Box-office smasheroo. Baseball floperoo. That was the result of Sunday’s White Sox Beanie Baby promotion at Comiskey Park.
Many in the season’s largest home crowd, 32,929 paid admissions plus 2,648 honor students admitted free, were lured by presents of “Blizzard,” a black-and-white-striped tiger Beanie Baby, given to youngsters 14 or younger.
The honor students and the other kids saw the White Sox donate a 4-3 decision to the Kansas City Royals because of what manager Jerry Manuel called “mental mistakes, mistakes caused by youth.”
The Royals, who had 13 hits and stranded 14 baserunners, finally cashed in on their numerous opportunities in the ninth inning when they scored two runs off Sox closer and loser Matt Karchner (2-3).
“I made some bad pitches and got hurt,” said Karchner, “and I made some good pitches and got hurt. My pitch to Dean Palmer was terrible.”
Palmer doubled to right field to set up the tying and winning runs, which scored on Jeff King’s sacrifice fly and Jeff Conine’s bloop single.
One of the critical mental mistakes Manuel mentioned occurred when Sox All-Star second baseman Ray Durham was picked off first base with the Sox leading 3-2 and runners on first and third and one out in the seventh inning.
“(Reliever) Scott Service’s move to first base is not that great,” said Manuel, “but he held the ball long enough to get Ray leaning and then picked him off. That was a big turnover. That run could have given us some breathing room.”
The Sox, who had only six hits, took a 2-1 lead in the second on successive home runs by Magglio Ordonez and Wil Cordero. Hoffman Estates native Sal Fasano tied it 2-2 with a fourth-inning homer, and the Sox edged ahead 3-2 on an unearned run in the fourth.
“The whole game was odd,” Royals manager Tony Muser said. “It’s disappointing to pass up opportunity after opportunity when you get a lot of hits but no runs.”
