Hemingwayesque

Ernest Hemingway had his heroes demonstrate grace under pressure. If he wrote about baseball (which he didn’t), Hemingway would’ve crafted a story where the hero is a pitcher who knows he won’t win but goes out and throws 5.2 brilliant innings in a scoreless game until his dim-witted manager pulls him. Wait, that’s just what happened to Garrett Crochet last night. Crochet against the world or, in this case, the visiting Dodgers, with Shohei Ohtani batting leadoff. Ohtani had three homeruns in his previous three games. Moreover, he feasts on White Sox pitching, with sixteen career homeruns, 36 RBIs and a .311 BA; last season, Ohtani hit seven homers against the Sox in seven games. But not last night facing the Sox lefthander. Crochet struck out Ohtani swinging to lead off the game and induced a grounder to shortstop in the third. Ohtani was hitting .453 the third time he sees a starting pitcher, but not last night. He took a called third strike. The inevitable happened in the top of the sixth with two out when the worst manager in White Sox history lifted his starter; pitch management and all. Crochet had thrown 91 pitches. Me, I give him the chance to get the next batter, which at least offered the possibility of him getting the win, assuming his team could score a run in the bottom of the inning and the bullpen could hold on. None of that happened, of course. Hemingway heroes usually get their lunch handed to them one way or another, by sharks or Fascists. If Crochet gets traded, he’d break the mold. Lucky him, unlucky us.