Sale, White Sox lose to Yankees
Chris Sale is a star pitcher for the Chicago White Sox.
Paul Konerko was a star first baseman for 16 years before retiring at the end of the 2014 season.
Sale and Konerko played different positions and had different roles, but neither liked to talk about individual achievement.
This is what Sale had to say earlier this month after his strikeout count continued to rise.
"It's cool to talk about," Sale said after the White Sox lost a home game to Cleveland. "It's stuff to talk to your buddies and family about, I guess.
"But you don't get to the postseason on strikeouts. You don't get to the playoffs with fancy numbers and stuff like that. You get there by wins.
"Everybody in this clubhouse, and everybody around major-league baseball, will tell you there's one thing that's important, and that's winning. We've just got to try to do that more."
Sale was back on the mound for the White Sox on Thursday night at Yankee Stadium, and the results were frustratingly familiar for the ace left-hander in a 3-2 loss to New York.
With 8 strikeouts, Sale surpassed the 1,000 mark for his career and increased his American League season lead to 267.
The 26-year-old pitcher is only 2 strikeouts from tying Ed Walsh for the Sox' single-season record, but the bottom line is the Sox (72-81) are closing in on their third straight losing season and are flat-out one of baseball's most disappointing teams.
While losing his fourth straight start, Sale (12-11) pitched 7 innings and allowed 3 runs on 7 hits.
Carlos Beltran decided the outcome in the third inning with a 3-run homer.
Rookie Trayce Thompson continued to state his case for a starting job in 2016. Thompson hit a solo home run off N.Y. starter Michael Pineda in the sixth inning and drew a bases-loaded walk against reliever Justin Wilson in the seventh.
Before the game, the Yankees bid farewell to Yogi Berra, who passed away Tuesday at the age of 90.
The colorful Berra played for 10 World Series champion teams with New York and also managed the Yankees to the Fall Classic.
"It's been a tough couple of days for us," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "Yogi meant so much to the organization, to the city, to all of us. For me, personally, I miss him. I had a chance to talk to him on Saturday before the game, and you never think that's going to be the last time you're going to talk to someone.
"I miss him. I miss having him around here. The laughs that we had. The knowledge that he gave me. How he always made you feel comfortable. It's just not going to be the same."