Sowing and Reaping

The White Sox were hanging on to a 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning against the Guardians in their rubber match yesterday afternoon. That’s when Sox manager Vibes Venable brought in Sean Newcomb in relief of Hagen Smith, two on and two out. Newcomb served up a three-run homerun to rookie Petey Halpin, who came into the game batting .210. So much for the lefty-lefty advantage that should’ve broken Newcomb’s way. Wait, there’s more. Newcomb walked the next two batters before giving up a run-scoring double to Jose Ramirez. The line on Newcomb read four batters faced; two walks; two extra-base hits; two inherited runners scoring; and two runs allowed. What happened? Newcomb said after the game, “I haven’t been myself. Just not being super crisp, hitters being more in tune with what I’m doing.” [today’s Sun-Times] Gosh, do you think Newcomb is a little gassed from pitching 10.2 innings in six appearances as an opener? Perish the thought. Damn’ the torpedoes, full closers ahead! It seems Hagen Smith was gassed, too, trying to go two innings again. Maybe instead of pulling Anthony Kay after four, Venable should’ve seen how long his starter could go. If Chase Meidroth hadn’t committed an error trying to make a tag in the third, Kay would’ve gone four scoreless innings. If Venable was going to roll the dice on Smith (he allowed the move was “debatable”), it should’ve been back on Sunday, against Alec Burleson in St. Louis. But what do I know? I think dropping two of three in Cleveland makes it hard, if not impossible, to win the division. Not Venable, who told reporters after the game, “We knew that this series wasn’t going to define the rest of the year for us. Giving up the division lead, everybody will feel how they feel about it. But I’m proud of the guys and I think we’re in a good spot moving forward.” [from today’s story on team website] Proud of a team that lost a crucial, even defining, series? Not my bowl of word salad.