[新聞] Proving the pundits wrong
Proving the pundits wrong
Though Sox have work left to do, run surprised most media
By Scott Merkin
CHICAGO -- It was right there in black and white, the predictions rolling off
the presses starting sometime in late March.
They were printed in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and even small campus
newspapers around the country.
The critiques came in various fonts on the Internet and from a number of
different personalities on television networks or local sports radio
stations. Basically, they all said the same thing.
Ozzie Guillen's squad on the South Side of Chicago had little or no chance of
reaching the postseason. The pundits didn't put much stock in the White Sox
proximity to the Twins and first place in the American League Central for
much of the 2004 season, even before season-ending injuries to offensive
stalwarts such as Frank Thomas and Magglio Ordonez dropped them out of
contention.
And there weren't many experts buying general manager Ken Williams'
restructuring of the White Sox from a team based on the home run to a squad
now playing smart ball, small ball or Ozzie ball.
In fact, Minnesota seemed to be the team of choice. A panel of 19 experts
associated with ESPN was asked to pick everything from division winners to
World Series champions before the 2005 campaign began. Four picked the Twins
to win the World Series, while three others had Ron Gardenhire's crew losing
in the final round of playoff action.
Of the 19 who made predictions, only ESPN Insider's Rob Neyer picked the
White Sox to win the Central. That one piece of support equaled the amount of
votes for the Tigers, who were selected by ESPN's Pedro Gomez. Nobody picked
the White Sox to advance past the first round of the playoffs.
Six sportswriters in the Chicago Tribune made predictions, with only veteran
baseball writer Dave Van Dyck choosing the White Sox to win their division.
Mike Kiley was the lone scribe from The Sun-Times who went with the White Sox
in the preseason. Ken Rosenthal of The Sporting News saw the White Sox
winning 85 to 87 games and fighting for the Wild Card, but not overtaking the
Twins.
The preseason annuals weren't impressed by the White Sox, either.
‧ Street & Smith's (predicting fourth place): "...don't exactly scare
division opponents."
‧ Sports Illustrated (third ): "Unless an iffy rotation produces, small ball
translates to a fall in the standings."
‧ Sporting News (third): "As always, the biggest enigma in the A.L."
‧ ESPN the Magazine (fourth): "... The Sox are going nowhere fast if the
rotation can't carry them."
Most of the skeptics were swayed by the obvious questions at hand.
‧ Who would replace the power supplied by Carlos Lee and Ordonez, and how
could a team afford to reduce power while playing in one of the friendliest
offensive ballparks in all of baseball?
‧ Was the Scott Podsednik at the top of the White Sox order the Podsednik
from his first season in Milwaukee, when he finished second in the National
League Rookie of the Year voting, or the Podsednik from 2004, when his
on-base percentage was lower than his batting average from the year before?
‧ Could Guillen take seven or eight new players, combine them with the
remaining veterans, and develop a first-rate, first-place squad?
By the time the 2005 season was complete, these questions and many others had
been answered and the White Sox were in the playoffs for the first time since
2000. Jermaine Dye and Carl Everett helped pick up the slack in the power
department, with the White Sox featuring depth in their home run power, as
opposed to one or two hitters carrying the load.
Podsednik proved to be one of the best leadoff hitters in all of baseball,
and Guillen's job of managing was unparalleled in the American League. Even
with 99 regular-season victories, though, the White Sox still hadn't made
converts of all the non-believers.
A number of writers in the Chicago area picked the White Sox to topple the
Red Sox in the Division Series, with the South Siders standing as a much more
complete team. Very few have them capturing the American League pennant, with
the Angels seemingly becoming the vogue choice.
Apparently, the White Sox still have some work to do, not that they worry
about anyone's opinion outside their own clubhouse.
"The past is the past," White Sox relieve Cliff Politte said of this special
White Sox team. "They say there's a curse, but you have to overlook stuff
like that if you want to get anywhere.
"If you keep talking about not having won a playoff game in 50-some years,
you won't win anything. If you got out there with the attitude that you can
play with those guys, you forget about the past very quickly."
Scott Merkin is a reporter for MLB.com. John Ralph contributed to this
report. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball
or its clubs.
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