Do slipping Sox need a change of scenery?
Misery might love company, but White Sox fans have been exempt the past two games.
Give them credit for being smart.
Why sit through two rain delays on Friday and another one on Saturday to see this stuff?
Why shiver and freeze when the Sox are slipping backward after such a promising start?
Following Friday's first rain delay of 30 minutes in the sixth inning, only a few hundred fans were in the stands to witness the 4-3 loss to the Angels.
The start of Saturday's game was delayed 2 hours and 10 minutes, and the majority of the announced crowd of 21,250 was nowhere to be seen.
Neither, quite frankly, were the White Sox, who got nothing going against a starting pitcher named Jimmy Chitwood, sorry, Tyler Chatwood, while losing their third straight game, 7-2.
You would think the Sox would have the advantage over a team from Los Angeles when playing in raw, rainy conditions, but that hasn't been the case.
“It was tough, but there are two teams playing out there,” White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen accurately pointed out. “I think right now, our bats are quiet. You see more enthusiasm when you're hitting.”
Making just his second major-league start, Chatwood checked the Sox over 7 innings, allowing just 1 run (Carlos Quentin's 100th career homer) on 5 hits.
The White Sox didn't do much against Angels ace Jered Weaver in the series opener Friday, either, and it looks like the offense has shifted into neutral after roaring out of the gates.
So what to make of this 7-7 team with a wise — yet apathetic — fan base?
“All you can do is crumple it up and throw it away and come back and try to get them tomorrow,” said Paul Konerko, who also had a solo home run Saturday to account for the White Sox' other run. “It's so early in the season and I know they all count. Every game has an impact on winning the division no matter who plays, us, Minnesota, Detroit, Kansas City, Cleveland. Every day there is an impact on the division, but it's so early that you can't get discouraged.
“You can't even think big thoughts like that. You have to keep your nose down. We made a race out of it last year. We got into first place by a handful of games and didn't even come close to hitting stride until the middle of June. I don't want to do that again, I don't think anybody does, but that kind of just tells you how long the season is.”
Konerko is right, and maybe wrapping up the 10-game homestand today and then hitting the road for 11 games is just what the Sox need.
At least they'll get four games of decent weather in Tampa Bay's domed Tropicana Field starting Monday.
“With the White Sox, we always put out a good team,” Quentin said. “I think everyone in this locker room goes into every game like we expect good things to happen, expect to come with the victory. So we'll look for that tomorrow.
“I think this team will keep attacking and as long as we stay aggressive, I think we will. And if we stay aggressive I think good things will happen. Baseball is baseball. Sometimes we as hitters we're hot, cold and what we do now is stay positive.”