White Sox Opening Day Honor Roll

Hope springs eternal for every ball club and its fans every year on Opening Day, but this year feels especially promising for the White Sox. Time will tell, as it always does, but there's every reason to believe that the Sox and their fans are in for a memorable ride together. We'll find out starting tonight when the South Siders begin the 2021 regular season in Anaheim.

     

RAY SCHALK

We've taken a look back at season openers of the past to compile the White Sox' All-Opening Day roster. Hall of Fame catcher Ray Schalk is the only Sox player to make 15 consecutive Opening Day starts at the same position. Paul Konerko also made 15 consecutive starts on Opening Day--two at designated hitter and the next 13 at first base. 

    

PAUL KONERKO

The only other players to start 13 or more times for the Pale Hose on Opening Day are three Hall of Famers--Frank Thomas, Luke Appling, and Nellie Fox--and the man who managed the Sox to the world championship in 2005--Ozzie Guillen.

 

FRANK THOMAS

The lists below reflect White Sox Opening Day lineups from 1901 through 2020. Asterisks indicate consecutive years.

 
Most Opening Day starts, any position
  1. Ray Schalk, 15* (1913-1927)

  1. Paul Konerko, 15* (1999-2013) 

  2. Frank Thomas, 14* (1991-2004)
  2. Luke Appling, 14 (1933-1949)
  3. Nellie Fox, 13* (1951-1963)
  3. Ozzie Guillen, 13* (1985-1997)

LUKE APPLING

 

Most Opening Day starts by position
  P. Mark Buehrle, 9 (2002-2011)
  C. Ray Schalk, 15* (1913-1927)
1B. Paul Konerko, 13* (2001-2013)
2B. Nellie Fox, 13* (1951-1963)
3B. Willie Kamm, 9* (1923-1931)

SS. Luke Appling, 14 (1933-1949)
LF. Bibb Falk, 7 (1921-1928)
LF. Minnie Minoso, 7 (1952-1961)

CF. Lance Johnson, 7 (1988-1995)
RF. Harold Baines, 8* (1980-1987)
DH. Frank Thomas, 5 (1998-2004)

Second most Opening Day starts by position
  P. Billy Pierce, 7 (1951-1959)
  C. Sherm Lollar, 10 (1952-1962)

1B. Frank Thomas, 9 (1991-2000)
2B. Eddie Collins, 12* (1915-1926)
3B. Robin Ventura, 8 (1990-1998)

SS. Ozzie Guillen, 13* (1985-1997)
LF. Patsy Dougherty, 5* (1907-1911)

LF. Joe Jackson, 5* (1916-1920)

LF. Carlos Lee, 5* (2000-2004)

LF. Carlos May, 5 (1969-1974)
CF. Happy Felsch, 6* (1915-1920)

CF. Chet Lemon, 6* (1976-1981)
CF. Fielder Jones, 6 (1902-1908)

RF. Magglio Ordonez, 7* (1998-2004)
DH. Greg Luzinski, 4* (1981-1984)
DH. Jim Thome, 4* (2006-2009)

DH. Adam Dunn, 4* (2011-2014)

 

Third most Opening Day starts by position
  P. Wilbur Wood, 5* (1972-1976)
  C. Billy Sullivan, 9 (1901-1912)
1B. Earl Sheely, 7* (1921-1927)
1B. Jose Abreu, 7* (2014-2020)

2B. Ray Durham, 8* (1995-2002)
3B. Bill Melton, 7* (1969-1975)

SS. Luis Aparicio, 10 (1956-1970)
LF. Rip Radcliff, 4* (1935-1938)

LF. Ralph Garr, 4* (1976-1979)

LF. Tim Raines, 4* (1992-1995)
CF. Mike Kreevich, 5 (1936-1941)

CF. Jim Landis, 5 (1959-1964)
RF. Floyd Robinson, 5* (1962-1966)

RF. Jermaine Dye, 5* (2005-2009)
DH. Harold Baines, 3 (1988-1997)

 

 

Check out our book Heydays: Great Stories in Chicago Sports on Amazon.  

