Levine: White Sox Pitching Off To Slow Start

By Bruce Levine--

CHICAGO (CBS) – So far, one of the perceived strengths of the 2015 Chicago White Sox has been absent in the first four games of the season.

With the addition of Jeff Samardzija to an already decent pitching staff, the assumption was a quality start from the rotation would occur on a regular basis.

After four games, though, the White Sox are without a quality start. Hector Noesi, Friday's starter in a 6-0 loss to the Twins, couldn't get out of the fifth inning, despite giving up just two runs. Six walks, a hit batter, a wild pitch and balk were all a part of his sub-par performance in the home opener.

"I had a command issue with my changeup, and my fastball was a little off," Noesi said. "Early in the game I did not feel comfortable. I still tried to hold the team in there."

Noesi gave up a wild pitch on his 105th pitch, allowing the second Minnesota run, and was hitting the showers after an intentional walk to the next batter.

"He was all over the place for awhile," Chicago manager Robin Ventura said. "He actually did a little Houdini there getting out of some stuff. You cannot load the bases that many times and expect good results."

The frustration boiled over for the White Sox with over-aggressive plays. Seasoned pros Alexei Ramirez and Adam Eaton  made silly mistakes of aggression that led to embarrassing outcomes.

"Looking at that from the outside, it doesn't look like a smart move," catcher Tyler Flowers said of his teammates' gaffes. "They made the mistakes aggressively, and that is how we are going to play. We will make mistakes, but we will do them the right way."

With Samardzija getting his second start on Saturday and rotation ace Chris Sale making his 2015 debut, things could turn around quickly for the highly touted White Sox. They need to after an 0-4 start.

Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score and CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.