Sweet Success

A 4-2 victory over Detroit this afternoon secured the AL Central Division Championship for the Sox, making the final series of the series vs. Cleveland over the weekend irrelevant. After seeing their lead in the division slip to as few as 1.5 games, the Sox were able to hold strong and fend of the charging Indians who have finally stumbled this week dropping 2 of 3 to Tampa. The win also makes this years Sox the first team in club history to be in first place from wire-to-wire.
Leading by 3 games heading into today's contest, all the Sox had to do was win today, regardless of what Cleveland did, and hold on to their 3 game lead to be able to clinch the Division title. By having a 3 game lead with 3 games left to play against the Indians after today, the Sox could be swept over the weekend and still own the AL Central crown. If the Sox were swept and tied with Cleveland in the standings at the end of the season, the Sox would still own the Division because MLB's rules for breaking a tie in a division is not decided by a 1 game playoff, but rather is decided by which team leads the season series between the two clubs. With the Sox owning a 11-5 record against the Tribe this season, Cleveland would be able to do no better than 8-11 vs. the Pale Hose, which automatically gives the Sox the tie-breaker. What a relief it is to know that our team will not be tagged as the owners of what many would call the biggest collapse of all-time. Let's leave that to the other side of town.
Although the Sox have played more than their fair share of games that should and could have been won in the last 2 months, their diminished lead should be attributed more so to Cleveland's recent tear than the Sox lack of consistent, fundamental play during the same period. While the Indians went about 38-10 since August, the Sox hovered around .500 and watched their lead wane away. If the Tribe had gone something more like 32-16, the Division would have been sealed up a week ago. The Sox saving grace was their own tear throughout the first 4 months of the season which turned out to provide enough padding for them to endure their recent struggles. Even though the Sox probably aren't as good as their first half record might indicate, they also aren't as bad as their just over .500 record in the second half would incline you to believe either. When the pitching is on, as it has been in the last 7 games, and the defense makes the plays they're supposed to make, this team can play on par with anybody.

Finally, here is a nice article by Kass over at the Cubune. Great read.

Speaking of par/golf....I know they say no one cares about your golf game but you (yourself), but this is so rare that I'm going to put it on here anyway. I was golfing earlier this week when I experienced a personal first. I was hitting my second shot on a 410 yd. par 4, a blind shot as there was a hill in the fairway in front of me and the green was behind and below it. So I hit a 9 iron from about 135-140 yards, right on line, and it felt great coming off the club. Because I couldn't see it land, I just assumed it was on the dance floor because of the way I hit it. I get up to the green but my ball is not there. I drive around to see if I went long, still no sight of it. After 5 minutes of driving in circles around the green searching, I give up, take a drop in the rough and chip up on to the green. I walk up to the flag to pull it out for my putt, and what do I find in the hole? My freakin' ball! An eagle 2 from 135 yards. I've never chipped in from any kind of distance (never anything other than short chips from around the green, ones that you see go in the hole) so I never even thought to check the cup. On top of that I scoped the green for ball marks and there was not a single one, so either it landed off the green and got one hell of a roll, or it was nothing but the bottom of the cup. Since I didn't see it happen, I'll choose to believe the latter.

Just What The Doctor Ordered

With the Indians nipping at their heels the Sox desperately needed their starters to step up and shut down the weak Minnesota offense in order to hold on to their slim lead in the Central. On their final regular season home series of the season, that is exactly what they were able to do. Between McCarthy, Contreras, Garcia and Buehrle, Sox starting pitching surrendered just four runs, four walks and 18 hits over 34 innings in the last four games. Both Contreras and Buehrle threw complete games. With KC's victory over Cleveland, the Sox magic number dropped to 5 and their lead in the division moved back up to 2.5 games.
I just so happened to have 3 free tickets offered to me at about the same time the first pitch was scheduled to be thrown. With the rain delay I knew I would have time to get to the park without missing more than an inning, but I was debating if I felt like possibly being wet all afternoon. After taking a quick look at the weather radar on the net, I decided it would be worth it to brave the rain to go to what could be my last game of the season. Also, they were some pretty good seats...Sec 121 Row 17, right at the edge of the infield dirt on the 1st base side. It's hard to turn those down regardless of how the weather is. I got to the park just as the rain delay had ended and was in my seats in time to see the second batter of the ball game.
One of the more memorable moments of the game was in the 3rd when the final score of the KC-Indian game was posted and the crowd learned KC had won. The entire crowd erupted in cheers and clapping. The players in the field paused for a second and turned their heads to check the scoreboard. It really was a moment to behold. The win moved my personal record when in attendance up to 8-4. With my previous two games being terrible losses on Half-Way to St. Patty's Day (vs. LAA) and this week against Cleveland in the rubber-match of that series, I can't tell you how nice it was to see a win.

