Sunday in the Park

The acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree, goes the saying, and my daughter loves baseball.  That’s where we were yesterday, at a ballgame on the South Side of Chicago.  It was definitely major-league, too, by the way the Twins played.

The White Sox?  Not so much.  We watched starter Dylan Covey give up five runs on fourteen pitches, two of them gopher balls.  I imagine Covey is getting lit up on social media and talk sports, so there’s no need for me to pile on.  I mean, he doesn’t want to pitch like that.  It’s just that he does.

Here’s the thing.  After the game, Sox manager Rick Renteria said, “We believe he has the stuff to pitch in the big leagues.”  I don’t.  Covey and Renteria both broached the subject of confidence, which might’ve made sense to tackle five years ago, only Covey turns 28 next month.  If he doesn’t have it by now, when will he?

The loss pushes Covey to 1-7 on the season with a 6.99 ERA.  For his career, Covey is 6-28 with a 6.28 ERA.  Not to be mean, but with those numbers Covey is basically a guy who holds down a spot until the rebuild starts churning out talented replacements.  Only in the case of the Sox, that’s not happening due to injuries to pitchers in the system along with stalled development (and/or a misreading of talent by the organization).  The cavalry will not be coming anytime soon to save the Sox starting rotation or those fans trying to hold down the fort.

Even if the talent was there, I doubt it would be put to good use.  The Twins hit eleven—that’s 11, folks—homeruns in a four-game series, of which they won three.  Not once did I see a Sox pitcher force a Minnesota batter off the plate.  My God, Nelson Cruz clubbed four homers in two games, and he looked more comfortable than my dog on the couch with a pillow under her head.

What does that approach teach young pitchers?