2007 State of the Sox

April 25: Tigers 6, White Sox 2

Jim Leyland did the Sox a big favor when he sent Joel Zumaya out in the ninth inning of a six-run game.  Even in the best-case scenario for the Tigers, where Zumaya retires the Sox 1-2-3 on five pitches, the Sox still gain an advantage of getting another look at him.

It seemed like a fairly innocuous decision when Guitar Hero erased a leadoff single with a Paul Konerko double play, and then had A.J. Pierzynski down 0-2.  But then he hit A.J. with his next pitch, and the wheels fell off. He'd walk the next four batters -- including Pablo Ozuna and Juan Uribe -- to bring in two runs, and all but Andy Gonzalez's walk were easy decisions for hitters.  He threw 17 of his last 22 pitches out of the strike zone, and Uribe and Ozuna were taking steps back as he released the ball.

Fortunately for Detroit, Brian Anderson came up with the bases loaded representing the tying run and hit a broken-bat groundout to end the ballgame.  He had a belt-high 88 m.p.h. Todd Jones fastball right down the middle, but swung under it.  It seems like Anderson can't hit anything higher or lower than the middle of his thigh -- and yet he was the DH.  And when Rob Mackowiak pulled an abdominal muscle running the bases, it forced Ozzie to replace him with Andy Gonzalez.  Nothing like making a major-league debut and a positional debut at the same time.

The Tigers gained their big cushion in the first inning off John Danks, continuing a trend of big first innings against Sox pitchers, by scoring three runs with their first four batters.  Magglio Ordonez hit the big two-run single, and went 3-for-4 overall against his former team.

Danks once again received minimal support, thanks to a lineup missing Jim Thome (oblique strain) and Jermaine Dye (bad back).  The lineup hit as well as you might imagine.  By throwing eight shutout innings, Chad Durbin joined J.P. Howell and Kason Gabbard as the next dominant major-league pitcher, according to Hawk Harrelson.

Record: 11-9 | Box score | Play-by-play