Rozner: White Sox opener brings back bad memories

When the White Sox returned home one year ago, they brought with them a painful hangover from the opening series in Kansas City - and the knowledge that they were playing terrible baseball.

A season that carried so much promise began with a sweep at the hands of the American League champion Royals, and when they played their home opener they were just as dreadful facing a winless Minnesota team and its No. 5 starter.

The Sox hit batters, threw wild pitches, missed cutoff men, made errors and lost 6-0.

They were booed off the field as Adam Eaton finished the game in style, getting thrown out by 20 feet at home. Trying to score on a short fly to left. In the bottom of the ninth. Down 6 runs.

It was how he had played that entire week. It's how Eaton would play most of the season.

But when the White Sox returned home Friday from a very successful trip to Oakland to begin this season, the feeling could not have been more different.

Fans were optimistic, executives were pleased and players were downright giddy.

The pitching the first four games was terrific, the offense much improved and the defense steady. Except for Eaton getting picked off first in the first inning of the first game of the season - reminding everyone of last season's clown college - it was a very positive beginning to 2016.

And then Opening Day happened again.

Despite a forecast of clear skies, it snowed so thickly an hour before the game that you couldn't see the field from the upper deck, perhaps less omen than simple misery on the South Side, which always seems to get the short end of the Opening Day stick.

Starter John Danks was coming off a great finish to spring training, as catcher Dioner Navarro had figured out that Danks was tipping his pitches, but his first regular season appearance did not go as planned.

"I was definitely sky-high going into the game," Danks said. "I felt great."

But after Danks struck out the first batter of the game, the Indians collected a pair of singles to center and a walk to load the bases. A dribbler in front of the plate then caused massive confusion and the wacky White Sox were back.

No one covered home. No one covered first. The ball was thrown down the right-field line. Two runs scored and the visitors had runners on second and third.

When the inning had ended, the Sox were down 3-0 and getting booed off the field, just as they were a year ago. After two, it was 5-0.

"I wasn't able to make a couple two-strike pitches. That's what cost us the game," Danks said. "It's disappointing, but I still feel great about where I am."

By the time Danks departed, he had allowed 7 runs (5 earned) on 8 hits and a walk with 6 strikeouts, and the feeling was precisely the same as a year ago.

The ballpark was quiet, the offense silent and the fans frozen or gone.

"The fans were rarin' to go at the start," said Todd Frazier, who accounted for the only Sox run with his second home run in five games. "You hate to disappoint them on Opening Day, but there's 80 more to play here."

Of course, it's only one game.

While the symmetry was disturbing for at least a single dark and frigid Friday, climbing out on a ledge seems marginally unnecessary after the 7-1 defeat.

Through four games, the White Sox had played good baseball and one stinker hardly spells the end of a season.

Besides, last year they were 0-4, and after five this week the Sox have won more than they've lost.

So, ya know, there's that.

brozner@dailyherald.com

• Listen to Barry Rozner from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on the Score's "Hit and Run" show at WSCR 670-AM.