What Marvin Gaye Said

A game like last night’s ten-inning, 5-4 White Sox loss to the Reds makes me want to holler; a less mature version would also throw things. Here’s why. The Sox hit three homeruns—all solo shots—to go with seven innings of one-run ball from starter Sean Burke, everything wasted when Cincinnati scored three runs in the eighth to tie the game at four. Manager Vibes Venable thought he could bring in Bryan Hudson to retire three right-hand hitters, two of them switch hitters. Nope. All three singled. Things might have improved with Grant Taylor replacing Hudson, but they didn’t. Taylor was off, that or in love with his slow, breaking stuff. Runners moved up to second and third on a deep-enough flyball to right field on an 87.6 mph slider out over the lower corner of the plate. Taylor then walked a batter before yielding a two-run single to Tyler Stephenson. Did Stephenson hit Taylor’s best pitch? Not unless an 85.1 mph curveball on the outer half of the plate counts. After that, it was just a matter of time. The Reds’ bullpen has the fifth-worst ERA in baseball. How odd that Cincinnati relievers retired eighteen of nineteen batters faced. After the game, Venable said the three softly-hit balls off of Hudson were “[j]ust baseball” and “just part of the game.” [online story in today’s Tribune] What a crock and dodge of responsibility. Venable put in a reliever who left the ball over the plate to three straight batters. Exit velo has nothing to do with it. Did I mention Colson Montgomery struck out three times in an 0-for-4 night? On the year, Montgomery is hitting .213 with 157 strikeouts over 473 plate appearance. In other words, he’s striking out 33 percent of the time. Tell me how you win a division with numbers like that.