Crisis

Thomas Paine was right—these are definitely times to try our souls, especially of White Sox fans. Last night, Sox manager Tony La Russa, a sunshine patriot if there ever was one, decided to DH Yasmani Grandal and have him bat leadoff against the Blue Jays. Grandal responded by going 0-for-5, with three strikeouts. If I didn’t know better, I’d accuse La Russa of wanting to throw the game a la the Black Sox. Wait, there’s more. Andrew Vaughn, who went 4-for-5 in the two spot, and Jose Abreu led off the ninth with singles against Toronto closer Jordan Romano. So, that’s runners on first and second, nobody out, the Sox down a run by a score of 6-5. What would you do? Decades of Strat-O-Matic and growing up a 1960s’ Sox fan would have me bunting; after the game, ex-Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said he would’ve been bunting. But not our HOF manager. He had Jake Burger swing away and hit into a nifty 5-4 double play, third base to second. Gavin Sheets, who looks like he’s trying to turn into a 6’5” slap hitter, struck out to end the game. Wait, there’s more. In the sixth inning, the Sox appeared to have tied the score on a sacrifice fly by Grandal, who apparently can put the ball in play on occasion. With runners on the corners, catcher Reese McGuire tagged and scored, or would have with a little—OK, more than a little—effort, which was necessary because Danny Mendick got thrown out at second trying to advance, the tag applied before McGuire crossed the plate. Of course, the team website avoided all mention of the double baserunning blunder (as well as the bunt decision). In the Sun-Times, La Russa said after the game that Mendick apologized and really shouldn’t have let it happen with the play clearly in front of him. No mention of whether or not first base coach Daryl Boston sent Mendick of if he went on his own. And no mention of McGuire not doing the hustle. It'll be interesting to see if McGuire and Mendick get benched, considering that they each had two hits and totaled three RBIs on the night. By all means, send a message. Then again, McGuire has started twenty-three games behind the plate to Grandal’s twenty-four, which tells me Sox pitchers aren’t enamored with Grandal’s pitch calling and defense. As for Mendick, he hustles to a fault, which would explain the play at second base. So it goes in a season where a World Series was supposed to be played on the South Side.