2007 State of the Sox

April 10: Athletics 2, White Sox 1

It's always something in the House of Horrors, AKA McAfee Coliseum.

Bobby Jenks blew his first save of the season, and with it, the Sox's first chance to get over .500 on the season -- and right after it looked like he was going to get out of a jam.

After Milton Bradley and Mike Piazza reached with singles, Jenks stalled them by striking out Eric Chavez and getting a weak flyout from Nick Swisher.  With two strikes on Todd Walker, Jenks couldn't close the door. 

With Walker chasing high fastballs, Jenks threw two curveballs in a row, the second over the plate, and Walker dumped it into left field for the tying run.  Mark Ellis followed by driving a center-cut fastball off the left field wall that Pods just missed (or misplayed), and that was the ballgame.

Of course, the Sox could've given the relievers more of a cushion.  Alex Cintron led off the seventh with a bloop to right that Mark Ellis couldn't handle, and it rolled into foul territory while Cintron cruised to third.  But Sox hitters left him there, as Rob Mackowiak grounded out (with Jermaine Dye on the bench and a lefty on the mound), Juan Uribe struck out, and Scott Podsednik was wrongly called out when C.B. Bucknor ruled Pods' bunt attempt hit him in fair territory.  The bunt landed in the batter's box, and should've been a foul ball. 

I'm not sure why Pods was bunting in the first place.  When I saw him square, visions of Neifi Perez's game-ending bunt out flashed before my eyes. If that was the only option, then Pablo Ozuna should've been sent in.

Then again, Oakland spoiled a similar chance against Jon Garland when Travis Buck led off the fifth with a triple.  He, too, wouldn't score, as Garland got two 1-3 putouts and a flyout to right to end the threat.

Garland didn't only pitch well -- seven innings, three hits, zero runs -- he fielded his position well, too.  He handled everything that came back to him, including a screamer off the bat of Chavez that ended the sixth.

Unfortunately, he needed to pitch that well, because the offense gave him little support. 

Strangely enough, the only right-handed hitter who could solve Chad Gaudin was... Juan Uribe.  The only other guys to get hits were lefties Podsednik and Mackowiak; everybody else was simply disabled by Gaudin's fastball-slider combo.  Despite rarely coming inside, Sox righties flailed weakly at every low and outside offering

Uribe's single wasn't impressive -- it found its way past a diving Nick Swisher and Mark Ellis to bring home the Sox's only run.  But he actually stayed with it and pushed it towards the opposite field, when the rest of the Sox hitters appeared to be pulling away from it.

Record: 3-4 | Box score | Play-by-play