Ah, sweet September. A time to cling to the last days of summer, as the sun’s golden rays fade into autumn’s late afternoon chill and national-level sportswriters pine for the days of underperforming White Sox players of old:

The easy read on this is that it’s all the fault of general manager Ken Williams. Not only did the Peavy and Rios deals do nothing for the team’s pennant hopes, but they were just the latest in a series of seemingly botched moves. Last winter, for example, he traded off starter Javier Vazquez and nominal center fielder Nick Swisher. The former ranks among the National League leaders in strikeouts, innings and fewest baserunners per inning. The latter may have been some kind of butcher in center last year, but he’s hitting .256/.374/.506, while Sox center fielders have hit .224/.276/.308.

Ah yes, Nicky the Swish. Anyone remember Swisher? The watched third strikes? The pouting over his lame numbers and justified benching? The constant disaster in center field? But hey, you know, he’s doing well this year, so Williams was obviously an idiot for not taking the necessary steps of surrounding Swisher with Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Mark Teixiera, Jorge Posada et al. Of course.

And then we have Javier Vazquez. You may remember Javier Vazquez as the ace of a string of miserable teams. You may also remember him as the weak link for any number of solid teams. Perhaps you, like me, remember him as The Most Interesting Man In Baseball. But with Vazquez, it was never a question of numbers or standing on the leaderboard; a guy doesn’t land himself in second on the all-decade strikeout chart without throwing a good pitch or two. The problem with Javy was always the things he did when he wasn’t striking people out - namely, coughing up a seemingly endless number of runs in the fifth and sixth innings before leaving the game with the bases loaded. Vazquez this season is sixth in the National League in innings pitched and fourth in starts, and those are just dandy numbers, but every Expos, Yankees and White Sox fan knows Vazquez doesn’t average six innings a start because he’s good; the sixth is simply the time when his managers have usually seen enough.

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It’s pretty clear Nick Swisher was traded in the offseason because his attitude rubbed people in the clubhouse the wrong way. When his numbers sunk and he was only playing in a platoon role, he pouted. So, the Sox sent him packing to New York, and they probably didn’t get enough talent in return.

That’s always kind of been an under-the-radar theory. The Sox haven’t ever said much about it. But, Swisher recently did an Q&A with the NY Post, and said this:

Q: Joe Girardi?

A: Never want to play for anybody else. There’s just something about him, man. He brings everybody together. Best manager I ever played for.

Which is very similar to what he said about Ozzie Guillen at the beginning of last season. So when Guillen was shown this Q&A, the gloves came off:

‘‘I heard the same [stuff] on April 20 [last year] about me,’’ Guillen said. ‘‘He’s got to say what he’s got to say. He was talking about people he’s only known for two weeks. That’s hard to make that statement when you only know people for two weeks, but that’s Nick.”

“Things didn’t work out here for him, but it seems that when somebody leaves this ballclub, they find a better manager.”

“All of a sudden, he knows everyone on the ballclub. I was reading the article, and I just laughed. You only got one week, two weeks on the team, and everyone is nice?

‘‘That’s part of the game. That’s the way it is. That’s the way Swisher is. Things work out for him good, everyone is great. That [stuff] doesn’t work out for him, it’s someone’s fault.”

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With the Yankees down 10 runs, and Joe Girardi not wanting to burn up the bullpen anymore, he turned to Nick Swisher, he of disappointing-2008-season-with-the-White-Sox fame, to toss the last half inning for New York last evening.

Things to look for here: Swisher’s measured, please-let-this-be-a-strike delivery. His teammates laughing in the dugout. Swisher striking out Gabe Kapler. (I’m sorry, that’s just embarrassing. Though not as embarrassing as my entire life.)

And finally, Swisher’s s**t-eating grin throughout his mound appearance. Some things never change.

Nick Swisher is obviously no longer a member of the Chicago White Sox. And one would think that, following a pretty GD good year for the Pale Hose — even if it wasn’t a personally successful one for Swish — Ozzie Guillen would shower him with some love now that he’s out of town and no longer really affects the fate of Chicagoans.

But then you would be forgetting that this is Ozzie we’re talking about.

It was hard because when we brought him here, a lot of people were excited [that] he would have a great career with the White Sox, but we got to the point that we went through the roster … and we had a right fielder, left fielder, first baseman and DH. It was hard for us to find a place for him.

Was Swisher a bad influence in the clubhouse late in the year?

You’ve got to ask the players about that. To be honest with you, I was not happy with the way he was reacting at the end of the season. He wasn’t helping me either.

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While talking with my mother last evening about the Sox’s decision to trade Nick Swisher to the Yankees, she indicated she “felt bad for him because he tried hard, and seemed to do well in clutch situations unlike some other guys on the team.” My mother always feels bad when Sox players get traded or let go. The Sox could have sent Nick Swisher to the Yankees for Alex Rodriguez, Joba Chamberlin and Mariano Rivera and she still would have felt bad and defended Nick Swisher. My mother would make a horrible sportswriter.

BUT ANYWAY, more changes are a-brewing for these White Sox. I indicated last offseason it would be best to ship some of the old, slow, lumbering big sticks out and get some younger, speedy fellers in there. Looks like Williams might be an offseason late on that.

But this signals the start of a new era in Sox history, with at least one more veteran likely to be traded.

“I’m not committing myself to anything right now,” Williams said when asked about the security of Jim Thome, Konerko and Jermaine Dye in the middle of the batting order. “All I’m committing myself to, if anything, is simply grinding it away every day to exhaust possibilities to make us as good as we can possibly be.”

Yes, Kenny, yes. I like the enthusiasm. I hope the next deal you close, you run out on the field and hit a sac fly and then steal a couple bases. A bunt wouldn’t hurt either.

Oh, what high hopes White Sox fans had for Swisher. Look at this guy! He plays with grit and energy! He has crazy facial hair! He’s intense! He also hit .219 this year. And Ozzie benched him in favor of Ken Griffey Jr. for much of the last part of the season. Billy Beane 1, Kenny Williams 0.

So who did the Sox get in return? Minor league pitchers Jeff Marquez and Jhonny Nunez as well as infielder Wilson Betemit. The Sox also unloaded minor league pitcher Kanekoa Texeira in the deal. I’m surprised Kenny Williams gave up on him so quick. After all, it was but one year. Swisher is a patient hitter, who is known to take a lot of walks. That’s grinderball to the MAXX. But he’s gone. Nice to know ya and your blond facial hair.

As far as the Cubbies are concerned today, they picked up Kevin Gregg from the Marlins in exchange for Double-A prospect Jose Ceda. In doing so, with Gregg perchance taking over a closer’s role, Kerry Wood is done with the Cubs after 14 years with the organization.

Cubs GM Jim Hendry is on 670 The Score here in Chicago now and said it was tough letting go of Wood, because they’ve been good friends. He said Wood will always be a Cub, and when his playing days are over he’ll be invited back to be an employee or consultant for however long he wants. Awww. Isn’t that special.

If Kerry Wood’s magnificent 20-strikeout performance against the Astros in only his fifth-ever MLB start in 1998 was still up on YouTube, I’ll throw it in here. Alas, it is not. Either way, the movement on his ball during that game still blows my mind all these years later.