A Day to Remember

We accompanied our grandson to his first-ever White Sox game yesterday afternoon, and I think he enjoyed himself in all the ways a kid should on such an august occasion. I mean, he wore a Munetaka Murakami shirt in honor of his favorite player; scored a Murakami bobblehead; and watched his hero hit a homerun in a 12-3 Sox romp. Leo missed Mune’s second homer of the day in the eighth inning, by which time he was asleep in the car on the way home. I saw it for him. Thank you, Erick Fedde for providing the perfect argument against spending big on a closer. Closers can’t close when there’s no lead to close on. And Fedde kept putting his team in the hole giving up the lead when given it. The desperation fourth—or fifth—starter gave up a leadoff homer to Jeremy Pena in the first, then let the Astros tie the game at two and three before manager Vibes Venable saw fit to pull him with one out in the fifth and one on. That’s three runs in 4.1 innings of work, for anyone keeping stats out there. If the Sox want to build something special, they need a minimum of two more quality starters. You rarely get those at the trade deadline, and never on the cheap. No, you’re better off to develop them; sign them as free agents; or swing big trades for them in the offseason. Right now, GM Chris Getz would be best off improving his roster around the edges and going with the team he constructed during spring training.