The White Sox Bring It Home

Fifteen years ago, on October 23, 2005, the White Sox came from behind to beat the Houston Astros and take a two-games-to-none lead in the World Series. Spoiler alert: the South Siders were headed for a sweep. Here is a brief recounting of that series.   

After the 2005 White Sox won the American League pennant, chairman Jerry Reinsdorf wanted more. “No matter what happens,” he said, “when you win the pennant, you’ve had one wonderful year. But then you get greedy, and you want to get four more [wins]. It’s only been since 1917, so I think it’s time, and hopefully these guys can get the job done.”

The South Siders’ opponents in their first World Series since 1959 were the Houston Astros, who had come into being in 1962 and were appearing in their first Fall Classic ever.

 

Game 1 was played in Chicago on October 22. Roger Clemens started for Houston and was not effective, leaving with a sore hamstring after two innings and three White Sox runs. Joe Crede made the difference for the Sox with both bat and glove; his fourth-inning home run snapped a 3-3 tie, and he made diving stops at third base in the sixth (with a runner on third and one out) and the seventh (with two on and two out). The Sox added a run in the eighth on Scott Podsednik’s triple with A.J. Pierzynski aboard. Closer Bobby Jenks struck out three of the four batters he faced to preserve the 5-3 win for starter Jose Contreras.

PAUL KONERKO WATCHES HIS GRAND SLAM IN FLIGHT.

Game 2 was one of the most entertaining games ever played in Chicago—or anywhere else, for that matter. The cold, wet weather did not dampen the enthusiasm of the 41,432 who turned out. Old reliable Mark Buehrle pitched seven innings for the White Sox, allowing four runs on seven hits. His counterpart, Andy Pettitte, left after six innings with a 4-2 lead. Dan Wheeler started the seventh for Houston and retired Crede on a foul pop-up. Then Juan Uribe stroked a double to center. Podsednik struck out. Tadahito Iguchi coaxed a walk. Jermaine Dye was up next; he worked the count to 3-and-2 before the next offering hit his bat—but was ruled to have hit his arm. Now the bases were loaded, and the crowd was in an uproar.

Chad Qualls replaced Wheeler on the mound. Sox first baseman Paul Konerko stepped up to the plate. He swung at Qualls’s first pitch and drilled it over the wall for a grand slam. It was one of the most electrifying moments in Chicago’s long baseball history. Konerko circled the bases and then took a curtain call to acknowledge the tremendous ovation from the rain-soaked crowd. After the game, Konerko maintained that he’d been focused on getting a hit to tie the score and that the idea of hitting a home run hadn’t occurred to him. “That’s usually when you get them,” he said, “when you’re not trying to.”

 

Cliff Politte retired the Astros in order in the eighth, and Jenks came on in the ninth with the Sox still ahead 6-4. With two outs and runners on second and third, pinch hitter Jose Vizcaino lined a single to left, and the game was tied. Neal Cotts replaced Jenks and got the third out with no further damage.

 

Houston manager Phil Garner handed the ball to all-star closer Brad Lidge for the bottom of the ninth. Lidge retired Uribe for the first out, but then the unlikely Podsednik belted a home run to right-center field, and the White Sox were 7-6 winners. After hitting no homers during the regular season, Podsednik had now hit his second of the postseason. Few home runs, even by the most illustrious sluggers, have been more impactful. It was only the 14th “walk-off” homer in World Series history, and it gave the Sox a commanding lead in the Series. “Clearly, everything they’re doing now is right,” Garner said. “They can’t do anything wrong.”

 

Game 3, the first World Series game ever played in Texas, was a classic. It looked bleak for the White Sox early, as the Astros built up a 4-0 lead for their ace righthander Roy Oswalt in the first four innings. Crede started the top of the fifth with a home run and ended the inning standing on first base after being hit by a pitch. In the meantime, RBI singles by Iguchi and Dye and a two-run double by Pierzynski had given the Sox a 5-4 edge.