Tomorrow the Sox will start off a 4 game set in Detroit and will be sending out Garland (17-10, 3.51) to start the series off. If the rotation holds, he will be followed by B-Mac, Contreras and Garcia. In case you're wondering, that would set up Buehrle to start the opener against Cleveland on Friday with Garland following him on Saturday. Which pitcher will follow them will depend on where the Sox are at in the standings, but if it is close bet on Jose making a start on short rest.

Gleeman on the impact of Clevelands loss today on their chances to win the divsion:
"Any game at this point is crucial, but Sizemore's error really cuts down on Cleveland's chances of being within striking distance for that final series of the season. If they take two out of three from Tampa Bay and Chicago splits their four-game series against Detroit, that would leave Cleveland two games back entering the final series. In other words, they would have to sweep the White Sox to win the division, because taking two out of three would leave them a game back. If they had won yesterday afternoon, the same scenario would leave them needing to take just two out of three to tie."

Lead Continues To Evaporate

Last night the Sox had their best opportunity of the season to win a Johan Santana pitched game and they let it slip away. They had scoring opportunities in the 9th and 10th innings of a 1-1 tie and were unable to push across a single run. The loss dropped the Sox record at home in extra inning contests to 1-7 and their lead in the division is now just 1.5 games. The Sox record in games in which they score 2 runs or less is now 15-32. (To put that in perspective, they were 1-44 in such contests last season.)
Tonight the Pale Hose are sending the man whom is currently their best starting pitcher in Jose Conteras (13-7, 3.79 with a record of 9-2 since the All-Star break) out to the mound to face off against the Twins' Kyle Lohse (9-12, 4.16). The Sox need to win this game, even if it is just to stand their ground. Losses tonight and tomorrow coupled with Injun victories over KC and the Sox are a 2nd place ball club, a spot they have not occupied for a single day all season. If that were to happen, I think even the wildcard would become a long shot for this team. No team in more than 100 years of MLB history has ever blown a lead as large as 15 games. If they were to fall behind Cleveland, I'd doubt they would be able to overcome the physiological blow that would resonate from that. Hopefully they'll just notch a few W's, starting tonight, and clinch the division so we won't have to see if that would be the case. Hopefully.

Leaving a Sour Taste in Your Mouth

I attended tonights game and left in disgust when Travis Haffner hit a 3 run bomb off of Garland in the 8th with his pitch count nearing 115. The decision to leave him in there to start the 8th was questionable, but after giving up a single to lead off the inning he should have been removed. Up until then, Garland had pitched a hell of a game holding the Indians to just 2 runs through 7+. He got out of numerous jams, including inducing a ground ball for a double-play with the bases loaded somewhere in the late-middle innings. He seemed to labor through it a bit, but he held the Indians down, keeping the Sox within reach. Heading into the 8th Garland had thrown just over 100 pitches. Having only surrendered 2 runs, he did his job. The offense couldn't score to help him out, so cut your losses and make the call to the pen. Or leave him in there to face a guy who we have gotten out about 3 times this entire series so he can hit a 3 run homer to put the game out of reach. Not that this would apply tonight with how we hit the ball, but Ozzie has cost this team more W's than he can be credited with helping earn.
The most aggravating part of the game was that our guys were shut down by another mediocre pitcher, popping up more balls in a single game than I have ever seen in my life. They all looked like they were trying to hit 5-run homers with nobody on base. Their best chance to score came in the 2nd when they got men on 1st and 2nd with nobody out. They followed that up with 3 pop-outs to end the inning. I found out after arriving home that the final was 8-0 Tribe. After last nights win, tonights game was just disgusting to watch.

