I Thought So

If last night constituted the most important game of the season for the White Sox, with a chance to close to within one game in the loss column of the division-leading Twins, they choked in spectacular fashion. Why am I not surprised? In the bottom of the seventh inning of a 2-2 tie, one run in and runners on first and second, A.J. Pollock hit a line drive that centerfielder Byron Buxton hauled in with an over-the-shoulder catch on the warning track in left-center field. I may be wrong, but I seem to recall seeing players tag up from second and score on such a play. But not our Sox. Instead, Adam Engel kind of tagged up, as in he went back to second base without touching it, while Yoan Moncada was off with the crack of the bat. Moncada was tagged out while slipping between second and third (trying to get back to first base, how sad) while Engel watched from third base as second baseman Gio Urshela tagged second for an 8-5 triple play, the first-ever in major-league history. Engel took full blame for miscue, which is exactly what I would expect; coaches and the manager are never to blame for anything that befalls these White Sox. You would think third-base coach Joe McEwing would’ve been screaming his head off and signaling Engel to get back to second base. If he did, I didn’t see it, and no reporter noted it, either. Game tied, going into the tenth. That’s when Joe Kelly—right now, as bad a pickup by Rick Hahn as Johnny Cueto, who pitched six innings of two-run ball, has been good—threw, by his own admission, “shi**y.” Yes, he did, totally unable to locate breaking balls that he insisted on throwing pitch after pitch. Minnesota scored four runs on its way to a 6-3 win. Wait, there’s more. Like Tim Anderson going into witness protection, as evidenced by his 0-for-5 night at the plate, with three strikeouts, including one to end the game with Anderson representing the tying run. The top three hitters in the order—Anderson, Andrew Vaughn and Luis Robert—went a collective 1-for-13. How do you spell “certain defeat”? See above. And, yes, there’s more. As bad as he was at the plate (0-for-4) Robert sleepwalked his way in centerfield, letting two balls get by him for doubles. The first didn’t score, the second preceded a two-run homerun by Buxton. Jose Abreu came to play, with a homer and a double. If only he could rub off on his teammates. Ditto Liam Hendriks, back from a stint on the IL. Before the game, Hendriks blasted American gun laws in the wake of a holiday shooting that left six dead and twenty-four injured at a Fourth of July parade on the North Shore. Hendriks noted that as a noncitizen he had to take a driver’s test to get a license but could get a gun without a corresponding test, which he called “stupid.” Hendriks then struck out the side in the eighth inning, pretty much snarling as he headed back to the dugout. That, my friends, is what I would like to see in a manager. A player-manager, perhaps?