Aces Not Winning Hand for White Sox, Cubs

June 13, 2014 @ admin → No Comments

The ace of the Chicago White Sox pitching staff started Thursday night’s game against the visiting Detroit Tigers. And lost 4-0. The ace of the Cubs’ pitching staff started Thursday night’s game against the host Pittsburgh Pirates. And lost 4-0.

Playboy’s 2013 Playmate of the Year Raquel Pomplun is set for some World Cup soccer.

* Sox left-hander Chris Sale yielded one run — a fifth-inning Victor Martinez home run. He allowed five hits, struck out 10 and walked none. Yet somehow he managed to throw 116 pitches — in seven innings.

* Tigers right-hander Max Scherzer allowed three hits, walked three and struck out eight in recording the first complete game of his career. He threw 113 pitches.

* Maybe the difference between Sale and Scherzer (other than the run allowed) was the number of foul balls against them: 30 for Sale, 16 for Scherzer. Hey, that’s about as good as any explanation of pitching efficiency. Which may say more about the Tigers vs. Sox batters than it does about any pitching comparison.

* “I’m not going build arm strength and get in rhythm throwing 90 pitches every time,” Sale told media after the game. “I need to be that guy to go 115-120 pitches.” That and be that guy to receive better run support.

* Speaking of run support, the Cubs scored two runs or less for the ninth time in Samardzija’s 14 starts this season. On the bright (?) side, he was 1-for-1 batting (with two sacrifice bunts) to raise his batting average to .200.

* Speaking of Cubs hitters, second baseman Darwin Barney went 2-for-4 to boost his average to .203. Not quite good enough to make him trade bait any time soon.

* If it’s any consolation to Sox fans (and the guess here is that it is not), the call by Detroit’s TV broadcast booth was exceptionally bland. A stark contrast from what Ken “Hawk” Harrelson might provide on Comcast SportsNet, if a Sox batter had broken up a scorelesss game.

* Speaking of the TV coverage of the Sox-Tigers, also missing was complaining about ball-strike calls. Which, of course, any Sox fan and/or Harrelson could explain that: No call went the Sox’ way.

* Anyone looking for comprehensive World Cup coverage (I believe that has something to do with soccer) has come to the right place. Well, as long as we’re talking about the female fans of the competition in Brazil. Otherwise, you might be wise to browse elsewhere.

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