Anderson benched in Chicago White Sox's loss to Royals
Chicago White Sox manager Rick Renteria pulled Tim Anderson during Tuesday night's 4-2 loss to the Kansas City Royals for failing to run to first base in the sixth inning.
Just call it a case of tough love.
"It's something that we preach and talk about all the time," Renteria said. "We don't give in. If we're going to win and move forward as a championship organization, we need fighters. Timmy's a fighter. He had a lapse in that particular instance because he recognized something that he thought was clearly an out.
"But we know how we're supposed to go about it and we're going to continue to do it and it's not going to change. As long as I'm here, it's not going to change."
With the White Sox trailing 2-0 in the sixth and runners on first and second with two outs, Anderson lined to third baseman Rosell Herrera.
Thinking the ball was caught, Anderson stayed in the box. Herrera appeared to trap the drive and threw late to second base. Royals second baseman Whit Merrifield threw to first and Anderson was an easy out.
In the seventh inning, Leury Garcia was the Sox's new shortstop.
"It can't happen," Anderson said. "It didn't look good. (Renteria) is the manager. It's his call on the players. I have to respect his decision."
Renteria more than respects Anderson and the rest of his roster.
"I love every single one of those guys in there, but it's important for us to do it (run the bases) here all the way through the system because anybody that comes to play for us, that's the way we're going to play," Renteria said.
Konerko on Thome, Hawk:
Paul Konerko dropped by Guaranteed Rate Field on Tuesday, and the White Sox's former star first baseman/captain talked about two of his favorite topics - Jim Thome and Ken "Hawk" Harrelson.
Teammates with Thome from 2006-09, Konerko was in Cooperstown on Sunday for the left-handed slugger's Hall of Fame induction.
"When I think of Jim, I think of his work ethic," Konerko said. "He got here in his mid-30s but was such a hard worker, first one in and last one to leave, just always grinding away, working."
Konerko usually hit right behind Thome in the Sox's lineup, and he used it to his advantage.
"I loved it because he gave me like 10 minutes to get loose," Konerko said. "Every count was 3-2 with like four foul balls. It was a nine-pitch at-bat. I used to like that part of it, having a long time to get loose.
"Just the genuineness of him. You hear it all the time, kind of cliché, but down-to-earth, real normal guy. That's who he was. He brought everybody in all the time, wherever he went. He made everybody feel like they were part of the ride."
On Aug. 19, Konerko will sit in the TV broadcast booth with Harrelson, who is retiring at the end of the season.
"It might be the only game ever that I hope goes to extra innings," Konerko said. "It'll be awesome. I'm going to try and obviously announce the game a little bit, but I say it now, forgive me if I just go off on some tangents that have nothing to do with what's going on down on the field because there's a chance I'm going to want to ask him a lot of questions, and I've got a lot of stuff teed up."