posted on Thursday, July 12, 2007 11:04 PM
by
Jim
July 12: White Sox 9, Orioles 7
Yup, the White Sox picked up where they left off. They entered the ninth with a seven-run lead, yet the bullpen -- or Dewon Day and Boone Logan, namely -- allowed the tying run to come to the plate. The Sox had previously done this with
five-run leads twice, but a seven-run lead is new territory. Especially all in one inning.
The Sox offense unexpectedly crushed Orioles rookie Jeremy Guthrie, who entered the game with a 2.74 ERA and allowing under a baserunner an inning. Jim Thome greeted him with a two-out solo homer in the first inning, and the Sox piled on thereafter. The next five batters reached, highlighted by an RBI single by Jermaine Dye and a two-run double by Rob Mackowiak.
Dye and Mackowiak had a banner days. Dye added a solo homer and a single, and Mackowiak went 3-for-3 with a walk. Juan Uribe was the only Sox without a hit, going 0-for-5 with two strikeouts.
An A.J. Pierzynski RBI ground-rule double ended Guthrie's day. He lasted only 3 2/3 innings, his worst start of the season. Little did we know that when Paul Konerko added an insurance run with a single in the seventh, it would end up mattering.
Matt Thornton struck out the side in his inning of work in relief of Jon Garland, with a two-out walk the only blemish on a tremendous outing. Dewon Day had the opposite luck -- each of his six pitches went for strikes, but all four batters reached via a base hit, three of them on the first pitch.
Boone Logan looked like he was going to limit the damage to two runs when he retired the first two batters he faced on a weak groundout and a weak popout. But then he grooved one to Kevin Millar, who blasted a three-run homer, and it became a two-run game.
When Logan then allowed a weak single to Aubrey Huff, Ozzie Guillen was forced to go to Bobby Jenks, who retired Jay Payton on one pitch to end the game.
The shame is Garland allowed the bullpen an easy night out with a strong outing, especially in comparison to
his disaster against the Twins. He was efficient with his pitches, and only ran into trouble a couple times. He allowed three singles in the first inning, but only one run came out of it. The same thing happened in the sixth, when a double play stifled what could've been a crooked number when the O's started the inning with three singles.
Record: 40-47 |
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