Winning Pretty

Now, that’s more like it, last night’s 10-1 thumping of the Astros at Guaranteed Rate Whatever. Five homeruns by White Sox hitters plus a complete-game three hitter by Lucas Giolito is just what the doctor ordered. Alas, Sox fan that I am, I found something to complain about in manager Tony La Russa’s decision to pinch-hit for rookie right fielder Gavin Sheets in the seventh inning. Sheets was 2-for-3 with a double and two-run homer. Why not let him get another at-bat against a right-hander? The score was 9-0 at the time, and Sheets has a far bigger offensive upside than pinch-hitter Billy Hamilton, who was batting right-handed against right-handed reliver Austin Pruitt, by the way. Sheets gets on (Hamilton popped out), and Jake Burger follows with a two-run dinger rather than the solo shot he hit for his first major-league homerun. The ways of the La Russa are not for us mere mortals to question, or so his patron Jerry Reinsdorf would have it. In that case, make it two out of three against the Astros with a win today, OK?