Going Down With The Ship

Heading into Spring Training I had a feeling of optimism about this year's ballclub. The only thing that the media talked about was how the Sox had lost a ton of power in their lineup. Mags was gone, Carlos was gone...you know what I'm talking about. They all ignored the fact that the Sox finally had 5 solid starters to fill out the rotation, which was the main reason for my being optimistic since that was the most glaring hole in the teams of the past few seasons. After watching a few of S.T. games that were televised though, the feeling of optimism that I had was diminishing. I knew it was only Spring Training, but the team was looking just like the Sox teams of the past few years had looked. By the time the season started I was fully prepared for another year of mediocre .500 baseball.
Well, that feeling of optimism that I had quickly returned after the Sox got of to a torrid start by going 17-7 in April and 18-10 in May. They followed that up by going 18-7 in June to make their record 53-24 after the first 3 months of the season. If that wasn't enough to instill confidence in the most pessimistic of Sox fans, than no amount of wins would have been.
That confidence has been shaken these past few weeks with the Sox currently having lost 6 of their last 7 after being swept by the Angels and dropping the final 2 games of their last series with KC. They also have a losing record since August 1st at 20-22. The starters have been getting knocked around, save Contreras of all people, the bullpen hasn't been lights out as it was in the first half, and most of all the defense has gone south. To top all that off, the offense has been shoddy and inconsistent, although they have shown signs of improvement as of late. They are near the bottom of the league in BA and OBP and are 8th in runs. Altogether this team seems to have lost its fire, so to speak. Yet somehow they still own the best record in they AL by 3.5 games over the Carmines.
With 17 games remaining the Sox still have time, although not much, to get their act back together. Whether they're capable of making that happen remains to be seen, but one can take solace in this fact.
On 9/13/00, the New York Yankees held an eight game lead over Boston. They then proceeded to lose 13 of their next 16 games (being outscored 129-54 in the process) before finally clinching the division on the final Friday of the season. For good measure, they also lost on the final Saturday and Sunday, for a record of 3-15 over the final 2 1/2 weeks of the season.

Three series later they were World Champs.

We certainly are not the 2000 Yankees, but it just goes to show you that anything is possible.

As Yogi Berra once said..."It ain't over 'till it's over". I have not given up on the Sox, nor will I regardless of what happens over the next two weeks. We're taking on water, but we are still somehow afloat. If we do end up sinking, I'll be riding this ship down to the bottom. Really, what other choice do I have? Become a Cubs fan? I carry a card in my wallet with a Sox logo on it...Below that it reads "I'd rather have a sister in a whorehouse than a brother thats a Cubs fan" Truer words have never been spoken.
I got to thinking that maybe the team is in need of some inspiration. (As if winning alone, not to mention being paid millions of dollars per year shouldn't be inspiration enough) I think Ozzie should try using the following quotes as bulletin board material over the next few days. Nothing epitomizes the "Never say die" attitude more so than the words of the great Winston Churchill.

"We shall not flag nor fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France and on the seas and oceans; we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island whatever the cost may be; we shall fight on beaches, landing grounds, in fields, in streets and on the hills. We shall never surrender!!!"

"Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. We stood all alone a year ago, and to many countries it seemed that our account was closed, we were finished. All this tradition of ours, our songs, our School history, this part of the history of this country, were gone and finished and liquidated."

"We will have no truce or parley with you, or the grisly gang who work your wicked will. You do your worst - and we will do our best."

Crash & Burn

Last night the Sox held a lead of as many as 5 runs and carried a 9-7 lead into the 9th inning against the ever dangerous Kansas City Royals. Dustin Hermanson came on to strike out Mike Sweeney to lead off the 9th before surrendering 4 consecutive hits to lose the ballgame 10-9. The Sox followed that game up with another stinker this afternoon, dropping the rubber-match 7-5. Their lead over Cleveland in the Central now stands at 4.5 games, the smallest lead the Sox have held since June 15th. Look out '64 Phils and '69 Cubs, our Sox are right on your heels.
The first 4 months of the season are now a distant memory. The Sox pitching has become inconsistent, their defense non-existent, and on the rare occasions that they do hit, those first two factors prevent them from winning. The entire team, with the exception of Uribe, Konerko and Contreras, has just looked lethargic these past few weeks, and that would be a generous assesment.
All these facts have contributed to this Sox fan's decision to pass on the opportunity to buy tickets for the first playoff series on the South Side in 5 years. With the way that they have been playing, there's an outside chance that the Sox might not make the playoffs at all, much less advance past the ALDS. If they do make it to postseason play and go one-and-done, then those extra 3-5 games that they play will have been meaningless. I'd rather save my money for tickets to the ALCS or World Series, which now sounds like a joke. That's all I've got to say...I think I'm going to be sick.

Words of Wisdom

The following was written by Paul Whitfield over at The South Sider

Players aren't the heart of a team. They come and go, like moths drawn to a flame called money. Owners aren't the heart of a team. They mostly want to win because cash flow is the chief byproduct of victory. Journalists aren't the heart of a team. They are hired guns, who at best can only pretend to care and at worst see every loss as an opportunity to make smart-aleck remarks.

So who are the heart and soul of the White Sox? I'd say it's you and me-- the true fans.

