Every 12 months August flies by and we marvel the place it went.
It feels just like the shortest month as a result of it comes on the finish of summer season, and let’s face it, summer season is all we have now on this climate-cursed city, so we treasure it whereas it lasts.
August additionally was imagined to be the month the Chicago White Sox obtained their mojo again. It started with excessive hopes and the widespread perception issues lastly would get again to regular with the workforce largely wholesome and the schedule easing up.
Playing within the recreation’s worst division helped. Everyone was fairly positive the Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Guardians wouldn’t run away, leaving the Sox with an opportunity to sneak by. Starting the month with 14 video games in opposition to the Kansas City Royals, Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers certainly would give them momentum — and maybe the division lead — heading into the ultimate stretch.
Instead, August turned out to be the month the Sox revealed themselves as unintended contenders.
They’re two video games underneath .500 after Sunday’s 3-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks and 5 video games behind the Guardians, slowly falling out of competition like a loss of life by 1,000 paper cuts.
They’re 12-15 in August with two video games remaining in opposition to the Royals. Frustrating?
“No,” supervisor Tony La Russa stated after the Diamondbacks completed a three-game sweep. “I just get angry. I don’t like frustration, discouragement. That’s loser crap. Just seeps energy out of your body. I just get angry and want to do something about it.”
Some offended Sox followers tried to do one thing Saturday evening, carrying an indication round Guaranteed Rate Field that learn, “SELL THE TEAM.” The signal lacked specifics, so it wasn’t clear whether or not they need Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf to promote the Sox or the Bulls or maybe each.
It’s unlikely Reinsdorf would promote both workforce, after all, and might you blame him? He doesn’t want the cash, and at age 86, what else does Reinsdorf should do? He’s not the sort of man who would spend retirement playing or taking part in golf or shuffleboard. And proudly owning the Sox means he can do what he loves finest: watching a ballgame in his personal suite with underlings who inform him what he needs to listen to.
Reinsdorf can also take pleasure in a effective cigar on the ballpark, in contrast to Sox followers who’re requested to go exterior to a chosen smoking space to feed their unhealthy habits.
And in contrast to most baseball homeowners, Reinsdorf hires his personal supervisor as a substitute of bothering the particular person he employed to rent a supervisor. Ownership has its privileges, a slogan nobody takes to coronary heart greater than Reinsdorf. Expecting him to present all that up simply because the Sox are an underachieving mess is wishful considering.
But not less than the message was despatched. Kudos to the followers who needed to let the Sox know they’re fed up, as certainly they spoke for the silent majority.
In most seasons wherein the Sox performed poorly, the most important criticism levied at Reinsdorf was his relative lack of spending compared with different big-market homeowners. But this season the Sox are third in American League payroll and seventh total, so it’s troublesome to fault him for being low cost.
If the cash he gave the entrance workplace to win has been misspent, that’s on government vice chairman Ken Williams and basic supervisor Rick Hahn. Both executives have been spared the brunt of the blame for the Sox malaise as a result of everybody is aware of hiring La Russa was Reinsdorf’s name.
But taking La Russa out of the image for a second, the Sox remained in good place within the American League Central at first of August and had an opportunity so as to add on on the Aug. 2 commerce deadline. Their solely transfer was buying left-handed reliever Jake Diekman from the Boston Red Sox for backup catcher Reese McGuire, a minor deal to strengthen the bullpen.
That bullpen entered Sunday with a 4.61 ERA in August, twenty fifth within the majors, so it hasn’t gotten any higher. Diekman is 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA in 12 video games for the White Sox. McGuire entered Sunday hitting .415 with a .906 OPS in 14 video games for the Red Sox. So the one commerce solely added to the distress. With Yasmani Grandal injured once more, the Sox have needed to depend on Seby Zevala and Carlos Perez behind the plate, making the absence of the defensive-minded McGuire much more obtrusive.
An absence of energy additionally has been a sore spot with the Sox all season, but Williams and Hahn failed to deal with it on the deadline. The Sox entered Sunday ranked twenty seventh in house runs in August with 18, persevering with a pattern despite heat climate and 13 video games at hitter-friendly Guaranteed Rate Field.
Sox gamers are so keen to finish that pattern that Eloy Jiménez thought he homered Saturday on a fly caught on the wall in proper. Had it bounced off the wall, Jimenez nonetheless would’ve been on first except he turned on the gasoline and began operating.
What’s extra bothersome than the dearth of hustle was La Russa remaining oblivious to it, a recurring theme in 2022 at any time when his gamers haven’t run onerous. Remember when the priority was La Russa couldn’t relate to this era of gamers as a substitute of worrying he would overlook their errors?
José Abreu instructed reporters Saturday the gamers nonetheless imagine within the “old guy,” it doesn’t matter what followers consider La Russa. That’s effective, but when they don’t go 100% throughout a pennant race, they need to perceive why the “old guy” will get criticized for letting them off the hook.
August is nearly over. The cicadas will cease chirping quickly and essentially the most aggravating White Sox season in current reminiscence will develop into a tragic chorus of what may need been.
Where did the time go?
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Source: www.bostonherald.com