White Sox manager Tony La Russa does it again, walks Guardians’ Oscar Gonzalez with a 1-2 count
Does Jerry Reinsdorf Still Watch White Sox Baseball? He and the team’s other decision-makers may have received a gut check on Friday.
On this week’s episode of “The Misadventures of Tony La Russa,” the White Sox manager added to his portfolio of puzzling moves by giving Guardians right fielder Oscar Gonzalez an intentional walk with a 1-2 count to save the Bases with two outs to weigh in late in the seventh inning. First base was open after a double steal.
La Russa put Gonzalez on the mound with the after-hours takeover of Jake Diekman and the Sox were 5-2 down, much to the confusion of the White Sox TV booth.
Tony La Russa deliberately counted another batter to 1-2
The White Sox were already down 5-2 pic.twitter.com/BHnLONyJ3B
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) August 20, 2022
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It’s the second time this season that La Russa have intentionally passed a player with a 1-2 count. The first was against the Dodgers’ Trea Turner to get at Max Muncy. This time it ended with Muncy hitting a three-run home run in front of Bennett Sousa to give the Dodgers a 10-5 lead in the sixth inning. In honor of La Russa, the White Sox came out of the inning unscathed on Friday when Jimmy Lambert retired Owen Miller with a flyball.
“You know what he hits against left-handed pitching with 0-1 or two hits? Do you know what he hits? Well, you know what Muncy hits with two shots against a left-handed pitcher? I mean, is that really a question “Because it was 1-2?” La Russa said after the gymnast walk.
“A gymnast with a left-handed hit against a left-hander is something you can avoid if you can and we had open base and Muncy happened to be the guy behind him and that’s a better matchup.”
He also lost 1-0 to the Guardians’ Jose Ramirez in July. That drew the ire of former White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. So this has now become a monthly event.
La Russa has received a lot of criticism this season, much of it well-deserved as the White Sox battle for a playoff spot. In addition to his bewildering philosophy of intentional walking, he was seen appearing to be sleeping on the bench. And just this week he appeared to be heeding a fan’s advice to use Adam Engel as a fallback for Eloy Jimenez, though La Russa dismissed the idea.
While it might stretch to say that the apparent drowsiness and inattention are definitely what they appear, the reality is that he’s under a microscope and hardly deserves the benefit of the doubt. The White Sox are 61-59 this season, 3.5 games behind the division-leading Guardians and two games behind a wildcard berth in the American League.