You can almost hear the coroner saying, “You can put ’em on the board, yes.”
You definitely could hear some frustrated boos Wednesday at Co-misery Park after Frank Thomas’ last two at-bats. The Big Hurt has been hitting the ball with all the authority of a Little Bo Beep. Just when you thought you could trust him, Thomas has lost his MVP-pace rhythm and timing as his White Sox have lost Games 1 and 2 of this best-of-five.
Now you fear the walnut-sized deposit removed from Thomas’ ankle a year ago was his heart. The more critical the situation, the more Thomas has looked like a man trying haplessly to swat a fly. And that’s pretty much what he and fellow sluggers have been producing, annoying little flies. Pillsbury popups. Enough cans of corn to feed Big Frank for an entire winter.
To borrow Thomas’ description of his performance and his team’s predicament, “It’s sad.”
The kids can play dead. The Sox–especially Thomas–have left more men on base than the Armed Forces. As a team they’re 3-for-23 with men in scoring position. They effectively splashed cold water on another capacity throng of 45,383 waiting to go off like scoreboard fireworks.
The Sox clinched their division title too soon, partied too long and hard and lost their momentum and edge. Now, as the screws tighten on their inexperienced psyches, the playoff-wily Mariners are grinning their way home for Friday’s Game 3.
Instead of sweeping Chicago off its feet, the Sox are in danger of being swept off theirs. So once more Chicago fans sigh, say, “We should have known,” and start wondering if the Bears can handle New Orleans Sunday at Soldier Field.
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But for once this city’s tortured souls just might not be seeing the forest for Seattle’s trees. Call me crazy, but this crazy White Sox team just might have the Mariners right where it wants them.
If the Sox were down 0-3 in a best-of-seven, sure, bury them. But as first baseman Paul Konerko said, “To win three in a row is not nearly as big a deal as four in a row against a major league team.”
Especially when you’re the upside-down Sox. Nothing much has made sense about this team, which has hit or pitched or fielded when you least expected it. Winning the first two against Seattle at Comiskey would have been too conventional and obvious.
In truth this team is much better as a gets-no-respect underdog, even at home. It would have had a better chance in Games 1 and 2 playing before the usual 20,000 diehards. In a packed house the pressure and expectations were suffocating. Suddenly they were supposed to win.
They pressed. They gagged. Yet afterward you sensed some relief that the Sox now find themselves hopeless in Seattle.
“We’ve played better on the road all year,” Konerko said of the Sox’s best-in-baseball 49-32 road record, compared to 46-35 at Comiskey. “And we’ve played better still in Seattle [where the Sox won four and lost two at new Safeco Field]. Our guys really seem comfortable there. We like to hit there.”
Understand, Konerko wasn’t guaranteeing the series will return Sunday to Comiskey for Game 5. He and several teammates readily acknowledged that winning this series is an extreme long shot. Yet the only one in the clubhouse who appeared devastated and lost was the team’s most gifted player, Thomas.
Given another national stage upon which to stake his Hall of Fame claim, the Big Hurt again came up small. Thomas is one star who produces spectacular numbers, not memories. He’s much more likely to carry a team in June or July than October. This team wouldn’t be in the playoffs without him. It won’t survive Game 3 depending on him.
Now the others must carry Thomas, take the spotlight off him, get him back in his one-of-the-guys comfort zone. He’s a much better cog than leader.
“People don’t want to hear this,” third baseman Herbert Perry said, “but as a team we really haven’t played that bad. Guys are just barely missing. We just need one break to get us going again. You’ve seen what happens when we get going.”
The Mariners sounded awfully cocky before boarding the bus. Jay Buhner said clinching at brand-new Safeco was going to be “pretty sweet.” Cracking jokes, manager Lou Piniella had that this-is-the-year gleam in his roguish eyes.
Beware the hopeless underdogs.
Knowing these White Sox, the hardest game to win will be Sunday’s at Comiskey.