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We like to make fun of the way Tony La Russa’s position-player substitutions backfire, but I don’t know if anybody can top the concept of Adam Engel entering the game as a pinch runner in the seventh inning and making two outs on the basepaths over three innings, the first of which was the front end — or middle third — of the first-ever 8-5 triple play in recorded Major League Baseball history.

It was the turning point of the game in the same sense that the Hastings Cutoff was the turning point for the Donner Party, and one has to hope that it doesn’t take the rest of the season down with it.

The White Sox, after getting characteristically stymied by Dylan Bundy’s ability to get ahead with breaking balls, finally figured out how to string together productive at-bats in Griffin Jax’s second inning of work. With the Sox trailing 2-1 entering the bottom of the seventh, José Abreu brushed off an HBP that wasn’t called and drilled a double to the left-center gap, while Gavin Sheets got plunked on the foot in a manner everybody saw. Yoán Moncada then followed by hitting how he was pitched, and taking a changeup through the vacated left side for a game-tying single.

That’s when Adam Engel, fresh off the injured list, entered the game to run for Sheets. We’ve seen this kind of marginal substitution result in that player hitting for himself in high-leverage situations a number of times over La Russa’s tenure, but even the most unpleasantly sarcastic Sox fan couldn’t have envisioned the scenario that unfolded.

AJ Pollock continued the strong string of plate appearances with a deep drive to right center that chased Byron Buxton all the way to the track. Buxton, of course, flagged it down without leaving his feet on the warning track, and hurled the ball in the direction of the infield to attempt to slow the progress of at least one of the runners.

Little did he know that neither Engel nor Moncada saw Buxton catch the ball. Engel initially broke for second, then retreated to within five feet of second base, where he stood to watch the path of the ball. If he were standing on second, then breaking for third upon the arrival of the ball to Buxton’s person would’ve been a perfectly acceptable course of action. But because he was standing off the base, every step put him farther away from the place he needed to be to avoid disaster.

Moncada didn’t help matters. He had the play in front of him, and yet he didn’t see Buxton catch the ball, so he rounded second on Engel’s heels similar to the way Leury García forced Joe McEwing to wave Luis Robert home in that game against Cleveland.

Watching the play unfold in real time, watching Moncada get tagged out by Gio Urshela between third and second when he still needed to get all the way back to first made it look like he forgot how many outs there were. He was wrong and out in an obvious and obscene manner. But then when Urshela stepped on second for the play’s third out, that’s when viewers at home slowly realized that Engel messed up in an equally ugly sense, and the burgeoning threat of a crooked number was sucked out of the airlock and cast into space, never to return.

The explanation, if you care to hear it.

Adam Engel put the triple play on himself, saying he misread Buxton taking his eyes off the ball and looking for the wall as indication that the ball had landed at the fence, and that Yoán Moncada was probably reacting to him taking off for third and not tagging up.

Engel was thrown out trying to steal second after drawing a two-out walk in the ninth inning, so that was the second one. Joe Kelly started the 10th by giving up a Luis Arraez RBI single on the Manfred Man, but when followed by striking out Buxton, he almost had it set up to where Arraez’s single helped the Sox more than it hurt. But then Kelly issued walks to Carlos Correa and Max Kepler, setting up a sac fly and a two-run single that gave the Twins a 6-2 lead.

The Sox were able to score their own Manfred Man (Engel survived that episode on the bases), on Pollock’s one-out single, and a two-out base hit by Seby Zavala brought Tim Anderson to the plate as a tying run, but Anderson struck out on a pitch in the dirt and didn’t even bother forcing Ryan Jeffers to make the throw.

All of those constituted failures as well, but the triple play condemned the game to a miserable outcome regardless of the score.

*José Abreu scored the Sox’s two runs in regulation, striking the only blow during Bundy’s five innings with a solo shot to right field. The White Sox now have a 10-homer hitter.

*Johnny Cueto pitched another valuable six innings, but he couldn’t avoid allowing a two-run shot to Buxton, who has homered off the White Sox in six straight games. He followed an Arraez double by crushing a hanging first-pitch slider well out to left center, which gave Minnesota that aforementioned 2-1 lead.

*Liam Hendriks’ return from the injured list was more of a triumph than Engel’s, because he struck out the side in the eighth. Kendall Graveman pitched a scoreless ninth.

*The Sox had some issues with fly balls. Zavala and Moncada collided on a pop-up to the left side in the first inning that Moncada called for, and Robert broke the wrong way on two fly balls that Arraez hit over his head left of center, including the double before Buxton’s homer. The efforts are lacking.

*La Russa was ejected for arguing balls and strikes with David Rackley, whose zone was indeed terrible, but in a way that stumped both teams.

Record: 38-40 | Box score | Statcast

Writing about the White Sox for a 16th season, first here, then at South Side Sox, and now here again. Let’s talk curling.

