Did Grady Sizemore BENCH Luis Robert Jr.?
The White Sox beat the motherlovin’ shit out of the Baltimore Orioles this evening 8 to 1 at Camden Yards. It was the worst ass beating I’ve seen in Baltimore since Michael whooped up on Namond. A glorious win for our downtrodden band of scallywags. Pretty much everything went right for our boys, including three home runs (Dominic Fletcher and Nicky Lopez breaking their proverbial cherries for the year), Jonathan Cannon lining up pure stopper duties and the bullpen trio of Fraser Ellard, Gus Varland and Justin Anderson locking it down outta the pen. A rare moment to savor in a putrid season. But it was not without drama.
With 1 out in the top half of the 6th inning, Luis Robert Jr. is up with Jacob Amaya on third and Nicky Lopez on first. He proceeds to top a groundball to shortstop which ends up turning into an inning ending double play (after review, it was a bang-bang finish at first base). The replay shows a less than 100% effort version of Luis heading down the line and the throw beating him by an eyelash.
Shortly after the commercial break, Luis is scene walking off the field with Grady Sizemore and the trainer. Then a smash cut to the bench later and Grady is talking to Luis in a semi animated way, not necessarily yelling or heated, but with some movement, like the counter person at your favorite pizzeria. I immediately take to twitter.
Did Grady Bench Luis?
I think Luis got benched. Now the normie brains out there are going to say, BUT BEEF, right after this video, the White Sox put out “the word” that Robert has right hamstring tightness.
But as my guy Sox Insane points out, this is all part of the White Sox cover.
Let me get down to the brass tax here. I’m not a guy who says Luis Robert Jr. doesn’t normally hustle. Those types of White Sox fans tend to fall into a certain group and I don’t like to say mean things like this, so I’ve made this meme to denote a certain bias.
I think Luis Robert Jr. generally is hustling his ass off. He’s having a bad year, but he’s still hustling, witnessed by his 20 stolen bases since June 1 and his consistently outstanding play in Center Field. This game tonight he already had two doubles and had made a got-damned amazing catch at the wall to save a Cedric Mullins homer. He usually hustles. However, this play looked like he got frustrated topping a ball he should’ve hit hard and effectively failing in a run producing situation. He’s had a lot of these types of things happen this year and I could see how it would get frustrating piled into a record setting team season.
And this is where Grady comes in….
Grady Sizemore Is Here for Exactly This
I think Grady saw what happened, grabbed the trainer and said let’s go. My perspective is that Grady was pretty certain Luis wasn’t really hurt (I know guys play with little injuries all the time, so not saying NOTHING was wrong).
This is the perfect spot for Grady Sizemore (former excellent all-star centerfielder) to have a teaching moment with Luis Robert Jr. (current should be excellent all-star centerfielder). I don’t think this is a “SEND A MESSAGE” type thing for the team at all. It’s one former great player showing a current one that could be great just how much more he might have to give to get there. How these little potential mental missteps can make just that smidgeon of difference and that he expects more from him.
The benching was harmless. 3 and a half innings with the White Sox up nearly a touchdown for most of it. But there is a sort of caring that Grady is putting in there with Luis doing something like this. This is exactly the kinda fine touch a Grady Sizemore can have to really show value to this team. Assuming my conspiracy theory is right. Of course…YMMV.
Mmmm hmmm
-BeefLoaf
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beefloaf108
Low information White Sox Fan. Big Feet Energy ORIGINAL 108er Like Whore 2019 Opening Day #SoxMath WINNAR Mediocrity Personified