Don't get it confused, the Chicago White Sox are trying to be bad in 2017. Their 13-9 start meant absolutely nothing but we're now in the middle of May and the White Sox appear to be getting it together. Finally.
Remember that ridiculous stretch to begin the season by the starting rotation? To be fair, the White Sox still have the second best ERA in the American League at 3.65. What hasn't helped out? The offense.
Through 37 games the White Sox have scored 155 runs, which ranks 25th in MLB and third worst in the AL. So, not scoring a lot of runs and the team isn't getting Cy Young pitching every game anymore. You know what's making them suck even more? The manager! This has been extremely evident during the previous two games against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
In Monday night's 5-3 loss, Rick Renteria inexplicably left starting pitcher Mike Pelfrey in the game after it was obvious he had nothing left. The White Sox had a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning, when Pelfrey walked two batters in a row before giving up a game-tying three-run home run. Pelfrey was finished. He had nothing left in the tank and the best player in the world was due up at the plate. So, of course you take him out right? Nope. Renteria kept Pelfrey to face Mike Trout and Mike Trout launched a home run to give the Angels a 4-3 lead, eventually leading to a 5-3 win.
It was bad that Pelfrey pitched to Kole Calhoun and even worse he was still in the game to face Trout, but Renteria's reasoning was bad.
Via the Chicago Tribune:
In one of his more candid postgame interviews, Renteria said he should have gone with lefty reliever Dan Jennings against Calhoun and accepted the blame for trying to get Pelfrey through five innings. "Bottom line today is I went against the team concept and did something for the player, and it bit us in the butt,” Renteria said. “These guys have been playing very, very hard. There is no way to clean that up, no way to make an excuse. None whatsoever. Everybody should be extremely upset. I'm upset. Tomorrow is another day.”Renteria wanted Pelfrey to qualify for the win, by getting through five innings. Brutal. Normally you have to worry about players being selfish and not the managers, but that was just stupid and at the end Pelfrey got the loss and the White Sox got the loss. But again, the plan to lose is working. And then there was last night's game. Once again, the White Sox showed some fight, coming back from three-run deficits twice against the Angels. That included a three-run rally to tie the game at five in the ninth inning. Melky Cabrera, Jose Abreu, Avisail Garcia and Todd Frazier all got hits to start the ninth inning. Frazier's bizarre two-run, infield double tied the game.
At this point the White Sox were perfectly set up to get the lead. Willy Garcia pinch ran for Frazier and represented the go-ahead run at second base with NO OUTS! Three shots to get him in and what does Renteria decide? Time to bunt. Tm Anderson shows bunt and pulls his bat back on the first two pitches he sees with a runner at second base an nobody out. On the third pitch Anderson bunts right back to the pitcher, who had a shot at throwing Garcia out at third but was able to get Anderson at first base. Two things here. One, WHY ARE YOU BUNTING?!?! Two, Anderson would've been safe at first base if he didn't look back at the play instead of just running to first base. Anyway, him being out or safe at first wouldn't have mattered anyway because the White Sox BUNTED AGAIN! Omar Narvaez walked, putting runners at first and third with only one out. Tyler Saladino came up and bunted. Garcia was tagged out at home plate for the second out of the inning. Leury Garcia grounded out to end the inning. Despite the missed opportunity, the White Sox took the lead in the 11th inning, as Anderson hit a solo home run. But in the bottom half of the inning, the players were ready to fulfill the plan. Lose. There's a good chance that Cabrera doesn't get to this ball no matter what, but falling down beforehand obviously decreases those chances. Here's how the Angels tied the game.
And, well the following is just funny. The White Sox were going to lose regardless if Garcia caught this or not, but it's still hilarious.
Embrace the tank, White Sox fans.
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