A Waste of Pop

Last night in Arizona, Munetaka Murakami homered for a fifth straight game; Colson Montgomery a fourth; and Miguel Vargas a third, but the White Sox still lost to the Diamondbacks, 11-7. Given the pitching, it could’ve been worse. Oh, the organization has pitching, only GM Chris Getz won’t promote it. No, instead of bringing up talent from their minor-league system, the Sox insist on using retreads. Last night, they started Anthony Kay, who pitched, as my father would say, like Mickey the Mope. I mean, eight earned runs in 3.2 innings on eight hits (two of them homeruns) and three walks. After the Sox pulled to within 8-5, manager Vibes Venable brought in Lucas Sims, and he gave up two runs in an inning of work. This is both depressing and, I’d argue, self-defeating. Let the kids—Hagen Smith, Tanner McDougal, Shane Murphy, Duncan Davitt—take their lumps with the parent club. Why? To see what they have, which can’t be any worse than what Kay has shown. He’s 1-1 on the season with a 5.57 ERA. For his career, the 31-year old is 5-3 with a 5.59 ERA. Tell me that’s going to get any better.