This weekend marked an unofficial point where the Chicago White Sox status from “Slow Starter” to “Ah-oh, we might have a real problem here.” From that confusing intentional walk of their Thursday defeat to the Dodgers, trying to clear the eggs from their mouths as they enter a series with the Rangers, the Sax recover on Friday with a win and then blow up any brief greetings, including a pair of painful ones. Loss in extra innings. The team that won 13 games against AL Central last year is now six games behind the twins, with a 27-31 record and, worse, a -56 run difference.
With just five games to spare at 15, pressure is mounting on Sox manager Tony La Rousseau, who beat RAP last year over allegations that he was too old and too old to handle an MLB team but struggled to do so. Doing. Avoid re-checking. If La Rusa re-introduces the world to the treacherous approach to playing two-strike free passes to Trea Turner, the losses this weekend have served as a significant boost to anything that … off … . And fans are getting restless:
Saturday’s game, from which these songs come, started off fairly well, as the White Sox led 5-0. Punctuated by a Jake Burger explosion. But Lucas Giolito lost his possession in the fifth game, a bag fly and then a three-run homer made it 5-4. The Sox hit back to extend the lead to 7-4, but the bullpen failed and the game entered an extra innings, where the first five rangers reached the base and Texas won 11-9.
Sunday’s game was long, but it only helped give fans more false hope. Sox actually came back from a 3-1 deficit in the seventh inning to send this one extra. But at 10, even after Kendall Graveman kept the Rangers scoreless, Chicago couldn’t contain its ghost runner. At the top of the 11th, Jose Ruiz was seen losing the game when he allowed Ezequiel Duran a three-run shot, but miraculously the White Sox put together some hits to extend things in the 12th. There, of course, Matt Foster বাধ্য forced to return to action after allowing three acquisitions on Saturday — failed to make it 8-6 again. And this time the bottom half ends the rate with a strikeout and then an embarrassing baseing mistake by Lewis Roberts in a double play. There are some things that are worse for a man in a hot seat than a guy who surrenders a game in the third base of a completely meaningless dash.
The Sox are currently battling major injuries since 2021, including Tim Anderson, Lance Lynn and, most recently, Team ERA leader Michael Kopech, who had to leave the mound abruptly on Sunday. But with or without a full roster, they played less than expected throughout the year. Kopech and Dylan Siege got off to a good start, balancing the low arms of frustration with Dallas Keuchel. But due to Koppech’s starter move and Garrett Crochet’s long-term injury, their bullpen didn’t fit, with 11 blow saves that tied their fourth-most in the league, and a reliever ERA that put them in 24th place. Unfortunately, with the 25th worst OBP of .299 and the 26th worst slugging percentage of .366, nowhere near as good enough to fill these gaps. Yasmani Grendel suffered a major setback before leaving Saturday, particularly due to a hamstring injury, an OPS that dropped from 939 in 93 games last year to .531 in 50 in 2022 so far.
Is La Rusa responsible for all these problems? Probably not, but his bizarre ball tactics, struggles to maintain leadership, and mental errors such as sending people home on Sundays did not help the realization that Sax was a volatile, disorganized ball club. And La Rusa has been in business long enough to find out who is to blame for these kinds of things.
“Nothing is happening to this team that, in the end, I’m not responsible for,” La Rusa said when asked about Zaire on Saturday. “I’ve never shied away from accountability and I won’t start right now.”
Okay, I don’t know if the last statement is correct. But at least La Rusa seems to be aware of the growing stress and the Tigers should not be allowed to run over them in this next series. I mean, the Sox are behind it Angels Wild card standing now, and see what happened to them! Pulling the Jerry Reinsdorf trigger may not be like Art Moreno too soon, but nonetheless, La Rousseau should probably avoid the barber shop until his team starts to turn it around.