As Professor Gump Would Say—

Stupid is as stupid does. Just look at the lineup White Sox manager New-Mickey Venable went with last night against the Giants and what he had to say about one player in particular. Venable thought it would be a good time to give Ryan Noda, who normally plays first base, his second career start in right field (as opposed to 136 at first). Noda is “kind of a sneaky athlete, good baserunner and a guy who moves, covers some ground more than I think I gave him credit for just looking at him and his overall profile,” Venable told reporters before the game. “That was part of the attractiveness of acquiring him, his defensive versatility and his ability to go to the outfield.” [quote in today’s Sun-Times] Noda did not exactly reward his skipper’s faith. With two on and one out in the sixth inning of a tied game, Noda dove for a ball that skipped past him for a triple. End of game, 3-1. Later, this is what Venable had to say: “Probably have to play that [ball] in front. Good aggressive play, you like the thought.” [quote in today’s Tribune story online] No, I don’t. And for this we got rid of Gavin Sheets?