Sale sets Chicago White Sox single-season strikeout record
Bad season for the Chicago White Sox.
Good season for starting pitcher Chris Sale.
In Friday night's 2-1 win over the Tigers at U.S. Cellular Field, Sale ended Ed Walsh's 107-year run as the franchise's single-season strikeout leader.
Sale struck out 7 in 7-plus innings and finishes the year with 274. Walsh had 269 strikeouts in 1908.
"It's awesome, something that hasn't set in yet but I know what it means," Sale said. "I know what it is. I'm very thankful for it and appreciative of it."
The 274 strikeouts are the fourth highest total in the majors since 2004, trailing only Clayton Kershaw (294 this season), Randy Johnson (290 in '04) and Yu Darvish (277 in '13).
"I think when you add in that he didn't really have a spring training, a normal spring training, to be able to come back and do this is special," manager Robin Ventura said. "It just puts him up there with the elite. Tonight, it just seemed like there was a little something extra in there, even right from the start."
Sale (13-11) struck out James McCann in the second inning on a slider to set the record.
On a 1-2 pitch to McCann in the same at-bat, he threw an Eephus that missed the strike zone.
While Rip Sewell is widely given credit for inventing the pitch in the 1940s, David LaRoche gained more attention for throwing one in 1981.
LaRoche is White Sox designated hitter Adam LaRoche's dad, and he was at the game Friday night.
"You have to have fun in this game," Sale said. "Talking to the whole LaRoche squad about it is something that came into my mind. I thought if there's nobody on base and I get a guy with two strikes, let's flip one in there just for fun."
Ozzie back to Sox?
Ozzie Guillen wants to return to major-league baseball as a manager, but he's also open to filling a coaching role.
Could Guillen return to the White Sox as bench coach?
"I don't think he's going to be the bench coach next year, no," Sox general manager Rick Hahn said. "I didn't say he wouldn't be considered. I don't know if Ozzie's the fit for that spot. Look, I don't know if you've heard it from me yet but you've certainly heard it from others in this organization, Ozzie Guillen belongs somewhere in the big leagues managing.
"The game is better for it and he's already proven in front of our own eyes what he's capable of doing when at the helm of a club. That's the role he should be filling somewhere in major-league baseball, and hopefully with some of these openings somewhere, he lands there."
Search party:
GM Rick Hahn said the White Sox have already started the looking for fired bench coach Mark Parent's replacement.
"We have a list already assembled," Hahn said. "We have a plan to start reaching out in the not too distant future. There could well be some turnover elsewhere that opens up some names that aren't on our list at this time. I don't foresee it a 2-3 day process but we'll get it done in the next few weeks."
With so many Spanish speaking players on the roster, the Sox could hire a Latino bench coach.
"I think it would be a strength for a candidate," Hahn said. "It would put a candidate in a better position, but I don't want to preclude anyone because they may lack a certain skill if they're strong enough in other areas that we feel they are the right guy. But it would be a positive, yes."
Tough day:
The decision to let bench coach Mark Parent was made Monday during a nine-hour meeting at U.S. Cellular Field.
Manager Robin Ventura broke the news to Parent after Thursday's loss to the Royals.
"It's a tough day because he's a friend and it didn't work out," Ventura said. "I felt it best to do it face to face instead of you could wait until the end of the year and it would be a phone call. I didn't feel that was fair to him and that's not what you do."