The hyperlink within the NBC Sports Chicago tweet Wednesday begged to be opened.
“Tony La Russa calls White Sox leadership meeting, fuels win streak.”
Could it actually be that the White Sox supervisor was chargeable for the five-game profitable streak in opposition to the Detroit Tigers and Houston Astros after calling a gathering of his key gamers? The identical Tony La Russa who spent the final 4 months coping with nearly day by day criticism over his workforce’s lackluster play?
Before I may open the hyperlink to search out the reply, the profitable streak ended Wednesday evening.
The Sox adopted up Thursday with an embarrassing 21-5 loss to the Astros, ending with a break up within the four-game showdown in opposition to the perfect workforce within the American League.
“Brutal afternoon,” La Russa mentioned.
Confirmed.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been on a team that’s scored that many runs,” Astros supervisor Dusty Baker mentioned.
Baker has managed or performed in 5,881 major-league video games. But you by no means know whenever you’ll see one thing new in baseball, and on Thursday he was handled to 21 runs and 25 hits in opposition to La Russa, his oldest and fiercest rival.
Things acquired so unhealthy at Guaranteed Rate Field a “Let’s go, Astros” chant erupted within the left-field bleachers in prime of the ninth inning when Sox second baseman Josh Harrison served up the ultimate runs of the blowout.
Time for one more assembly of the management council?
Obviously the tweet from the Sox’s flagship station jumped the gun in suggesting La Russa’s transfer to name the leaders collectively led to a turnaround on this maddening season. Sometimes a short profitable streak is only a transient profitable streak, not a response to something that was mentioned or any thought springing from the supervisor’s head.
But if some need to credit score La Russa or the leadership-council assembly for the sweep of the lowly Tigers and the 2 comeback wins over the Astros, go for it.
Liam Hendriks, the unofficial spokesman for the management council, informed reporters Wednesday that fellow chief José Abreu mentioned the workforce’s “confidence turned into cockiness” and that a number of gamers talked about the “complacency level is we just expected to come in and roll over like we did last year.”
That’s a damning assertion if true, because the Sox didn’t “roll over” groups all final season. They went 35-32 of their ultimate 67 video games earlier than shedding to the Astros within the division sequence. They’re 96-90 since July 21, 2021, a .516 profitable proportion.
And calling gamers collectively for a gathering isn’t precisely a novel idea. Former Bulls coach Jim Boylen fashioned a “leadership group” in his first season in 2018 to provide him enter on “what we do and how we operate.”
“I’m juiced, man,” Boylen mentioned. “I’m jacked up about it.”
Boylen’s determination got here in response to a franchise document 56-point loss to the Boston Celtics and a report of a gaggle textual content change amongst gamers suggesting they boycott a apply.
Whether Boylen accepted any enter is tough to establish. He didn’t final lengthy sufficient to see his management group quantity to a lot. The 2018-19 Bulls completed 22-60, and Boylen was fired after the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season.
Sox gamers is likely to be proper in pondering La Russa will get an excessive amount of blame when issues go unhealthy. Sports-talk radio couldn’t invent a personality who may generate as a lot dialogue, from the intentional stroll to Trea Turner with a 1-2 depend to the “eyes wide shut” second within the dugout to the viral video of a fan telling La Russa to pinch run Adam Engel earlier than he made the transfer.
But that’s the lifetime of a supervisor or head coach in any sport.
The maxim is “You can’t fire the players, but you can get rid of the manager.” The Sox have flipped the script. They can’t fireplace La Russa, however they will shake up the roster if his workforce doesn’t get to the postseason.
The Sox are uber-defensive concerning the warmth La Russa receives, which is what you would possibly anticipate when he’s Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf’s hand-picked alternative. But Baker acquired as a lot warmth, if no more, from 2004-06 when his honeymoon as Cubs supervisor ended.
Baker shrugged if off. La Russa most likely does, too, understanding it’s an occupational hazard. You can’t handle on this sport with skinny pores and skin.
Despite the end result of Thursday’s sport, Baker was impressed by the Sox this week and mentioned the Astros may see them once more in October.
“They’ve got a good team,” he mentioned. “If they get wholesome … they’ve acquired an excellent pitching employees, and a really explosive offense. You simply don’t know after they’re going to blow up. They’re proper within the thick of issues. Here we’re in the course of August, and there’s a whole lot of baseball left and a whole lot of high-pressure baseball left.
“They’re going to Cleveland now and have Minnesota again, so this is the best and most exciting race in baseball.”
So that is one other fork within the highway for the White Sox, who’ve taken the improper path earlier than, solely to search out themselves at one other fork. It is likely to be baseball’s most enjoyable race, however it’s additionally its most forgiving. The Sox can be 15½ video games behind the Astros within the AL West.
If the Sox handle to comb the Cleveland Guardians this weekend at Progressive Field, they will transfer into first within the Central. Even if they’re swept, they nonetheless can compete for a wild-card spot.
The White Sox are a workforce made for die-hards and rubberneckers alike.
A season like this one can’t have an atypical ending.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com