Engel talks as if him being wrong absolves Moncada. Engel can 100% wrong and Moncada can be 100% wrong. I think that play had a total wrongness of at least 200%.

Just after that double base running boner by Moncada and Engel my first four thoughts were:

I suppose to be fair if you asked me at any time of any day what my first four thoughts were one of them would likely be that I can’t stand Tony La Russa.

To be clear, that play was awful. Further, I also can’t stand Tony LasRussa. But I am utilizing your comment to address a pet peeve of mine and you are only one of many targets. Bill Parcells used to say “you are what your record is” meaning don’t tell me that you are better than your record. I offer the inverse: if you win, you “deserved” to win, even if you fucked up along the way, because your positives outweighed your negatives in comparison to the other team. “Deserved” has nothing to do with it. Twitter was ablaze with “the Sox don’t deserve to win” last night, including from people on this site. It’s an easy reflex, but it’s also wrong and silly. Teams fuck up in big ways all the time and win. It’s sports.

I almost never use “deserved” in that context. The reason I did is because I wanted to avoid saying what I was thinking, which was that I wanted them to lose after that play.

Unfortunately for me when they signed La Russa it was a dagger to my fandom. I don’t follow the Sox all that closely anymore and my main interest is in having whatever it takes to happen to get La Russa out.

Another excuse for using “deserved” (which I agree was not proper) is that I’ve followed soccer more than baseball over the last number of years and it is used more frequently when discussing soccer. I think the concept works to some degree in soccer because more random things can impact the results.

Also, Engel’s “explanation” is word salad.

Moncada didn’t even look at Engel. He watched the flight of the ball for a while then just took off running.

I suppose in theory it is admirable to not blame other people for stuff but it doesn’t work very well when the person actually deserves blame and you just make stuff up to try to deflect the blame from them.

It is admirable and “professional”. It is the theory of owe/own. You owe someone else thanks for your success, and you own failure (even if it isn’t your fault), at least publicly. I appreciate Engel being a leader when asked about it publicly.

Privately, I hope he and others are getting in the proverbial face of players that need to stop relying on potential, get their heads out of their rear ends, and start playing the game right.

That just doesn’t need to be aired publicly

Let me preface my comment with, I am not above being infantile, juvenile or sophomoric…I will wear that.

Now, I double dog dare you to argue how much better Adam EngEL is than Adam Haseley on the basepaths! 🙂

Add Moncada to the mix and I think we have a TTOOTBLNs.

Oh, and BTW, after Leury’s start tomorrow, he’ll be back under .200 again.

This was a hard-fought game against the 1st place team. A moral victory, perhaps. Moncada lost it. Apart from his initiating an MLB-unique triple play, the guy is -.4 WAR with a .181 BA. Why is he in the major leagues? Surely there is someone in AAA who can hit 200?

he was not physically ready to come back when he did the first time. hideous baserunning aside, he’s been making a lot of very loud contact and looking much healthier since coming back off the IL the second time

Please don’t put all of that inning’s epic baserunning gaffe on Moncada. Engel acted as if he was placed there in a “play like the big leaguers” contest. He seriously couldn’t have F’d up worse than he did. And then he gets hosed (by plenty) in the 9th trying to steal.

Also WTF are you talking ab “moral victory”. Seriously I’d like to know. To me it was about as holistic a defeat as I could imagine (not sure ab the other 32k in attendance)

No doubt Engel was hugely at fault on the triple play but you undermine your credibility when you say he “got hosed (by plenty)” trying to steal. It was close enough that the umpire initially called him safe and they had to consult a replay to see that he was actually out.

oh I’m not putting all of it on him, they both were (i think) individually terrible or both fooled by buxton getting to that ball so quick or whatever

This felt like the opposite of a moral victory

Robert may have a lot of talent and muscle but he isn’t a solid baseball player. Fundamentals aren’t taught on the Cuban national team?

I am really frustrated by this too, and obviously Steve Stone is as well. Robert could and should have fielded at least one of those Arraez doubles. He needs to start focusing.

Just adding the numbers…expected batting average on the first double by Arraez was .530; expected batting average in the second Arraez double was .470. Robert played what should have been one double into two doubles.

That’s not really how xBA works. xBA cares only about launch angle and exit velo, it’s agnostic about spray angle, so it’s not super helpful in estimating if those balls were catchable

But do you think they were catchable? Did you think that Robert took a bad angle or didn’t get a good jump? Steve Stone did, and I did too.

If you weren’t actually watching, you should check out the replay of the Sox broadcast.

Stone tried covering for Robert on the first with “the sun” excuse but when the second was almost a carbon copy of the first but no sun he could only put the blame where it belonged.

Buxton catches both of them, lets be honest. Larussa has told these high priced players not to hustle or run hard and that is both offensively and defensively. That statement will be the reason the season is over Ina few weeks.

