White Sox should play Pirates more often

Don't cheer too hard Sox fans, you only get to play the Pirates three times this year.

What should a team do after getting rejected by Jake Peavy and then smacked around and dragged through 20 runs of humiliation at the hands of the Minnesota Twins? You play the Pittsburgh Pirates, of course!

To be fair, the White Sox did win two out of three from the Twinkies (all’s not lost Sox fans!), and their young ace Gavin Floyd gave no indication that the Peavy non-trade would become the albatross these Sox would carry all season long: He pitched a gem of a game on Friday, allowing no runs in eight innings, barely giving up two hits for his third win of the year.

Tonight, the Sox once again shut out the Bucs, getting another well pitched game from their starter, Clayton Richard, and with the offense flashing a little bit more lumber:  Jermaine Dye went deep, and Alexei Ramirez homered for the second time in as many games, possibly indicating he’s tired of riding both the bench and his manager’s patience.

Coincidentally, ESPN the Mag ran a feature in its current issue (available online here), lambasting the once great Pirates franchise for continuously sucking.

Of course, a three-game series versus the futility of the Pittsburgh Pirates is not going to turn the White Sox’ season around. They still have holes in center field (sigh), second base, third base, and left field. Carlos Quentin’s injuries are starting to become the issue they were feared to become at the time he was brought over from the Diamondbacks; the pitching has been spotty, and manager Kenny Williams is threatening to opt for a fire sale before this team gets further into the hole.

But at least for this series, I, for one White Sox fan, am glad the Pirates suck.