Bullpen Fails for Sale, But White Sox Prevail

August 13, 2014 @ admin → No Comments

Midweek musings: Yes, Chicago White Sox left-hander Chris Sale needs to learn to pitch right-handed, too. Just so the bullpen won’t blow it. Which was the case again Tuesday in San Francisco. Even though the Sox won 3-2 in 10 innings on Gordon Beckham’s run-scoring single, Sale had exited after eight innings with a 2-0 lead. Which is why won-lost records are not necessarily an indication of Cy Young Award quality pitching. For Sox fans clamoring for Sale to win the American League Cy Young, you are advised not to check out the numbers of Seattle’s Felix Hernandez.

Video below of Mala Bryan (in case you’re interested — even if you’re not).

* Speaking of Sale, he allowed four hits, walked two and struck out 12 in throwing 117 pitches. Giants batters also fouled off 26 pitches. Either Sales needs to miss more bats or have his pitch counted raised. How’s 150 sound? Like something that would have his arm fall off.

* Speaking of impressive pitching, Chicago Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks (4-1) went 7 1/3 innings (six hits, one walk, five strikeouts, 96 pitches) and had a bullpen that did its job in a 3-0 victory vs. the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field. Expect the Cubs faithful to start making comparisons to a young Greg Maddux any start now.

* Speaking of the Cubs, second baseman Javier Baez went 0-for-4 with no strikeouts. In some parts of Cubdom, that is considered improvement. In reality, it is considered 0-for-4. On the bright (?) side, he has struck out 13 times in 37 at-bats. Which is a mere 35 percent of the time. Kindly disregard the fact that he still has not drawn a walk and is batting .243.

Lauren Bacall and then-vice president Harry Truman.

* Not sure whether it’s a good sign or bad sign when the highlight of Bears training camp at Bourbonnais was no major injury. Which is their status as they end the first part of preparing for the 2014 season. Then again, if the team can continue such health back at Halas Hall in Deerfield for the regular season, they should be reasonably happy — although it does cause a problem with excuse-making in the event of a slow start.

* Speaking of the Bears, is there anything more exciting than the battle at backup quarterback? Probably, but the media tend to go for the easy story, and the Jimmy Clausen-Jordan Palmer is about as easy as can be. Not that the backup to Jay Cutler is unimportant. Just let me know who wins the job.

* Legendary actress Lauren Bacall died Tuesday at age 89. This doesn’t have much, if anything, to do with sports. But in the world of beautiful women who had a certain indescribable quality (OK, so it was a sexiness that began with her screen debut at age 19 and continued for decades), she stood out. Married to actors Humphrey Bogart and Jason Robards (not at the same time), she was able to arouse interest in her acting in an era when — unlike more contemporary lovelies — she kept her clothes on. Those of us old enough to remember her from long-ago movies can only imagine the level of sensuality and sexiness that Bacall would have achieved if she had been able to flash more flesh.

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