I agree – Buxton probably catches both of those.

Again, Robert should have caught one at least.

For what it is worth, and here I am replying to a-t, I don’t think expected batting average is meant to be a total abstraction and among its practical applications would be using it, in some instances, to supplement what you see with your eyes, to answer questions like “could or should this ball have been caught?”

No doubt he catches both, and throws 4 runs to boot….

That LaRussa comment, I believe he was actually casting that decision on the FO as if he was overridden and was espousing the company line. By all means blame it on TLR if you want though.

In a season in which I felt myself struggling to grapple with hyperbole, tonight happened.

There’s no way to describe the loss to someone without being hyperbolic…or am I even being hyperbolic when I say this was the most pathetic display of base running ever exhibited in a Major League Baseball game??

Kelly is the poster child of how utterly stupid this organization is as a whole. 2 days after the CBA agreement and they sign fucking Harrison and Kelly in a pitiful gesture to fix ALL their problems. Fuck this team, Reinsdorfd and La Clown deserve for this season to be an embarrassing and colossal failure.

La Clown’s facial expressions after the once in a century, generational baserunning gaffe tell the story. He looks like he belongs in a nursing home. I’ve had family members younger than him living in them, seriously. It’s a tragic and inexcusable joke for him to keep managing this team.

The Kelly deal is Kelvin Herrera all over again. Hahn should be sued for GM malpractice, nobody is worse at spending money.

True, and yet I’m sure Kelly was a Tony favorite which probably had a lot to do with why they got him. Reinsdorf/La Russa/Hahn are the worst, Hahn being a little less so than the other two to be fair. I’m sure he would sign someone like Springer over Eaton if he had the power to choose.

I might as well go out on a limb: I think Kelly will be fine.

They signed him for 8.5M and he’s been on the DL a large part of the season, and sucked while contributing to losses more than once. Maybe he will be better, but he won’t come close to being worth what they are paying him. A WAR of -0.9 doesn’t bode well for “fine”.

It is easy to assess what a player has already done. Most baseball fans assume that what players have done recently is what they will do in the future. That’s what you are doing. Perhaps you will be right. I predict the opposite.

To be fair, I’m about half of La Russa’s age, and I had the same looks on my face after the baserunning catastrophe.

Why was Hendriks used in the eighth? Is Graveman the acting closer until Hendriks has some reps under his belt or did La Russa actually realize he wanted his better pitcher facing the heart or the order even though it wasn’t a traditional save situation?

The Giants series was a mirage. This team is clownshoes when it really counts.

I don’t know why I expected any different.

Yeah, I mean they are better than losing 5 of 7 to the Orioles and Angels, but sweeping the Giants doesn’t change the prior 70+ games. The Astros and Yankees are 25 and 36 over .500. They are not in the same league as either whether they win a few more games than they lose in the coming months, or not.

Now the White Sox are forced to win both games. Losing the series is unacceptable. What is it in Guarantee Rate field where we can’t win? We are an astonishing 16-22 at home.

The White needs to score plenty of runs to be able to pay the toll of TLR sometimes weird moves, and the toll of their own incompetency.

I can’t believe how a professional sport team can be so unprepared to play a baseball game. If that triple play was an isolated play, I can take the humiliation, and laugh it off, but this kind of terrible play is happening often this year. Sometimes it feels like an amateur team playing over its head. This lack of baseball fundamental is not acceptable at this level, and I am gonna go ahead to say that it all starts at the coaching level. This team is not well coached, it’s babysat by the loving grandad. Literally.

I think that it can be partly explained that in a home park built for home runs, the home team doesn’t hit any.

Yep, it is no coincidence that some of their best offense has come in Detroit and SF. They are a contact team that can’t hit the ball over the wall. When there is more ground to cover in the outfield, like in those parks, their contact has a better chance of finding the grass. Meanwhile, Sox opponents can take advantage of the friendly home run dimensions when in Chicago.

When you combine lineup making, in game strategy, baserunning, defense, situational awareness, is this possibly the worst coaching staff in the history of the franchise. How in the world can this team be so bad in so many areas. No staff does more to put their guys in a position to lose then the sox. And that certainly isnt to take blame off some of these players who are just awful at easy baseball things. Other than Katz, would any of larussa, boston, mcewing, cairo be coaching anywhere else…. what the hell do these guys do well???

I think worst in franchise history is the wrong context. Tony is the worst manager of anything in human history, across all universes and dimensions of reality. He is here to ruin every moment of potential joy for as many humans as possible.

I just feel bad for any new fans the Sox picked up over the past two years who don’t yet know that the Sox failing spectacularly is pretty much a statistical certainty and that the lowest lows tend to happen immediately after the middling highs.

McEwing and Boston, what are they for?

