2008 State of the Sox

ALDS Game 4: Rays 6, White Sox 2

B.J. Upton had Gavin Floyd's number, the Rays' speed had the Sox defense's number, the wind had A.J. Pierzynski's number, and Andy Sonnanstine and Jeff Kellogg had the Sox lineup's number.

As far as season-ending losses go, this one was pretty painless.

Rays win 3-1 | Box score | Play-by-play

ALDS Game 3: White Sox 5, Rays 3

Stolen bases.  Hits with runners in scoring position.  Runs in the second half of the game.

The White Sox can rack up these things when they're in the out of doors.

It also helped to have Dewayne Wise back.  Wise, who was benched in Game 2 because of a lefty on the mound, made an immediate impact in this one.  He scored the Sox's first run by singling, stealing second and scoring on A.J. Pierzynski's single to tie the game at 1 in the third.

Two innings later, he came up with the afternoon's biggest hit.

The Sox had just taken the lead on Alexei Ramirez's sacrifice fly.  But not only did it get a run home -- his deep fly to center also allowed Paul Konerko to get to third, and Ken Griffey Jr. to move to second.  Wise knocked them both by redirecting a first-pitch fastball on the outside corner down the left-field line to give the Sox a 4-1 lead.

John Danks and Co. would make it stand.  Danks pitched superbly, allowing a run on an infield single for the first six innings.  He began to tire in the seventh, missing his spots badly.  That led to walking Rocco Baldelli and grooving a cutter to B.J. Upton, who cut a 5-1 lead to 5-3.

After Danks gave up a single to Carlos Pena, Ozzie Guillen had to pull him.  In came Octavio Dotel, who struck out Evan Longoria with a fastball to end the seventh.  Matt Thornton and Bobby Jenks would both allow the tying run to come to the plate, but their baserunners did not advance past first.

Rays lead 2-1 | Box score | Play-by-play

ALDS Game 2: Rays 6, White Sox 2

Pin this one on the offense.

Sox hitters had an excellent chance to jump on Scott Kazmir, and they did well enough to get two first-inning runs.  But after Juan Uribe struck out with the bases loaded to end the first, it marked the start of the return to dysfunction.

While they racked up Kazmir's pitch count, they only did so after two outs.  Until Uribe led off the sixth with a single, Kazmir had retired the first two hitters in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings.  That forced the Sox to put together three straight hits, something they're not apt to do.

Of course, flipping the order didn't help, either.  When Uribe reached in the sixth, Brian Anderson bunted him over.  He stayed there when Grant Balfour got Orlando Cabrera to ground out, and Nick Swisher to fly out.

Jermaine Dye and Paul Konerko started the seventh with a pair of singles.  They'd stay put, with J.P. Howell getting Jim Thome, Alexei Ramirez and A.J. Pierzynski to make soft outs.

Mark Buehrle pitched well enough to win.  Ramirez helped the first run cross the plate when he had a chance for a lineout double play, but threw the ball away.  A runner who should've been on first ended up on third, and he'd score on a single to cut the lead to 2-1.

Akinori's fifth-inning, two-run homer gave Tampa Bay a lead it wouldn't relinquish.  Buehrle's exit was sealed the eighth after B.J. Upton tripled, and Carl Crawford drove him in with a single.  The game got away from Octavio Dotel and Matt Thornton after that, but it wouldn't have mattered.

Why?  Because the Sox had no clue against J.P. Howell.  In arguably its most embarrassing moment of the season, Howell struck out the side looking in the eighth.  Swisher did so after being ahead in the count 3-0.  He never took the bat off his shoulder.

Rays lead 2-0 | Box score | Play-by-play

ALDS Game 1: Rays 6, White Sox 4

The Sox entered this game with a noticeably unfavorable pitching matchup, so when Dewayne Wise picked up Orlando Cabrera with a two-out homer that gave the Sox a 3-1 lead, Javier Vazquez needed to hold it.