 

Sox righty Jon Garland settled down and retired nine of the last 10 batters he faced. He left after seven innings with the Sox still ahead 5-4. In the bottom of the eighth, with two on and two out, Houston’s Jason Lane doubled off Dustin Hermanson to tie the score. Then, with the go-ahead run on third and a potential insurance run (Lane) on second, Hermanson caught Brad Ausmus looking to end the inning.

 

Both teams were scoreless in the ninth inning. And the 10th. And the 11th, 12th, and 13th. A parade of pitchers, pinch hitters, and pinch runners cluttered the scorecard for both sides, and still the game remained tied. Dye led off the White Sox’ 14th with a single, a hopeful sign, but Konerko bounced into a double play on the very next pitch. Geoff Blum, a backup infielder who’d been acquired late in the season, came up to bat. After taking two balls from pitcher Ezequiel Astacio, Blum connected with a low fastball and sent it over the right-field fence. “I didn’t know if I got it high enough,” he said. “Somebody was watching out for me.” The home run was the first and last at-bat of the Series for Blum, a former Astro. The Sox added another run on two singles and two walks, taking a 7-5 edge into the bottom of the 14th.

 

Damaso Marte, the Sox’ eighth pitcher of the night, was on the hill for his second inning of work. With two outs and a man on first, an error by shortstop Uribe put the tying runs on and brought the winning run to the plate. Manager Ozzie Guillen called for Buehrle, who had concluded his seven-inning stint in Game 2 just 51 hours earlier. Buehrle got Adam Everett on a pop-up to Uribe, who had no mishap this time. The Sox won to take a 3-0 lead in the Series.

 

The Astros had managed just one hit after the fourth inning and had stranded 15 base runners in all. They’d left the potential winning run in scoring position in the ninth, 10th, and 11th. Houston skipper Garner did not offer any platitudes. “This is embarrassing,” he said, “the way it’s played out.” Garner saw what was obvious to anyone by now: that the White Sox would soon be world champions.

 

In Game 4 on October 26, Freddy Garcia and Astros righthander Brandon Backe each tossed seven shutout innings. Lidge came on in the eighth for Houston. Willie Harris, pinch hitting for Garcia, led off the inning with a single. Podsednik sacrificed him to second. Harris advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a clutch two-out single by Dye. “I just stayed with my game plan,” said Dye. “I didn’t try to do too much, just tried to hit it hard somewhere and found a hole up the middle.”

 

The lone run was enough. Politte and Cotts held the lead through the eighth, and Jenks closed the Astros out in the ninth. The game, the series, the season, and White Sox’ 88-year wait ended on a ground ball to Uribe, who tossed to Konerko for the final out. Konerko held onto the ball for a couple days, then presented it to Reinsdorf at the Sox’ victory celebration in Chicago. The latter was overcome with emotion at the gracious and surprising gesture.

 

“It was only fitting it ended up 1-0,” Pierzynski said of the final game. “That’s the way we started the year [on Opening Day], that’s the way we started the second half, and that’s the way it should have ended.”

 

The Series really should have ended, in a perfect world, on the South Side of Chicago. It was mildly disappointing that all four clinching games—for the division title, the first playoff series, the American League Championship Series, and the World Series—had been on the road. Thus the White Sox and their fans hadn’t had the chance to celebrate these victories together. Nonetheless, it had been a spectacular and satisfying run: 11-1 in the postseason and 19-3 overall since a nerve-wracking September slump. The White Sox had spent every day of the season in first place, beaten back all comers, and earned the mantle of world champions in every way.

 

“People are looking for big theories,” general manager Kenny Williams said. “We’ve just got 25 hard-working, grind-it-out guys. We asked them one thing—each and every one of them to leave it all out on the field. They did that more than any team I’ve ever seen.”

 

As White Sox fans basked in the glory of the achievement they had always imagined but never quite expected, they paused to recall other faithful fans who hadn’t lived long enough to see it. Although many of these parents, grandparents, siblings, spouses, and friends had been deceased for decades, they weren’t really gone—at least in the minds of their survivors. The Sox had won for them, too.

 

Check out our book Heydays: Great Stories in Chicago Sports on Amazon.  

