Gamethread: Diamondbacks at White Sox

The only thing standing between the Chicago White Sox and being swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks — who are 29 games back in their division — is the right arm of The Stache.

Why do we love Dylan Cease? Well, in short, because he doesn’t embarrass us. Quite the opposite. The 26-year-old is riding 12 wins and a 2.27 ERA into today’s action. Cease has been a gift — an oasis of good in an otherwise endless desert of frustration and mediocrity. Every fifth game, White Sox fans unclench their teeth and let their scrunched-up shoulders drop because we know that even if Cease doesn’t have his best stuff, he’s still going to pitch well enough to keep the game within reach. Even if the hope of a Cy Young winner on the South Side has dulled a little in the last month, with Houston’s Justin Verlander and Tampa Bay’s Shane McClanahan jumping in front of Cease on most of the AL pitching leaderboards — there’s still time. What better place than here? White Sox fans have been waiting for a win at home for nearly two weeks. What better time than now? The Diamondbacks have the fifth-worst OPS (.693) in the National League — right behind the .700 OPS Chicago Cubs.

It’s time. Let’s do it.

And let’s do it with this injury-ridden lineup of scruffy nerf-herders led by ... Romy González? OK. Whatever.

Diamondbacks will line up like this:

First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 pm CT, and can be found locally in the usual places.