If the Sox have been consistent at anything this year, they've been great at keeping the Sabbath Day holy.
The rubber match loss to Baltimore (the worst team in the league) and Jason Berken (the guy with the 2-11 record) means the Sox have now lost on seven of the last eight Sundays.
Although it feels like Ozzie Guillen has always held that day of the week in lower (or higher) esteem, that may be more of a lingering sentiment from the Jerry Manuel era. Here are the Sunday records for each season since Guillen took over:
- 2009: 7-13
- 2008: 17-10
- 2007: 8-18
- 2006: 14-13
- 2005: 14-11
- 2004: 16-10
It's funny that 2007 is the only other Guillen season in which the Sox have sported a losing record on Sundays, because even though the Sox are still two games over .500, this year feels a whole lot closer to that wreck than any kind of championship campaign.
It makes sense. Sunday has been the day things get thwarted. Sweep? Thwart. Series win? Thwart. A winning streak? Thwart. Add in the day off afterward (there have been three Mondays off in July and August), and that's just another 24 hours to stew about those particular missed opportunities.
Maybe Guillen should plan his week like newspapers do. The biggest circulation days for newspapers are Thursday and Sunday. Those are the most advertiser-friendly days of the week, and so it also becomes the biggest day for a newsroom. They want to save their best work for when the most people will see it.
Likewise, Sundays and Thursday might be best regarded as All Starters' Day. Guillen shalt not play backup catchers, fifth outfielders or utility infielders when there's anything resembling momentum on the line. Maybe it might not make a difference in the standings, playing the bench players on Mondays or Fridays, but it would certainly make an impact on the emotional aspect.
Then again, the Sox are 16-4 on Saturdays this season. If momentum were that reliable, you'd think that would spill over to the following day more often than it does.
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It took hours to come up with anything resmbling an angle for today, even though the Sox embark on a 20-game, season-deciding gulag. Really, try to get fired up:
Paul Konerko: "But it's getting to that point, with 30-some games left, where you just care about the end result. Did we gain a game, did we stay where we're at [in the standings], did we lose a game? That's all you look at.
Ozzie Guillen: We have a month and a half to go, and if our offense continues like that, good luck. It's going to be hard for us to be there in the end. I wish I knew what was going on.''
Guillen on Jake Peavy: "We're not going to bring this kid [in] to say, 'Here you go,' Then, in the winter, we're kicking our butts, like, 'Why did we use this guy for no reason?'"
Um ... charge?
I guess proper, big-picture perspective doesn't provide the best bulletin-board material. That, and maybe they figure they're better at winning the games they're not supposed to.
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Minor league roundup:
- Gwinnett 10, Charlotte 5
- Tyler Flowers went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a strikeout.
- Stefan Gartrell tripled and drove in three.
- Carlos Torres struggled with control: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 6 K.
- An outing to forget for Derek Rodriguez, who allowed four walks and two hits while retiring just one batter.
- Birmingham 9, West Tenn 2
- Matt Long's scoreless innings streak was snapped at 23, but he still pitched six strong innings. Both runs came on one swing, and he scattered four other hits and a walk while striking out five.
- Jordan Danks had his best day in quite some time, going 2-for-3 with two walks and an RBI, and was caught stealing.
- C.J. Retherford singled, doubled and drove in two.
- Christian Marrero and Dayan Viciedo each went 1-for-4, with Marrero's hit a double.
- Winston-Salem 6, Lynchburg 3 (Game 1, 7 innings)
- Brent Morel went 2-for-4 with his 22nd steal.
- Seth Loman hit a three-run homer; Greg Paiml and C.J. Lang each racked up two doubles.
- Dylan Axelrod allowed two runs on eight hits and a walk over six innings, striking out three.
- Lynchburg 6, Winston-Salem 0 (Game 2, 7 innings)
- Justin Greene and Tyler Kuhn each went 1-for-3.
- Morel went 0-for-3 with a strikeout.
- Kannapolis 9, Bowling Green 3
- Josh Phegley, Jared Mitchell and Eduardo Escobar each had three hits. Phegley hit his ninth homer and drove in three.
- Jon Gilmore went 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI.
- Joe Serafin allowed three runs on seven hits over 5 2/3 innings. No walks, four strikeouts.
- Kyle Bellamy struck out two over 1 1/3 scoreless innings; Leroy Hunt notched two shutout innings.
- Kingsport 2, Bristol 1 (Game 1, 7 innings)
- Steven Upchurch straightened things out a little: 7 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 HR.
- Miguel Gonzalez went 1-for-3 with a double.
- Trayce Thompson went 1-for-2 and was hit by a pitch.
- Kingsport 5, Bristol 4 (Game 2, 7 innings)
- Anthony Carascio went 3-for-3 with a double and three RBI.
- Brady Shoemaker drew tow walks; Miguel Gonzalez went 1-for-4 with an RBI.
- Taylor Thompson threw two shutout innings; Goldy Simmons struck out five over two innings, allowing a run.
- Matthew Heidenreich was hittable: 2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 1 K.
- Great Falls 6, Idaho Falls 5
- Nick Ciolli homered twice during a 4-for-5, 4 RBI night.
- Ryan Hamme and Jeff Tezak each went 2-for-4.
