With apologies to Comrade Magary for infringing on his franchise, we will ride the dead donkey that is the Chicago White Sox until they end their current record-breaking and record-threatening losing streak.
Loss number twenty-one ties them with the 1988 Baltimore Orioles for the longest losing streak in American League history.
The 1961 Philadelphia Phillies will reach the next milestone, which is 23.
Last night, our fantastically flawed heroes suffered a 5-1 loss to the previously Soxian and now reasonably intriguing Oakland Athletics. How normal was this? The White Sox have scored one or less runs in 32 of their 115 games this season.
It is the 52nd time they have scored fewer than three runs, and the 86th time they have failed to score the average number of runs scored by an MLB team every game (4.47). How desultory was it? They had four hits, but only one went for extra bases; Andrew Vaughn’s fourth-inning double was noteworthy enough to mention here. This was the 27th time they had four or fewer hits in a game.
Their starting pitcher, major league debutante Ky Bush, was only promoted that morning and lasted four whole innings before being substituted, walking five and striking out six. The entire game took two hours and fifteen minutes.
Their best player, Luis Robert Jr., went 0 for 4, and his slash line is currently.210/.278/.402. During his current losing streak, he is 16 for 92 with two home runs and seven RBIs.
The Highlight, Such As It Is: Oakland’s Zach Gelof, renowned primarily for his power hitting, scored from third on a strikeout that became a 2-3 putout in the eighth inning, increasing Oakland’s lead to 5-1. In other words, he scored an unnecessary run in a game that was already won primarily because he wanted to and believed the White Sox were the least likely club to catch him.
What They Are Saying Back in Chicago: This comes after Sunday’s loss to Minnesota, but it’s too fantastic to pass up, according to former manager Ozzie Guillen on NBC Sports Chicago:
