Lots of people deserve blame for what has happened to the Chicago White Sox this season. Tony La Russa has done a poor job managing the team. Rick Hahn has built a flawed roster and doesn’t hold anyone accountable. The owner, Jerry Reinsdorf, just doesn’t care.
However, Thursday night’s game against the Baltimore Orioles showed just how cursed the White Sox are in 2022. They lost the game and a few different people are to blame for it. It isn’t cool that we always have to blame someone but there is one person who shouldn’t get the brunt of it.
That person is Liam Hendriks. He is one of the best closers in the MLB right now and has been for the last three seasons. He is truly electric and one of the most fun players to watch in the entire league right now.
He gave up a home run that allowed the Orioles to tie it in the bottom of the 9th inning. The problem is, he had the hitter out before he was able to hit the home run. Adam Engel dropped a foul out that would have been the final out of the game. Of course, Baltimore took the win in extras.
Liam Hendriks doesn’t deserve most of the blame for Thursday’s loss.
Engel is a great defender and nobody will ever take that away from him. We have seen him make game-breaking home run robs throughout his career but he just misplayed this one. It happens but the game would have been over if he caught it.
Most of the time, if you give a Major League player or team a second chance, they are going to take advantage. That is why Liam Hendriks doesn’t deserve most of the blame for this one. He can take some of it for hanging a slider but he had the game over before the error.
Nobody closer in this league is unable to give up a home run in that type of situation. Hendriks was put in a very bad spot and he didn’t come through. Again, he can take some of the blame but he did technically do his job but an error gave Baltimore life.
This loss would probably sting a lot less if the White Sox were having a really good year. The Cleveland Guardians and Minnesota Twins both lost at the same time so they didn’t lose ground but they also blew an opportunity to gain some ground.
Engel doesn’t deserve to be cut or anything like that but he should get way more blame than Hendriks on this one. Hopefully, the white Sx are still able to pull out of this hole with just under 40 games left.