|
|
|
||||||||
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
| SoxWire Archives 2000 |
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
THE 2000 SEASON: SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ - Spring training is only weeks away, and the Sox are beginning to make preparartions for the upcoming season. Rick Ochocki has signed a new one-year contract to manage the boys in black, and the general manager by committee continues to search for talented roster additions. The 1999 season ended in dissapointment thanks to a two-game sweep at the hands of the Braves, but this did little to take away from an overall feeling of imoprovement. The Sox wish you a Happy New Year, and hope to see you soon at a ballpark near you.
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
APRIL 8: SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ - Opening Day: one of the greatest moments on the calendar. Endless possibilities. Reasonless hope. Unpredictable events -- like a snowstorm. Due to inclement weather, the White Sox opener against the Rangers was postponed. A makeup date has yet to be set. | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
APRIL 30: SECAUCUS, NJ - After two cancelations due to inclement weather and three weeks of waiting, the White Sox finally got to play some baseball. The Sox may wish they had waited another week. For the first time since 1998, the White Sox lost a game due to the mercy rule. The Bayonne Thunder scored almost at will while racking up a 17-5 victory in seven innings. One bright spot was Sox right fielder Dan Skelton's healthy return to the lineup. Skelton celebrated by going one for three and pulling down a couple of fly balls. Next week, the Sox host the Edison Cubs in a home-opening double header. | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
| SOX, CUBS SPLIT - SKELTON'S STREAK ENDS MAY 7: SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ - On a blistering, summer-like day, the White Sox split a double header with the Edison Cubs, winning the first game 11-9 and losing the second 13-4. Game one featured solid defense and clutch hitting from both clubs. After the Sox had built a 9-5 lead after six innings (in a seven-inning ballgame), the Cubs came roaring back with a three-run homer to pull within one run. The Sox, in turn, responded with back-to-back, one-out doubles from Dan Skelton and Rick Ochocki to add an insurance run. The Sox added another run before the inning ended, and took an 11-8 lead into the top of the seventh. The Cubs plated one run in the seventh, and managed to bring the tying run to the plate, but Chris Van Hise shook off the effects of the sixth inning and shut the door. The victory evened the Sox' record at 1-1. Skelton's double in the sixth was a bit of a milestone -- it was his first extra-base hit since 1996, his third hit of the game and his fourth straight base hit. Skelton, you may remember, was limited to three hits all of last year. Other hilights included a solid pitching performance from Kyle Anderson and a solo home run from Bob Marino.
Game two was not as well played as the first contest. Mostly due to a rash of injuries to both teams as well as a few early departures by some of the ballplayers. The remaining men were obvioulsy a bit exhausted after five and a half hours in the nintety-degree day, and many were forced to play out of position. A deadly combination that lead to some sloppy defensive play. | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
| SOX STUMBLE, LOSE TO JAYS MAY 14: JACKSON, NJ - The Jackson Blue Jays battled back from a 7-0 deficit to steal a game away from the White Sox 17-14. After five innings, the White Sox seemed to have everything under control -- cruising along to an easy victory. Chris Van Hise had dominated -- allowing only one unearned run, and that in the fifth inning. But when Van Hise left the game, the Sox were unable to hold the lead -- not even for an inning. Kyle Anderson took over for Van Hise and struggled with his control walking several men. The Sox defense did nothing to help their pitcher, making several errant throws. Walks, errors and some seeing-eye singles did them in, and by the end of the inning, the Blue Jays had a 10-7 lead. The Sox kept things interesting, bringing the tying run to the plate several times, but never did regain the lead. Sox Highlights:An unassisted double play by third baseman, Mike Rothman; a two-run homer by Eliazar Ricardo; the continuation of right fielder, Dan Skelton's hitting streak (now at four games) and another solid outing by the Sox newest relief ace, Rick Ochocki. | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
| RAIN RAIN, GO AWAY MAY 21: SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ - For the second time in as many attempts, the game between the White Sox and the Franklin Rangers was postponed due to the weather. The teams were scheduled to face each other on opening day, but were disappointed by a freak snow storm. Today's game, which was to be the make up of the first game, was called due to rain. The Sox will take Memorial Day weekend off, and will face the South Brunswick Athletic's on June 4th. | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
| SOX COMEBACK FALLS SHORT JUNE 11: SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ - Fighting both the New Brunswick Mets and the heat proved to be too much for the White Sox as they dropped their fifth straight game 11-10. On a blistering morning that saw the mercury reach 98 degrees, the Sox' pitching committee put in a strong performance backed by a solid -- if not spectacular -- effort by the defense, but the Sox hitters simply didn't provide the big hits. In what may have been the best contested game of the seaon, the White Sox continually gave the Mets a lead and then fought back, twice to tie it up, and twice to within a single run. The see-saw battle saw scores of 2-0, 2-2, 4-2, 4-4, 8-4, 8-7, 11-7, and 11-10. The teams entered the ninth innning with the Mets clinging to a 8-7 lead, but a handful of walks and errors with a base hit or two produced three additional runs for the Mets, and the Sox came to bat trailing by four with only three outs remaining. Sox Highlights: Rightfielder Dan Skelton broke out of an 1-11 slump with three hits; Chris Van Hise pitched three scoreless innings; Rick Ochocki threw three solid innings of relief; and Joe Pring collected another hit, bringing his average to xxx. | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