To tell the emperor how beautiful his new clothes are. Boston is a useless letch of a human being and McEwing is just useless.

A constant reminder of how in no way is the Sox organization a meritocracy.

Good god, ya’ll. Absolutely nothing.

“AJ Pollock continued the strong string of plate appearances…”

fwar has him at -.3 …. dude needs to rally the 2nd half to not be below replacement level which is a garbage level anyway…

Strong plate appearances in the inning by his teammates, not his own

And it turns out they got nothing for Kimbrel, in the end, other than being on the hook for 10M next year with a guy who can barely play. So of course they would have been better off not picking up Kimbrel’s option.

At least there is no lamenting Madrigal. He is still on the shelf for the 2nd time this year and has missed a huge % of games for the third straight year. He’s been piss poor when he has played as well.

The good news is, Pollock is about due for another injury, which is the strongest part of his game, which will free up more space in the OF for Leury to get more PA’s.

The 1983 Winning Ugly White Sox came undone in October with a power outage and some truly idiotic baserunning. In that sense, Tony La Russa has recaptured his old glories this season.

I have still not learned how to post pictures in the chat. Rats.

After almost 40 years, has The Dybber been unseated?

Still remember it like it was yesterday. 😲

I told my wife to knee me in the jigglies if I turned on the Sox today. That triple play was the dumbest play in the history of the sport. But ignore that for a moment…

In the 10th how did that sac fly to Pollock result in ALL THREE runners advancing?

With 2 outs now, am I correct that the infield wasn’t playing back? It looked to me like the single that scored the 5th and 6th runs could have been fielded at normal depth. Am I wrong?

Kelly has been a joke. That he was one of the highlights of a winter that should have consolidated our stranglehold on the division is an indictment of Hahn. Too much money for too long a term for someone too unavailable and too inconsistent, all the while ignoring the biggest holes on the roster.

There’s probably more I could unpack about last night, but I’ve already expended more effort than the Sox coaches or front office or half the roster.

I’m disgusted by the whole thing.

The ball carried further than Pollock expected. Or if you prefer to phrase it differently, Pollock misplayed the ball. He was still drifting backwards when he caught the ball on the warning track and he caught it in the heel of his glove. And even then he didn’t seem to be in a great hurry to get the ball in. It appeared he wasn’t sure which base to throw to. It looked like his initial look was to third base.

As for the single, Moncada was playing about even with the bag. He was the only fielder on that side of second base and I couldn’t tell the depth of the three infielders to the right field side of second base. The ball was hit sort of directly to traditional straightaway shortstop, maybe a little toward the 5-6 hole. It’s hard to say whether Moncada could have fielded it if he was playing deeper but it’s certainly possible.

Keep us updated as to whether or not your undercrackers get contused this evening.

Donner Party reference, yes, got it! Hastings Cutoff? A little arcane, Jim.

I was at the game last night, and as soon as Engel was caught stealing in the 9th, I got up and left. I knew what was coming.

The coaching staff is truly atrocious. The players have the talent, but no execution. The front office trades and signings have been (for the most part) busts.

This may be the most disappointing Sox season in my lifetime, and that’s really saying something.

Quit calling it a triple play and call it what it is…. Professional players making a little league mistake. Both moncada and Engle should be sent to single A team and die there. Inexcusable plays like that are being treated as acceptable on this team, good teams do not make those mistakes.

While I agree that Moncada and Engel screwed up big time, if WS sent all similar awful baseball play makers/deciders to single A there would be nobody left to play or manage except the ball boy/girls.

Agree but the ones left would play hard and run out every single, steal a base, play like they need a job.

I think it was a triple play.

2 weeks from now, it will be, but today it is a little league mistake that these 2 players need to be gone and forgotten about .

Here’s a question for the group, which Sox position players seem to consistently play with focus and purpose? Who is mentally engaged?

My sense is that Abreu and TA are the obvious ones. Then there is maybe a second tier of Vaughn, McGuire, Harrison, and Sheets – those guys usually are trying their best. After that it’s kind of a mess – lots of guys who seem to be half asleep, spaced out, down in the dumps, half-assing it, etc.

I am gonna say Josh Harrison. His baseball awareness is top notch.

Abreu and Harrison seem to play constant heads up baseball. Cueto on the pitching side.

As much as I like TA, he has his lapses in focus. Particularly on defense as we saw at the start of the year with occasional misplays and questionable throws. He’s much improved compared to where he was early in his career, but I’m not sure I’d call him a top-tier player in terms of focus yet.

This and with 2 strikes where he just gives up on at bats. I luv TA and consider him a top tier player but that doesn’t always extend to his focus.

So maybe Jose is the top tier. Or Jose and Harrison.

Tim does at least bring energy, which seems to be in short supply…But upon reflection I agree with the comments above that he sometimes lacks focus.