Better

My daughter wanted to talk about Monday night’s game, only I was out at a relative’s pulling dandelions for a good three hours yesterday afternoon. But I did call back once I got home. Clare wanted to know why Ryan Burr didn’t walk Josh Naylor in the eleventh; all I could say was, Ask the manager. We both agreed there was plenty of blame to go around, though I’m not certain the former ballplayer agrees with my stand that a manager/coach should publicly call out players from time to time. On this, a child may disagree with a parent. As to how the White Sox would respond after blowing a six-run lead in the ninth, Lucas Giolito led the way, pitching seven full innings of one-run ball in a 4-1 win over the Guardians. Giolito gave up but six hits and a walk while Gavin Sheets hit his second homerun in two games. But what would the Sox be without a little drama? Kendall Graveman put two runners on with two out in the ninth inning before inducing a groundball from Andres Gimenez to first baseman Jose Abreu, who’s something less than Paul Konerko on defense. Abreu, playing off the bag for the lefty-hitting Gimenez, fielded the ball only to stumble on his way to first. Rather than toss the ball to Graveman (and hats off to him for being where he was supposed to be), Abreu decided to slide into the bag feet-first. Meanwhile, Gimenez went head-first. Umpire’s call—safe! Great, bases loaded. Only manager Tony La Russa had sense enough to challenge the play, which was overturned on review. “Sox win, Sox win!” as Ed Farmer used to say. Now, let’s see them take the series from a team in the habit of giving them fits. If they do, I’ll adjust my opinions accordingly. Honest.