How to Win

The White Sox broke their eight-game losing streak yesterday because thirty-year old rookie Mark Payton hustled out of the box in the eighth inning after hitting a routine popup to second baseman Nick Gordon, who promptly dropped the ball. Yea! Steve Stone sounded like he was ready to leave the booth and personally award Payton a medal for hustle. Payton scored what proved to be the winning run on a Jose Abreu double. The best that can be said for Yasmani Grandal is he caused no irreparable harm during the game. I want to talk about both Payton and Grandal. Payton, who stands two inches taller than Clare, was born two weeks after my daughter. He attended St. Rita High School on the South Side, where eighteen Mustangs have gone on to play in organized ball, five making it to the majors. Payton joins pitchers Jim Clancy; Ed Farmer, blessed be his name; Lefty Sullivan; and Tony Zych as major-league ballplayers. I should also note one of Payton’s high school teammates, drafted by the Rangers, happened to be the brother of one of Clare’s high school teammates. Oh, and both teams were the Mustangs. I doubt Payton will be with the Sox next year; journeymen on the smallish side aren’t hard to come by. That said, he demonstrated how baseball is supposed to be played, full-out all the time. So, like a stopped clock twice a day, Stone got it right about a Sox player who actually hustled. I can’t wait for the next time. If and when it comes, I doubt it will have anything to do with catcher Yasmani Grandal, who gave up another three stolen bases. That’s forty-six successful steals out of fifty-four attempts for a fifteen percent caught-stealing rate. Wait, there’s more. Grandal has been catching eleven seasons. He has ninety-one passed balls to go with a twenty-five percent career caught-stealing rate. Once upon a time, the Sox had A.J. Pierzynski behind the plate. Over a sixteen-year career, Pierzynski accounted for only eleven more passed balls than Grandal has, and, remember, the season isn’t over yet. While Pierzynski was as bad as Grandal in throwing out baserunners (twenty-four percent vs. twenty-five), it’s worth noting that A.J. had 2043 hits total to 841 for Grandal. So, yes, I wish we had A.J. in his prime. I also wouldn’t mind a Sox catcher from the 1980s and ’90s. In twelve seasons on the South Side, Ron Karkovice was charged with fifty passed balls in 6972.2 innings behind the plate; compare that to Grandal’s ninety-one in 7707.2 innings. Wait, there’s more. Karkovice has a career forty-one percent caught-stealing rate. As MC Hammer might say, Grandal can’t touch that. Sox GM Rick Hahn likes to read the backs of baseball cards. Maybe he should start looking at baseball-reference.com every once in a while. He might learn something.