Depressing Sweep

(April 15)

Short Take:  Even worse than Tigers sweep   

Same stuff, different day.  It's practically an oxymoron to describe a depressing weekend in the Minnesota's Hump Dome, this one was borderline suicidal.  The Sox show nothing for a third straight game and leave the Twin Cities wondering what hit them.  Sox lose 4-3 for a pathetic sweep to the Twins.

Unlike the previous two Sox starters, Jim Parque was effective for four innings against the Twins.  Unfortunately, he pitched six.  The Sox offense gave Parque no room for error and the game was a scoreless tie heading into the bottom of the fifth.  That's when the silly Metrodome roof came into play, Magglio Ordonez misplaying a pop fly into a one-out double.  

Whenever referring to the silly Metrodome, you must always specify precisely what silly part was the culprit.  Was it the trampoline asphalt floor?  The billiard table artificial turf?  The Pillsbury dough-boy roof?  The baggie in rightfield?  The list is endless.

So instead of two outs and nobody on, Parque has one out and a runner in scoring position.  The next five batters reach safely and before the inning is over, Jim Parque has been nicked for three runs and three hits, all of them laughably earned.

Game over.  With anemic offensive punch, Sox Fans couldn't fathom how the team would battle back from a three-run deficit.  Frank Thomas provided two-thirds of the answer with a two-run shot in the sixth.  The Sox would get another run in the eighth no thanks to leadoff man Ray Durham who flied out to start the inning.  He finished the day a giant 0 for 5 with two strikeouts, and not even a lousy walk.  

Do you think Ray-Ray is still predicting 1,000 runs for the Sox this season?  He is beginning to look pretty stupid for making such a dumb comment this spring.

Instead it was Jose Valentin (again) who started the offense with a double, setting the table for Magglio Ordonez to double him home.  That was it for the Big Sox "O".  Three runs wasn't enough to tie the game because Parque got touched for one more run in the sixth inning.  That was the winning difference for the Twins.

Of course that was the losing difference for a Sox team that must now understand the 2000 season is over.