So I have to start this post with an apology, somewhere, probably two weeks ago exactly, I wrote that the site would be much-improved in the month of June thanks to my immobility and lack of options of things to do. To be completely honest, that clearly hasn't been the case.
I had no idea how much the drugs I was taking would absolutely kick my ass. Those of you who are Facebook friends of mine can attest to some of the wackiness that has left my mind in my state of constant drunkenness. You'd think that such a lack of filter would result in some high quality, if addled, content, but that simply didn't happen. Every time I opened up the editor window my mind would go blank short of being able to say. Win, good. Fire, bad.
But the real tragedy has been the absolute loss of memory. The White Sox selected Chris Sale at approximately the same time I took my first cocktail of drugs, and from that point on, I can't remember a damn thing about the Sox or much of anything else. I mean, I knew he had signed last night, but I couldn't even remember his first or last name, one of which we share. So when I sat down to write a recap of the week that was last night, a week in which I'd kicked the hard stuff, I couldn't come up with anything to say still. I really only remember the games from Friday on, and I missed much of Peavy's start Saturday.
Time has condensed, folded back upon itself, and memories seem as vaporous and fuzzy as dreams. I can't separate what's really happened from what feels like it happed, and can't place anything properly on a timeline, which makes it really hard to do what I do best -- when I actually do write anymore -- write experientially, telling the story of what it's like to be a fan of this team at any given moment.
So here's the best I can come up with at the moment; taking a look at the Sox recent run in the context of their history with B-R's Play Index:
- Someone wondered in the comments section when the last time the Sox had a "9-1" in the Last 10 Games column of the standings was. I don't think I can search rolling 10 game stretches in PI, but I can search for winning streaks. The Sox haven't won 10 in a row in a single season since 1976. They came close with 9 in a row and the Iguchi 7-RBI comeback in '06, which is when I believe the last 9-1 appeared in the last 10 games column. Ed Note: Nordhagen points out that the last 9-1 came from the surprisingly near past, like less than a year ago. The Sox were 9-1 on last July 4th.
- The Sox haven't hit a HR in their last 8 games. I repeat. The White Sox, the "one-dimensional, station-to-station" White Sox, have not hit a HR in 8 straight games. They've gone 7-1 in those 8 games.
- The longest streak without a HR in my lifetime (30+ seasons) was a 14-game stretch in 1989. The only other streak longer than the current one came in 1986 at 9 games. Not surprisingly, the Sox record in those games clocked in at 6-8 and 4-5, respectively.
- The Sox have won 6 in a row without the aide of the HR for the first time since prior to WWII. They still have a few more games to go to set a club record, but the offense has been straight out of the deadball era.
- Limiting it further, since all 6 of those game have come on the road, these Sox have tied the longest streak (with 3 other teams) of homerless road wins in the easily searchable (post 1920) Play-Index time frame.
- The Sox are actually 10-1 in their last 11, with big offensive outbursts on the bookend games. They've hit .279/.335/.408 in the 11-game run, and .264/.324/.372 in their latest last 10 (9-1). So it's obviously not the offense that's resulted in this streak of competency, but that's for another post...