Streak to Nowhere
Seven wins in a row bridging August and September should mean something for a contending team.
Streaks like that are often season-defining: they validate playoff bona fides by showcasing timely hitting, consistent starting pitching and bullpen reliability. They are when good teams pull away.
Unless not.
In what has to go down as a most unsatisfying week, the White Sox have found every conceivable way to beat the Indians, Red Sox and Tigers, only to see Minnesota still sitting on a comfy, 3.5 game cushion atop the AL Central.
Jim Thome's cartoonish home runs have powered the injury-challenged Twins, who also got the benefit of a bizarre coach-interference call to hold on for a win over Texas.
So the playoff odds for the Sox continue to languish around 15 percent, with a big chunk of games lopped off the schedule. 25 to go.
It's easy for Mike Quade to bench rookie Starlin Castro after the young star forgot to keep track of the outs. The challenge comes, now, when Alfonso Soriano, Aramis Ramirez or another occasionally-lazy veteran does something similar. Do you think Quade would be so heavy-handed next season, when/if games matter again?
Bears and Lions Sunday, so prepare for a week of blather from Lake Forest about how great everything is. Greg Olsen is whining to the Tribune about trade "rumors," which are actually trade "discussions" that he helped initiate by reacting to the hiring of Mike Martz so negatively and so publicly.
Another 53-man roster is set, as another round of familiarish names is cast onto the growing pile of draft-pick landfill, and something just feels wrong about this Bears season to be. Such feelings can mean nothing, of course, but the preseason was dull and strange, the words from coaches lofty and disconnected, and the schedule daunts.
Terry is back today, and we'll take you up to Sox/Tigers pregame at 5:30.
