The season of the Chicago White Sox, which began with such promise after the acquisition of George Bell from the Cubs, came grinding to a halt last week. It was almost as if they’d proved to themselves after the All-Star break that they were a good team, but then reality set in; they admitted they had dug themselves too deep a hole with their slow start and they gave up.
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McDowell, like Maddux, has a steely demeanor on the mound. Both seem to consider an opposing run a personal affront. Maddux is from Las Vegas and has a gambler’s calm under pressure (Wrigley Field organist Gary Pressy is fond of playing Kenny Rogers’s “You’ve Got to Know When to Hold ‘Em” when he comes to the plate). McDowell, in recent seasons, has adopted the mustache and goatee of John Carradine in Stagecoach, a movie in which Carradine played a gambler, and McDowell, like Maddux, has a determination that seems to increase when the chips are down. Otherwise, however, they offer contrasting styles. Maddux is a natural athlete with a crisp, efficient pitching motion and a certain moxie at the plate. McDowell has a gangly, ungraceful motion and–especially with the American League’s designated-hitter rule–probably doesn’t know how to properly grip a bat. Yet, like Maddux, he offers his own best reason to be a Chicago baseball fan whenever he takes the mound.
The Sox have seemed to be almost too self-aware during this season; they’ve seemed conscious that McDowell is their best starter by far, and have concentrated on winning his games, leaving the secondary pitchers to struggle against more lackadaisical performances. Yet, with the season down the drain, and with McDowell already having achieved his 20th victory, even he fell victim to the sudden south-side apathy last Sunday.
What were the Sox doing in the meantime? Well, Cora led off the fifth with a single, stole second, and, one out later, ran through third-base coach Terry Bevington’s stop sign on a single; he was thrown out at home, extinguishing the rally. In the sixth they got Johnson to second with one out, but both Ron Karkovice and Sveum (who was roundly booed) struck out. In the eighth they had the bases loaded with only one out, but Warren Newson, pinch-hitting for Karkovice, chopped one directly to third base; Brook Jacoby grabbed it, stepped on the bag, and fired across the infield for the inning-ending double play. In the ninth they didn’t even get a man on.
