Different kind of parade coming for Sox
Early on Friday, the Blackhawks had their parade to celebrate winning the Stanley Cup.
The White Sox played a doubleheader later in the day, they kept playing late into the night and continued on into the wee hours of the morning.
Look for their parade to start as early as Saturday, but in reverse fashion.
After blowing a 5-0 lead to the Indians in Game 1 and getting rolled 19-10 in a game that ran four hours and two minutes, the Sox waited out a 25-minute rain delay before coming back out for Game 2.
They wound up blowing the marathon (3 hours, 51 minutes) nightcap as well, 9-8, when closer Addison Reed couldn’t protect an 8-5 lead in the ninth inning. Nick Swisher hit a two-out solo home run to cap the rally and give Cleveland the sweep.
The White Sox (32-45) have lost 11 of 15 and are buried in the AL Central cellar, so look for a parade of players to start hitting the exit door in short order.
While general manager Rick Hahn has not met with the media this week at U.S. Cellular Field, there is a growing sense he is on the verge of selling off talent in advance of the July 31 nonwaiver trade deadline.
“Sure it’s a possibility,” said left-handed relief pitcher Matt Thornton, who is in the final season of a two-year, $12 million contract that includes a club option for 2014. “But you’ve heard rumors for years and they are not going to give players away just because we are struggling. We need to get on a streak where it makes it hard for them to break our team up.”
Nearly halfway through the season, the streak has yet to materialize.
That’s why players like Thornton, Jesse Crain, Alex Rios and Jeff Keppinger (Yankees?) are likely to be wearing new uniforms soon.
“You try not to think about it,” said starting pitcher Hector Santiago, who couldn’t hold the big lead in Game 1. “You hear stuff and hear trades and this guy is moving here, but you try not to worry about it.”
Manager Robin Ventura never seems to worry about anything, and all of the trade rumors are no different. If anything, Ventura understands why Hahn might have to start rebuilding a team that’s made only one playoff appearance since winning the 2005 World Series.
“The number is the number,” Ventura said of the White Sox being so far off the pace in the Central. “That’s what is disappointing. You have to be able to come out here and turn that feeling around as far as where that number is now. You want to reverse it. Again, it is disappointing. You put that behind you and it becomes effort and concentration.”
Ventura said the effort and concentration has been there, not long before he pulled Dayan Viciedo out of Game 1 for poor baserunning.
Pitching was the main problem in Game 1 as Santiago and relievers Brian Omogrosso and Ramon Troncoso were shelled by the Indians, who scored the most runs in a game against the Sox since the Twins put up 20 on May 21, 2009.
Outfielder Casper Wells worked a scoreless ninth inning and might have been the White Sox’ best pitcher of the night.