Underachievement Reigns

The White Sox were rolled in Toronto today (Sunday) as John Danks fell to an absurd 0-8 record. Carlos Quentin got us on the board early with a solo shot in the first, leading me to believe the Sox were going to battle today, boy was I wrong. The Blue Jays came out and absolutely shelled John Danks in the bottom of the first, putting up 6 runs, highlighted by a grand slam by Aaron Hill of the Blue Jays. I'll spare you the rest of the details, the final score was 13-4 Blue Jays.

I have to wonder what is going on with John Danks. His first 6 or 7 starts this season were good to above average. The problem there was the lack of run support Danks was receiving from his offense. But recently Danks has looked awful on the mound, missing his spots, falling behind batters, and failing to mix up his pitches. I wonder if recently he has been trying to do to much because he is expecting lack of offensive support or if his confidence is shot because its the end of May and he has yet to win a game. But Danks has arguably been our best starting pitcher the last few seasons, its a shame to see him going through such an awful stretch. Just something to think about....

A couple interesting stats regarding the Sox and the Jays:
The White Sox have lost 22 of the last 27 games they have played against Toronto.
The White Sox have lost 15 of their last 18 games they have played IN Toronto.

I am starting to wonder wether or not this team is going to fully turn it around and play to their potential. That is what is making this season so frustrating, I had never had as high of hopes for a White Sox team coming into a season as I did this year and they continue to make stupid plays, put together bad at bats, and just underachieve all around.  It would be different if we didn't have any expectations for this team or if they didn't have any talent. What also has made this road trip extremely frustrating is the fact that the team had been showing major signs of improvement prior to this trip. They seemed to be turning the season around, not to mention they could and should have won almost every game during this road trip. With the exception of today, they have been in the game at the end of all the contests on this trip, they just haven't been able to get runs in and close games when given the chance (leaving men on base in the late innings in tie games/1 run games).

I don't mean to sound negative, but just the way they have been playing has really posed the question, "Is this team going to underachieve all year?" Its still early and a lot can happen in 100+ games, but if they don't start playing to their potential, this year is going to be one major disappointment.

Lets just hope they bounce back in Boston (easier said than done). Inconsistency has been leading to their underachievement. It seems like when the pitching is there, the offense isn't or vice versa. We need the entire team to focus and just start destroying teams, because they have the talent to do it. Really all their is to do now, for us, the fans, is to support our team and hope they get hot. If they can string together a few nice winning streaks we'll be right back in this thing.  Until then, lets just do what we can to support them and pray they figure this thing out.