The 2000 season has been one long roll of the dice for White Sox management, which has taken risk after risk and still managed to come out smelling like a rose.
General Manager Ron Schueler made no major off-season moves, claimed journeyman third baseman Herbert Perry on waivers, auditioned a bunch of rookie call-ups for the second-half rotation, ignored a crop of veteran pitchers at the trading deadline and even gave the ball to injury-plagued starter Ken Hill at one point.
In spite of all the controversial maneuvering, the Sox still managed to win the division title with relative ease and without the addition of any major salaries.
But on Friday at Safeco Field, the Sox will take their biggest risk of the season, sending sore-shouldered right-hander James Baldwin out to face Seattle’s Aaron Sele in the must-win Game 3 of their American League Division Series.
The Sox have nothing to lose but everything. Baldwin went 14-7 this year, but he has made only two appearances and one start since being shut down with tendinitis in his right shoulder after a Sept. 8 start in Cleveland.
He posted a 10.54 earned-run average over the final month of the regular season, and his pitch velocity dropped precariously. If Baldwin blows up at the start of Game 3, the Sox could spend the rest of the winter wondering “What if?” On the flip side, if Baldwin throws like he did in the first half, it could give the team the emotional lift it needs to climb out of its self-dug hole and right back into the series.
“I’m going to go out there and give it all I have,” Baldwin said. “It might be four innings. It might be nine innings. Who knows? I’m not going to go out there and cheat myself and cheat my teammates–put it that way.”
Sox manager Jerry Manuel can’t afford to treat Baldwin with the respect a veteran 14-game winner usually would merit. Instead, he’ll watch Baldwin as though he were a 20-year-old rookie who sweats in his sleep.
“It’s a very critical game for us, and we won’t hesitate [to pull Baldwin early] if we’re in trouble,” Manuel said. “The first inning is going to be a key for him and for us, and we’re going to have to react accordingly because the last couple of outings, we haven’t had what you would call good outings where we could say, `Hey, he’s going to get back into the flow, the rhythm of things.’ It makes it difficult as a staff to say `this guy we’re going to stay with.'”
Lorenzo Barcelo will be waiting to take over if Baldwin is ineffective early. Baldwin said he wouldn’t be held to a pitch count because it’s the postseason, but Manuel already limited Jim Parque to six innings in Game 1, yanking his starter after Parque had retired 10 straight batters.
Schueler said Baldwin may go about 80 pitches or so.
“We’ll watch if there’s a dropoff,” Schueler said. “We’ll find out early what kind of stuff he has.”
Manuel didn’t announce his lineup for Game 3, but hinted that changes are afoot. Harold Baines may be inserted into the DH spot and Frank Thomas may move to first, leaving Paul Konerko out of the picture. Konerko is the better defensive first baseman than Thomas, but Baines is a career .324 hitter against Sele.
Thomas, who is 0-for-7 and has stranded nine runners, doesn’t mind the possible shift to first.
“That could be something to help loosen things up,” Thomas said. “I wouldn’t mind. We’ll do whatever it takes to get this thing rolling.”
Manuel also may move Charles Johnson up in the lineup from his No. 9 spot to No. 6 and move Carlos Lee down from the No. 5 spot to No. 7, with Chris Singleton hitting eighth or ninth.
The Sox are down to their final bullet, with the Mariners hoping to sweep and get some rest for an ALCS series against New York or Oakland. Asked what worried him about the Sox, Seattle manager Lou Piniella was blunt, as usual.
“Nothing really worries me about the White Sox,” Piniella said. “And I don’t mean that in an adverse way, because I have the utmost respect for them.”
The way the Sox have been swinging the bat, there’s really no reason for Piniella to fret. Their Nos. 3 through 6 hitters are a combined 2-for-30, and the Sox overall are hitting .209.
“We have to show up,” Thomas said. “I think this team is ready to play. We’ve been a great road team all year. We’ve loosened up. We had a long talk on the plane last night. We’re all keyed up. We want to win this thing real bad.”
The Sox won four of six in “the Safe” this year, but the Mariners usually have played well in their baseball palace.
“We’ve been road warriors this year and played well on the road,” Seattle shortstop Alex Rodriguez said. “A lot of that can be attributed to how difficult it is to play here in Safeco Field, not only for us, but for opposing players.”
The Sox spent almost the entire season in first place, counting the days until the playoffs. Now they’re in danger of having their season abruptly ended, an embarrassing situation for a team that earned home-field advantage throughout the postseason.
“The players are in good spirits,” Manuel said. “They know we could easily be up 2-0, but it didn’t happen. The thing we’ve always said is there are going to be times where we’re pushed until the very end and it’s up to us to see what type of men we are.
“It’s not going to be an easy trek. We’re definitely not making it easy right now. We’ll see how we respond.”
