Sure Look Like Icebergs Ahead to Me, Cap’n

This is what happens when winning a series comes down to Dylan Cease: He walks the leadoff batter, gives up a double to the next batter on a 1-0 pitch, then leaves one of his patented flat fastballs out where Salvador Perez can hit it for a three-run homer. Royals 6, White Sox 0. After the game, manager Tony La Russa said, “Best explanation is men, not machines (team website).” I think what the second coming of the oracle at Delphi meant is that Perez isn’t exactly a cybernetic marvel. OK, skipper, if you didn’t like the outcome (and La Russa also said the three homers Perez hit over the weekend “were all preventable”), then you should’ve done more to prevent it. Perez hit two homers Saturday. By the second one, La Russa could’ve taken to calling pitches. In any case, he shouldn’t let his pitcher say homerun #3 was a “decent pitch” and “I mostly just tip my cap” to Perez (today’s Tribune story). Cease has to realize he threw the pitch that lost the game. And it might be nice for Sox hitters to act as if they care, but that’s what happens when you keep sitting your sparkplug, aka Tim Anderson, now on the 10-day IL. Yesterday, Yasmani Grandal and Andrew Vaughn sat because their manager wants to keep everyone rested. Forget homefield advantage going into the playoffs. Tony La Russa has.