Raining Down

It's never a good sign when someone stops you on your way in to work to say, "Just a warning before you see your office..."

The facility guy Paul met me on the way in today to warn me that my office leaked again last night. Whenever it rains, my brick wall becomes a fountain. And last night it rained like 8 feet of water here. They've tried to figure out why my office leaks but after having the roofer out here three times, it's still a mystery. Paul thinks it may be the porous bricks. I call it the Wailing Wall.

Even with the warning, my office wasn't that bad today. Paul had cleaned up most of it and dried off my papers. The only casualty was my desk calendar. But hey, it's October anyway.

Goodbye, White Sox
Speaking of October, the baseball playoffs start today. And the White Sox are sitting at home. I thought I should look back and cap the season here. Eulogize the team, if you will.

I look at the goal of the baseball season as making the postseason. If that is your target, anything less is a failure. Anything less is a disappointment. And with the Sox' 57-31 first half record and never-realized potential, not making the playoffs is a big dispointment. This team's record in the second half was on par with that of the Cubs--a team that didn't win 70 games. That's disappointing. Especially when you consider that if the Sox had only gone .500 in the second half, they would have very likely edged out the Twins. So why did they dip so badly? They scored more than one run less per game in the second half and the batting average dipped from .283 to .277. The team ERA rose from 4.44 to 4.78. (Stats as of Sept. 25). The bullpen also struggled when it counted most, producing a 6.71 ERA during the season's final month.

However, this team did win 90 games. Only 5 other teams did that. They were in the hunt until the last 2 weeks. They were in the toughest division in the league. They had incredible years from Dye, Crede, Garland, Konerko, Thome and the Gooch. There are definite bright spots. There were heroes. There were amazing comebacks and exciting plays. There were almost-perfect pitching performances. There's still joy for White Sox fans. It was a fun season--and there's hope.

So, until next spring White Sox, goodbye. It's been...something. Oh, and what happened to the promise of "Win. Or Die Trying?" No one died, White Sox. No one died.