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Sports

Tony La Russa defends decision to intentionally walk a batter on a 1-2 count, which backfires in the Chicago White Sox’s loss to the LA Dodgers

Chicago White Sox reliever Bennett Sousa threw a wild pitch, allowing Freddie Freeman to take second base during the sixth inning Thursday at Guaranteed Rate Field.With two outs and the Sox trailing the Los Angeles Dodgers by two runs, the ball made the count 1-2 as the left-hander Sousa faced right-handed-hitting Trea Turner.AdvertisementSox manager Tony La Russa elected to intentionally walk Turner, bringing up the left-handed-hitting Max Muncy. The cleanup hitter made the Sox pay, hitting a three-run homer to left.Some decisions work. That one didn’t for the Sox, who lost 11-9 in front of 25,482.AdvertisementDodgers second baseman Max Muncy (13) celebrates his three-run home run off White Sox relief pitcher Bennett Sousa in the sixth inning Thursday at Guaranteed Rate Field. (Charles Rex Arbogast / AP)The move became an instant topic of discussion locally and nationally.“So let me ask you a question: Is there some question on whether that was a good move or not?” La Russa asked afterward. “Do you know what (Turner) hits against left-handed pitching with one (strike), 0-1, or two strikes, do you know what he hits? Do you know what Muncy hits with two strikes, against a left-handed pitcher. Is that really a question?“Because it was 1-2? Turner with a strike left against a left-hander is something you avoid if you can, and we had an open base and Muncy being the guy behind him, and that’s a better matchup. If somebody disagrees, that’s the beauty of this game. Welcomed to it. But that wasn’t a tough call.”A fan on the television broadcast was heard saying after the decision: “He has two strikes, Tony!”Muncy, who returned from the injured list after missing 11 games with left elbow inflammation, had five RBIs and told reporters covering the Dodgers: “The baseball mind in me gets it. Obviously my year has sucked up to this point (slashing .150/.327/.263 in 41 games). Trea’s been really good (slashing .303/.357/.482 in 56 games). At the moment (after the homer), I was animated and I’ll just leave it at that. …“But at the same time, I don’t know if walking someone with two strikes is ever the right move. I understood it now, but at the time you get little animated.”It was a tough loss for the Sox, who had a chance for a series win against one of the best teams in baseball. Instead, they saw a four-run lead evaporate and lost two of three to the Dodgers.AdvertisementIt started to unravel for the Sox in the fifth inning, when the Dodgers scored six unearned runs.Leading 4-0, Sox starter Dylan Cease allowed a single and a walk with one out. Third baseman Jake Burger committed a fielding error on an Austin Barnes grounder, loading the bases for Mookie Betts.White Sox starting pitcher Dylan Cease heads to the dugout after being pulled in the fifth inning against the Dodgers on Thursday at Guaranteed Rate Field. (Charles Rex Arbogast / AP)Cease struck out Betts, but Freeman drove in two with a double. Turner hit a slow grounder to third and beat Burger’s throw to first, extending the inning and bringing in another run.Muncy followed with a two-run double, giving the Dodgers a 5-4 lead. The sixth run scored on a wild pitch by reliever Matt Foster.“Lost a game today, I take full responsibility for that,” Burger said. “I need to be better in the field.”Burger had two hits, including a home run, and scored three times before leaving in the ninth with cramping.Advertisement“I feel comfortable at the plate and slowing the game down, and now I have to translate that into the field,” Burger said. “That’s part of the game, and you’ve got to be good on both sides of the ball.”Cease exited after 4⅔ innings, allowing the six unearned runs on six hits with eight strikeouts and three walks.“I battled and that’s sometimes the way it goes,” Cease said.The sixth inning got off to a sluggish start for the Sox when Gavin Lux hit a grounder to first but beat Sousa to the bag for an infield hit. With one out, Betts hit a grounder to third. Burger bobbled it momentarily, recovered and got an out at first.Freeman drove in Lux with a single. Then came the wild pitch, intentional walk and three-run homer, stretching the Dodgers’ lead to 10-5.“Turner with no strikes, one strike or two strikes is very dangerous against right and especially left,” La Russa said. “Now if maybe (right-handed-hitting Will) Smith was hitting behind him it would have been a different thing. Muncy is there so it’s an easy call for me. I mean, if (Sousa) gives up a hit there (to Turner), I would be walking into the lake or something because that would have been stupid. And he did get a hit, Muncy, got behind him and threw a slider he didn’t break. To his credit, instead of trying to hook it, he played it (to left field).Advertisement“I don’t get surprised too often, but that one, does anybody in this room really think, even with the count, should have gone after Turner? I would say that’s no chance. Muncy is the guy to get out of the inning. We just missed him.”The Sox scored twice in the eighth and brought the tying run at the plate with no outs. But Adam Engel and Josh Harrison struck out, and Danny Mendick flied out to right.The Dodgers scored once in the top of the ninth and the Sox answered with two to get within 11-9. They brought the potential winning run to the plate with one out, but Yasmani Grandal popped out to third in foul territory and Gavin Sheets struck out.“We’re disappointed but we’re not putting our heads down,” Cease said. “We have a lot of work to do. There is still a lot of season left. We’ll let this one go and come back tomorrow.”

Sports

Column: A.J. Pierzynski as the next Chicago White Sox manager? He definitely would listen.

