Loser crap: Diamondbacks 3, White Sox 2

The Minnesota Twins have won their game today, and the Cleveland Guardians lost a tough one to the Seattle Mariners, but the outcome of those games doesn’t matter much — at least, not to the third-place White Sox. Chicago lost its fifth straight home game and third straight against the Arizona Diamondbacks, a measure of improvement on Sunday by merely losing by one run, 3-2. The White Sox fall to 63-65 on the season. They have lost nine of their last 11 games and remain unable to capitalize on any scheduling or in-game advantages they might find in their laps.

There was one bright spot in today’s game: Dylan Cease. Cease went the deepest into a game as he’s ever gone, throwing 102 pitches over eight innings of outstanding ball. He struck out eight batters and allowed just two hits — but each went over the fence. Those solo blasts off the bats of Jake McCarthy and rookie Stone Garrett were the only runs Cease allowed all afternoon. At one point, Cease had retired 17 Diamondbacks in a row.

But it wasn’t enough.

Was it a perfect outing? No. But it should have been enough for a win. Instead, Cease is left with another frustrating no-decision, and the White Sox failed to capitalize on another “easy” series (OK, “home” series) which leaves room for the Guardians and Twins to put more space between them in the standings when the schedule again turns.

The White Sox offense was dismal and could not get much of anything going. The Sox outhit the Diamondbacks and drew an uncharacteristic five walks, but they never found a way to convert those baserunners into actual runs. The South Siders were 1-for-3 with RISP this afternoon, which means that despite seven hits and five walks, only three White Sox made it as far as second base. Station to Station is a better LP than offensive philosophy.

The offensive highlights of this game are so few and far between, they can be summed up with only two videos. Here. Look at them.

Gavin Sheets hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game, 1-1.

But that was basically it. Were there some questionable substitutions made in the bottom of the ninth inning? Sure, maybe, but it didn’t matter a whole bunch at that point. If a team that is supposed to be a playoff contender can only muster two runs off of a guy who wasn’t even good enough for the Chicago Cubs to keep around, then I really don’t have any good vibes to offer you.

Kendall Graveman came in for Cease in the ninth inning. He walked two batters and gave the Diamondbacks the lead on a McCarthy gapper.

And that was it. I hope you enjoyed the ride.

Manager Tony La Russa sure didn’t. La Russa was quoted postgame as saying, “I don’t like frustration, discouragement. That’s loser crap.”

Let’s talk about “loser crap,” Tony.

The White Sox lead the league in grounding into double plays. They also lead the league in runners left on base per game. They are the second-worst in the league at drawing walks. They cannot find it in them to climb atop a division where the first-place team has only 67 wins as we near the end of August, a division that is a collective AL-worst 43 games below .500.

That’s loser crap. And the White Sox organization has spent the entire season telling fans that they were the ones who were wrong for thinking so. I’m just glad that La Russa has finally woken up — literally and figuratively — to the reality of the 2022 White Sox. Maybe now, they’ll finally do something about it.

Today’s scorecard highlights:

• I spent the first three innings of today’s game watching my nephew play in his first football game, so I was able to use the space of those innings to create a list of things that were more exciting than watching this White Sox game.

• I wasn’t too happy when Josh McCarthy tied the game in the eighth inning.

• Sox lose. Diamondbacks sweep.