Trash Talk

Before yesterday’s game against the Tigers, White Sox manager Tony La Russa addressed the question of hustle, and the perceived lack thereof, from his players. Talk about an admission of guilt and probable cause for firing. “I thought last year we were not very good” about that, in which case, good thing everything was kept behind closed clubhouse doors; that explains how an always Bears-intoxicated media missed what should’ve been a major story. As for this season, “I don’t think we’re perfect, but I think we’re doing well enough.” News flash—No, you’re not. La Russa proceeded to carry his head-scratching performance into the game against Detroit. On Thursday, Dylan Cease pitched six innings of one-run ball against Kansas City to get the loss. Last night, Michael Kopech pitched six innings of no-hit ball to pick up the no-decision. You see, Sox hitters can’t be motivated to go out and attack a starter like Daniel Norris, who entered the game with a 6.90 ERA; they get to him when they will, or they won’t, no biggie either way. Last night, Norris held the Sox scoreless through 4.2 innings. Somehow, my team scored two two-out runs in the seventh inning for a 2-0 win. But the story of the night was the 26-year old Kopech, who needed all of eighty-five pitches to get through six innings of work. Keep in mind that number reflects eleven strikeouts and three walks. In other words, Kopech was dealing and wanted to go out for the seventh inning. But Captain Gibber felt otherwise. Six innings was “as far as he should have gone for the game, the rest of the year, the rest of his career,” La Russa said after the game [today’s Sun-Times]. So, with about fifty games left in the season, our manager is still intent on resting his players. Hire a clown, expect a circus, I guess.