By Jim Coffman
The less said about another infuriating Bears loss, the better. Baseball beckons . . .
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Whatever happens with the White Sox this week, the team has undergone a remarkable transformation in 2008. First there is the starting rotation.
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Just one of the teams who was still in playoff contention as of Sunday wasn’t being led by the pitchers who were projected to do so way back at the beginning of the year. Even the Twins, who traded away Johan Santana and Matt Garza in the off-season, headed into this campaign knowing Francisco Liriano would have to successfully return from Tommy John surgery to play a pivotal role if they were to have a chance. And sure enough, after a delayed start, there was Liriano (6-3) earning a must-win on Sunday for the team from the Twin Cities. The other potential one-two starter was Scott Baker, who was hurt in the middle of the season but has returned to add to a 9-4 record and a 3.69 ERA during the last month or so. Other starters have obviously stepped up for the Twins during the season, but these were the guys everyone agreed had the most potential heading into the campaign. Bad news by the way – Baker takes on shaky Javier Vazquez in the White Sox’s series opener in Minnesota Tuesday.
Josh Beckett and Daisuke Matsuzaka have lead the Red Sox into the playoffs, John Lackey has done the same for the Angels and even the Rays have known commodity Scott Kazmir (a team-leading 158 strikeouts) out in front of their staff. As former Viking and Cardinal coach Dennis Green would surely note, all of these guys are who their teams thought they were. And the story is the same in the National League. The Brewers, who traded for the guy who had been expected to lead Cleveland to the promised land, are a bit of an exception. But no one is surprised to see CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets in the first two slots in Milwaukee’s pitching lineup.
The exception to all of this is Chicago’s American League ballclub. Regarding the guys leading the White Sox rotation at this point, well, the best thing that could be said about them going into the season was that their team didn’t know what they had. Mark Buehrle, Vazquez and Jose Contreras were supposed to lead the South Side rotation this time around. Gavin Floyd and John Danks had not only not shown they could be leaders of a successful major league staff, they hadn’t shown they could be members of a successful staff over the course of a full, major league season. But there they were last week, winning the games the White Sox had to have.
On Sunday, Danks lowered his ERA to an exquisite 3.20 with his 11th win of the season against eight losses. He tossed seven innings of shutout ball. In the middle of last week at Yankee Stadium, Gavin Floyd came through with perhaps the biggest start of the season, earning his 16th win in the process.
Then there is the lineup, where if anything, Carlos Quentin and Alexei Ramirez were even less known than their young pitching brethren coming into this campaign. A few of the teams still in contention have a new player making a bit of a splash this time around, but no one has a dynamic duo like the Sox. Before he went down with his ridiculous injury earlier this month, Quentin was a leading contender for MVP, having piled up 36 home runs and 100 RBI (heck, you can make a case he’s still a contender, even after he’s been out for a couple weeks). Ramirez hasn’t come on quite so strong, but he has shown shocking power (he might be the skinniest guy in the American League after all) with 20 home runs. He has 72 RBI, his average is up over .290 and he is a fielding dervish in the infield. Ramirez should be the favorite to win the American League Rookie of the Year.
So keep that smile on your face White Sox fans, no matter what happens in Minnesota this week. Your team has undergone a metamorphosis that is the envy of most of teams in baseball.
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I’ve got a quick pet peeve I’d like to get off my chest before the playoffs heat up and certain folks start getting the idea that they’re cheerleaders without the pleated skirts. Guys, please, stop making the “everybody stand up” motions with your arms. I’ve been going to games for a long time now and I’ve got a handle on when and how intensely I should cheer. There is really no need for you to flap your arms at me.
And while I’m at it, hey local baseball writers, when the Sox bounce back from a bad loss to a decent Yankee team by pounding the typically terrible Royals the next day, don’t attribute it to some silly stuff Ozzie was spewing during a pre-game meeting about playing like a first-place team instead of a second-place team. The White Sox won on Friday because they beat up on weak pitching while Mark Buehrle did what he does best: limited the damage.
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I had a chance to watch the Cardinals varsity lose to the Cubs’ JV Sunday, moving the Cubs one win away from home field advantage throughout the National League playoffs. In the aftermath of Saturday’s awesome celebration, my seven-year-old daughter and I enjoyed just casually taking in most of the game. Then we left a little early to try to beat the rush to the Dairy Queen over on Southport. Regarding that rather joyous affair on the day before, there could not possibly be a better clinching scenario than at home against the Cardinals on a Saturday, could there? It does lend a bit more credence to the concept that perhaps this is the Cubs’ . . . town.
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Jim Coffman brings you the city’s best weekend sports roundup every Monday. It’s always a pleasure, isn’t it? You can write to him personally! Please include a real name if you would like your comments to be considered for publication.
Posted on September 22, 2008