 

2011 Chicago Sports Memories Awards

Play of the Year: Jonathan Toews, Blackhawks, April 27

JONATHAN TOEWS

     After spotting the Vancouver Canucks the first three games of their first-round playoff series, the Hawks roared back to take the next three contests, forcing a Game 7 on April 27.
     In that game, the Hawks trailed 1-0 as the clock wound down to the two-minute mark in the third period. Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews took possession of the puck off an errant Vanvouver pass at center ice, circled, then moved in on the left wing. As he was being dragged down by two Canucks defenders, Toews slid the puck across to Marian Hossa, whose backhanded attempt was stoppped by goalie Roberto Luongo.
     Unfortunately for Luongo, the rebound landed in front of Toews, who poked it into the net as he himself skidded face-first along the ice. There was 1:56 remaining in regulation, and it looked as if the Hawks might pull off a miracle and capture the series after all. They ended up losing in overtime, but they demonstrated the heart and resilience that will contimue to be their trademark for years to come with Toews as their captain and Joel Quenneville as head coach.

JAY CUTLER

Game of the Year: Bears vs. Green Bay Packers, January 23

     For the first 90 years of their existence, the Bears met their ancient rivals from up north only once in posteason play, in 1941 when the two teams tied for the Western Division title and needed a special playoff game to decide which would go to the NFL championship game.
     The Bears and Packers met for the second time in postseason play this past January, again with a trip to the NFL championship game (now known as the Super Bowl) riding on the outcome.
     In the NFC title game at Soldier Field on January 23, a knee injury forced Bears quarterback Jay Cutler out of the game early in the third quarter with the Bears trailing 14-0. Afterwards, Cutler had to endure ridiculous questions about why he hadn't been able to continue with a torn MCL (medial collateral ligament)!
     The Bears got to within 14-7 early in the fourth quarter, but finally went down to defeat 21-14. The biggest Chicago game of the year and of the past several years ended in frustration and recrimination. Meanwhile, the Packers went on to win the Super Bowl.       

DERRICK ROSE

Player of the Year: Derrick Rose, Bulls

     The third-year point guard carried the Bulls to the NBA's best regular-season record at 62-20 and in so doing became the youngest winner of the league's Most Valuable Player award at only 22. The Bulls made the conference finals, and they have justifiably high hopes again as they enter the truncated 2011-12 season.
     Rose's play on the court is truly jaw-dropping, but what makes him so much more impressive is his maturity, dignity, and humility. You might lump it all together under one word: class. Fame and fortune have not changed Rose at all. If anything, they have made him even more respectful and accountable to his teammates, to the game of basketball, and to those less fortunate than himself.
     Is it all too good to be true? We'll have plenty of time to find out, because Rose will be with the Bulls for a long time. For now, we'll close with a quote from Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf: "If you don't see something special in Derrick Rose, then you're blind."

Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order):
Marian Hossa, Blackhawks; Patrick Kane, Blackhawks; Paul Konerko, White Sox; Jonathan Toews, Blackhawks; Brian Urlacher, Bears.

White Sox All-Opening Day Lineup

     The White Sox' home opener at U.S. Cellular Field is upon us, and the South Siders and their fans are anticipating an exciting season. Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf gave general manager Kenny Williams the okay to spend the money needed to stock the roster for a serious run at the pennant. The Sox, in Williams's words, are "all in" for 2011.
     We're taking a look back at the Sox' openers of the past to compile the club's All-Opening Day roster. The lists below reflect Opening Day lineups from 1920 through 2011. (The information for years prior to 1920 is not readily available.)

* Asterisks indicate consecutive years.

