The day dawned with a blue and unsullied sky, but by game time early last Sunday afternoon, clouds extended from horizon to horizon. They were big, puffy white clouds that gave the field at Bill Veeck Stadium a dappled, shady appearance; they were bottom-heavy, dark on their undersides, but they were so spread out and disorganized that they weren’t even capable of threatening rain. Too bad for the White Sox, because by the time the game became official, after five innings, they had already blown a 1-0 lead and were down 6-1.
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Friday night they got a terrific pitching performance from Alex Fernandez, just back from a refresher course in the minors. Problem was, they were facing (or surrendering to) an even better pitching performance by the Brewers’ Jaime Navarro, who took a no-hitter into the eighth inning. Again, however, the Sox rallied like champions-to-be. Warren Newson, the young, left-handed Walt “No Neck” Williams, walked, stole second, and came home on a triple into the left-center gap by Steve Sax (who had also driven in a run in the ninth and scored the tying run the previous night). Sax then scored on a sacrifice fly by Lance Johnson. The Sox were up 2-1 and heading into the ninth.
The Brewers were in the process of showing how a team of overachievers puts together a pennant-contending season. They had gone into the All-Star break four games above .500, in third place in the A.L. East, seven and a half games behind the Toronto Blue Jays. With a patchwork pitching staff and a remodeled offense–going from the old bash ’em Brew Crew to a hit-and-run team that led the majors in stolen bases–they scrambled for victories and earned them with a combination of vim and execution. They could easily have folded up after the 12th-inning loss to open the second half. Instead, they made the Sox fold. The margin of victory in their 3-1 win Saturday night came on a two-run double by former Chicagoan (both north and south sides) Scott Fletcher, who got the green light to hit on a 3-0 count from McDowell. That’s how good things go when they go good, and, of course, vice versa.
Hibbard gave up three runs in the fourth and was gone to open the fifth, replaced by Donn Pall. Pall is so thin his uniform seems at least two sizes too big; his sleeves flop from his shoulders, and this, combined with his delivery–in which he deliberately steps toward the plate and then puts everything he can into spinning the ball– gives him the impression of being an oversize Little League pitcher. His slow delivery allowed the Brewers’ terrific rookie shortstop Pat Listach to steal both second and third after a one-out single, and he came home on a Paul Molitor hit: 6-1.
