The Chicago White Sox have been struggling all season, and should be grateful for small signs of improvement. White Sox’ taking three of five games in a mini-homestand last week was most welcome. There is no projecting a .500 finish for the Sox. Playing .500 the rest of the season, however, would be more realistic.
The Sox were 33-62 at the all-star break this week. All too often the Sox have hinted briefly at improvement, only to falter. A brief all-star respite will come to an end Friday when the Sox will play the first of three games in Seattle, then go down the Coast for four games with the Los Angeles Angels. The next home game for the Sox will be Friday, July 27 against the Toronto Blue Jays for the first of three games.
Last week’s five-game homestand got off on the wrong foot. The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Sox, 14-2. The Cards broke a 2-2 tie with a run in fourth and poured it on from there, highlighted by a seven-run sixth inning.
The Sox received shutout pitching from Carlos
Rodon in game two and two relievers in a 4-0 victory.
Mike Matheny, the Cardinals’ manager, was fired last weekend. The Cardinals are slipping in the National League Central race and a shutout defeat at the hands of Sox looked bad, although Matheny’s demise was based on far more than the defeat administered by the Sox.
The Cardinals were 48-46 and 7½ games behind the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central.
The Sox brought themselves up to the all-star break as host to Kansas City Royals last weekend. It may difficult to imagine that, as bad as it has been for the Sox this season, life has been even more cruel for the Royals. Kansas City at the all-star break was 27-68 and six games behind the White Sox.
The Sox recorded a 9-6 victory Friday and a 10-1 pounding of the Royals Sunday. The only negative for the Sox was a 5-0 shutout defeat Saturday on a day in which the 1993 Sox playoff team was honored.
The 1993 White Sox, managed by Hiawatha High School in Kirkland graduate Gene Lamont, captured the American League West championship with a 94-68 record. The Sox, with future managers Ozzie Guillén and Robin Ventura in the starting lineup, lost four games to two to the eventual World Series champion Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Championship Series.