The path of most resistance: the White Sox have the sluggers and starters to run away from the rest of the A.L. Central, but they don't do anything the easy way

Sporting News, The, Sept 15, 2003 by Dave van Dyck

With the White Sox, what you see isn't always what you get. And what you get isn't always what you'd expect to see.

Part paragon, part paradox. That's the 2003 White Sox.

On paper in spring the best team in the American League Central. On pace at midseason to finish with 78 victories.

The White Sox are baseball's procrastinators, never doing today what can be put off until the last moment. They don't pull the joystick until the tailspin is imminent.

Take July 17, for instance. On that day, the first after the All-Star break, the White Sox lost to the lowly Tigers to fall into third place and eight games out of first. It was their eighth loss in 11 games; manager Jerry Manuel was running out of ideas, and general manager Ken Williams was running out of patience.

Just in time to save Manuel's job, the White Sox won eight games in a row on their way to winning 13 of 14 in moving into a first-place tie. Now, as the season races to a close, the Sox remain in control of their postseason fate, entering the week tied with the Twins for the division lead. But with only contenders on their schedule the rest of the way, they can't hit any more prolonged slumps.

What turned the season around? Well, if you're thinking it was one Knute Rockne speech or one player getting hot or one trade or one clap of thunder, then you are wrong. Well, maybe the clap of thunder because it did storm in Chicago that first night after the All-Star break when the White Sox lost, 10-9, to the Tigers.

"We were down, 9-1, and lost, 10-9, but I thought that was a turning point for us," Manuel says. "I told the guys afterward, 'Hey, man, that's huge.'"

Williams doesn't buy into any one-day turn around theories. "We hadn't been playing up to our ability level early," he says. "One of out least concerns in spring training was offense, and that was our Achilles' heel the first couple of months."

But if you think the White Sox's turnaround was completed with the winning streak, you haven't been paying attention. This team's motto seems to be: Never do things the easy way if you can find a more difficult option.

And so the White Sox endured a 1-6 road trip to Anaheim and Texas in mid-August, one that left them three games out of first place, Of course, they pulled out of that, too, coming back the next week at home to beat the same two teams six of seven times and move back into first place.

"We get hot, and we get cold," says All-Star right fielder Magglio Ordonez, one of the reasons for the second half turnaround. "We're not going to win that way. With the team we have, we should lead this division by 10 games."

Even Manuel admits: "I always felt, even with that good stretch we had (after the All-Star break), there would be another bump in the road. But we're capable of running off another streak."

Perhaps, but that may have to wait for another impending emergency. This is a team that needs a challenge to get motivated.

"It is an emotional club," an opposing general manager says. "And emotional teams have their ups and downs. It isn't Jerry Manuel's fault. It's just the makeup of the club."

"One consolation (of that mentality) is that we have played well against good clubs all year," Williams says.

Not surprising for a team that can't decide when it's time to get serious, the White Sox struggle against the bottom dwellers. Chicago is 17-15 against the last-place Tigers, Rangers and Devil Rays and 108 against the rebuilding Indians. The Sox also have played much worse on the road (30-41) than a home (45-25), a large discrepancy for a veteran team.

The White Sox have been through so many ups and downs that you wonder how good they really are. When they're good, they can go into Yankee Stadium and win two of three games, as they did at the end of August. When they are bad, they can go into Detroit and get swept in a three-game series, as they did in early July.

"This team really responds," designated hitter Frank Thomas says, "when the talent on the other side is just as good as ours."

"It's a funny team," says a scout who has seen plenty of White Sox games. "They've got a very strong offensive club to the point of having a lot of DH-type guys. But their bullpen is a concern, they don't have good speed, and they don't play very good defense. What worries me is they don't have the bullpen that a real good team should have."

"In spring training, I actually thought Minnesota was going to win the division," the opposing general manager says. "I thought the White Sox had the most talent, but the other two (Twins and Royals) play the game better."

One way of explaining it is that the White Sox do the big things (such as hitting home runs) well, but they do the little things (running the bases and moving runners over) poorly. Though their defense has the third-fewest errors in the American League, the statistics don't show the missed cutoff men and the balls that fall out of the reach of slow fielders.

Statistically, nothing wows you about this team. The Sox rank in the lower half of the American League in on-base percentage, runs scored and batting average. They fare a little better--in the top five--in key pitching categories such as ERA and fewest hits allowed. Even their record in 1-run games--18-21--is nothing special. "I think we've got a good team; I don't think we're the perfect team" Manuel says. "We've got out problems like everyone else."