From great to terrible, how times have changed for White Sox
The date was May 7 and White Sox third baseman Todd Frazier was feeling good.
"Everybody kind of understood what we had going on in spring training, and we are seeing it now," Frazier said. "It's almost close to a month and a half into the season and we are the only 20-win team in the AL. That goes to show you. It starts with (general manager) Rick Hahn and then (manager) Robin (Ventura) taking this team over and away we go."
The Sox were 21-10 on May 7, and after winning their next two games, all kinds of crazy talk was flying.
Not only were the White Sox going to keep up the pace and roll into the World Series opposite the Cubs, Frazier was going to hit 50 home runs, Chris Sale was going to win 30 games and Ventura was going to get a contract extension with no expiration date.
Before Friday night's game against the Athletics at U.S. Cellular Field, Frazier and the Sox were singing quite a different tune.
Returning from a nine-game, 10-day road trip to Kansas City, Miami and Cleveland, the White Sox have gone 34-54 since May 9, they are making a serious run at their fourth straight losing season and Ventura has about a zero percent chance of returning as manager next season, not that he'd even want to come back for another potential year of misery.
As for the front office, White Sox fans have serious doubts that chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, vice president Kenny Williams and Hahn can all get on the same page and orchestrate a successful rebuild.
It's shaping up as yet another busy off-season for the Sox, but 41 games remain on the current schedule and - unfortunately - the show must go on.
"We're 23-10 and I'm not worried about a thing, and the next thing you know we're in this predicament," Frazier said.
While he does lead the White Sox with 31 home runs, Frazier's average hasn't been north of .230 since May 27.
Sale has also cooled off, the bullpen broke down early, Jose Abreu has never come close to hitting like he did in his first two seasons with the White Sox and not much else has gone right.
The end of the season can't arrive soon enough, but the Sox are determined to play it out.
"It's tough, it's tough," Frazier said. "I think everybody understands their role, I think everybody understands being a professional. That's when you've got to come together. We talked it the other day, about understanding that's it's OK, we're going to lose. We're not going to win every game.
"But playing hard, going hard every day, diving for that ball, hustling out that at-bat and just focusing on that kind of stuff, hopefully the tides will change."