Rozner: Odd White Sox opener ends just as it starts

Just another Opening Day.

That's how Robin Ventura described it as he skipped up the dugout stairs and onto the field Friday morning.

He has experienced enough of them at this point to forget exactly how many he's seen, but clearly this wasn't just another Opening Day.

Not for Ventura. Not for his team. Not for the franchise.

The White Sox staggered home from Kansas City without a victory in the first three games of the season, which wouldn't be quite as big a deal if not for the enormous expectations they face for the 2015 season.

That, in and of itself, would have made Friday on the South Side a more complicated Opening Day, but there also was the season-long, World Series anniversary celebration, marked by a ceremonial first pitch from Jose Contreras on Friday.

There was the shocking, pregame appearance by the exiled Ozzie Guillen, who not only shook hands with players, coaches and execs before the game, but about 45 minutes prior to first pitch he spent nearly 20 minutes alone at the backstop with Kenny Williams, the man Guillen unnecessarily made his hated enemy before departing.

Those self-inflicted wounds and disconnection from the team seemed so recently permanent, but watching Williams and Guillen laugh and joke was proof that even the most damaged of relationships can be mended to the point of civility.

If that wasn't bizarre enough for one day, there was no Paul Konerko for the first time this millennium.

And when the game finally started, it pretty much stopped.

The first inning took nearly an hour and was again poorly played, the Sox looking much like they did in Kansas City.

Starter Hector Noesi needed 33 pitches to escape the first inning, but he did not do so unscathed, hitting a batter on the bounce, throwing a wild pitch that allowed the runner to reach scoring position and then giving up a basehit to right that should have made for an easy play at the plate, but Avy Garcia's awful throw was nowhere close.

That gift of a run was all the Twins needed, with No. 5 starter Tommy Milone throwing a 1-hitter at the home team through 7⅔ innings. Noesi, meanwhile, provided the Twins with another run on a wild pitch, and the Sox gave the Twins more on a ninth-inning error.

The final was 6-0 Minnesota (1-3), but it felt so much worse than that for the Sox (0-4) and the 38,533 who had to witness it. "Today was not a good day, any way you slice it," said Gordon Beckham. "We hurt ourselves a little bit today."

In a perfectly ridiculous ending befitting the day, Adam Eaton was thrown out by 20 feet trying to score on a short fly to left.

"Guys are forcing it, trying to do too much," Ventura said. "This is not pleasant, but we'll be better for these struggles at the end."

Before the game, GM Rick Hahn tried to quiet the hysteria by reminding the media that the Angels started slow a year ago and won 98 games.

"I know you have to go back to 2014 to find the last playoff team who started off 0-3," Hahn said. "There is likely to be a spot at some point this season where we are going to lose three in a row.

"Unfortunately, it came the first three of the season, which lends to overreaction. It lends to people extrapolating out trends or themes which, frankly, are very likely not there."

Not that Hahn doesn't understand the hopes and dreams of Sox fans.

"People have been waiting many months to see this team come together. People want to see it fulfill those expectations immediately," Hahn said. "We are all disappointed it happened that way and frustrated by the last few days. With that said, it's three days. We have 159 more to go and it starts today."

It did not. So now it's four days and 158 remaining, but at least five teams have made the playoffs after starting a season 0-4.

"Despite what I've read in some venues," Hahn said, "we are not yet out of it."

Maybe not, but it also wasn't just another Opening Day. Far from it. The Sox needed a victory in the worst way, but they played the worst way instead, looking as sloppy as they did in Kansas City.

So a season in which they were supposed to be a serious World Series threat has the Sox thus far looking anything but, and all conversation about remaining calm and avoiding panic becomes more difficult with every passing loss.

And if you're keeping track of them, that's four in a row.

brozner@dailyherald.com

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