The Chicago White Sox are playing atrocious baseball right now and on Friday night, their fans let them hear it after a 7-2 loss to the lowly Arizona Diamondbacks. Surprisingly, manager Tony La Russa sided with the supporters and believed they deserve to see a lot better after showing up on a nightly basis to cheer on this team.

Via James Fegan:

“They came to see us win a ballgame, and we got beat,” La Russa said. “Most of the game, it was lopsided, right? They have every right to be upset – at the team, management, whatever, they've got every right to do it.

“It's amazing fan support here, and I've got plenty of experience. But there ain't no free lunch. It's a two-way relationship. They support you, and you've got to give back. So we've got to do more about giving back.”

Tony La Russa isn't wrong. The White Sox are severely struggling, going 3-7 in their last 10 games and sitting dead smack on .500 at 63-63. While they're still just 4.5 games behind the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Central, things aren't pretty at the moment for this ball club. They're actually closer to first place in the division than the final AL Wild Card spot, which is held by the Seattle Mariners.

The nail in the coffin for Chicago was a six-run second inning from Johnny Cueto, one of his worst outings of the year. He surrendered seven earned runs overall.

Tony La Russa is clearly trying to give the White Sox a wake-up call. Hopefully, it works and they can give the fans something to be happy about as we get into the dog days of the season.