All the Sox can do is wait for next year

By Kurt M.

We all had great expectations for this Sox season. We signed Albert Bell, Jaime Navarro, Doug Drabek, and Tony Pena. We already had Frank Thomas, possible the best all-around hitter in the Major Leagues, with a supporting cast of Robin Ventura, James Baldwin, Ray Durham, Tony Phillips, and Ozzie Guillen. It was heaven on earth. A Chicago team other than the Bulls that had the experts predicting big things for them. There were so many good things happening that we overlooked the most important things.

Those things were Alex Fernandez jumping ship for the Marlins, Robin Ventura’s injury in a meaningless exhibition game that kept him on the sidelines for most of the season, and management’s lack of effort to bolster the middle relief pitching. The most important of these three was probably Alex Fernandez deciding to leave town. Fernandez was 16-10 last year with a 3.45 ERA (earned run average) and he pitched 175-plus innings for the Chi-Sox. In baseball, a pitcher controls anywhere from 75% to 90% of a game--that’s why pitchers are so valuable. Take Greg Maddux for instance. He is the best player in baseball today. Why? Because he is the most dominating pitcher in the bigs. Now, you should understand one the main reasons for the White Sox’s disappointing season--their sub-par pitching.

Most of you would probably pin the way this season has gone on Albert Belle. This is true to some extent, but I would focus most of the attention on Jaime Navarro, the awful middle relief pitching at the beginning of the season, and the poor defense of the White Sox infielders, namely Chris Snopek, Ray Durham, and Frank Thomas.

Last season, Jaime Navarro’s record was 15-12, with an ERA of 3.92. As of Septeber 13, 1997, Navarro was 9-13 with a bloated ERA of 5.94. He also gave up 245 hits and 127 earned runs in only 192.1 innings pitched. Doug Drabek was the only other Sox pitcher to give up more gopher balls (24) than Navarro (21). James Baldwin is the lone hurler to issue more bases on balls (81) than Navarro, who handed out 66. The stats are self-explanatory. Jaime Navarro must improve if the Sox are to contend next year.

Early in the season, the White Sox middle relief pitchers were absolutely atrocious. Last season, the same band of culprits blew a league high 32 save opportunities. That means that there were 32 games that they should have won. Since the two masterminds in the front office (Ron Schueler and Jerry Riensdorf) declined to bring any top-flight free-agent middle relief pitchers to the club, we’re stuck with the same crew that blew 32 saves last year. Therefore, they picked up where they left off at the beginning of the season, losing some crucial games that could have helped them down the stretch run. Tony Castillo was the main culprit, with such accomplices as Billy Simas and Alan Levine.

The Sox have played terrible defense this season. Ray Durham has committed 16 errors this season, and Ozzie Guillen has had 15 mistakes in the field. Ozzie Guillen and Ray Durham have also turned the fewest number of double plays in Major League Baseball. Even Frank Thomas has committed 11 errors in the field, and first base is often considered one of the easiest positions to play, aside from the DH. Albert Belle has also gotten into the craze, making 10 errors in the field. Some of these were ground balls that went right through his legs. Missing Robin Ventura for most of the season greatly hampered the Sox, because Chris Snopek could not fill the void. He probably made the most errors on the club in the least amount of playing time. This season, the Sox were one of the worst defensive teams in the league, and their underachieving record shows it.

This season for the Sox was not a good one, a repeat, in fact, of the ‘95 campaign. And you just can't pin the blame for their failure on a single player or on management. No, it’s not all Albert Belle’s fault, and the trade on July 31 of Wilson Alvarez, Roberto Hernandez, and Danny Darwin didn’t cause the White Sox to collapse. In fact, the move wasn’t all that bad, considering the fact that all three of those players were likely to leave the team after the season ended. I’d rather have something than nothing. The Sox do have something to look forward to, with the impressive young talent of Mike Cameron, Magglio Ordonez, Mario Valdez, Scott Eyre, Keith Foulke, and Jeff Darwin. As I said Sox fans, wait till next year.

WHITE SOX WRAP-UP

By Andrew S.

The White Sox did pretty well this year, though not up to expectations. They closed the season in second place in the Central Division, six games behind the Cleveland Indians. They won eighty games and lost eighty-one, one game under .500.

Only thirteen of twenty-six White Sox players were at bat more than 100 times this season. Frank Thomas was one of them. He was also the only White Sox player to bat over .300. In fact, this season he won his first American League batting title with a .347 average, thirty-five homers and 125 RBI’s. Just recently Carlton Fisk came back to Chicago to have his number retired at a ceremony. Fisk played 24 seasons, and was let go by the Sox four years ago.

The manager of the Chicago White Sox, Terry Bevington, ended the second year of his two year contract, which was not renewed.

Cross-Country team off to a running start

By Bob K. and Ed F.

Fall is here again, and Cross Country is in the air. The season is underway and more than thirty Peacock students are participating. There are three grade groups that run on the team: eighth grade boys, sixth and seventh grade boys, and sixth through eighth grade girls. Mr. Anderson coaches the team. Practices are held after school between 3:05 and 3:45 P.M. In a typical practice, the students do long distance, interval and speed session training. The team participates in three regular meets and one conference meet. At the meets, there are normally lots of people, volunteers, and intense competition. So far this season Peacock runners have three first place finishes.

According to Mr. Anderson, the team has great potential this year. He relies on the numerous returning team members to provide leadership, and he commented that the team could improve by increasing their intensity level and going beyond their threshold limits. Mr. Anderson believes that cross country, as an individual sport, teaches the valuable quality of self-discipline.