Sox Playoff Hopes Die

This has been a sad day for me. The dream of the White Sox repeating as World Champions came to a screeching halt last night as the Cleveland Indians crushed the Sox 14-1, thanks to five Sox errors. At the beginning of this season, this series looked to be a promising competitive battle for first place. Instead it served as a requiem for the 2005 World Champs.

The White Sox are done for 2006. Stick a fork in them.

The Sox will be lucky if they finish with 90 victories, good enough only for third place. If they played in the National League, they’d be in first place in two of the three divisions. They’d have a three-game lead over the San Diego Padres in the West and a seven-game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals in the Central (with the Cubs bringing up the rear).

While the Sox season overall has been disappointing, a few things do stand out:

1) Jermaine Dye emerged as an offensive leader in the American League;

2) Dye, Jim Thome and Paul Konerko in the three, four and five spots became one of the league’s best offensive “three-headed monsters,” especially in the first half of the season.

3) Third baseman Joe Crede became a stronger offensive force in the lineup and continued to play outstanding defense. We always knew what Crede was capable of. This season he came into his own.

4) Attendance surged at U.S. Cellular Field this summer, a tribute to the success of the 2005 team. The Sox had 52 sellouts, smashing its previous record of 18 in 2005. The team drew 2.59 million fans, surpassing last season’s total by 23,000.

5) Continued dominance in inter-league play. The Sox saved their best games for match-ups with National League teams, finishing 14-4. Of course, you can’t forget the intense rivalry between the Sox and Cubs, made even more intense by the now-famous base-brawl last May when Cub catcher Michael Barrett punched A. J. Pierzinski after a collision at home plate.

General Manager Kenny Williams has a lot of decisions to make in the off-season. Which players will stay? Which will go? I have my thoughts on that, which I will share in the next few days.

In the meantime, congratulations to the Minnesota Twins and the Detroit Tigers for clinching playoff spots, although which one will go as the wild card and which as the division champion remains to be seen. Give both teams credit for busting their butts and playing with a hunger and intensity that we saw from the Sox last season. For a change, it’s nice to see two teams from the AL Central be represented in the postseason.