Encouraging applause still greets Albert Belle at the plate, a generosity not extended to his adventures in the field, most of which have a bewitching, Alice-down-the-rabbit-hole quality, not that Belle would chase a baseball that far unless it was an outside pitch.
Actual, enthusiastic disapproval did not come for Belle until after his last at-bat in Saturday’s 5-1 loss to the Greater Tampa Bay-Slash-St. Petersburg Suncoast Devil Rays.
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With no outs and Frank Thomas having been walked ahead of him–time to put those rally caps on–Belle managed a modest ninth-inning popup to second base.
By that time, Belle could do the White Sox no more harm, so even the boos scattered among the remainders of 17,332 Comiskey Park witnesses were as unproductive as Belle’s bat.
“It looked to me like he was swinging better than anytime this homestand,” said Sox manager Jerry Manuel.
Well, Bell did get a detached double, but otherwise could not induce the ball out of the infield.
Manuel’s theory on Belle’s ghastly start (4 for 26, no home runs) is that Belle is simply trying too hard, being overly aggressive, and Manuel may be entirely correct.
But nine games into the season, all of Belle’s bases added together don’t equal two home runs, this coming out of a productive spring when Belle hit the ball as if he hated it.
“He looks like the same hitter to me,” Manuel said.
My theory is that nobody is afraid of Belle anymore, or at least not at this time, and Belle is the only one who can change that.
Even an apprentice pitcher like Tampa’s Rick Gorecki, not that far removed from Oak Forest, faces Belle without fear, and with no outs and the bases loaded in the first inning.
“I got the ball outside, where I wanted it, and Albert tried to pull it,” Gorecki said.
Result: double play, big inning busted.
“Albert has a history of good numbers,” Manuel said. “At some point he is going to get hot and those numbers will average out like they have his whole career.”
Not to belabor the obvious, but yesterday is not too soon to start. The Sox cannot have their biggest hole in the middle of the order. A team with a pitching staff like theirs needs seven runs a game just to give the closer something to close.
There is such a parade of pitchers to the Sox mound, all they need is a drum major and a Dalmatian and they could get a procession sponsored.
Huggies presents “Time for a Change.” For admission to the next inning, which Castillo is it?
(Listen, if this shows up as a Sox promotion, I don’t want any credit.)
Jason Bere, the Sox starter, was allowed one batter too many by Manuel. Bere walked the bases full and Manuel still let him pitch to Tampa third baseman Robert Smith, who promptly whacked a two-out single to center and changed a 2-1 game to a 4-1 game.
Manuel has been second-guess-free in his short time in the Sox dugout, but this one needed an explanation.
“Smith is a low-ball hitter and Bere is a high-ball pitcher,” Manuel said. “We had the ideal situation, but Bere got the ball low.”
Accept the answer or not, the refreshing thing is there was answer. The last manager would have turned on his heel or sneered, “Anyone who knows anything about baseball . . .”
It is not likely the Sox will be any better this year than last, but there are so many more reasons to wish them well, Manuel being only at the top of the list.
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Maybe that is why Belle, who does not deserve it, is being given such a long rope. Manuel has to, but the fans do not.
When Belle turned a fly ball into a double for Quinton McCracken in the eighth inning, Belle was hooted at as if he had hocked his gold glove for a warm smile, not that he has either.