He surrendered it immediately.  It started with a slap hit by Jason Bartlett, followed up with a triple  over the head of Ken Griffey (although Brian Anderson likely wouldn't have caught it).  A Willy Aybar sac fly tied it, and then Evan Longoria blasted a 64-m.p.h. lollipop curve out to left field to retake the lead, which he had given the Rays in the second inning by taking a first-pitch fastball over the left-field wall.

Longoria sealed Vazquez's exit two innings later with an RBI single, the third hit of the inning.  Javy once again left the game after only 4 1/3 innings, and despite some fine relief work from Clayton Richard, who settled down after allowing an RBI single to Carl Crawford, the Sox were basically out of it.

The Sox were outhit 11-7, and were retired 1-2-3 in five of the nine innings.  In six innings, only three batters came to the plate.  A.J. Pierzynski singled to lead off the fourth, but was hung out to dry when Cabrera missed on a hit-and-run with a 0-1 count. 

Cabrera really had a lousy game.  He went 0-for-4 and stranded five runners.  He left two on in the third inning by popping up the second bad pitch he swung at with two on, but Wise picked him up with the homer.

He had no such cushion when Grant Balfour struck him out to end the seventh with the bases loaded.  He had a chance to pick up a teammate himself as Balfour struck out Juan Uribe before him.  Cabrera picked him up emotionally, maybe.  After ball one, he kicked a cloud of dusty toward Balfour and said "fork you," and Balfour fired back.  Joe West had to keep them separated.

It could've been one of the coolest moments ever, especially when Cabrera got ahead 2-1.  But West said Cabrera swung on a close check-swing, and Balfour blew him away with a fastball to end the inning.  Balfour had more words for Cabrera after that; Cabrera had nothing.

The Rays left an opportunity on the table as well when Octavio Dotel struck out B.J. Upton with the bases loaded in the eighth, and Paul Konerko led off the top of the ninth with a solo shot off Dan Wheeler.  It was a nice at-bat for Konerko in one way, considering he fell behind 0-2 and extended the at-bat to 11 pitches.  On the other hand, he thought he walked on 2-2.  Either way, he closed it to a two-run game.

Unfortunately, the Sox couldn't bring the tying run to the plate.  Griffey flew out (0-for-4, two strikeouts), Alexei Ramirez struck out and A.J. Pierzynski, who had a nice day with two hits and a HBP, flew out harmlessly to center to end the game.

Rays lead 1-0 | Box score | Play-by-play

Sept. 30: White Sox 1, Twins 0

Torii Hunter created the enduring image of the Twins-Sox rivalry when he bowled over Jamie Burke at home plate in 2004.  He could've gone around Burke, as he had beaten the throw home.  Instead, he went right through him, giving the backup catcher a slight concussion.

Once again, the Twins once again went for the haymaker -- this time against A.J. Pierzynski.

It didn't work.

Mike Cuddyer doubled off John Danks to lead off the inning, and moved to third on a Delmon Young flyball for the first threat of the game.

Danks got ahead 0-2 on Brendan Harris, but Harris was able to put the bat on the ball, hitting a shallow flyball to center.  Cuddyer tested Griffey's arm by tagging, and Griffey made a perfect one-hop throw home with Cuddyer a few steps away.

Pierzysnki caught the hop and extended his arm for the tag, and Cuddyer aimed right for Pierzynski's shoulder.  They collided, with Pierzynski ending up on his back and Cuddyer tumbling over.

But Pierzynski held on.  And he showed the ball to Cuddyer to prove it.

Two innings later, Jim Thome brought the thunder with a titanic clout to the fan deck in center on a hanging 2-2 changeup from Nick Blackburn.  That was the Sox's knockout punch, and the Twins couldn't counter. 

For Thome, often criticized as hitting most of his homers when the team didn't need them, that one swing vindicated his efforts this season.  And for Danks, who hadn't received run support all year long, tonight had to be equally sweet.

On his first-ever start on three days' rest, Danks dominated -- although it didn't look that way when he began his night by walking Denard Span.

But a funny thing happened.  When Span ran, Alexi Casilla hit a soft liner right at Juan Uribe, who casually tossed to first for the double play.  The first attempt at piranha-ing the Sox blew up in their faces.

