Of Closing Windows and Stalled Rebuilds

It was the worst of times and the worst of times for Chicago baseball teams Tuesday night.  The Cubs lost their seventh straight game, 9-2 in Pittsburgh, to all but end their playoff hopes while the White Sox rolled over by a score of 11-0 for the wild-card seeking Indians.

Like the man said, those ignorant of history are bound to repeat it.  Cubs’ president Theo Epstein had better know something about his crosstown rivals because his team sure seems to be doing a mean imitation of the 1967 White Sox.  With five games left in the season and one game out of first place, that Sox team managed to drop all five games, against the last-place A’s and eighth-place Senators.  Then, after an offseason that saw the Sox trade for Luis Aparicio, Tommy Davis and Russ Snyder, the team went out and lost its first ten games of the new season.  The franchise didn’t hit bottom for another two years.

Well, the Cubs have five all-but-meaningless games left, so they could end the season with a twelve-game losing streak, though I’m guessing they’ll manage to win two more games, what between the Pirates stinking and the postseason-bound Cardinals wanting to rest regulars.  After that, there’ll be plenty of changes on the North Side.  The question is, will Epstein do any better than what the Sox GM Ed Short did in ’68?

As for my team, all you need to know is that Carson Fulmer started.  Fulmer got two quick outs, after which he sandwiched a single around two walks.  Out goes pitching coach Don Cooper for a visit.  Whatever Cooper said didn’t stop Jose Ramirez, batting for the first time in a month since suffering a broken hamate bone in his right hand, from hitting a grand slam on a 3-1 pitch.  For added measure, Ramirez turned around to the right side to hit a three-run jack against Hector Santiago two innings later.

This should be a message series for the Sox, announcing that they’re a force to be reckoned with.  Right.  Maybe if there were some organizational depth at pitcher that could happen.  So, we wait till next year, if not later.