superdad

With the Detroit Tigers sitting atop of the AL Central the magic number for them to win the division is at or around 20.   What does this mean to the White Sox faithful or the rest of the division? Well bleak hope but stranger things have happened in Septemeber.  One thing is for sure the White Sox must take this final game against Oakland after getting slammed by the A’s last night. This game was to be expected as recent call up Carlos Torres had a let down, after blanking the Cubs, as most young pitcher’s try to find that consistency of always arising to the occasion no matter who you face accross the diamond.

This next stretch of games on the west coast could decide the fate of a White Sox team that has struggled to get back to five hundred baseball.  After Oakland, the Sox must go to Anaheim for 3 and Seatle for 3 if the Sox think they still have a fighters chance then they can ill afford to lose any of these series.  With Detroit winning seven of their last ten and playing very well and Minnesota still lingering this is no time to start a losing streak.

If the Sox can survive this next week they then begin the last big home stand of the year where they will face Kansas City Minnesota and then Detroit.  Another plus for both the White Sox and even the Twins is that the AL Central will be determined among each other as evry team in the central will face one another in the last three weeks of the season.  If there is anytime to start beating your division rivals the time is now and you know that Cleveland Indians and even the last place Kansas City Royals want to make the next few weeks as difficult as possible for either three of the top teams in the Central.

My final thought is this if the White Sox can survive a west coast that historically has plagued the Sox then they still have  a fighter’s chance but you do not want to be too far behind heading into that last home stand in which the Sox can then control theri own destiny.  If Detroit thinks this thing is wrapped up already they better think other wise, there is still a lot of baseball.  Just ask the New York Mets of last year who failed to win their division after leading for most of the year only to collpase the last tow weeks of the season.  Or even the Colorado Rockies the year before that won 20 plus games in the month of September.  If you have lost all faith then you haven’t been around baseball much the last few years.

PS today my son had his first day of pre-k superdad is very proud today, way to go buddy.

It has been a terrible month of August for the defending AL Central Champions.  We all knew that this part of the schedule would be the most difficult for the White Sox when we first saw the schedule in Spring Training however Kenny Williams must of expected a whole lot more from this team as the Sox are 2 and 8 the last ten games and now 6 games back of the Detroit Tigers.  How things have just blown up for the Sox and really it has been the lack of consistent bull pen relief whom have fell apart and a offense that has been lacking the comeback punch of recent Sox teams.

Jim Thome has had a average season and so has Jose Contrereas who in all honesty wasn’t even supposed to be playing baseball until now because of a ruptured achilles tendon suffered late last season.  Thome seemed to be the scapegoat on an offense that has been slowed up by big bodies in the middle of the lineup.  Sure Konerko, Dye Thome and even Quentin can slug the ball but their lack of speed has really slowed up an offense that is now a station to station team that sometimes needs four hits to get one run in a single inning.

Thome will surely be missed as will Contreras as everyone seemed to be rooting for these guys to have one more good season for the Sox as their careers are starting to show their age.  Thome has brought some great memories over the years with some monstrous homeruns including his homerun just recently that put him over Reggie Jackson on the all-time homerun list but other than that it has been a quite year for Mr Incredible and really all of the White Sox sluggers.  Meanwhile Jose has had a few solid outings but those have been too far in between as Jose was just sent to the bull pen after his last couple of outing where he only lasted minimal innings.

So now many are saying the White Sox are throwing in the white towel because of these recent moves. Honestly these two guys were not coming back next year and now we at least got something in return for their service.  If anything this is only a preview of the next off season as the White Sox are changing from a big power team to a more finesse team that was more like the 05 team.  This move might actually get these guys moving in a more positive direction as now the Sox truly are a team that is not holding onto its past but ready to embrace its new future.  Lastly if this team just folds up this last month then many fans will be disappointed however this team is still very talented and may still make things difficult for the rest of the American League.  September has shown us before that comebacks are not unlikely even for a Sox team that has lacked a true identity this year.  Thanks again Jim you are the best and if not with us get that ring in Dodger blue and thank you Jose for that ring in 05 we could of not done it without you buddy!