It's Actually Impressive How Much White Sox Fans Hate Tony La Russa Right Now
I don't think that's an entirely unfair statement if you base your decision solely on the current public opinion of White Sox fans. Genuinely and sincerely, I have not seen a fanbase in my hometown turn on a manager so quickly and that includes multiple stops for Rick Renteria, a Dale Sveum cameo and of course Marc Trestman. At least in those cases we kept a window of optimism open for long enough to get your head on straight.
Now though it's just up for fucking grabs right out of the gate. Not even mid-May and La Russa is getting absolutely boat raced here by the leader of MLB's worst April offense:
I'm not taking credit away from David Ross. In fact he's been pretty fucking awesome this year when you consider how bad the bats were to start. Some how, some way, this team has a chance to get to .500 when every number, metric and statistic suggests that is impossible. In reality, it has a lot to do with timely hitting and bouncing back from tough losses and not letting the ugly shit keep you down. At some point you need to give someone credit, and really no better place to start/end than the manager. That is once we agree Kris Bryant has been a top-5 player in MLB this year.
Advertisement
For now, credit David Ross because he absolutely deserves it whereas you'll have a hard time saying the same for Tony. At least not without getting your ass kicked around some people in this city.
Truth be told it's actually kind of sad. I thought a great storyline would be La Russa winning over Chicago one successful month at a time. Part of me hoped it would be mid-August and the Sox would be 20 games over .500 and everyone would make a 180 and start treating this guy like a king. Would've been such a good story and it seems practically impossible we'll get there at this point. I don't mean the 20 games over part either. The Sox clearly have the pitching to dominate their way through 162. But even so, there's almost no way I can picture Sox fans lifting Tony La Russa up in the process.
Like I said. It's sad. He's a hall of famer brother. You can't comfortably watch his reputation take these kinds of beatings.
Speaking of starting pitching. Let's talk about Ryan Dempster for a second. This will get it's own blog but I need to circle back here first.
So many good gems in there from those 08-09 teams. I honestly thought I was going to cream my shorts there for a second if you couldn't tell. And scouts honor I went into the interview thinking we'd get the corporate Ryan Dempster. The buttoned up guy that's a special advisor and plays it safe with us and all that. Well I couldn't have been more wrong and I actually love it when that happens. There's nothing wrong with being wrong if you're willing to admit it. In this case I was wrong to think Dempster would big league the me and hold back the good stuff. Again. I was completely wrong.
Listen to the full episode here:
Enjoy the Cubs off Day. Don't be afraid to sprinkle the Bulls.
Advertisement
All Gas No Brakes.