Through the first half of the season, the White Sox seemed to take a sadistic pleasure in jerking their fans around. Just when the Sox were encouraging hope and affection, they’d quash them with abysmal play; just when a fan was prepared to give up entirely, the Sox would run off an impressive stretch. The face of Sox fandom could have been epitomized by the frowning Silvio on The Sopranos quoting Michael Corleone: “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”
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So I went out a week ago Monday determined to make the Sox show me once and for all whether they were worth my while. They were playing the Cleveland Indians, no longer the fearsome warriors and archrivals of a few years ago but a pesky team in the midst of rebuilding with lots of young talent.
Again I was struck during batting practice by what a formidable lineup the Sox present, especially now that it’s been joined by second baseman Roberto Alomar and center fielder Carl Everett. The Sox had a confident, almost predatory air about them around the cage. After Carlos Lee took his first turn and ran out to circle the bases, Magglio Ordonez hit a crisp hit-and-run liner that caught Lee by surprise just to the side of the screen protecting the first baseman and smacked him hard on the side of his shoe as he leaped to avoid it. The Sox around the cage hooted like pirates watching a man fall out of the rigging.
The bad thing about big crowds at White Sox Park is the wave. The fans started in the seventh inning in the right-field bleachers, and although Sox loyalists immediately tried to boo the wave into submission, it rose up and rolled raggedly around the stadium a few times in the manner of the last dregs of beer being swirled in the bottom of a bottle.
The Sox came home and beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays Friday for their eighth straight, a game marked by Thomas’s 400th career homer. That’s where the streak ended, last Saturday, but even that defeat was fun to watch for a while. Porzio left in the fourth trailing 4-0, with Tampa Bay starter Rob Bell perfect through three, but in the bottom of the inning Thomas slashed a double to left with two out and Ordonez scored him with a bloop to left. Sandy Alomar hit a three-run homer to get the Sox within one in the fifth, and Ordonez went on to tie the game with yet another two-out RBI. Unfortunately, White gave up four runs in the next frame, sending the Rays to a 10-6 victory. But there were fireworks to appease the almost 30,000 fans, and the Sox provided their own fireworks the following afternoon, including Thomas’s 401st homer and 25th of the season, administering a 9-1 pounding. After giving up a first-inning homer, Colon settled down and cruised to the win. The Sox were 54-51, within four games of the first-place Royals, a young team still wet behind the ears and not likely to stand up to the Sox’ experience and intimidating temperament–if the attitude can be sustained.
