The atmosphere at White Sox Park for the homestand against the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees was better than a team as bad as the Sox should expect for the dog days of mid-August. Perfect weather aided attendance in the two sellouts for the City Series against the Cubs, followed by three higher-than-average crowds for the Yankees series, which ended Wednesday night. Outside of a couple of knuckleheads jumping onto the field on Saturday, leading to felony arrests and a hospital stint for one, the crowds were mostly well-behaved and into the games.
It was evident during the sixth inning of Tuesday's 4-1 loss to the Yankees when they booed star Luis Robert Jr. for striking out with a runner on third and one out. The games may be meaningless in the standings, and virtually no one expects the Sox to win when they enter the park on any given day. But Sox fans still want to see the team do the things that are necessary to win games, like making contact in that kind of situation.
Robert has been one of the more popular Sox players since he came up in 2020, and has rarely heard boos outside of a game in April 2023 when he jogged to first base on a grounder back to the pitcher. Robert, who was benched by former manager Pedro Grifol, said afterward his sore left hamstring was hurting and he didn't tell the manager.
Interim manager Grady Sizemore said Wednesday booing is 'going to happen,' and no one is immune. 'We can block that out,' Sizemore said before Wednesday's game. 'It's not the first time any of us have been booed or heard a boo. It's not distracting us or pulling us away from what we need to work on.'
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