The home-and-home series between the White Sox and the Cubs were meetings of the tribes–and not in a good sense necessarily. By the time the teams were done with each other Sunday night, both seemed diminished. The Sox had “won” overall, four games to two, but they’d enhanced their reputation only in the minds of their most xenophobic, Cubs-hating fans.
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If the Cubs went to the south side snorting fire, pawing at the dirt, and seeking revenge, the Sox had the perfect weapon waiting in the person of Mike Sirotka. The placid left-hander, who could be played by Edward Norton in a biopic–the scrawny Norton of Rounders, not the built-up Norton of American History X–is fast becoming my favorite pitcher in town. Every time I watch him work I admire him a little more. He has a simple rock-kick-and-deliver motion and a standard array of pitches, but the way he uses them is a pleasure to watch. One would be tempted to call him a crafty southpaw, except that he’s so deceptively crafty he doesn’t even seem to be outsmarting the hitters–he’s simply letting them get themselves out. On Friday night the Cubs found he’d added a wonderful curveball to his repertoire since stumping them with fastballs, sliders, and change-ups at Wrigley Field. “It’s really come around the last four, five starts, and I made it a point to throw it more,” Sirotka said of his curve after the game. He put it to especially good use his second and third times through the order, spinning Sammy Sosa around on a wonderful first-pitch curve in the fourth. The whiff sent Sosa’s helmet swirling from his head and brought chortles, guffaws, and hoots from Sox fans all through the stadium. Sirotka then got Sosa to ground out on another curve.
The Cubs had been scraping by on mediocre and injury-prone pitching all night. Starter Kevin Tapani gave up a run and left after two innings with a bruise on his pitching hand sustained on a hard grounder by Sox catcher Mark Johnson. Matt Karchner came on and gave up another run before an aggravated groin strain sidelined him. Ray King, a lefty newly arrived in the majors who throws over the top with a big leg kick, held the Sox for an inning plus, and then Terry Adams came on. Adams worked two good innings but ran into trouble in the ninth–his second time through the order. The hot Ray Durham opened with a single, the eighth time he’d reached base in the last 16 innings that he’d led off. But on a doubly bad play, rookie Chris Singleton struck out trying to bunt him over. Singleton moved his back foot out of the batter’s box and almost onto home plate, then jabbed at the pitch before pulling the bat back. The ball kicked into the dirt and bounced to the screen. Singleton–who should have kept his mouth shut–claimed the ball had hit his foot (replays showed a wild pitch). The umpire both called him out for swinging and ruled the ball dead for hitting Singleton outside the batter’s box. So Singleton was out, and Durham–who’d gone to second on the wild pitch–was sent back to first. Thomas coaxed a walk after fouling off a tough Adams pitch on a full count, and then came the play of the game. Ordoñez–he has been in the middle of almost everything bad that has happened to the Cubs against the Sox this season–grounded up the middle. Alexander grabbed the ball and staggered for second base trying to turn a quick double play. But his scuffling feet almost tripped him on the way to the bag, which drew the umpire’s attention to the fact that he just plain missed it, stepping off to the side as he threw to first. Not only did Ordoñez beat the throw, Thomas was ruled safe at second. Though Grace was irate, replays showed the ump had made the correct call. Alexander was charged with an error, and Durham scored the unearned game-winning run moments later when rookie Carlos Lee hit a sacrifice fly to center–a fly that should have sent the game into extra innings. Instead, it sent Sox fans singing “Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)” into the night.
