Bloops and Blasts

We White Sox fans always accentuate the positive. Just kidding. But why not just for a change of pace? Yesterday, Sox hitters clubbed four solo-shots in a 5-4 win over the Red Sox, with three of the homeruns coming from among what I describe as the team core: Jake Burger, Luis Robert Jr. and Andrew Vaughn. Yasmani Grandal also homered, in the same way he had a ball go off his glove in the ninth inning that set up Boston’s tying run. Of course, it wouldn’t have mattered had Tim Anderson handled a one-hop shot at second base, but Anderson isn’t fielding his new position any better than he does shortstop. But we’re accentuating the positive here, so enough of that. With two out in the bottom of the ninth, pinch-hitter Gavin Sheets singled on a groundball that handcuffed first baseman Triston Casas. Pinch-runner Zach Remillard promptly stole second base and scored on Elvis Andrus’ bloop to right. Remillard showed some nice speed in beating the throw to the plate. In his postgame interview, Andrus said two things that stood out, that he had an idea of how closer Kenley Jansen would pitch him from having faced Jansen Friday night and that he adjusted his approach after Remillard stole second. All he needed to win the game was a single rather than an extra-base hit. This is a smart ballplayer. No wonder the Sox didn’t sign him as a teenage out of Venezuela and instead waited until he was in his fourteenth major-league season. Oops. I need to stay positive.