Most Opening Day starts
  1. Frank Thomas, 14* (1991-2004)
  2. Luke Appling, 14 (1933-1949)
  3. Nellie Fox, 13* (1951-1963)
  3. Ozzie Guillen, 13* (1985-1997)
  3. Paul Konerko, 13* (1999-2011)

First team (most Opening Day starts by position)
  P. Mark Buehrle, 9 (2002-2011)
  C. Sherm Lollar, 10 (1952-1962)
1B. Paul Konerko, 11* (2001-2011)
2B. Nellie Fox, 13* (1951-1963)
SS. Luke Appling, 14 (1933-1949)
3B. Willie Kamm, 9* (1923-1931)
LF. Bibb Falk, 7 (1921-1928)
CF. Lance Johnson, 7 (1988-1995)
RF. Harold Baines, 8* (1980-1987)
DH. Frank Thomas, 5 (1998-2004)

Second team (second most Opening Day starts by position)
  P. Billy Pierce, 7 (1951-1959)
  C. Ray Schalk, 8* (1920-1927)
1B. Frank Thomas, 9 (1991-2000)
2B. Ray Durham, 8* (1995-2002)
SS. Ozzie Guillen, 13* (1985-1997)
3B. Robin Ventura, 8 (1990-1998)
LF. Minnie Minoso, 7 (1952-1961)
CF. Chet Lemon, 6* (1976-1981)
RF. Magglio Ordonez, 7* (1998-2004)
DH. Greg Luzinski, 4* (1981-1984)

Third team (third most Opening Day starts by position)
  P. Wilbur Wood, 5* (1972-1976)
  C. Mike Tresh, 8 (1940-1948)
  C. Carlton Fisk, 8 (1981-1991)
1B. Earl Sheely, 7* (1921-1927)
2B. Eddie Collins, 7* (1920-1926)
SS. Luis Aparicio, 10 (1956-1970)
3B. Bill Melton, 7* (1969-1975)
LF. Carlos Lee, 5* (2000-2004)
CF. Mike Kreevich, 5 (1936-1941)
RF. Jermaine Dye, 5* (2005-2009)
DH. Jim Thome, 4* (2006-2009)

2010 Chicago Sports Memories Awards



Play of the Year: Patrick Kane, Blackhawks, April 24
    

PATRICK KANE

     With their first-round playoff series against the Nashville Predators tied at two games apiece, the Hawks are trailing 4-3 in the third period of Game 5 at the United Center and facing the prospect of returning to Nashville for a potential elimination game. The situation goes from bad to worse when Marian Hossa is sent off for boarding with only one minute and three seconds left.     
     As the clock ticks down, Nashville’s Martin Erat gains possession of the puck behind his own net and attempts to clear it along the boards, hoping to spring one of his teammates for a shot at Chicago’s empty net. Patrick Sharp intercepts the puck, pushes it over to Brent Seabrook in the corner, who slides it to Jonathan Toews in the slot. Toews flips a wrist shot that Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne stops with his pads but allows to bounce toward Patrick Kane, who’s camped just to the left of the goal mouth.
     Before you know it, Kane shovels the biscuit into the basket, and the game is tied with 13.6 seconds remaining. It is the first game-tying, shorthanded goal inside the final minute of a playoff game in the long history of the NHL, and it saves the Hawks’ season. The Hawks win 5-4 when Hossa tallies four minutes into overtime, and they advance to the second round by defeating the Predators 5-3 in Game 6 at Nashville.


Game of the Year: Blackhawks vs. Philadelphia Flyers, June 9
    

    
     The home team had won each of the first five games of the Stanley Cup Finals when the Blackhawks and Flyers took the ice for Game 6 in Philadelphia. Patrick Kane assisted on the Hawks’ first goal, by Dustin Byfuglien, and their third, by Andrew Ladd, as Chicago took a 3-2 lead into the third period.
     But the Flyers’ Scott Hartnell scored his second goal of the game with 3:59 remaining in the third period, and neither team scored again in regulation. The Hawks had the better of it all night, peppering Philadelphia goalie Michael Leighton with 41 shots in all, while Antti Niemi faced only 24, but nonetheless the Flyers held on to force overtime.
     Four minutes into the extra period, Kane received the puck from Brian Campbell near the left circle. He fired from an apparently impossible angle between Leighton's pads and deep into the far side of the net. The Hawks were Stanley Cup champions, but for an awkward stretch of time no one other than Kane knew it—because only Kane was certain that the puck was in the net (actually it had become lodged under the net). "I knew it was in right away," Kane said. "It was crazy. At that moment, it's just like 'We won the Stanley Cup.'"
     Kane single-handedly began the celebration, skating the length of the ice, yelling "It's in and the game's over!" as he passed the Hawks' bench, and jumping into the arms of Niemi, while the Flyers and their fans looked on in stupefied silence. Almost a minute elapsed before the officials finally confirmed that Kane indeed had scored and that the Hawks’ 49-year Stanley Cup drought was over. 


