Whole lot of nothing

(April 8)

Short Take:  A lost weekend   

Don't let the final score fool you Sox Fans.  Sunday's 5-3 loss wasn't nearly as close as it appears.  The Sox were brain dead for eight innings and destined to an embarrassing shutout loss and sweep to Detroit.  We were lucky that Tigers pitching and defense played down to the level that inevitably will befall yet another team managed by the overrated Phil Garner.  Three errors were all that created that ninth inning Sox rally. 

It was some kind of ugly at Comiskey.  David Wells was touched for rbi hits three times on 0-2 counts.  Yes, he struck out five batters but that's only a statistic losers could love.  The real story was the 11 hits and five earned runs allowed in eight innings pitched.

Of course, who can blame Wells for being a bit sloppy with his pitches?  The team behind him gave him absolutely NO support.  If he had nasty things to say privately about a few of them, you can hardly blame him; they're a deserving bunch.

Had David Wells looked behind him and seen the Sox goats grazing about Comiskey, how many might he counted?  Plenty.  

Don't blame the bottom of the order.  The bottom three collected over half of the Sox's seven hits in the game.

Nope, the real blame lies at the top of the order.  Make that the very top of the order.  Here you'll find Ray Durham, a giant 0 for 5 for our leadoff man, including a strikeout and 2 inexcusable flyouts.  Ray appears to be aiming too much for rbi's and not enough for getting on base.  He hardly gets to show off his speed when he does that lazy trot back to the dugout after hoisting pitches into the outfield.  The one and only time he reached base was on an infield nubber that would have done Mike Caruso proud.    

Frank Thomas was 0-fer too, but he had been hitting up till today.  In stark contrast, Magglio Ordonez hasn't had a big hit since the first game in Cleveland.  He batted into another double play for the third consecutive day.  In fact, the only thing that prevented him from hitting into a second double play was the fact that the bouncer he hit back to the pitcher in the ninth inning came with two out; the game ended without needing to double-up Maggs.  He would have killed the rally regardless of the situation.

About the best thing you can say for this game is how quickly it was over.  A snappy 2 hours and 49 minutes was all it took for Sox Fans to feel the pain.  Enduring this game was comparable to a trip to the dentist's office.

Sox Fans, rinse and spit.