Anyone Home?

Maybe White Sox pitching coach Ethan Katz was all tired out from guiding starter Travis Martin through six innings of one-hit, shutout ball, or maybe hitting coach Marcus Thames could only focus on Brooks Baldwin, who went 3-for-4 on a very hot afternoon in Kansas City. In which case, too bad. The Sox needed nine outs for a 2-0 win. Instead, they got a 6-2 loss, their fourteenth straight at Kauffman Stadium and eleventh loss in their last thirteen games overall. Steve Wilson surrendered a game-tying, two-run homerun with two outs in the seventh. Grant Taylor followed, giving up the go-ahead run with two outs in the eighth, followed by another. Jordan Leasure entered with one on and promptly served up a two-run shot. Damned if I could see any coaching or coach at work in all that. Ditto the hitting, which went 1-for-8 with RISP. Baldwin doubled with two outs and a runner on in the eighth, only Chase Meidroth found a way not to score. What do you say about that, Skipper? “Not sure if he scores there, but that’s really besides the point. In that situation, process-wise, we have to be in tune with the situation.” [quote from story today in the Tribune] Huh? If New-Mickey Venable spoke in plain English, he might say, “Meidroth screwed up there. We always want to force the issue with a chance to score the go-ahead run in late innings.” That’s what a real manager would say, no?