This year’s All-Star game commanded more than the usual interest in Chicago and more than the usual dread. The White Sox, who entered the break with the best record in baseball at 57-29, placed four players on the American League roster, including pitchers Jon Garland and Mark Buehrle. Buehrle got the start, but there was little to be gained from this honor and much that could be lost. Back in 1983, at the 50th anniversary All-Star game at the old Comiskey Park, Atlee Hammaker of the San Francisco Giants was shelled for seven runs in less than an inning. A noticeable drop in confidence was followed by arm woes, and Hammaker never recovered. That was the fate I feared for the White Sox pitchers.
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Yet Buehrle was his usual efficient self as he pitched a scoreless first two innings, and when Garland came on in the sixth to protect a 5-0 lead he got two quick outs. Then he walked two, and he got that deer-in-the-headlights look familiar from years past. But pitching coach Dave Wallace came out to the mound and said something that made Garland smile, and he immediately got the third out. So in the end the game couldn’t have gone better for the Sox. The American League beat the National League 7-5 to nail down the home-field advantage in the World Series, and Buehrle was the winning pitcher. He and Garland both got big-game experience they’ll be glad they have when the Sox make the playoffs in October.
Truth be told, I saw the same lack of intensity at White Sox Park just before the break, when the Sox were swept in a three-game series by the Oakland Athletics. On Saturday I was seated high in the upper deck down the third base line, and at first it seemed a boisterous crowd, with a pair of louts just below standing at one point to chant “Oakland fans are gay!” Yet as the Sox fell behind on their way to a 10-1 loss, the fans seemed content to wait for the postgame fireworks. The two louts were joined at some point by a buddy who wrapped his arms around them, prompting a couple of us to consider chanting “Fans who think Oakland fans are gay are gay!” Maybe we should have–just to stir things up.
Come to think of it, the crowd at Crew wasn’t even as demonstrative–in the way of guys hanging on one another–as the crowd at Puffer’s or the Oakland-fans-are-gay guys. Like most Chicagoans, even yet, they were playing it cool with the Sox. It’s easy to love the Cubs when they’re playing the part of lovable losers, more dangerous to invest yourself in the fortunes of a team with real potential. Much as I know what beckons from the future and has always come in the past–heartache–I’ve made a conscious decision. I’m in it for the duration. I love this year’s Sox, and I don’t care who knows it.
