What a Joke

Seepage in the basement from a storm last night has delayed my giving much thought to last night’s 8-2 White Sox loss to the Guardians. But the basement’s dry now, so here goes. Before the game, Tony La Russa said this would be the most interesting game of the season because he didn’t know how the players would perform after being away for four days. Well, the score pretty much answers that question, doesn’t it? Lucas Giolito gave up four runs in the first inning before I could even turn the TV on (appletv+, not exactly an incentive). As if that weren’t enough, Giolito was hit for another two runs in the second. Three innings, nine hits, six earned runs—how would you rate yourself, Lucas? “It’s kind of a hard one to assess because a lot of the hits weren’t hit hard,” Giolito told reporters after the game. That’s what I call rationalization. A pitcher gives up nine hits in three innings and sees a silver lining, he’s kidding himself. Worse, the manager is letting him do it. Up until a month or so ago, I’d gone close to seven decades on this earth without ever hearing of “buzzard’s luck.” Manager Mumbles invoked it again last night. Heaven help us. Someone has to.