More Yogi

The White Sox went into the bottom of the eighth yesterday afternoon trailing the Tigers, 4-3.  Jose Abreu led off with a single and scored on Justin Morneau’s double to right center.  It’s the fastest I’ve seen Abreu run in the three years he’s played on the South Side; apparently, the piano on his back is detachable.  Two batters later, Avisail Garcia singled home what proved to be the winning run, allowing the Sox to take the series two games to one.

As I noted yesterday, Garcia gets up to play his old team, and something the people on TV said also bears repeating—he always runs hard to first base (are you listening, Adam Eaton?)  With 20-plus games left in the season, it only makes sense—assuming people in the Sox dugout and front office understand the meaning of the word—to let Garcia keep playing to see if he can find a way to treat the Royals and Indians like he does the Tigers.  I always root for a player who shows he’s trying hard.  Do you hear me, Adam?

Infielder Tyler Saladino is yet another example of hustle.  As a rookie last year, Saladino batted .225 in 236 at-bats with six doubles, four homers and 20 rbi’s.  In 26 more at-bats this season, he’s hitting .267 with 11 doubles, eight homers and 35 rbi’s while mostly batting at the bottom of the order.  Saladino took over at second base in late July when Brett Lawrie, that bundle of unfocussed energy, went down with oblique and knee problems.  In 89 fewer at-bats, Saladino has one less rbi than Lawrie, that and 52 fewer strikeouts.

Saladino has started at second, shortstop and third base and volunteered to play the outfield.  He’s also gone out of his way to help rookies adjust to things once they’re called up.  Long story short, he doesn’t do stupid stuff.  You can never have enough of those kinds of players.  We should clone him, not trade him.