It’s over folks. The winning streak has come to an end.
After winning 11 games in a row, the Chicago White Sox were finally defeated and once again, it was at the hands of the Chicago Cubs.
As the White Sox walked off the field as losers for only the second time in their last 17 games, what’s next for the South Siders?
The last time a White Sox team won 10 games in a row was in 1976. Good right? Well, that team also lost 10 games in a row that season as well. Uh oh.
Could this team possibly repeat that? Not likely.
The same thing that got the White Sox going on this winning streak is the same thing that will keep them out of a prolonged losing streak – pitching.
The entire starting rotation has contributed to the recent success. Most notably, Freddy Garcia looks like the Sweaty Freddy of old. For the month of June, Freddy went 4-0 with a sub-4 ERA. Not to mention a 20:5 K:BB ratio. Oh, and he’s only costing the White Sox exactly one million dollars this season.
It’s not just the starters who are contributing; it’s the flame throwers out of the bullpen as well.
In a game over the weekend it was suggested the White Sox might be the 2010 version of the “Nasty Boys.” I couldn’t agree more.
From a mop-up guy in Tony Pena, who touches 96 mph, to Thornton, Putz, Santos, and Jenks, who on bad days are at 95-96…once again that was on bad days.
The pitching on this team is built to win. Moreover it’s built to avoid long losing streaks.
Now the White Sox are certainly going to need help from the lineup if they’re going to parlay this recent success into bigger and better things. Over the weekend it was clear that the White Sox and Cubs weren’t all that far apart. In fact they appeared to be separated by one thing: timely hitting.
This year’s White Sox team was not set up to mash the ball. So to overcome that and score the way an American League club needs to score, they need to get timely hitting. And that’s exactly what’s been happening lately.
From Carlos Quentin to Juan Pierre, the hitting with RISP and the two-out hitting has been (for lack of a better term) very unsoxlike.
There’s hope on the South Side and rightfully so. If the team can continue to play how they have been the last two weeks, this year’s White Sox should be in contention to bring home more than just the BP Cup.
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