Lift Fingers to Head, Scratch Vigorously Until Relief Comes, if Ever

You have to say this for White Sox manager Tony La Russa, he’s all the rage on all the platforms that carry Chicago sports. Not that that’s a good thing, necessarily. Especially when you consider why La Russa is trending in these parts. First off, he admitted he didn’t know about a rule that may have affected the outcome of the game his team lost 1-0 in ten innings. Because of a double shift in the ninth, the Sox started the tenth inning with closer Liam Hendriks on second base. A new rule implemented in the wake of the NL dropping the DH allows for the last position player to make an out in the inning previous to be the runner at second instead of a pitcher. Oops. Then, La Russa announced to the world via a Zoom press conference he wasn’t aware of the rule. Half of White Sox Nation wants him fired for that ignorance. I’m with the half that wants to know why none of his coaches brought it up to him. Isn’t that why you have a bench coach in the first place? Then we have the “strategy” La Russa employed in the tenth with runners on first and second, nobody out. He had Leury Garcia swing away instead of bunt. At least that half-worked, with Garcia hitting into a fielder’s choice that put runners on first and third. So, why exactly did La Russa send Garcia in a steal attempt with Billy Hamilton up? Something about Garcia being a good base stealer and being aggressive in that situation. Too bad Garcia was thrown out by a whole lot. That left Hendriks on third, Hamilton up with two outs. Down swinging he went. Why not suicide-squeeze with Hamilton and one out? To me, that was the way to go, and Jose Abreu would’ve been the runner on third if any of the Sox coaches had known their rule book. Or how about a pinch-hitter for Hamilton? The man can’t hit, and that’s being charitable; he went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and now has a .136 BA. So, the Sox waste seven shutout innings from Dallas Keuchel and decent relief from Michael Kopech, who struck out four and walked four in 1.2 innings. As for Hendriks, he twice had Reds’ batters in an 0-2 hole only to give up hits. That’s concerning, but not more than what went on—and didn’t—in the visitors’ dugout on a Thursday afternoon.