Chicago White Sox

It’s over folks. The winning streak has come to an end.

After winning 11 games in a row, the Chicago White Sox were finally defeated and once again, it was at the hands of the Chicago Cubs.

As the White Sox walked off the field as losers for only the second time in their last 17 games, what’s next for the South Siders?

The last time a White Sox team won 10 games in a row was in 1976. Good right? Well, that team also lost 10 games in a row that season as well. Uh oh.

Could this team possibly repeat that? Not likely.

Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders, and Brian Jordan are well-known not only for their accomplishments in baseball but also football.

They are the most recent two-sport stars.

Little known to many in the sports world, Scott Radinsky, former Chicago White Sox, and Los Angeles Dodgers reliever from 1990  until 2001 was also a two-sport athlete, sort of.

The White Sox have won ten games in a row, which is their longest winning streak since 1976. When I wrote my article just over a month ago, I was about to give up on the White Sox, but they have proved me wrong and I will now react to my past article .

Five Reason to Give Up

About a month ago, the Chicago White Sox looked as if they were going to be sellers at the trading deadline. Now, after a three game sweep of the Atlanta Braves, the White Sox now have a record of 37-34 and are only 2.5 games behind the first place Minnesota Twins in the AL Central. Once again, it looks like the White Sox will be buyers are the trade deadline.

Let’s see what is going on with the Pale Hose…

Before the season I lamented time and time again about the lack of power in the Chicago White Sox lineup. After all, how can any batting order that on occasion features both Omar Vizquel and Mark Kotasy in the top five part of the lineup succeed?

Well, seeing is believing. And after these past 11 games, the White Sox have proven this Doubting Thomas wrong.

Before this stretch of games where the Sox have gone from sellers to possible buyers, they ranked fourth in home runs. Not just fourth in the American League, but fourth in all of baseball.

After a slow and often frustrating start, the Sox have won 11 of their last 13 to climb back to the .500 mark. The previously struggling pitching staff has caught fire, allowing more than three runs only four times during that stretch.

The optimist would say that the pitching is finally performing to expectations and that the Sox are on their way to contention in the AL Central. Every player in their rotation has turned in some solid starts and with the emergence of Sergio Santos the bullpen looks solid.

The White Sox announced the signing of their first round pick LHP Chris Sale for $1.656 million. 

Sale was rated the top college left-hander after Drew Pomerantz in most of the mock drafts shown, but he fell to the White Sox with the 13th pick, probably because he went to a second-tier school, Florida Gulf Coast University.

Florida Gulf Coast did indeed play mostly second-tier schools. When they played top-tier schools, they generally got pounded, unless Sale was pitching.  He beat Wichita State 7-2 on March 5, 2010 and Clemson 4-2 on May 1, 2010.

It’s never a good sign when a manager says his ace pitcher “has some things going on” in his shoulder, but that's exactly what Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said about Jake Peavy the other day.

Due to Peavy’s achy shoulder, the White Sox skipped his Thursday night start against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and he'll attempt to start on Saturday.

I feel bad writing this after a win (the White Sox won today, 7-6 over the Yankees), but there is indeed no rest for the wicked, and this is a question that needs to be answered.

Let me get things started with this: I'm not an Ozzie "fan."

I think he is one of the more overrated managers in baseball, still riding high from can't-miss pitching and power hitting in 2005.

His blowups in the media are infamous, ranging from derogatory terms used to describe hometown sportswriters to his now-tired, "blame me, fire me," routine.

With half of the Crosstown Classic played, it is almost as traditional to pick the best of the two clubs as to play the series.

To the disdain of the North and South sides of Chicago, both the Cubs and White Sox are less than stellar this year, combining for a record of 56-69 before action on Tuesday.