The ChiSox fan is there in the beginning, the middle and the end. The fan will be back next year and every year.

No Sox fan ever sold a World Series game. No Sox fan ever held out, offering his allegiance to the highest bidder. No Sox fan ever said we've got to win because it's good for business. No Sox fan ever regarded a loss as an opportunity to show his or her cleverness.

Nobody, not the owners, not the media, not even the players, wants a Sox division title more than the guy and the gal in the stands.

So as the 2005 ChiSox chip away at the magic number, savor it. Nobody has a greater claim to the moment than you.

He Gone; Marte's Sox Career Likely Over

It is beginning to look as if Damaso Marte might have pitched in his last game for the Chicago White Sox. After showing up to the ballpark 3 hours late on Sunday he was sent home by Ozzie Guillen for not requesting permission to be tardy. Now comes word that Sox management is furious over the fact that Marte has scheduled doctor's appointments with two independent physicians to examine his sore trapezius muscle. This comes after he hit the only two batters he faced in his last outing against KC last Wednesday, which I was there to see. A decision will be made on Wednesday to decide whether or not to place him on the DL. He did not join the team on their trip to Kansas City.
Damaso has not been the same pitcher this season, as I pointed out in a post a month ago. Left-handed batters whom he dominated in years past are hitting at a .272 clip against him this season. He has also issued 30 free passes in just 42 IP. Personally, I like Damaso. I would be happy if he made amends with the Sox and was able to return to his old form. The Sox have him signed through next season at $2.25 million and also have a $3 million option on him in '07, so his return would not be out of the question. If he were to pitch for the Sox again this season, I hope it would be in lower-leverage, early relief inning situations, at least until he can regain his command. If not, there will be 30 other ball clubs this off-season who could use a left-handed reliever with his stuff. Too bad the Sox are diminishing his trade value by handling this situation the way that they have.

Behind Enemy Lines

Last night I attended just the second Cubs game of my life. (My first was in July '03 against the Marlins, the same Marlin team who later that season would be a part of the greatest choke job of all time) A friend called me up last minute and offered me a free ticket to the game and I could not turn down the opportunity to see a future HOF'er in Greg Maddux pitch. I may hate the Cubs, but I have an appreciation for great pitchers.
One of the more entertaining moments of the evening was in the 5th inning when Javier Valentine (Jose's little brother) hit the 4th HR of his career off of Maddux. The recipient of that ball in the bleachers in left-center refused to throw the ball back, which I commend him/her for, and caused the entire stadium to chant "throw it back". After only 4 or 5 chants of "throw it back", the very first pitch to the next batter, Willie Mo Pena, was also hit into those seats in left-center, silencing the crowd in a heartbeat. All that could be heard in my section of the UD was me shouting "Throw that one back!!!" The first ball never came back out, but that second HR ball was back on the field within 5 seconds after it landed.
I also had a hoot in the 9th when after Cub pitching walked 2 batters in a 2-1 ball game, Dusty changed pitchers and brought in Sergio Mitre to face Willie Mo Pena. After getting ahead 0-2 in the count, Mitre hung a curveball and Pena crushed it deep to left-center to make the Cincy lead 5-1. Wearing my '83 throwback green and white batter logo Sox hat, I stood up and clapped as the chorus of "ooh's" rung throughout the stadium. Surprisingly, the only flack I caught about my being a Sox fan was from these two dumb and drunk girls sitting behind me. Their ribbing was more flirtatious than mean-spirited, so it really wasn't all that bad.
Enough about the game, now onto my opinions of the Shrine. I didn't really walk around the place my first time there, so this was the first really good look I've had at the park from the inside. How any fan would rather see a game in that dump instead of Comiskey is beyond me. From my assigned seat I had the greatest view of a pole which was right in my view of the pitchers mound. I had to spend the majority of the game over one seat from the people I was at the game with just so I could see the pitcher and batter at the same time. Had our aisle been full, I would have been SOL. Another thing that bothered me was that the nearest exit to my seats was all the way behind home plate at Clark and Addison. Talk about a death trap. We had to make our way though the crowd packed like sheep all the way down the left field concourse just to get the hell out of there. I'd say it took at least 20 minutes from the time we got down the ramps to ground level to the time we got outside. I did get a kick out of looking at all the netting on the ceilings around the park though.
After a weekend in which everyone I root for lost, (the Sox were swept by a potential playoff opponent, the Bears lost, and a 35 year old Andre Agassi was beaten in the U.S. Open Finals) what better way to get over the sports hangover I had than to see the Cubs lose?

