Loser(s)

Poor Jerry Reinsdorf. If he didn’t have bad luck as an owner, he wouldn’t have any luck at all. His Bulls haven’t won an NBA championship in a quarter-century and haven’t won a playoff series in eight years. And his White Sox stink. Last night, both Reinsdorf teams lost. The Bulls bowed out of the play-in for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference, losing to the Heat, 102-91. Jerry’s lads were outscored 15-1 in the final 3:47. Ex-Bull Jimmy Butler, traded away in the deal that brought Zach LaVine to the United Center, scored thirty-one points to LaVine’s fifteen (6-for-21 shooting, five turnovers). So much for the old regime of John Paxson and Gar Forman having a clue. But wait, there’s more. Not only did the new front office headed by Arturas Karnisovas sign LaVine to a max contract (see above for how that paid off in its first year), the new talent evaluators didn’t see much in guard Max Strus, let go two seasons ago. Strus matched Butler’s thirty-one points, going 7-for-12 from beyond the three-point line. Now, to my Sox, blowers of a 3-0 lead with two out in the seventh inning against the visiting Orioles. For some reason, Reinsdorf thinks Rick Hahn is a qualified general manager, and Hahn thinks Pedro Grifol is a qualified team manager (take the double entendre, if you like), and everybody seems to think Jake Diekman is a major-league relief pitcher. Wrong, wrong, wrong. The lefthanded Diekman came in for starter Mike Clevinger and walked the first batter. Not only is rookie Gunnar Henderson a lefty hitter, he’s batting .150. Diekman managed a strikeout before giving up another walk. The balk was just thrown in for fun, I guess. Enter Reynaldo Lopez, who got the first batter he faced, followed by an infield single by Terrin Vavra. Tough play, shortstop Elvis Andrus had to charge the ball barehanded to have a chance, but he couldn’t field the ball cleanly. Now, it’s two out and bases loaded. So, how did Lopez respond? He walked the next batter on four pitches to force in a run. Wait, there’s more. Jumping ahead 0-2 on Adley Rutschman, Lopez left a fastball down in the zone and very hittable to a lefthanded batter. Rutschman didn’t disappoint, clearing the bases with a double. Afterwards, Lopez admitted it was a bad pitch, but not his manager. No, Grifol said his pitcher “just missed” with the pitch and Rutschman “put a good swing on it.” [story on team website] We must’ve been watching different games. The one I saw had Jimmy Lambert give up another two runs the next inning, leading to a final score of 6-3. But, hey, Yasmani Grandal looks tired, and Luis Robert Jr., too. Maybe it’s time to rest ‘em. Or for somebody to sell his teams.