Chicago -
By Andrew Reilly
Did you know that the 2003 White Sox had an eight-game winning streak?
That the 2001 team went 18-9 in June?
That the 1996 team emerged with a winning record against the AL Central?
No, you didn’t and, all told, you probably shouldn’t.
Not because those things weren’t cool at the time, but because in the end they all just became marginal, less-than-representative components of larger, less-than-memorable campaigns.
Posted on October 4, 2010
By Andrew Reilly
He wants to walk? Here’s an idea: Let him walk. Let him leave. Wish him well in Florida or New York or Lakeview or wherever he ends up and move on.
Not because it’s easy to find a guy who overestimates the value of the Mark Kotsays of the world. It is, but that’s not the point.
Posted on September 27, 2010
By Andrew Reilly
So.
They lost in spectacular fashion to a superior team, which we all kind of knew would happen so, you know, no big deal.
They then lost in equally spectacular fashion to a supposedly inferior team – one now closing in on second place, mind you – but no one cared so, again, no big deal.
But heading into the last road trip of the wretched season we all knew it would be (and don’t let an inflated win total fool you, this will go down as one of the greats, at least where lost seasons go) we should probably look for what rays of sunshine we can.
Posted on September 20, 2010
By Andrew Reilly
So it’s come to this. Sweep a superior team or all is lost. Or is it?
No, it is.
Now, there are a lot of ways to look at this week.
Posted on September 14, 2010
By Andrew Reilly
Winning seven in a row means picking up half a game, neither the Sox nor Twins can rattle off their respective winning streaks forever and this, I think, is going to be the sad, lonely dance of September: the Sox will win just enough to go nowhere. What else could the state of White Sox baseball possibly point to?
Now, it could be that the Twins are just having a bit of a lucky streak here. They’re not going to play the Royals every day and won’t always benefit from nonsensical umpiring calls going their way. They can’t expect Jim Thome to make the highlight reel every time up, nor can Carl Pavano possibly be as good as advertised.
Posted on September 7, 2010
By Andrew Reilly
How ironic that we can only now finally say the Kotsay/Jones experiment ever amounted to anything significant, even if its greatest contributions were in its dismantling and abandonment in favor of yet another chance to win the 1996 World Series for the city of Cleveland. From Albert Belle to Kenny Lofton to Bartolo Colon to Jim Thome and now to Manny Ramirez, the South Side is littered with the remains of former Cleveland Indian superstars; here’s hoping the new guy can do more for us then he did for them.
Week in Review: Even. Take two of three from the terrible O’s, but drop two of three to the goddamned Yankees for a week of .500 ball.
Week in Preview: Earning. Three for the taking at Cleveland followed by three for the money in Boston.
Posted on August 30, 2010
By Andrew Reilly
It’s not their fault they’re rapidly losing ground.
It’s not their fault they can’t move a runner past second base, it’s Joe West’s fault, because he’s a terrible umpire.
It’s not their fault the bullpen has been effectively useless, it’s modern medicine’s fault for allowing two of their most valuable relievers to fall prey to injury.
It’s not their fault Alex Rios’ bat has turned to stone, it’s the Royals’ fault for rescheduling Friday’s game to capitalize on that sweet, sweet WGN money.
Posted on August 23, 2010
By Andrew Reilly
You know what’s awesome about the Sox being three games back?
Everything from now on, all the time, every day.
They lost today? That’s huge.
They won today? That’s also huge!
Split the series? THE SUSPENSE IS KILLING US!
And this is only possible because the once mighty have suddenly been reduced to . . . not quite a shell of their former selves, but really just their former selves.
Posted on August 17, 2010
By Andrew Reilly
So here we go.
The Twins sit one game back in the loss column but tied with the Sox in the win column.
Mark Kotsay is still the designated hitter despite repeatedly showing he can’t hit, his contributions moving closer and closer to winning this year’s Grindy McGrinderstad award for Outstanding Achievement By An Inexplicably Overused And Overvalued Veteran Who Plays The Game The Right Way Except When It Comes To Hitting And Fielding.
Bobby Jenks is probably still the closer, even if he’s hurt and can’t close games and even while J.J. Putz is pitching like a 2007 version of J.J. Putz or, even better, a 2006 version of Bobby Jenks that didn’t worry so much about proving he could pitch with “finesse” and “control” but rather came in and brutalized the enemy with air-scorching fastballs and curveballs that actually curved.
Posted on August 8, 2010
By Andrew Reilly
So this is the way trading season ends; not with a bang, but with a reclamation project pitcher no one believes the Sox ever really wanted in the first place.
Not that anyone’s saying the team has finished all its wheeling and dealing (last year’s waiver acquisition of Alex Rios should have proven once and for all that July acquisitions aren’t the only acquisitions) but it’s hard to see how a team which had pinned its hopes on its starting pitching can consider itself improved when the back end of the rotation just fell from an inexpensive rookie with high upside to an overpaid veteran with terrible numbers to his name.
There may be things we can’t see here, but with any luck this is more a case of there being things we don’t know.
Posted on August 2, 2010
