Do we have to talk about this one? We do? Our fearless leader Joe Binder would be mad if I didn’t, so here we go. Dylan Cease got “lit up” – I used that terms loosely, mostly because I bunch of singles did him in for the most part. The White Sox were swept by Minnesota and suddenly we are all excited to go face Atlanta tomorrow. Hint: you should never be excited to face a first place team after just facing one.
W: Jose Berrios (11-7) L: Dylan Cease (3-7)
The Good
Jose Abreu: 4-for-5, RBI
No one got hurt!
The Bad
Dylan Cease: 2 IP, 10 H, 8 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 10 Swinging Strikes
The White Sox’ offense (outside of Abreu) took an early Labor Day break this week
Moment of the Game
The moment that the Twins walked off the field to leave Chicago was the best moment of the game. I wish I was joking. This was a pretty rough stretch of mid-week baseball, to put it lightly. Two laughers and a lost pitcher’s duel is not going to be a good week. I mean this one was so bad that Baseball Savant had the White Sox’ probability of winning at 0% before the game even ended.
^ No, I’m telling you there was no chance.
Stats On 35th: Let’s Break this one down By the Numbers
Today’s Number: 3
3
We have an abbreviated version of Stats On 35th today, mostly because it was such a rough game. Let’s try and dissect Dylan Cease’s problem today, shall we? The biggest problem I saw today had to do with Cease’s release point. If we’ve learned anything as fans from listening to and watching Lucas Giolito, repeatability and consistency are of infinite value to the success of a starting pitcher. However, Dylan Cease did not have that today, as in each of the three innings he pitched, he had three very distinct release points. See for yourself:
The problem here isn’t that his “tunneling” wasn’t great – I mean, it’s a problem, but not the MAIN one. The problem is that from one inning to the next, he wasn’t even releasing the same type of pitch in the same place. That sort of inconsistency is what plagued Lucas Giolito last year and plagues a ton of young guys.
The good news? It’s a fixable issue, and Dylan has a great mentor in Gio. The bad news? It might get worse before it gets better. As a pitcher makes changes, it takes them awhile to develop a good feel for their new mechanics. A lot of people will look at Cease and say “Command” is the problem. You’re right, but you also need to dig a little deeper. With time, things will get better for Cease than they were today. Growing pains stink, but they should be expected.
Weekend Preview: NL East Action in Atlanta
Friday: Ivan Nova (9-10, 4.37 ERA) vs. TBD, 6:20 PM CT
Saturday: Reynaldo Lopez (8-11, 5.08 ERA) vs. TBD, 6:20 PM CT
Sunday: Lucas Giolito (14-7, 3.20 ERA) vs. TBD, 4:10 PM CT
Player of the Game
On account of the fact that I can’t find three players who would be worthy of Player of the Game today, let’s all just flush this one, forget about it, move on, and try again this weekend. Sound good? I think so too. Go Sox.
