You do not win with a mixture of inexperience, awful starting pitching and extremely old baseball players. It just does not work. Lucky for the White Sox, they have the possibility of a bright future, but the present is going to be hard to put in the past.
The White Sox lost to the Toronto Blue Jays completing a four-game sweep and handing the White Sox their fifth straight loss this afternoon 3-2 in a game in which the White Sox tied the game on a two-run home run in the eighth inning only to have Octavio Dotel promptly give it up in the bottom half of the inning with an Alex Rios two-out triple. This being the second game in a row the White Sox have given the lead to the Blue Jays in the eighth inning.
The game went just as normal White Sox games have gone this season. No run-production, bad defense and a pitcher forgetting how to pitch. They have perfected the art of bad baseball.
The White Sox had two runs on seven hits while the Blue Jays had three runs on four hits. Sounds about right.
Scott Podsednik felt the need to help out Blue Jay Marco Scutaro by allowing him to start the third inning on third base instead of on the bench after missing a fly ball due to fear he may collide with Jayson Nix. Scutaro would score on an Aaron Hill sacrifice fly.
This is your Chicago White Sox. They play ugly and lose hideous. It would take a lot of alcohol for any human being to even talk to them.
The White Sox are last in baseball in runs, 28th in hits, 26th in batting average, slugging percentage and ops and 25th in on-base percentage. They are first, however, in not producing and top five in hats worn by rappers.
The White Sox round up their awful rankings by being 23rd in ERA and 21st in fielding percentage. They are exceptional at doing everything wrong.
How does this happen to a team coming off a division title? Simple. They decided to go young, which is the only thing holding up the spirits of any White Sox fan. Patience, however, is the hardest virtue to hold amongst sports fans.
Before the 2009 season, ESPN ranked the top prospects at each position. The White Sox had four:
Aaron Poreda (2009 AA Stats) - 2.16 era, 1.26 WHIP, 32 Ks and 19 walks in 33.3 IP
Gordon Beckham (2009 AA Stats) - .291 avg, .368 obp, .485 slg, .853 ops, 2 home runs, 14 rbi, 17 runs
Dayan Viciedo (2009 AA Stats) - .261 avg, .275 obp, .381 slg, .655 ops, 3 home runs, 24 rbi, 15 runs
Tyler Flowers (2009 AA Stats) - .268 avg, .447 obp, .485 slg, .932 ops, 5 home runs, 24 rbi, 19 runs
Beckham, Poreda and Flowers are doing quite well in the minors and Viciedo, although his numbers aren't terrible, needs to work on getting on base. Viciedo just turned 20 in Cuban years, so he has plenty of time to grow.
Another young prospect in the White Sox organization who has been forgotten is Jordan Danks, brother of John Danks, who has moved up to AA after scorching A+ batting .322 with three home runs, 25 rbi and 21 runs in just 30 games.
The bright spot for the White Sox, at this point, is they are above average in striking out, which is unusual for a team with many young players plus Jim Thome and Jermaine Dye.
Chris Getz is 25, Josh Fields is 26, Brent Lillibridge is 25, Alexei Ramirez is 27 in Cuban years, John Danks is 24, Gavin Floyd is 26 and Carlos Quentin is 26 and all have shown they have some type of major-league talent. They just need to grow.
Another forgotten young White Sox player is pitcher Clayton Richard, who pitched seven innings giving up just one earned run on three hits while walking three and striking out three this afternoon against the red-hot Blue Jays. He is also only 25 and has shown he has some MLB talent.
Quentin is coming off a wrist injury, Danks and Floyd pitched a lot of innings last year and Ramirez could be experiencing the stereotypical sophomore slump.
Although many Sox fans are losing patience with Josh Fields, they must keep in mind he has played a total of 158 MLB games in his entire career; not even a full season's worth.
The White Sox are looking at a diamond that would have Flowers catching, Fields at first, Getz/Lillibridge at second, Ramirez/Beckham at shortstop, Viciedo/Beckham at third, Quentin in left, Danks in center and whoever is left out of one of those positions playing right and a rotation featuring Danks, Floyd, Richard, Poreda with Bobby Jenks (only 28) closing. That is a lot of young talent to either build upon or use as trade bait.
As for this year, the White Sox will probably be at the bottom of the ladder based on the fact they have Jose Contreras and Bartolo Colon in their starting rotation, a lot of young talent attempting to work out the kinks in their lineup and on the field along with an aging Jim Thome.
If they continue to fall in the standings, however, the White Sox could benefit from shopping Jermaine Dye, who has far more value than Paul Konerko and Jim Thome, to a contender come the trade deadline.
They are building a team the right way which is never easy to watch at first, but could be something great. Being terrible for one year is worth being good for the next five or six.
The present looks awful, but the future is wrapped in many possibilities for the Chicago White Sox.
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