[jksander]

May 11, 2026: The White Sox haven’t had a winning record at any point in a season since sometime in the 2022 season, when we wound up finishing 81-81, failing to repeat as division champs. Now we’re still relatively early in our current season, but we’ve got a chance to make a real statement against the Mets, Brandon Pfaadt (2-1, 4.18 ERA, 28.0 IP, 28 K’s, 1.21 WHIP) going up against Freddy Peralta (2-2, 3.76 ERA, 40.2 IP, 40 K’s, 1.18 WHIP). And it went south quickly, when Pfaadt had to be pulled from the game with two outs and a man on in the bottom of the FIRST INNING ... diagnosis pending. Ryan Weber took over and got us out of the inning without anyone scoring, and Joey Gallo gave us the lead with a solo bomb in the top of the second. The Mets tied it with a solo homer of their own off the bat of Jeff McNeil in the bottom of the third, but Weber was able to keep it that way through the rest of the inning, and Bellinger hit one in the top of the fourth to put us back up 2-1. Noah Syndergaard took the ball in the bottom of the fourth, and Ryan Clifford hit a leadoff homer to tie it 2-2 ... this one’s going to be a long one. A few minutes later Jose Siri hit a two-run slam out of left to give the Mets a two-run lead, and we had our work cut out for us. But give credit to our hitters, they came out FIRED UP in the fifth, Kjerstad hitting an RBI single and Bellinger going yard for the second time, piling on three more with a homer to give us the lead 6-4! Syndergaard loaded the bags in the bottom of the inning but held firm and got the outs we needed to keep New York from scoring, and Gary Sanchez scored off a wild pitch in the sixth to extend our lead to three runs. Luis Sanchez came out in the bottom of the sixth and after getting two outs he gave everything back and more ... a two-run double by Ryan Clifford shot the Mets into the lead 8-7, as this game threatened to give me a managerial stroke. Ryan Helsley took over in the bottom of the seventh, and Bazardo took over in the eighth, giving up a solo homer to Francisco Alvarez to extend the Mets’ lead. We went down quietly from there, losing this one 9-7 to snap our winning streak.

Sanchez blew the save and got his first loss of the year, allowing five hits with four runs and just one strikeout in a game that blew his ERA up to 4.03 through 22.1 innings. But we were in this one way past the point of sanity, considering the Mets outhit us 17-7, a bludgeoning that should have seen us get completely slaughtered after losing our pitcher two outs into the game. Cody Bellinger led the way with two hits (both homers), two runs and four RBIs.

May 12, 2026: No word on Pfaadt’s injury as we go into game two, Sean Burke (2-2, 4.61 ERA, 27.1 IP, 30 K’s, 1.32 WHIP) pitching against David Peterson (0-2, 6.59 ERA, 27.1 IP, 20 K’s, 1.54 WHIP). Yesterday’s game blew our bullpen to pieces, and aside from Cannon and Joyce who are well rested, only Merryweather (74%) and Weber (63%) and Helsley (59%) are even remotely capable of pitching ... so Burke was likely to have a longer leash than usual tonight regardless of how the early innings go. Unfortunately the Mets took a quick lead off an RBI single by Juan Soto in the bottom of the first, and a sac-fly by Brandon Nimmo added on. We answered by getting on the board when Bellinger scored off a wild pitch in the top of the second, and Burke settled down in the bottom of the inning, keeping us within the one run. A two-run double by Kjerstad put us into the lead 3-2 in the top of the third, and we piled on four more runs in the top of the fifth as we took control out of nowhere with a Joey Gallo GRAND SLAM! Jonathan Cannon took over with a five-run lead in the top of the sixth, getting through the inning with just one run going back the Mets’ way, powering through the seventh with little trouble at all to keep our lead at 7-3 heading into the top of the eighth. Chase Meidroth got us the run back with an RBI single, but the Mets got a two-run homer from Soto in the bottom of the inning, and with no outs we had to bring out Ben Joyce as they pulled back within three. Joyce struck out three around a pair of baserunners, getting us into the ninth with the lead still safe, and Merryweather came out in the bottom of the ninth to try and close this out. He pitched around a walk by Francisco Lindor to help us clinch the 8-5 win, another hard-fought victory for our White Sox on the road! Burke improved to 3-2 with a 4.45 ERA, lasting five innings with four hits, a walk, five strikeouts and two earned runs. We outhit New York 10-6, led by Gallo, whose third homer of the season got us four RBIs to lead the team!

