My New Hero

[southsider2k5]

This team

 

 

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...l=cs-columnists

 

If you're going to believe in these White Sox, if you're going to give them your heart and trust that they're not Hannibal Lecter, then you're going to have to find a reason or two to believe they're special.

 

For most people, a 26-9 record would seem to be reason enough. Not many teams get off to that kind of start. But not many teams have to deal with 88 years of disappointment, and thus not many teams have to deal with such skepticism.

 

 

But the scope of that skepticism, the sheer weight of it … well, the Shroud of Turin hasn't seen this many raised eyebrows.

 

This team isn't a concoction. It's real. It was real enough Thursday night to beat the Orioles 3-2. Real enough to beat the team with the second-best record in baseball. Jon Garland was real enough to give up two runs in eight innings and run his record to 7-0. He was real enough to get out of a few jams against the best-hitting team in the majors.

 

Ah, but maybe you don't want to hear this voice in the wilderness. Fine. Then listen to Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski, who knows a thing or two about special clubs, having been on a few of them as a Twin. He also knows a thing or two about not-so-special clubs, having watched more-talented Sox teams cave in to the Twins year after year.

 

"When I was over there, we just believed that we were better," he said Thursday. "If you looked, they had Magglio [Ordonez], they had Frank [Thomas], they had Carlos Lee, they had all these guys. We didn't match up. We didn't have that.

 

"But we knew what we had and we knew what we did we did better than anyone else. That was (doing the) little things. We pitched and played defense and took pride in playing every game as hard as we could.

 

"That's what I see with this team. We still have some talented guys here. … But the guys here take pride in going out and playing every game like it's the last. That's all you want."

 

Much of the doubt is coming from the media, a development I know must absolutely stun readers, viewers and listeners alike. Ignore the experts. There are naysayers and then there are neigh-sayers, whom we'll kindly call horse's patoots. It's OK to believe in this team.

 

The Sox came into Thursday's home game with an American League-best 3.17 earned-run average. A fluke? Garland is off to a 7-0 start after five seasons of mediocrity. At what point can it be acknowledged flukiness has gone away and potential finally has arrived?

 

Freddy Garcia has a career record of 88-56. Mark Buehrle is as steady as a metronome. Orlando Hernandez was 8-2 last season and is off to a 5-1 start this year. Dustin Hermanson got his seventh save (in seven opportunities) Thursday night and hasn't given up a run this season.

 

All that, and yet no team in baseball has to explain itself as much as the Sox do.

 

And they aren't hitting yet. Paul Konerko is batting .197 and Aaron Rowand .248. That will change. Pierzynski, a career .294 hitter, is at .250. He warmed to the evening with a home run Thursday.

 

A good portion of the pumped-up crowd of 29,031 had hoped to see and jeer Sammy Sosa, who was put on the Orioles' disabled list Tuesday with an infected foot. It was better that he wasn't here, though. The attention deserved to be on the Sox and not on the sideshow.

 

The attention deserved to be on Garland, who is exhibiting a toughness that hasn't been on display before. With men on first and third and the Sox leading 3-2 in the eighth, he struck out Orioles star Miguel Tejada with a changeup to end the threat. Pretty big for a game in mid-May.

 

Afterward, Garland said he has been watching and learning.

 

"Just watching [buehrle], watching him pitch, watching the way he goes about his business when he's on the mound," he said. "He goes out, throws strikes, works quick. I'm just trying to do the same thing."

 

The criticism is the Sox haven't played any good teams yet. You can bet that if the Sox win this four-game series, the doubters will say the Orioles were never that good in the first place.

 

"You have to keep it going," Pierzynski said. "It's great we started this way, but if we don't finish it off, it doesn't mean a lot. People are going to look back and say, 'See, we were right. They weren't that good.' We believe we are."