The next Chicago White Sox manager was talking with fans Thursday on a beautiful afternoon on the South Side.There was much to discuss, and he had no problem telling them the truth, because he doesn’t know any other way to operate.AdvertisementOf course, it’s probably too early to speculate who will take over for Tony La Russa when the Sox manager decides he’s done, and we’ve already established he’s not going to be fired for the team’s unimpressive start.Suffice to say plenty of candidates will be throwing their hats into the mix, knowing the Sox are built to win and need only a few fixes to get over the hump. And the early favorite has to be former catcher A.J. Pierzynski, an analyst for Fox Sports who also gets paid by the Sox as an ambassador, the role he was in Thursday during the series finale against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Guaranteed Rate Field.AdvertisementFirst things first: Pierzynski doesn’t believe the 77-year-old La Russa is going anywhere soon.“They have a team that’s supposed to win, right?” Pierzynski said in an interview outside the Bards Room. “And I think they still will. I don’t think he’s going unless something drastic or crazy happens. I don’t think he’s going anywhere anytime soon. He still seems to enjoy it when I talk to him. He still seems to enjoy the day-to-day grind.“Tony likes coming to the park. Every time I see him he’s got a smile on his face and he’s excited.”[ [Don’t miss] Column: Fire Tony La Russa? Not happening, so Chicago White Sox fans need to learn to just deal with it. ][ [Don’t miss] Chicago White Sox pause Eloy Jiménez’s rehab assignment because of ‘normal leg soreness’ ]Connie Mack was the oldest manager in history at age 87, so maybe La Russa wants to last 10 more years and break the record. But this seems like a make-or-break year for the Sox manager. If they don’t make the postseason, it would be difficult to rationalize another chance in 2023.Pierzynski, meanwhile, has made no bones about his interest in managing one day. He has seen Aaron Boone, David Ross and others go directly from the TV booth to the dugout, and many Sox fans have told him they’d like to see him run the show.“I think other people have said it more than I’ve ever really thought about it,” he said. “I still obviously have a lot of friends here, and they send me tweets and stuff (saying that), and people send me articles.“Listen, I’m not actively out there pursuing it or (hoping) for anything to happen to Tony for me to do that. But if something happened, and all the cards lined up and the chips fell into place. … If (Chairman) Jerry Reinsdorf calls me and says ‘Can you come in for this interview?’ it’s going to be really hard for me to say no.”If that happens, hopefully Reinsdorf would include general manager Rick Hahn in the process.AdvertisementWhite Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski smiles after hitting an RBI single against the Orioles on July 18, 2009, at U.S. Cellular Field. (Nuccio DiNuzzo / Chicago Tribune)Pierzynski makes sense for several reasons.He’s close to Reinsdorf. Pierzynski knows the game. Sox fans love him, and he loves them back. The marketing department could better sell the team to fans with a known entity like Pierzynski.And of the last four Sox hires, two — Ozzie Guillen and Robin Ventura — have been former players and one was La Russa, a former Sox manager. The only outlier was Rick Renteria, who helped guide the rebuild through the tough times until being booted for the La Russa reboot.Pierzynski caused some commotion on Twitter during a recent Cubs-Sox game when he questioned why La Russa left starter Johnny Cueto in the game. Though he’s paid by the Sox for being an ambassador, it hasn’t prevented Pierzynski from speaking when he’s assigned to Sox games for Fox.“No, because I tell the truth,” he said. “I don’t criticize them. I tell the truth. And if they’re playing bad … they know they’re playing bad. I work for them but not in the baseball department. I think the fans are smart enough to know (what’s going on). I’m not going to be all rainbows and unicorns about a team that’s under .500 when I do a Sox game and they play badly.“I try to be as positive as I can. But if I see something and I don’t agree with it, well. … La Russa might say, ‘Well, I don’t agree with your life choice.’ It’s your opinion. I didn’t blast him. I just said I think you should’ve taken him out, and here’s why. And he can argue ‘Here’s why I didn’t take him out.’ Advertisement“I’m sure he probably looks back and says, ‘Maybe he was right?’ I don’t know. Right?”ExpandAutoplayImage 1 of 16White Sox manager Tony La Russa watches from the dugout on Sept. 12, 2021, at Guaranteed Rate Field. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)Hmm. Not sure about that.“I’ve talked with him, and I don’t think he cares,” Pierzynski said. “He does the best job he can and that’s it. You can’t worry about what everyone else is saying. My job on TV is to tell the people at home what’s happening, and you take guesses.“Sometimes you’re right. More times you’re wrong than you are right. From up here (in the booth) it’s much easier to look down and say, ‘Why aren’t they playing better?’ I’m not in the dugout. I get information, but we don’t get everything.”Pierzynski pointed out objectivity is part of his job description as an analyst, as was evident during the Cubs-Sox telecast with Sox radio broadcaster Len Kasper.“Len and I were just honest, (saying) the Sox aren’t playing well, as everybody knows,” he said. “You don’t single out a player. You tell what their numbers are, what you see. The players deep down know that. I always felt that as long as you don’t get personal (it’s fair).”AdvertisementPierzynski is happy with his current job, so if he never gets that call from Reinsdorf, he’ll be fine.But Reinsdorf knows where to find him. He’ll be here talking to Sox fans, and more important, listening to Sox fans.