WIthout Fear of Consequences

Like all young athletes, Clare learned early on that time on the field was tied to performance—if you want to play, you better produce.  As a girl playing baseball through seventh grade, she always felt compelled to excel; otherwise, less enlightened teammates and parents might talk.  You might say that my daughter would have done very well as one of those creatures Charles Darwin studied on his trip to the Galapagos.

Because, when you get down to it, all sports are Darwinian in nature: The strong, the smart, the sly prevail over lesser species and opponents.  That’s the way of the world, if not Chicago sports.  Here, every interception Jay Cutler throws seems to add a year to his Bears’ contract.  And my White Sox, why there are no consequences to bad play for them.  Yesterday, Chris Sale fell two strikeouts short of becoming the first pitcher ever to have twelve or more punch-outs in six straight games.  Thank you, Sox offense and defense.

The hitters, if that’s what you can call them, managed one run for their starter as the fielders, if that’s what you can call them, collected another three errors.  Center fielder Adam Eaton now has four on the season while shortstop Alexi Ramirez—with a .241 on-base percentage  to complement his .220 batting average—has nine, as does part-time third baseman Conor Gillaspie.  These are not your Go-Go White Sox of Aparicio and Fox. 

  Ramirez doesn’t field balls so much as he deflects them; Eaton merely shows a bit of the dog when it comes to catching a ball or running to first.   Last week, they let a pop fly fall between them; Eaton basically said it was no big thing.  That was before yesterday’s error led to a run and Eaton failed to run out a shot that handcuffed the shortstop, followed by a bad throw to first.  Apparently, nobody in travel ball taught Adam that you only jog on homeruns.

Our fearless leader Robin Ventura doesn’t want to do anything drastic like sit, oh, Ramirez.  “He wants to play better,” Ventura told reporters.  “We want him to play better.  But there are a lot of other guys who need to do the same thing.  We’re not going to put it on any one guy.”  So, fans, that’s nine errors at short and counting, with the nine-under White Sox playing four in Detroit.  Who said the Dodo Bird is extinct?