CHICAGO -- As the Memorial Day weekend begins, the Tony La Russa experiment is going about as well as the Chicago White Sox could have expected.
The Sox are in first place in the American League Central, having survived injuries to one of their biggest stars in Eloy Jimenez and a budding star in Luis Robert.
They've also become one of the bigger stories in baseball, mostly because of La Russa, a lightning rod on social media at age 76. He has garnered more national attention for the Sox than they've seen since former manager Ozzie Guillen left for the Miami Marlins in 2011. From controversial decisions to leave Matt Foster and Lucas Giolito in games too long, to allowing closer Liam Hendriks to be the "ghost" runner and not knowing the extra-innings rule, to the Yermin Mercedes saga, everyone seems to have a strong opinion on La Russa.
"I think currently everyone is looking for anything to nitpick," Hendriks said Wednesday, disputing any rumors of clubhouse discord between Sox players and their manager.
La Russa has been in the middle of things a time or two in the past, so there's really nothing he hasn't seen managing on the South Side, in Oakland or in St. Louis. The only difference is the technology and the speed of the delivery of the information.
"If you just go back to any place that I have been, any other manager or head coach, you're going to get some heat," La Russa said Thursday on a teleconference. "If you don't like it, do something else for a living. Just look in the mirror and do the best you can.
"To me, the most irritating part of [the attention] is not whatever is being said of me in any way, shape or form. The team, after almost two months now, has competed well, has overcome stuff. They should be given credit.
"I think it's a disservice to our players and the way we've competed. It pains me that I'm responsible for some of it, in some way. Can't help it. I just hope the club gets credit for what they're doing.
"I'm just inspired by them, so impressed by what they see and what they want to do. That should be the story that takes most of the headlines, and whatever else -- if they say I made a mistake or I say I made a mistake -- whatever it is, beat that up for a little bit."
We'll find out this summer whether the La Russa experiment works, but admit it: We all knew going into the season this team was bound to experience turbulence. You don't send your grandfather into a mosh pit without expecting him to come out with a few bumps and bruises.
Whether it's Good Tony or Bad Dad Tony, the Sox recently have dominated headlines in a town the Cubs have owned for years, proving any pub is good pub.
Hendriks said he doesn't pay much attention to the Cubs, other than rooting for friend Craig Kimbrel and looking ahead to playing them in the City Series. He dealt with the same dynamic in his last stop in Oakland, where the A's have been overshadowed for years by the San Francisco Giants.
"You're the younger brother of the two," Hendriks said. "I actually enjoy being the underdogs, the second-rate team, per se.
"But I also enjoy bucking the trends: 'OK, you guys get the attention. That's fine. We'll go ahead and do our business and make sure we're better than everyone else in the city.' "
Hendriks asked if there was a trophy for the winner of the Cubs-Sox series, which of course, led to the classic story of the BP Cup being awarded during the BP oil spill in 2010. Hendriks predicted they might just use a gnome or a troll as the trophy in 2021.
"We'll think of something," he said. "I'll work on that."
There's plenty of time. The first round isn't until Aug. 6-8 at Wrigley Field, and who knows what kind of nitpicking can occur between now and then?
It looks like a wild summer is ahead. But, really, you already knew that.