Waiting for...Smoky Burgess?

No need for White Sox fans to waste time on waiting for Godot, not when Dylan Cease is around. Is this guy ever going to figure it out? God forbid he hold a lead against a good team. Cease and Sox lose to Cleveland, 6-5. Anyway, out of the blue, my daughter called yesterday and said, “We need somebody who can pinch-hit.” Talk about floored. I didn’t think any American League fan under the age of fifty even knew what a pinch-hitter was, and here’s Clare wanting to put one on our bench. Her choice is Yermin Mercedes. “I just don’t trust him as a fulltime player,” said the scout on the other end of the phone, and she may be right; Mercedes’ BA has tumbled about 100 points during the month of May and one game in June. The problem is, he can put his bat on just about any pitch thrown, but he doesn’t foul them off. He’s hitting them fair for outs. Maybe coming off the bench more would help the “Yerminator” regain his focus. I did a quick check, and did you know Matt Stairs hit the most career pinch-hit homeruns, twenty-three in all? (Calling Daniel Palka.) A secret weapon, that. I was happy when Smoky Burgess poked a single into right for Al Lopez and Eddie Stanky. But twenty-three homers? That works for me. There’s talk about limiting the number of pitchers teams can carry, starting next year. If so, something old has a chance of becoming new again. I hope so.