Watching the White Sox-Tigers game on ESPN2, I saw myself watching a repeat of what happened when the Indians last year came into U.S. Cellular Field to attempt to put a scare in the White Sox’s AL Central lead towards the end of the season.
But this time, the role of the Sox was played by the Detroit Tigers, who were feeling some heavy pressure from the Minnesota Twins, who like the Indians last season, started poorly at the beginning of the season and made a charge for the playoffs at the end of the season.
And the role of the Indians sadly, was played by the Chicago White Sox, who can now see their bid for a repeat championship slip away after tonight’s loss against the Tigers.
The thing that killed the Sox in August and September was that they couldn’t beat the team they should beat (Royals, Devil Rays, et. al.) and lack of production from Joe Crede, who is a slump of tragic proportions, batting .098 in the month of September and relying on the home run (they lead all of the majors with 224 homers) production of Jim Thome and Jermaine Dye solely.
Not only that, Mark Buherle and Jon Garland hasn’t pitched up to their potential down the stretch. Tonight, Garland threw 102 pitches for the White Sox but gave up four runs in the process to the Tigers, yet the White Sox have never lost a game in which Garland gives up 6 or less runs in a game this season.
And Buherle hasn’t pitched to that same level that everyone saw in 2005, when it seemed like he was unhittable against the opposition. I remember watching a game when the Sox played the Indians in Cleveland and Buherle was on point against the Tribe.
The double play in the bottom of the ninth in Chicago led to the voice of the fat lady to warm up her tones and sing “Auld Lang Syne” to the Sox faithful unless if the Sox can pull off a miracle comeback to get back in this very tight AL Central race.
Just how is the question.
