Tuesday was a demoralizing and angering day to be a White Sox fan

Yermin Mercedes

People often wonder why I'm not enthusiastic about the 2021 White Sox. Yes, they are in first place. And they probably should win their division, even with all the injuries they have.

But I have no confidence in the organization whatsoever. Days like Tuesday are why.

The day started with manager Tony La Russa calling Yermin Mercedes "clueless" and generally ripping the rookie designated hitter to shreds in public.

Why? Because Mercedes committed the "big mistake" of hitting a home run on a 3-0 pitch in the ninth inning of a 15-4 game Monday night -- off a 47-mph eephus pitch from Minnesota utilityman Willians Astudillo.

The only one clueless here is La Russa, who belongs in a retirement home. If you look around the baseball world, most people are supporting Mercedes, who provided a fun moment in a game that was out of hand and generally uninteresting otherwise.

In what alternate baseball universe are we living in where hitting a home run is a "big mistake"?

The only people offended seemed to be the biased observers in the Minnesota TV booth and, well, La Russa, who for some reason is worried about "respecting" the Twins.

I don't care about the Twins and their feelings. The Sox won Monday's game 16-4. My only regret is they didn't win 26-4.

Nobody associated with the Sox should care about the Twins or their feelings. Sadly, La Russa is putting his regard for the Twins ahead of his own team. He needs to knock that off immediately. You support your players in the media, even if you disagree with something they've done. 

If he wants to have a private conversation about this with Mercedes, fine, but you don't call someone who has been a key contributor to your team for the first quarter of the season "clueless" in a public setting.

To make matters worse, the Sox had a 4-0 lead after three innings Tuesday night with Lance Lynn on the mound. They blew the whole thing and lost, 5-4.

They gave up three home runs to Miguel Sano, who came into this game with a .141 batting average. Sano's third home run of the night, a two-run shot in the bottom of the eighth that tied the game at 4 off Aaron Bummer, didn't need to happen. First base was open. The situation called for an intentional walk, or at least a pitch-around. 

"Clueless" La Russa apparently didn't think of that.

Bummer gave up a leadoff hit to Andrelton Simmons in the bottom of the ninth. As the inning progressed, Liam Hendriks lost the game by grooving a fastball right down the middle to Jorge Polanco, who doubled off the wall to score Simmons with the winning run.

And let's not forget the wonderful Sox lineup, which failed to score a single run the last five innings of the game against the reeling Minnesota bullpen.

Yes, the Sox are 25-16. Yes, the Twins are 14-26. But this was the archetypal White Sox choke job in Minnesota, and coming on the heels of the manager's asinine comments earlier in the day, it was just a demoralizing, infuriating day for me as a Sox fan.

The organization just cannot get out of its own way. Even when they have a good thing going, they invent ways to screw it up.