La Russa: Sox struggles on offense 'not acceptable' originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The White Sox offense is seriously struggling. In Wednesday’s loss to the Royals, the team only managed two runs on 10 hits. They haven’t scored more than five runs in their last seven games and have once again dipped below .500. For a team with championship aspirations, it’s a surprising development more than halfway through May. But manager Tony La Russa used stronger language to describe the slump.
“It’s not acceptable,” La Russa said. “What’s acceptable is, is the offense trying its best? If that’s what we are, then you keep working on it. And if you see something that you think is not our best, then you fix it.”
At this point, La Russa knows there is a problem. So after Wednesday’s loss he met with hitting coach Frank Menechino. The two identified some problems with the hitter, but La Russa wouldn’t specifically say what they are for fear of making opponents’ jobs easier. But even if La Russa wanted to divulge what was ailing the offense, he said he couldn’t do it succinctly, because it’s not a simple problem. There are several factors to the team’s struggles.
“You just can’t look at results and say, ‘Why don’t you guys get somebody out?’ Or, ‘Why don’t you guys get some hits?’” La Russa said. “That’s not how we handle it, so the fact is we gotta get out of this rut offensively. We’ll work on it, hitter by hitter.”
That’s exactly what the White Sox will do. There won’t be drastic changes一 at least not yet. Instead the team will chip away at their issues, little by little.
“You don’t ever give in on it,” La Russa said. “We’re capable of better, and expect it.”
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