Clueless

Last night, there were four generations assembled in the living room of Clare’s apartment: my mother-in-law; her daughter and granddaughter; and her great-grandson (she now has three, by the way). Any one of them would’ve had more of a clue than the White Sox exhibited in their third game against the Blue Jays. Sox hitters were altogether clueless facing a pitch that looked entirely new and baffling to them, something called a slider. Toronto starter Robbie Ray kept throwing one, and Sox hitters kept swinging, to the tune of sixteen strikeouts, as opposed to the six hits and a walk they managed on the evening. From there, it’s not much of a leap to a 3-1 loss. Yes, Yoan Moncada had an RBI from the two-spot, but he may have been the most clueless Sox player of them all, with three strikeouts and an error that led to the second of two eighth-inning runs. Of course, manager Tony La Russa also continued in his clue-free fog. La Russa thought he could depend on Aaron Bummer with the score tied at one and the heart of the Jays’ order due up. Somehow, Bummer managed to strike out Marcus Semien and Vladimir Guerrero, after which the flood in the form of three straight singles; two of the hits came with two strikes. The horse clearly out of the barn, La Russa then summoned Jose Ruiz out of the bullpen to ensure the barn door stayed open. The error by Moncada wasn’t Ruiz’s fault, but the four-pitch, bases-loaded walk was. If the White Sox insist on carrying a boatload of pitchers, why does La Russa insist on inserting the wrong ones at the wrong time and then waiting too long to correct his mistake(s)? You may as well ask my 2-1/2 week-old grandson for an answer. I bet it would make more sense than anything the White Sox manager had to say.