Don't Say That

Reynaldo Lopez started for the White Sox last night, and he reminded me of long-gone Jacob Turner in a couple of ways, starting with his stat line: three innings pitched, six hits, five earned runs with a walk, two strikeouts and two gopher balls along the way. Afterwards, Lopez did a spot-on Turner imitation after similar outings. “I think it went well,” the 27-year old right hander was quoted in today’s Sun-Times. “Just a couple [of] mistakes, but I felt good with all my pitches.” As Billy Crystal might say, it is better to look good than feel good. In addition, the team web site has Lopez explaining through team interpreter Billy Russo, “My focus right now is not to throw hard. It’s more to execute with all my pitches. That’s what I’ve been working on.” Like Jacob Turner? I’m just spitballing here, but I think the idea is to see if you have a feel for your pitches and move on quickly if you don’t. How can misfiring pitch after pitch—see stat line, above—in any way help? If anything, I’d say it leads to bad habits. And what are all the new gizmos for, if not to show a pitcher during his side sessions what’s working and what isn’t? Lopez made a point in his comments of saying what a hard worker he is. OK, use the gizmos to get better, bring what you’ve learned to the mound, and then be ready. For what? Well, I’ve always heard good pitchers are the ones who know how to win without their best stuff. Lopez obviously didn’t have his best stuff. Then get into the habit of realizing that fast and identifying what will get batters out. That’s the spring-training habit I’d want to establish from the get-go. Manager Tony La Russa said something Lopez and everybody else on the team might want to consider: “Six times we’ve been losers, [and it] messes up the rest of the day.” If the skipper doesn’t like losing in March, what’s he going to be like once the season starts?