Perchance, To Suffer

The headline for the website /Pravda story read, “White Sox fall but show plenty of fight.”  I guess they didn’t want to go with “Sox bullpen coughs up lead—twice—in extra innings.”  Why go all negative in a rebuild year?  Why?  Because the truth will set you free, my friends.  The truth will set you free.

The first such admission is that the Sox have no organizational pitching depth.  Lucas Giolito can’t start, so he gets replaced with Ross Detwiler.  Giolito is the light, Detwiler the dark; Giolito summer and Detwiler winter.  You get the idea.  Detwiler lasted five innings against the Twins, giving up five runs to push his ERA to 6.98 on the season.

But like the headline said, the Sox fought back; Zack Collins and Adam Engel even went back-to-back.  Not only did the Sox tie the score, they had bases loaded with one out in the tenth, Engel up.  And what does manager Rick Renteria do?  He pinch-hits for Engel.  Nothing like a popup from Ryan Goins to get the old juices flowing, right, Rick?  Why not try the suicide with Engel, especially since the speedy Yoan Moncada was on third?  Let the truth set you free, Rick.

Along those lines, explain why you went with Jose Ruiz in the 12^th inning with the Sox up by two.  Here’s what Ruiz did: single, double, strikeout, two-run single, single, single, walk-off hit-by-pitch.  After the fourth base hit, pitching coach Don Cooper trotted out to the mound.  Which of the three things Cooper knows did he impart on Ruiz?  Tell the truth, Don.

And, since we’re in truth-and-reconciliation mode here, could you tell us, Rick, your future plans for Ruiz, with his 5.87 ERA and WHIP at 2.01?  In his last two appearances, Ruiz has walked in the winning run and hit a batter to accomplish the same.  Now, tell the truth, Rick.  When you said, “I don’t want to lose anymore,” that was just a big fib, right?