The 35th Street Review

A Sox player losing out to someone else by a couple of votes? Yeah, that sounds about right.

You have to love Chicago baseball in September. No matter where you live or who you root for, everyone is but one headline away from another season of failure:

Is this Hell? No, it’s Cleveland
Tests on Sox’ Quentin ‘good so far’
Ozzie: Fields’ fielding must improve
E-5? Crede says no contract error made
Zambrano may miss only one start for Cubs
Discomforting list now includes Harden

What’s interesting is if you put them back into their normal context - say, 10 games out by now and cursing free agent signings that won’t happen - these things would all make sense. A Sox hitter being indeterminately hurt and the top of the Cubs’ rotation being mere moments away from total devastation are nothing new. In fact, were this four Septembers ago we could just as easily be talking about Magglio Ordonez, Frank Thomas, Mark Prior and Kerry Wood. And yet by virtue of the Cardinals refusing to lose 100 games (and the Tigers’ refusal to win 100), here we stand but steps away from torturous, nail-biting Cleveland hell. The more things change. . . whatever.

With their cutting (”released by mutual agreement” is the press release language) of a badly slumping Frank Thomas, the natural question is not one of “why” but “how,” as in how did they get the same Thomas who, less than 24 hours prior, said he and the .167 average the Jays were paying him millions to hit were better than a bench role, to go along with being flat-out dropped from the team?

Starting in center field, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Frank Thomas III. Seriously.

Fifteen years of Chicago baseball as defined by one sliver of laminated photo paper.