From the Locker Room: Giolito Can't Snap the Slump
Wednesday matched up as a battle of aces, and neither Shane Bieber nor Lucas Giolito disappointed.
Giolito lost the game score battle, 67-61, but secured a 60.3 game score for the season with the effort—a strong season, overall.
Still, there were some who were concerned over Giolito's career-high ... 119 ... pitches.
"I felt like I was getting my rhythm," Giolito said postgame. "I felt strong through the end. I was on six days rest, so I was pretty fresh. I threw two bullpens in-between. I have another extra day before the next one. My body’s felt solid all year."
Giolito works hard to be honest and forthright in his responses to questions, not matter how dopey or catty they may sometimes be. So his postmortem on the game was direct and succinct.
"It's pretty rough, you get walk-off homered two nights in a row it’s not a good feeling," he said. "We have to come out and win tomorrow and right the ship, get ready for the playoffs...Play the baseball we know we can be play, being relaxed, loose, having fun rather than letting it get to us."
Lucas wasn't overly morbid about it, in fact rather logical, even hopeful, reflecting earlier words from José Abreu and Ricky Renteria.
"We were playing very, very well all season long," he said. "Our offense was spectacular all season long. It’s hard to maintain that the entire season. Maybe next year, or down the road, we'll be able to keep riding that all year. This stretch is a little bit of that wake-up call: We're not invincible every game we go out."
Giolito next starts on Tuesday, in the first game of the playoffs.
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Lucas Giolito footage courtesy of Chicago White Sox.
Actor (final credit: murdered by Albert Einstein in "Carnage Hall"), musician (Ethnocentric Republicans), and Nerf hoops champion, Wiffleball aficionado and onetime bilingual kindergarten teacher, Brett Ballantini also writes about baseball, basketball and sometimes hockey, for the NBA, MLB, NHL, and Slam, Hoop, Sporting News, the Athletic, SB Nation and others. He was CSN Chicago’s Blackhawks beat writer when their 49-year Stanley Cup drought ended in 2009-10, and took over the White Sox beat after that. He currently is the editor-in-chief of South Side Hit Pen and beat writer for Inside the Rays. He also wrote a book about Ozzie Guillén but is running out of space, so follow him on Twitter @BrettBallantini and he'll probably tell you even more about himself than you ever wanted to know.