The news on Brandon Pfaadt is bad ... all around, bad ... the 27-year-old has severe elbow inflamation, and will miss AT LEAST two to three months, with no expectation for a return before August. We’ve put him on the 60-day IL, and for now Ryan Weber is going to step into our starting rotation full time. Andre Lipcius is coming back up to add depth off the bench in the infield, and we’re considering options on potentially trading for a pitcher to fill the role more permanently ... we’re in talks with Detroit about Tyler Holton and with Cincinnati about Nick Lodolo, but it’s going to take some hammering on a deal, so no sense rushing things.
 
May 13, 2026: Drew Rasmussen (1-2, 3.48 ERA, 33.2 IP, 36 K’s, 1.13 WHIP) pitched in our rubber match against the Mets, battling Frankie Montas (2-2, 4.71 ERA, 28.2 IP, 24 K’s, 1.36 WHIP). Miguel Vargas hit a three-run homer in the top of the second to give us an early lead, and Tauchman hit a two-run single to add on in the top of the third! The Mets got on the board in the bottom of the third with an RBI double by Brett Baty, and Rasmussen started to fall apart, letting them have two more off a double by Soto with just one out ... but he calmed things with two quick outs to get us into the fourth still leading 5-3. Bellinger hit a solo homer to start the top of the fourth, but we had to bring out Syndergaard to pitch in the fifth as Rasmussen had thrown way too wildly in the first four innings, wearing himself down, and this one became another game of bullpen chess. Syndergaard got us through two solid innings, and an RBI single for Cedanne Rafaela increased our margin to four runs as we went into the stretch leading 7-3. Jonathan Cannon came out to pitch in the bottom of the inning, and after a two-out triple by Francisco Alvarez in the bottom of the eighth, Ryan Helsley took over, getting the out we needed thanks to a grounder to first by Ryan Clifford. Bellinger hit a solo homer in the top of the ninth, his second of the game and seventh of the season, and Helsley shut them down in the bottom of the inning as we won this one 8-3, taking the series two games to one and giving ourselves a winning record for the first time in recent memory! Syndergaard improved to 1-2 with an 8.18 ERA thanks to two innings with a hit and a strikeout, and we outhit New York 11-6, led by Bellinger who hit twice (both homers) for three runs and two RBIs! The bad news is Kjerstad was injured, the main reason we had to bring Bellinger into the lineup today in the first place ... it was an impact injury sliding into base, and he is still being evaluated.

May 14, 2026: The news isn’t great about Kjerstad, but it’s far from the worst case scenario. He’s dealing with knee tendinitis, an will need to be out of the lineup for at least three weeks. We’ve added him to our 10-day IL, calling up Joshua Mears to play in the outfield in his absence. In other news, we’ve made a trade with the Reds that, instead of getting us Nick Lodolo, ACTUALLY gets us top-line pitcher Zac Gallen, with the team retaining 75% of his contract (worth $11.8M in savings each year through 2029!) In return, we’re giving up Joey Gallo, who has not been happy on the bench, along with power-reliever Luis Sanchez, our rule five pick this past winter. I hate giving Sanchez up, but to get Gallen ... a player who has put up a 71-48 record and a 3.38 career ERA ... I just couldn’t say no, despite several heated arguments with our assistant GM over it. In the end, our owner sided with me and we all know Reinsdorf gets what he wants.

Gallen’s officially on our 26-man roster ahead of our upcoming homestand, though he’s not slated to start until at least game three against Miami, and potentially not until the first game of our Pittsburgh series. We’ve called up Lenyn Sosa to take Gallo’s spot on the bench.