This past weekend was the opening round of Chicago's City Series, a highpoint in the city's baseball calendar, when my South Side heroes, the Chicago White Sox and the North Side Chicago Cubs face each other in a series which many local baseball fans consider just as important as the playoffs. All three games at Rate Field, home of the White Sox and seen in the photograph on the left, were sellouts (over 38,000 people per game), and the atmosphere was electric. Friday night the Cubs pounded the Sox by a score of 10 to 5. The next night the White Sox came from behind to beat the Cubs 8-3, to the delight of the thousands in attendance. Yesterday's game was a classic. I checked in on MLB.com and saw that the White Sox were already down 3-0 before having to leave to do errands (me, not the White Sox). When I got back home and tuned in the game, it was tied 4-4 in the 7th inning. Then, in the bottom of the 8th, the Sox scored three runs and led by a score of 7-4. Now all they had to do was get three quick outs and take the series. Except the Cubs scored three runs in the top of the 9th and tied the game, which went into extra innings. And, of course, the Cubs, who are in first place in the National League Central, scored a run in the 10th for an 8-7 lead. All hope lost, right?
No! Backup catcher Edgar Quero, coming into the game hitting .151, hit a home run with a man on base to win the game 9-8, to the joy of Sox fans everywhere. And this is not a small thing. The White Sox are 7 and 3 over their last 10 games, one game out of first place in the American League Central, and Chicago Tribune baseball writer Paul Sullivan says, and I quote: "the Sox not only look like they have turned a corner in the rebuild but also might be bona fide contenders in a watered-down American League Central." He even suggests this might be a repeat of the 1977 season, when both the Cubs and White Sox were in first place for weeks before both teams faded at the end. That was the year the White Sox were called "the South Side Hit Men," Harry Caray was in the television booth, and organist Nancy Faust began playing "Nah Nah Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" whenever an opposing pitcher was removed from the game. And, I might add, my hero Bill Veeck owned the team. A time I remember very well. The photograph on the right, by the way, shows the White Sox players greeting Edgar Quero after hitting that game-winning home run. And I have to say, I can't wait for the second round of the City Series in August, when the White Sox will meet the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Hopefully with both teams in first place.
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