom House has spent his life serving to superstars get even higher. With a brand new app he needs to repair younger pitchers earlier than they develop unhealthy habits.
That’s why Vaughn, Chicago’s first-round decide (third total) in the 2019 draft, has been so precious. Through Sunday, he was ranked fifth in the A.L. with a .348 batting common with runners in scoring place. He was additionally hitting .353 in street video games, third in Major League Baseball. On Sunday, Vaughn went 2 for 6 with three R.B.I.
“Most days, if not all days, he’s as good as any hitter we have on the team,” La Russa stated. “He is smart, he adjusts, he takes instruction well. He’s a hungry hitter.”
He’s additionally one of many few hitters satiating the appetites of White Sox followers who anticipated way more from this staff. Prohibitive favorites to win a second consecutive A.L. Central title coming into the season, the White Sox got a 59.2 % likelihood to win the division by Fangraphs on opening day, with Minnesota at 23.3 % and Cleveland at 7.5 %. Now, these odds have flipped to about 42 % for the Twins, 36 % for the White Sox and 22 % for the Guardians.
The shifting panorama emphasizes the significance of what’s subsequent.
“We know what’s in front of us,” stated Josh Harrison, the versatile, 12-year veteran who signed a free-agent take care of the Sox in March. “Ultimately, you’ve got to take care of your in-division opponents.”
The accidents and losses have conspired so as to add not solely frustration to the Sox season, however dashes of controversy and confusion as properly.
In a stunning transfer for a staff with an old-school supervisor like La Russa, the short-handed White Sox have suggested Tim Anderson, Luis Robert, José Abreu and others to not run exhausting on performs that look like routine outs. It is predicated on recommendation from the staff’s coaching workers, who’re attempting to protect the gamers’ legs.
It is unconventional on the very least, and an particularly odd choice to publicize. But La Russa needs the followers to know that his guys are giving it their all, even in moments when it could not seem that method.
“If you know you’re going to be out, if you hit the ball hard to second base, you know you’re playing at the professional level and guys know how to catch and throw the ball,” Anderson stated. “Skip and the training staff know what’s best for the players. We just follow their lead.”
La Russa, 77, has been underneath hearth personally in some quarters since final month when he ordered a two-strike, intentional stroll to Trea Turner throughout a sport in opposition to the Dodgers. Trailing, 7-5, in the sixth inning, the Sox watched because the left-handed Max Muncy adopted the intentional stroll by smashing a three-run homer in a sport Los Angeles finally received, 11-9. The technique was extra defensible than it appeared: Lifetime, Turner was hitting .254 in 1-2 counts in opposition to left-handed pitchers, and this season he was hitting .333 in 1-2 counts. Muncy was hitting .159 on the time.
Regardless, periodic chants of “Fire Tony!” have been heard at Guaranteed Rate Field ever since. La Russa says he likes the followers’ ardour and would moderately have that than apathy. White Sox gamers shrug it off.
“That’s why you get yourself a good set of ear plugs and don’t pay attention to it, man,” Anderson stated of the surplus noise that has accompanied the staff’s on-field frustrations this 12 months, from the La Russa negativity to the episode involving Josh Donaldson of the Yankees, who was suspended for disrespectful feedback towards Anderson.
Yes, a number of White Sox gamers stated, they perceive the rising frustration. But in addition they anticipate to enhance as key gamers return to energetic responsibility and so they say it’s too early to obsess over the standings.
“The thing is, we keep getting asked that question,” Kopech stated. “How does it feel? Nobody likes to lose. We’re not happy. We’re not winning, but nobody’s panicking. We know we can turn it around tomorrow.”
With 15 video games in opposition to Minnesota and Cleveland on deck over the following three weeks, tomorrow is right here. For perspective, Lynn broke in underneath La Russa in St. Louis in 2011 and says he has seen each the supervisor and his staff endure worse.
“It’s part of this culture,” Lynn stated. “Everyone expects everything to be perfect all the time, and when it’s not perfect, they’ve got to have someone to blame. That’s part of the gig. He’s doing all he can to put us in the best position to win. Some days, it doesn’t work out.”
Lynn factors again to that 2011 season, when the Cardinals have been principally left for useless earlier than profiting from Atlanta’s epic collapse, erasing a ten.5-game deficit and stealing the National League wild card on the final day of the season. Then they went on to win La Russa’s second World Series in St. Louis.
“I’ve seen a lot of weird things in this game over the course of my career, and this isn’t any different,” Lynn stated. “You’ve just got to weather the storm.”
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