Side note: I did see one fellow Sox fan walking down the aisle in front of my seats. I shouted down to him "Nice Hat!" He turned around, saw me and yelled back "Yeah!!! And I thought I'd be alone here!"
Another guy came up to me when we were making our way out of the park and complimented my hat, then gave me props for having the balls to wear it there. I asked him if he was a Sox fan why he wasn't wearing one, and he replied "I'm stupid but not crazy".
One last thing.....from my seats in the UD down the left field line I caught my first glimpse of Ronnie Woo Woo in the flesh. He was walking around on Waveland decked out in his full Cubs uniform.

Sox Win Another Series vs. KC

Although they didn't look pretty doing it, the Sox took 2 of 3 from the lowly Kansas City Royals to move their season record against the worst team in baseball to 12-3. Were it not for strong outings from Sox starters, we very well could have lost 2 of 3 thanks to pathetic at-bats against mediocre, at best, pitching. Yesterday the Sox scored just 2 runs, and they had to steal home to score one of them. This is off of a guy who came into the game with an ERA over 7.00.
I attended Wednesday nights game which offensively, was more of the same. A Paul Konerko solo shot in the 3rd was the only run for the Sox on the night. Jose Contreras allowed 11 men to reach base (6 hits and 5 BB) and yet pitched 7 2/3 innings of shutout ball. Jose was the only Sox starter I had not seen pitch in person this season, including McCarthy. Although he looked more like the old Contreras than what we've witnessed from him lately, he was able to get out of jam after jam all night long and that is something he struggled to do early in the season.
The nail biting theater didn't end after Jose's exit. After Bobby Jenks recorded the final out of the 8th and first out of the 9th, Ozzie elected to go with Damaso Marte to face the two upcoming lefty's. Damaso joined in on Jose's tightrope act by hitting both of the hitters he saw to put the potential winning run on base. Hermanson came on to mop up and record an ugly save, giving up a walk which brought Sox Killer Mike Sweeney up to the plate with the bases loaded in a 1-0 game to record the final out of the game. The Sox record when I'm in attendance now stands at 7-2. Both defeats came against Oakland.

It's Half-Way to St. Patty's Day at the Sox game tonight. The Sox will be wearing green-pinstripe jersey's and green hats. Tonight also just so happens to be a guy's night out for me. Guess where I'll be. It will be a battle of southpaw's with Buehrle (15-7 3.00) facing off against LAAAAAAA's Jared Washburn (7-8 3.18).

September Sweep

After an abysmal offensive month in August, the Sox have started the month of September off with a bang by sweeping the Detroit Tigers. With their 29 runs in the four game series vs. Detroit, the Sox produced the equivalent of 30% of the runs they generated in the entire month of August. (98 runs in 28 games for an avg. of 3.5 RPG)
I attended Friday nights contest, if you would like to call it a contest, and I took note of a few things. First off, Uribe's new timing toe-tap seemed to be paying dividends as evidenced by his 3R HR in the 2nd. Second, since being called back up Willie Harris seems to be a new man. He hit his first HR of the season on Friday and has been hitting the ball with authority in nearly every at-bat. Finally, to me the key to our offense scoring has become production out of the bottom half of our order. When the only guys collecting hits are Paulie, the Gooch, Crazy and sPod, the offense struggles to put up more than a couple of runs. When guys like JD, Rowand, Uribe, and AJ are hitting, the Sox seem to score in bunches.
One last thing about that game on Friday....I was looking forward to seeing Maggs play in person for the first time since May of last season, but for some reason he was given the night off. Bummer. I'm not sure if I would have joined in on the jeers, but it would have at least been entertaining to be there to hear. At least it was mullet night. That's enough entertainment to last me a month. What turned out to be the best part of the game was seeing the game end on a 100MPH fastball from Bobby Jenks. (I'd never seen someone throw that fast in person before...the ball is moving so fast that you see a trail behind it)
Tomorrow the Sox head to Boston to play a make-up game which was rescheduled from Aug. 14 due to a rainout. The Pale Hose will be sending the rook Brandon McCarthy out to the bump to face off against the Carmine's Curt Schilling, who has not been the same pitcher since returning from the DL earlier this season.
Sox Magic Number: 18
Side note: For any football fans out there.....Last week when playing a round of golf at Cog Hill I was paired up with a former NFL cornerback for the 49ers, Bruce Taylor. He said he played 9 years for San Fran and 1 in the CFL. Just to be sure he wasn't FOS, I looked him up on the net and sure enough, he was a ROY in '70 or '71. He played way before my time, but he must have been a pretty solid player to last 9 years with the same team in the NFL.