Clueless in Cleveland

The White Sox embarrassed themselves in front of a national television audience last night, losing game five of the ALDS to the Guardians, 2-0. And I don’t mean the pitchers did anything wrong. No, starter Sean Burke along with relievers Sean Newcomb and Grant Taylor pretty much held Cleveland hitters in check all night, except for that two-run shot Jose Ramirez golfed just over the right-field wall in the fourth inning. Here’s the thing, though. If not Ramirez, then someone else would’ve delivered the knockout blow, on a sacrifice fly or a slide under the tag at the plate, or something would’ve done it, a balk or a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth, maybe. Whatever, because when you strike out 21 times in a game the way the Sox did last night, you don’t win games. As embarrassing as that feat was, Sox manager Vibes Venable matched and then-some in his postgame comments, which started with congratulations to the Guardians and praise for the Cleveland pitchers. As for the 21 strikeouts, an MLB record breaking a two-day old record held by you know who, Venable said this: “I thought it was less about chase and more about being attacked in the zone and swing and miss in the zone.” [quote from story today on team website] I must’ve been watching a different game. By my count, Sox hitters generated 72 strikes, nineteen of which were outside the strike zone. That’s 26 percent. In addition, ten of the strikeouts were on balls outside the zone. Seems to me there was plenty of chase, Coach. What I want to know is, what kind of adjustments were attempted? I mean, after the tenth strikeout or so, the coaching staff recognized the problem, right? If not, GM Chris Getz needs to question the team’s approach to hitting. And, if the coaches were trying to get hitters to pull out of nothing short of a death spiral, why didn’t it work? Andrew Benintendi and Munetaka Murakami need to explain their thought processes as they struck four time apiece. Ditto for Kyle Teel and Chase Meidroth for getting punched out three times apiece. Next season will be a bust if the Sox fail to cut down on strikeouts. An Opening Day lineup featuring Murakami and Colson Montgomery, who totaled whiffs between them, gives one pause, and me a queasy stomach. That is not a foundation to build upon. The Sox used ten batters last night, including pinch-hitter Randal Grichuk. The only one who didn’t go down swinging was Sam Antonacci, who also managed one of the team’s three hits. What was Antonacci’s approach, and why didn’t his teammates copy it? Fans deserve to know.