Nostradamus

Can I see the future or what? Just like I predicted, Colson Montgomery played a different position last night; Egar Quero sat; Kyle Teel caught; and Josh Rojas got a start at third base. White Sox 10 Pirates 4. Montgomery struck out twice; Teel got two hits; and Rojas somehow managed to double in a run and raise his BA to .177. As much as it pains me to, I have to give kudos to manager New-Mickey Venable for two decisions, starting with Montgomery. Rather than have the lefthanded rookie face lefty reliever Caleb Ferguson with two runners on, Venable went with righthanded Austin Slater to pinch hit, and Slater singled in the tying run. Montgomery was 0-for-2 on the night with two strikeouts. Risking three risked a setback in Montgomery’s still-shaky confidence at the plate. The second kudo comes from an old-school decision by Venable to call for a sacrifice bunt in the seventh with two runners on and nobody out; Brooks Baldwin delivered as asked, and Lenyn Sosa singled in both runners. Ah, Sosa. If Nancy Faust were still around on a regular basis, I wonder if she’d be tempted to play “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria” as Sosa’s walkup song. If only the guy could field the way he hits. Last night, Sosa went 3-for-3 with three RBIs; two runs scored; and a walk. It helped, at least defensively, that he wasn’t playing the field. A DH can’t muff a ground ball. My suggestion would be to alternate the 25-year old between second base and DH for the rest of the season; that would minimize the damage from his defensive limitations. Did I mention the guy can hit? What I like about Sosa is he seems to understand he’s 5’11” and leaves launch angle/velo to the big folks. Rather, he puts the ball in play and takes his RBIs. That said, Sosa also has nine homeruns. I keep wondering if the Sox have any idea who Mike Heath was. For that matter, Daniel Murphy.