Like I Said

The Guardians and Yankees are bad teams in part because the White Sox can beat them. The Brewers are a good team in part because they can find ways to beat a bad team like the White Sox. (And the Braves are a very good team that will be known for dropping series to bottom-feeders like the Sox and A’s, an anomaly that will not haunt them come the postseason.) Last night, for the second time in two games, Milwaukee exploited a weakness in the opposition. Friday, it was Michael Kopech’s inability to hold a three-run lead. Saturday, it was Sox manager Mickey Mouse giving a master class in ineptitude—as if we needed any more from him—by overextending his starter. Jesse Scholtens has shown he can go six innings in the bigs, but never anything more. Staked to a 2-0 lead, Scholtens took the mound in the seventh inning and promptly walked Mark Canha; Mouse left him in. Andruw Monasterio followed with a single; not a mouse stirred in the dugout. Brice Turang flied out to deep center field, allowing both runners to tag up. Mouse let Scholtens keep pitching. Only after Tyrone Taylor doubled in the tying runs did Mouse act, if you can call giving the ball to Bryan Shaw, he of the 5.94 ERA, a sign of intelligent life. Yes, somehow Shaw did manage to strike out Christian Yelich, only to give up what proved to be the game-winning single to William Contreras. Mouse has said multiple times he will not compromise on the goal of winning games. That seventh inning proves otherwise. Mouse also uses the other side of his mouth to say that the remainder of the season is about giving new players, like rookie reliever Lane Ramsey, a chance to show what they can do. How nice. The 6’9” righthander pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth, retiring all six batters he faced. I can only wonder what Ramsey would’ve done had he come in an inning earlier.