2007 State of the Sox

August 18: Mariners 7, White Sox 5

This game unfolded like a good chunk of first-round NCAA tournament games do.

Underdog jumps out to lead while favorite struggles to click:

Jim Thome and A.J. Pierzynski homered off Jeff Weaver, and the Sox played for one run successfully when Pierzynski and Erstad singled, Scott Podsednik bunted them over and Juan Uribe hit a deep flyball for the sacrifice fly.

Meanwhile, the Mariners shot themselves in the foot twice by grounding into double plays, including one nicely turned by Juan Uribe and Danny Richar to get Kenji Johjima.

Favorite climbs back into the game:

John Danks looked strong the first couple of innings, but then started leaving pitches up.  Base hits started falling, and when Jose Vidro singled to left with two outs, it was a brand new ballgame.

Underdog becomes undone:

Ehren Wassermann experienced his toughest inning as a major-league reliever.  He came in after Danks allowed a single to start the sixth, and began by hanging a sinker to Richie Sexson, who roped it into the left-field corner to put runners on second and third.  He then threw another hittable fastball to Johjima, who shot it right back up the middle.  Sexson was held at third, but Jerry Owens airmailed the throw, and it bounced into the camera well behind home plate.

The Seattle feed's camera work sucked, and I couldn't see whether Wassermann could've caught Owens' throw.  It went over Pierzynski's head, but bounced short of the wall.

He battled back by inducing a couple choppers to third, which kept Johjima stranded at third after the two-base error.  But then Wassermann walked Ichiro intentionally, and then Vidro shot a single to right.  Josh Fields couldn't handle a chopper, loading the bases, and then another run scored when Wassermann bounced one and Pierzynski couldn't block it.

It was the equivalent of a 29-5 run that turns a possible upset into a laugher in the other direction.  The favorite ends up covering the spread and reminds everybody watching that there is a tremendous talent imbalance on the court.

A couple of bright notes: Thome hit two homers, and Pods made arguably the finest defensive play of his White Sox career when he ran down a shallow flyball, then in one motion fired to first in time to get Yunieski Betancourt by a step.

Record: 54-68 | Box score | Play-by-play