Angels help the White Sox to a sweep, 7-0
Ozzie was right when he said Anaheim is a worse team
Not satisfied with handing the White Sox a win Tuesday night by dropping a gimme popup, Angels infielder Jack Lopez tried to raise the ante on Thursday. Moving over to short for Zach Neto (who earlier had been injured being thrown out on the bases for the third time in two games), Lopez blew a grounder with one on in the fifth. Then the middle infielder followed it up by turning what should have been a double play into just a force out, opening the gates for the biggest White Sox inning of the year, a whole TD and extra point’s worth.
Of course, you have to take advantage of what’s handed to you for it to matter, and the Sox did just that, as Angels starter Tyler Anderson then melted down and lost all control and command. A four-pitch walk to Luis Robert Jr. loaded the bases, and suddenly the Sox were the 1976 Reds.
First, Andrew Vaughn:
Then, Lenyn Sosa:
Then, after Anderson left for old White Sox failure Carson Fulmer, Bryan Ramos:
Then, Zach DeLoach:
You may have noticed a bunch of missed cutoff men in there, just to demonstrate total Angels failure.
Those hits made it 6-0 and Dominic Fletcher, who’d started the inning with a single, added the extra point, in the process tying the modern MLB record for hits in an inning, shared by roughly 257,425 others (there were three cases of three hits in an inning in the 1800s, but that’s like counting the Cleveland Spiders for loss records).
Meanwhile, Chris Flexen pitched his best game of the year and even got a win for his efforts, his first since May. Flexen went 6 1⁄3, giving up just five hits and one walk and striking out precisely one batter each inning, itself a pretty tough feat. Sure, it helps to pitching against another minor league team, but you take what you can get.
The bullpen then kept the Angels out of the red zone, with two of the innings covered by Jairo Iriarte.
So, a nice, one-TD victory, with a bunch of batting stats getting improved in time for the year end, especially those of Vaughn (three hits), and Sosa and DeLoach (two apiece).
Even with the blowout, Grady Sizemore never put Yoán Moncada in the game for a last home shot before he’s let go at the end of the year. (It’s understandable the Sox want to give experience to players who have a possible future with the team, but why the hell did they ever bring him back up after his long injury sojourn — just want to embarrass him by keeping him on the bench except for one pinch-hitting trip?)
With the sweep, the loss total is stuck at a tie with the 1962 Mets at 120, but the Sox now go off to Detroit to end the season against not only an actual major-league team, but one battling for a playoff position, The Tigers have their own history challenging the ineptitude record, only to win five of their final six games in 2003 to just set the American League record at 119 — which, of course the Sox have already broken.
Futility Watch
White Sox 2024 Record 39-120, worst season in White Sox history, second-worst post-1899 MLB season all-time (a half-game better than the 1916 A’s) and 81 games below .500
White Sox 2024 Run Differential -318, sixth-worst 159-game start in MLB history
White Sox 2024 Season Record Pace 40-122 (.245)
All-Time White Sox Record (1901-2024) 9,592-9,611 (.4995)
Race to the Worst “Modern” 162-Game Record (2003 Tigers, 43-119) CLINCHED, currently 2 1⁄2 games worse than the 2003 Tigers
Race to the Worst “Modern” Record in a 162-Game Season (1962 Mets, 40-120-1) half-game worse; need to finish 2-1 to end season 41-121
Race to the Most White Sox Losses (1970, 106) new record set (120 and counting)
Race to the Worst White Sox Record (1932, 49-102-1) CLINCHED, currently 14 games worse than the 1932 team
Race to the Worst Post-1899 Record (1916 A’s, 36-117-1) FAILED; even a 39-123 finish is a .241 winning percentage, and the A’s finished .235