Joyless Seasons for White Sox and Cubs

Is it over yet? I mean this baseball season, one of the most dispiriting, unsatisfying campaigns Chicago has endured. I’m a baseball guy, but I’m ready to call it a year. When do the Blackhawks start?

There have been worse records on both sides of town, of course, often in the same year. But the 2010 season has been depressingly devoid of any uplift, of any events that portend a good future, of moments to warm us over the long, cold winter ahead. It was chilly, wet and miserable on Hawk Harrelson Night — an omen.

The Ted Lilly-Gavin Floyd dual flirtation with no-hitters at Wrigley Field on June 13? Fun while it lasted, but the Stanley Cup’s festive visit to the park that night is the more enduring image. Plus Lilly is no longer with us, and Carlos Zambrano still is. That sort of sums up the season.

I know, I know, the White Sox had that 25-5 burst that moved them from eight games under .500 to 12 games over, from fourth place to first in the span of a month. Again, fun while it lasted. And, like most things that seem too good to be true, it was.

After bumping along at around .500 for the next month, the White Sox had a great chance to assert control of the division: six games in 10 days against the Minnesota Twins, a make-or-break, settle-it-here set-to with their chief rival. They lost four of the six and are hanging on in a race that was theirs for the taking. It looked like the fellas would be enjoying October at home until old hands Mark Buehrle and Paul Konerko came through in the final game of the series.

The Twins have been without Justin Morneau since early July and without closer Joe Nathan all season. They have abandoned the quirky, aggravating Metrodome for Target Field, an outdoor venue that requires them to play real baseball. And they’re better at it than the White Sox. No one is quite sure why, but they are.

Morneau’s absence means regular at-bats for Jim Thome, and wouldn’t you know, the amiable slugger bombed his former teammates out of Tuesday’s game with a two-run, 10th-inning homer that might still be traveling. Much angst for Ozzie Guillen, who was fingered as the shot-caller who didn’t want Thome back this year and didn’t want a bases-clogging Clydesdale on the team of thoroughbreds he envisioned.

The Sox have been a little short on left-handed hitting, so the Thome decision keeps coming up. In the very game in which he took lefty Matt Thornton really deep, Thome was thrown out by two car lengths trying to score from first on a triple that might have scored Herm Schneider, the Sox’s portly trainer. Both sides of the argument were there to examine within two hours.

Truth is, Thome is a better fit with the Twins. They’re getting him enough at-bats to keep his swing grooved, and he’s about the only guy they have who can’t run, so clogged bases are a minor concern. Guillen might have said that instead of starting another petulant “they can fire me if they don’t like it” rant when asked about Thome a day later. It’s getting old, Oz.

Besides, it could be worse. Guillen could be managing the Cubs. There’s an opening, by the way, and no shortage of eager candidates. The new manager had best be a patient man — there are lean times ahead.

The much ballyhooed Year.1 of the Ricketts era has been awful, an embarrassment on the field and more empty seats at each game. Most of those seats have been sold, so the official attendance should surpass three million for the seventh straight season. But empty seats don’t buy beer and bison burgers, which means less revenue to finance a badly needed roster overhaul.

Last spring, Chairman Tom Ricketts gave a dismissive smirk to a survey that found the Cubs having the highest ticket prices in baseball. With demand in decline, what do they charge next year? What do they sell? Ryne Sandberg? Maybe if he plays second base in addition to managing. Are Starlin Castro and Tyler Colvin ready to be centerpiece players? If not, it’s another year of indolent Aramis Ramirez and Al Soriano. They are a tired act that is almost intolerable when they’re not hitting.

Through Thursday, the Cubs had gone 8-20 since Lou Piniella’s retirement announcement on July 20. Allowing him to finish the season was a curious decision; the Cubs had sleepwalked through the first three-and-a-half months, and it’s not like they were going to rally behind a lame-duck manager who had clearly lost interest.

Ricketts, at Lou’s side for the announcement, had a say in that decision, and that’s the problem. He’s not a baseball guy, and he needs one. He needs a baseball guy to hire the next manager, run the entire operation and not put up with what went on this year. Pat Gillick, a master builder, is out there, and so is Sandy Alderson. Roland Hemond will be 75 in two months, but he might have one more rebuilding project in him.

Anybody have Dallas Green’s number? Now that would be fun. Even the noodle would snap to and look busy.