Upon Deaf Ears

Before yesterday’s 3-2 loss—nine in a row for a 7-20 team, in case you’re counting—to the Rays, White Sox manager Pedro Grifol told reporters, “Mental lapses are not acceptable.” [today’s Sun-Times] Then his players put on a clinic. With Rays’ runners on the corners and one out in the top of the first, starter Lucas Giolito got Brandon Lowe to pop out to second baseman Lenyn Sosa in short right-center field. Only shortstop Elvis Andrus also went out for the ball and first baseman Andrew Vaughn was late covering second. Rather than throw home immediately, Sosa hesitated just long enough for Yandy Diaz to score from third. I should also note here Diaz tagged up the second Sosa caught the ball. Take away that run, and the home run Isaac “Babe” Paredes hit (forget about the two doubles from last night or five RBIs from the night before) in the top of the ninth off of Kendall Graveman (two homeruns yielded in last his two appearances, in the course of twenty-four hours) only ties the score. Then, when Luis Robert Jr. popped up with runners on first and second with two out, the game would’ve gone into extra innings at least. But, no. A hit by Robert would’ve upped his average from .215, not a number you want to see from your number-three hitter. Eloy Jimenez did go 1-for-3, but a .181 BA is not what you want to see out of your cleanup hitter. Jake Burger and Vaughn homered, which was nice. Burger hit number seven and just missed number eight when he flied out to the leftfield fence in the eighth. I can’t wait to see what Grifol will do with Burger once Yoan Moncada gets back, if he gets back from that disc problem in his back. Here’s a thought—Elvis Andrus is batting .183 and looks done. Why not keep Burger at third and slide Moncada over to second, where he came up with the Sox in 2017? I mean, what has he got to lose?