Depressing Sweep

(May 3)

Short Take:  8-18, the free fall continues

Forget about the postseason; forget about win streaks, too.  Sox Fans must prepare for only the worst their fertile minds are capable of fearing.  This latest loss by the Pale Hose only affirms just how poor the future looks.  This isn't the bottom; it's not even close to the bottom.  The White Sox are in a free fall and only a fool would think anything will improve soon.

The final score was 3-1, completing a depressing sweep to the Anaheim Angels, a team which had been every bit as flat as the Sox before this series began.  

It's hard not to look good playing our Chicago White Sox.  Our guys followed the same losers' script we've suffered through for over a month now.  The top of the order couldn't set the table in a high school cafeteria.  The Sox hitters 1 through 4, were a combined 1 for 15 with five strikeouts.  The usual suspects (Ray Durham and Magglio Ordonez) were joined by newcomers Jose Valentin and Paul Konerko in taking the walk of shame back into the dugout following strike three.  Pathetic.

Kudos to managerial genius Jerry Manuel for deciding a line up that won 95 games last year might be a good idea to field in 2001, too.  If the top of the line was unpredictably inept, we at least could take comfort knowing the anemic swings of Sandy Alomar and Julio Ramirez in the #8 and #9 holes were causing minimal damage.  Of course "minimal" is a relative term.   

Yes, the Sox had the lead early.  Harold Baines batted in Carlos Lee in the fifth inning, hit in the face with the baseball at second base stretching his single into a double.  While he left the game to get five stitches, he didn't lose any teeth.  That's about all the luck the Sox managed all night.

Normally we would predict Julio Ramirez would soon be boarding a plane for Charlotte.  However the erratic decision making of Jerry Manuel, we half-expect to see him hitting leadoff ahead of Royce Clayton in Texas this weekend.

Predictably, the Sox gave up the lead the very next inning.  Starter James Baldwin gave up a walk, followed by a dinger.  The game was over, and J.B. knew it.  No way these Sox were going to mount a comeback.  Sealing the deal was an unearned run in the sixth inning allowed by a Herbert Perry throwing error.  He had 2 of the 3 Sox errors in the game and now has collected seven for the season in spite of limited playing time.

The pain of watching this mess was over quickly, the game lasting just 2 hours and 19 minutes.  Nobody died, either.  

Is that a good or a bad thing?