Player of the Year: Jonathan Toews, Blackhawks

JONATHAN TOEWS

     Wearing the "C" that signifies a team captain is an honor and status symbol for hockey players that is unlike any in other sports. In order to wear it effectively, one must be among the best players on the team, must have the respect of his coach and teammates, and must be able to act as the team's leader both vocally and by example.
    Jonathan Toews was named captain of the Blackhawks in the summer of 2008 after only one season in the NHL and just three months after his 20th birthday. His dedication to the job has earned him the nickname "Captain Serious." In 2010, Captain Serious led the Blackhawks to the Stanley Cup championship and received the Conn Smythe Award as the most valuable player of the playoffs.
     "He is a special player," head coach Joel Quenneville said of Toews during the Hawks' playoff run. "Exactly the same approach over the course of the year to the end of the year. He rises to the occasion. But his consistency is what we like. I think Johnny represents exactly the type of leadership any team would love to have."

Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order):
Patrick Kane, Blackhawks; Duncan Keith, Blackhawks; Paul Konerko, White Sox; Julius Peppers, Bears; Derrick Rose, Bulls. 

At Last

PAUL KONERKO

     “No matter what happens,” White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said before the 2005 World Series, “when you win the American League pennant, you’ve had one wonderful year. But then you get greedy, and you want to get four more [wins]. It’s only been since 1917, so I think it’s time, and hopefully these guys can get the job done.”
     The South Siders’ opponents in their first World Series since 1959 were the Houston Astros, who had come into being in 1962 and were appearing in their first Series ever. As far as casual fans, the national media, and TV ratings were concerned, the match was made someplace other than heaven. But the White Sox and their fans couldn’t have cared less.
     Game 1 was played in Chicago on October 22. Roger Clemens started for Houston and was not effective, leaving with a sore hamstring after two innings and three White Sox runs. Joe Crede made the difference for the Sox with both bat and glove; his fourth-inning home run snapped a 3-3 tie, and he made diving stops at third base in the sixth (with a runner on third and one out) and the seventh (with two on and two out). The Sox added a run in the eighth on Scott Podsednik’s triple with A.J. Pierzynski aboard. Sox closer Bobby Jenks struck out three of the four batters he faced to preserve the 5-3 win for Jose Contreras.
     Game 2 was one of the most entertaining games ever played in Chicago—or anywhere else, for that matter. The cold, wet weather did not dampen the enthusiasm of the 41,432 who turned out. Mark Buehrle pitched seven innings for the White Sox, allowing four runs on seven hits. His counterpart, Andy Pettitte, left after six innings with a 4-2 lead. Dan Wheeler started the seventh for Houston and retired Crede on a foul pop-up. Then Juan Uribe stroked a double to center. Podsednik struck out. Tadahito Iguchi coaxed a walk. Jermaine Dye was up next; he worked the count to 3-and-2 before the next offering hit his bat—but was ruled to have hit his arm. Now the bases were loaded, and the crowd was in an uproar.
     Chad Qualls replaced Wheeler on the mound. Konerko stepped up to the plate. He swung at Qualls’s first pitch and drilled it over the wall for a grand slam. It was one of the most electrifying moments in Chicago’s long baseball history. Konerko circled the bases and then took a curtain call to acknowledge the tremendous ovation from the rain-soaked crowd. After the game, Konerko maintained that he’d been focused on getting a hit to tie the score and that the idea of hitting a home run hadn’t occurred to him. “That’s usually when you get them,” he said, “when you’re not trying to.”
     Cliff Politte retired the Astros in order in the eighth, and Jenks came on in the ninth with the Sox still ahead 6-4. With two outs and runners on second and third, pinch hitter Jose Vizcaino lined a single to left, and the game was tied. Neal Cotts replaced Jenks and got the third out with no further damage.
     Houston manager Phil Garner handed the ball to All-Star closer Brad Lidge for the bottom of the ninth. Lidge retired Uribe for the first out, but then the unlikely Podsednik belted a home run to right-center field, and the White Sox were 7-6 winners. After hitting no homers during the regular season, Podsednik had now hit his second of the postseason. Few home runs, even by the most illustrious sluggers, have been more impactful. It was only the 14th game-ending (or “walk-off”) homer in World Series history, and it gave the Sox a commanding 2-0 lead in the Series.
     “Clearly, everything they’re doing now is right,” Garner said. “They can’t do anything wrong.”
     The White Sox were hitting on all cylinders as the series moved to Houston, and they were soon to be world champions.

