White Sox go from first to worst, quickly

CHICAGO – Confetti fell and euphoria reigned as manager Ozzie Guillen and his team paraded through the streets of the city after the White Sox won the World Series for the first time in 88 years.\nThat day seems so long ago now, although it’s been less than two years.\nIn a stunning and swift collapse, the White Sox have plummeted to the bottom of their own division. And with five weeks left this season, the only team with a worse record in the AL is Tampa Bay.\nGuillen hasn’t lost his fondness for talking, but one word that has come tumbling out several times this season is “embarrassed,” often used to describe his team’s play.\n“This year is the hardest year I’ve ever had in my career, as a player and a coach,” Guillen said. “This is the hardest one, not because we’re losing. I feel like we let a lot of people down. We have a better ball club than what we’ve shown, and I take full responsibility.”\nIt’s one thing to lose, but another to be humbled as the White Sox were last weekend at U.S Cellular Field when the Boston Red Sox won four straight by a combined 46-7 score.\n“We’ve played horrible,” Guillen said, describing not just the four games against the first place Red Sox but most of the season.\nSome frustration surfaced in the series when catcher A.J. Pierzynski and hitting coach Greg Walker exchanged words in the dugout. Pierzynski said it’s happened before and will happen again, and it was no big deal. He insists he and Walker are fine.\n“It’s an issue that shouldn’t be brought up but is going to be because of the way we’re playing. If we were playing better, no one would care,” Pierzynski said.\nEveryone seems to be looking for signs that the White Sox are ready to go on vacation. Guillen told the team in a recent meeting to keep playing.\n“I haven’t seen a lack of effort by one person on this team,” Pierzynski said. “Every guy runs out balls and everyone hustles.”\nBut here’s how bad it’s gotten: The White Sox had lost 13 of 15 games to fall 18 games under .500 for the first time since 1989, before they won a makeup game Monday against Tampa Bay.\nThe current skid was preceded by an earlier one that was just as unfathomable. During one stretch starting in late May and running into late June, the White Sox went 5-22.\n“I don’t like to wish days away. But it will be nice when it’s over so we can start playing for next year,” chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said in an interview with the team’s flagship radio station last week.\n“I’m certainly shocked and surprised, but so are most people in baseball. Most people thought we had a team that would contend and we never were in it.”\nThe reasons are numerous: An offense featuring Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye started slowly and has been erratic and unproductive. It figured to be among the best in the league, but has been anything but – and is at or near the bottom of the AL in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.\nThe bullpen has been unreliable and shaky, even though it was supposed to be one of the team’s strengths. Other than closer Bobby Jenks, who recently tied a major league record by retiring 41 straight batters, relievers like David Aardsma, Mike MacDougal, Matt Thornton, Ryan Bukvich, Dewon Day and Nick Masset struggled off and on. The bullpen has blown 18 saves and has an ERA over five runs per game.\nAnd then there is the rotation. Two years ago in the AL championship series, Chicago starters hurled four straight complete games to beat the Angels and advance to their first World Series since 1959.\nBut now those days are also long gone, as is one of those starters, Freddy Garcia, traded to the Phillies in the offseason.\nJose Contreras was 11-2 in the second half of 2005 and went 3-1 in the playoffs. He started last season by going 9-0 before the All-Star break but has not been the same pitcher since. Contreras had lost nine straight starts this season before beating the Devil Rays and owns a dubious mark: 16 losses, the most in the majors. He is 11-25 since the 2006 All-Star break.\nJon Garland, an 18-game winner in the each of the previous two seasons is 8-10. And Mark Buehrle, who got a four-year, $56 million contract extension last month and pitched a no-hitter in April, is 9-9. Rookie John Danks, acquired from Texas in the offseason, is 6-12 and winless in August.\nThen there were some untimely injuries: Slick-fielding, clutch-hitting third baseman Joe Crede was lost for the season to back surgery in June, outfielders Scott Podsednik and Darin Erstad have been on the DL twice each, top utility man Pablo Ozuna broke his leg and DH Jim Thome has been slowed by an assortment of physical problems.\nThe 33-year-old Dye, who like Buehrle could have been a free agent, got a two-year, $22 million contract extension. Right-hander Javier Vazquez was given a three-year, $35.5 million contract extension during the spring and leads the staff with 11 wins.\nBut the future doesn’t appear to be the bright one that general manager Ken Williams mapped out during the during the World Series when he said he wanted to build a team that would be a perennial contender.\nAnd look at what happened to the team the White Sox swept in the World Series: the Houston Astros fired both manager Phil Garner and general manager Tim Purpura after falling near the bottom of their division.\nGuillen, who has another year left on his contract with an option year in 2009, will use the remainder of the season to try to re-establish what he thought was going to be a constant – winning. Williams will have to remake or reshape in the offseason.\nGuillen promised the next White Sox team would be a good one.\n“I don’t know who’s going to be there,” he said. “But it can’t be worse than this.”