[jksander]

July 14, 1916: We took the lead in the bottom of the first with a groundout by Wally Schang and an RBI single by Nap Lajoie, and in the bottom of the third we extended our lead to 3-0 thanks to an RBI single by Schang that was aided by an E8 error. But Gene Packard gave it all back in the top of the fourth ... they got on the board when, on a strike that made the count on Happy Felsch 1-1, Joe Jackson stole second and an E2 error allowed Shano Collins to score. Felsch would go on to strike out swinging, but back to back RBI triples for Buck Weaver and Ray Schalk allowed Chicago to tie it up 3-3 midway through the inning, and in the top of the fifth Felsch hit an RBI double to put them into the lead 4-3. We held it at that margin until, desperation time, Amos Strunk hit an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth to tie things up and send us into the 10th knotted 4-4. In the bottom of the 11th inning, with one out, Stuffy McInnis hit an RBI single to walk it off and we got out of this one with a 5-4 win after having to claw our way back in. Bill Morrisette was our third reliever of the night, and he got the win with an inning of work and nobody making it on base ... he’s now 6-3 with a 3.89 ERA through 34.2 innings over 22 appearances. We outhit them 16-11, led by McInnis who had four hits a run and an RBI.

July 15, 1916: After yesterday’s win, coupled with a 3-2 loss by St. Louis in Brooklyn, we’re now just half a game out of a tie for first place! But tonight we couldn’t seem to do anything right ... the White Sox scored a run in the third, another in the fourth, two in the fifth and one in the seventh to build a commanding 5-0 lead on us before Jimmy Walsh hit an RBI single and Amos Strunk added an RBI double to give us two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. But Chicago got three more in the eighth and let us stumble our way into a miserable 8-3 loss as a result, outhitting us 12-8. Pedro Dibut has now lost two in a row, and this time he can’t blame anyone but himself -- he only lasted 6.2 innings and allowed eight hits, two walks and five earned runs with two strikeouts, letting them have three home runs off his pitches, including two by Happy Felsch who finished with three hits, two runs and two RBIs. Jimmy Walsh had a hit, two walks, a run and an RBI, and Amos Strunk added two hits and an RBI. But we were off our game all day and it showed in pretty much every phase of our game.

July 17, 1916: We had yesterday to rest a bit and regroup for the back half of this four-game set, and we took the lead quickly in the bottom of the first with an RBI single by Stuffy McInnis. But they took the lead back in the fifth, Buck Weaver tying the score off an RBI single and Ray Schalk hitting a sac-fly to flip the script to them leading 2-1. In the top of the ninth Happy Felsch hit a solo homer, his seventh of the season, to extend their lead to two, but pinch hitter Shag Thompson hit a two-run blast for us on one out in the bottom of the inning to help us force it into extras once again. Dick Rudolph got us through the 10th inning and then let Byron Houck take the ball in the 11th after he’d thrown 136 pitches and was completely gassed. Jack Nabors took over in the 13th and Happy Felsch sac-flied his team’s way into the lead ... and that was all she wrote, we had nothing left in us, stranding a pair in the bottom of the inning as we lost this one 4-3. Nabors took the hit, falling to 5-4 with a 4.66 ERA thanks to a hit, a walk and a run, and though Dick Rudolph had lasted 10 innings, he finished with nine hits, a walk, seven strikeouts and a trio of runs to go with a no-decision. They out hit us 11-9, our team led by Thompson with his first homer of the seaosn as a pinch hitter.
 
July 18, 1916: I’m amazed we had anything left in our tank after that brutal loss yesterday, and tonight Chicago took the lead in the top of the fourth with an RBI triple by Joe Jackson and an RBI double by Jack Fournier, further knocking the wind out of our sails. Amos Strunk grounded out in the bottom of the sixth but drove home our only run of the game, but it was all we could manage and we limped into yet another one-run loss, this time by a 2-1 margin, the White Sox outhitting us 8-7. Gene Packard took the loss, falling to 5-4 with a 2.34 ERA, allowing seven hits and two earned runs with two strikeouts and no walks, Amos Strunk’s sac-fly RBI being our only offense of the day.

Losing three of four to the White Sox on our field is a powerful blow against our chances to win the AL ... they now have a 3.5 game lead on us, though we’re just half a game back of St. Louis. But we’re now 3-8 against them this season, and the more times we play them the more we can see the thin margins we’re bettting against to stay competitive with teams built way stronger than ours. We’ll now host Cleveland (42-44) for four critical games as we need to snap our skid and figure out how to start winning close games again. With nobody in the league out of it by more than 10 games, it would be way too easy to start a free-fall and wind up crashing out completely.