Adapted from Heydays: Great Stories in Chicago Sports
(c) 2009, 2010 by Christopher Tabbert

A Tale of Two Teams in One City

    

PAUL KONERKO

     When the White Sox visited Wrigley Field two weeks ago to open this year's crosstown series against the Cubs, they were seven games under .500. Like the Cubs, who were six under, they appeared to be going nowhere.

     We didn't know it at the time, but the South Siders had already turned the corner. Their wins over the Cubs on June 11 and June 12 were their third and fourth in succession. After losing 1-0 to Ted Lilly and the Cubs on June 13, the Sox reeled off 11 victories in a row to make it 15 out of 16. They've crept to within a game and a half of the division lead, and the remainder of the season now beckons promisingly.

     All of a sudden, no one is talking about the supposed feud between Sox manager Ozzie Guillen and general manager Kenny Williams, about the inflammatory tweets of Guillen's son Oney, or about whether the Sox insulted Guillen's other son Ozney by drafting him in the 22nd round. Side issues are placed to the side when a team is focused on winning.
     The Sox have employed excellent pitching, tight defense, and just enough offense to turn their season around. "They're playing good baseball," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "Give them credit." The Sox are playing the way Guillen envisioned they would all along. "Whoever's surprised out there about what we do," Guillen declared, "they're crazy!"
     There is a long way to go, but if he continues at his current pace and the Sox keep winning, veteran first baseman and team captain Paul Konerko will be an MVP candidate. So far he has clouted 20 homers, knocked in 56 runs, and is batting over .300. "He gives it all he has every day," said Guillen. "A very quiet leader. When the game is on the line, he is more relaxed and more confident."

    

CARLOS ZAMBRANO

    
     As for the Cubs, what can you say? They are headed in the opposite direction as their crosstown rivals, having fallen to 10 games below .500 before (barely) salvaging yesterday's game against the Sox. Their problems include lack of any consistent offensive production (especially from erstwhile mainstays Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez), spotty defense, frequent mental lapses, and a general malaise.
     On Friday, the Cubs were coming off a 13-inning marathon the day before, and everyone knew that they needed starter Carlos Zambrano to give them some innings. Alas, Zambrano gave them just one (and a bad one at that, in which he yielded four runs) before a ridiculous tirade in the dugout earned him a suspension of indefinite length.
     It is certainly Piniella's and general manager Jim Hendry's fondest wish that Zambrano has already pitched his last game in a Cub uniform--but how eager will another club be to take him off their hands, given his exorbitant $18.75 million salary, his very unsatisfactory performance, and his increasingly intolerable behavior?
     The contrast between Zambrano and a real professional like Konerko is striking. It would be hard to imagine Zambrano's manager saying, "He gives it all he has every day." He gives what he wants when he wants. He has no shortage of talent, but he is woefully short in the categories of focus, discipline, and maturity. Unlike Konerko, who time and again has been at his best in clutch situations, Zambrano generally comes up empty when his team needs him the most. For Carlos, it is not about the team. It is always about Carlos.
     Harry Caray once pungently said of a certain pitcher (whose name unfortunately escapes me), "He has a million-dollar arm and a ten-cent brain." In Zambrano's case, the arm is valued at $18.75 million per year.