Losing It

White Sox manager Mickey Mouse has lost control of his team, assuming he ever had any. Yesterday’s eighth inning in Milwaukee confirmed it. The Sox were down 4-3, with two runners on and nobody out when a pitch from Brewers’ reliever Enoli Paredes eluded catcher William Contreras, who recovered in time to throw out pinch runner Zach Remillard at third. If Nicky Lopez had been able to lay down a bunt, it would’ve been runners on second and third with one out. Instead, Lopez doubled, to put runners on second and third with one out. Good luck and bad. The good part is obvious, the bad part that the ball bounced over the right field wall for a ground-rule double; another couple of inches and Lopez has an RBI triple. Also, there’s now one out. Next up, Corey Julks, who hit a fly to short left field. Christian Yelich nailed baserunner Tommy Pham by a good three to four feet. Sox go on to lose, 6-3, their eleventh straight loss. After the game, Pham told reporters, “It was a shallow flyball to left field. You would expect the left fielder to throw the base runner out on that play. The situation of the game, you know, [the] third base coach sends you, you’ve got to go. I’m nailed out at home, by a mile.” [quote from story in today’s Tribune] Hmm. In one sense, Pham was saying Paredes and Contreras were celebrating like it was the final out in the seventh game of the world series instead of a play that defines a terrible ballclub. But he also implied—strongly, at least to me—that third base coach Eddie Rodriguez blew it. That’s two outs on the basepaths in one inning, not to be confused with the four outs Osacr Colas made replacing Andrew Benintendi, who was put on the 10-day IL with tendonitis in his left Achilles. Before the game, Mouse told Colas this was an opportunity he needed to seize. Two strikeouts and two groundouts. A textbook performance in oh so many ways.