| SOX SWEPT JUNE 25: SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ - The Jackson Blue Jays had to rally from a huge deficit to defeat the White Sox earlier in the year -- they didn't have anywhere near that much trouble this time around. The Jays jumped out to a huge first inning lead and one game one by a score of 11-1. Game two was a bit more competitive as the Sox fought back from a 3-1 deficit before eventually falling 5-3. Sox Highlights: Eliazar Riccardo launched a two-run homer to tie the game at three in the bottom of the fifth and Dan Skelton collected two more singles adding to his career-high hit total. | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
| UNLUCKY SEVEN JULY 2: SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ - The White Sox dropped their seventh straight decsion today, losing to the Marlins 11-5. Sox Highlights: Eliazar Riccardo homered in his second straight game, and Sox starter, Rick Ochocki , pitched five strong innings. | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
| SOX SPLIT - LOSING STREAK ENDS JULY 9: METEUCHEN, NJ - After dropping the first game of a double bill to the Athletics, the White Sox stormed back with a game two victory, ending their losing streak at eight games. Lead by the strong performance of starting pitcher Chris Van Hise and the bat of Kyle Anderson, the Sox fought through a flurry of defensive miscues to a 7-5 victory. This was the Sox first win since April. Game one was a comedy of errors. Somehow, the White Sox managed to score 17 runs and still lose. Thanks to countless defensive lapses in the first and fifth innings, the Sox gave up 20 total runs -- 16 in those two innings alone. In the second game, Van Hise -- who also closed out the first game on the mound -- threw a complete game victory, and battled out of several tight spots, repeatedly getting the A's big bats to hit foul fly balls during clutch situations. Sox Highlights: Due to previous commitments and injuries, the Sox roster was limited to nine men. All nine Sox played all fourteen innings of the double header, with many playing out of position. Joe Pring took a turn in right field, Bill Panageas tried his hand at second base, Rick Ochocki handled third, and Dan Skelton played in left field -- his first time anywhere besides right in well over a season. Bill Panageas homered in the game one loss; Kyle Anderson homered in the game two victory. | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
| SOX ON A NEW TYPE OF STREAK . . . WINNING | ||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
| The White Sox celebrating a rare victory. | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
JULY 16: EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ - The White Sox picked up two victories today, doubling their season total and putting themselves right back into playoff contention. After a 45 minute delay for groundskeeping and the arrival of the host Rangers, the Sox took the first game of the scheduled double header by a 19-10 score and picked up another victory when the Rangers were forced to forfeit game two due to a lack of personnel. The Sox started off slowly, and actually trailed the last place Rangers for most of the game. Walks and errors lead to an early deficit, and despite the fact that the Rangers could field only eight men, the Sox quiet bats and a series of base running blunders kept them from scoring. After six innings -- in a seven inning game -- the score was knotted at seven. The Sox appeared to take control by plating three runs in the top of the seventh, but promptly gave up three runs in the bottom half of the inning. Only a spectacular save by catcher Bill Panageas kept the Sox alive for another inning. With the winning run at third, a curve ball in the dirt got past Panageas and rolled to the backstop. Panageas dove after the ball and threw from his back to pitcher Chris Van Hise who had sprinted in from the mound to tag out the baserunner. In the eighth, the Rangers ran out of pitching, and the Sox bats came alive. The Rangers' fourth hurler of the day struggled with his control, walking at least four White Sox and was hit hard when he found the zone. When the dust settled, the White Sox had a 19-10 lead. Kyle Anderson took the mound in the ninth, and shut the door on the Rangers by allowing one hit and giving up no walks. Sox Highlights: Eliazar Riccardo hit his third home run in as many games; Bill Panageas went 4-5 with a double and a triple; John Kuhn tripled. SEASON SWEPT UNDER THE RUG | AUGUST 6: NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ - The White Sox ended the 2000 season by dropping two games to the New Brunswick Mets today, bringing their final record to 4-13. The first game started off badly for the Sox as they fell behind 7-0, but they battled back to a brief 10-8 lead only to eventually lose by a final score of 23-17. In the second game, the Sox once again fell behind early. This time, however, they were unable to make it a contest. The game was eventually called due to the ten-run rule when the Mets scored their 13th run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Sox Highlights: Right fielder, Dan Skelton, broke out of a 2-23 slump by knocking four hits on the day including a bases-loaded double. Skelton had 6 RBIs in the first game, and added one more in game two. Rick Ochocki went the distance in the first contest for his first career complete game and performed better than the final score might indicate.
1999 Season
|
2001 Season
|
2002 Season
|
| ||||||||||