Danks didn't allow a hit until that Cuddyer double, and he pitched around that as well with help from Griffey.  He owned Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, forcing Mauer to try bunting his way on after Danks struck him out the first two times.  That didn't work, either.

Morneau, meanwhile, only saw eight pitches over three at-bats.  All were strikes. 

The M&M Boys never came to the plate for a fourth time.  Danks didn't allow it, getting Nick Punto to ground into a double play after a one-out walk in the eighth inning, his final frame of work.  Neither did Bobby Jenks, who struck out Jason Kubel (pinch-hitting for Carlos Gomez) and overpowered the final two hitters he faced.

And neither did Brian Anderson.  The much-maligned B.A. entered the game after Griffey doubled with one out in the seventh as a pinch runner, and it proved to be a wise choice by Ozzie Guillen.  With two outs, Jenks gave Casilla more fastball than he could handle, and he hit a weak flare to shallow center.

Anderson sprinted in, dived ... and came up with the catch.  Game over.  Regular season over, with the Sox as the champs.

To Tampa.

Record: 89-74 | Box score | Play-by-play

Sept. 29: White Sox 8, Tigers 2

Freddy Garcia did the Sox a huge favor by throwing one more pitch after experiencing discomfort in his at-bat to Jermaine Dye.

Up until that point in the sixth inning, he did no favors to his former team.  He began the game with two walks, with the leadoff one to Orlando Cabrera coming around to score.  That was the only run the Sox could muster off him in the first five innings, with Garcia looking very much like the late 2006 version by using the splitter often.

But Garcia ran out of steam in the sixth inning, leading off with a walk to Dewayne Wise.  He threw one fastball to Dye, after which he tried stretching his shoulder.  He was done after throwing a follow-up breaking ball, but that was all the Sox needed from him.

Wise took off and stole second on Garcia, who allowed 40 stolen bases on 42 attempts in his last go-around with the Sox.  Garcia left the game, and the Sox were set -- though mostly because of the Tigers' inability to 1) throw strikes and 2) catch balls.

Wise managed to round the bases without a hit, as he ran the rest of the 180 feet thanks to wild pitches, two of three pitches Detroit catcher Dusty Ryan couldn't block.  Dye ended up walking, and after Bobby Seay struck out Jim Thome, he walked Paul Konerko intentionally and Ken Griffey Jr. unintentionally.

In came Gary Glover from the bullpen, and that set the stage for Alexei Ramirez.  It took all of one pitch -- an 89 m.p.h. changeup way up in the zone.  Ramirez uncoiled and sent the ball into the night sky, dropping his bat and skipping towards first with his arms extended and a Christmas Day smile.  With one swing, Ramirez created a world of breathing room, and every Sox fan could finally exhale.

Until that point, it had been a tense affair.  Gavin Floyd, on three days' rest, matched Garcia pitch-for-pitch, except he had thrown far more pitches.  Floyd was out of the zone a lot, but he also had his strikeout pitches, so he went into plenty of deep counts.  He managed to avoid hitting the wall in the fifth -- he allowed Detroit to tie the game at 1 on a Brandon Inge double, but he stranded runners on the corners by striking out Curtis Granderson and getting Gary Sheffield to ground to third.

He almost threw the game away the following inning.  He had two outs and Miguel Cabrera on second when Ryan Raburn hit a nubber in front of the plate.  Floyd fielded it, but his throw was wild, and the go-ahead run came around to score.  Floyd struck out Ryan to prevent further damage, and he received a consolation pat from Ozzie Guillen in the dugout.  Though it had ended on unfortunate terms, Floyd had pitched a terrific six innings, allowing just the two runs on 116 pitches.

Ramirez's slam turned what could've been a loss into Floyd's 17th win of the season.  The Sox scored two more insurance runs while Matt Thornton, Octavio Dotel, Scott Linebrink and D.J. Carrasco held the Tigers scoreless, and extending the season for one more day in the process.

Record: 88-74 | Box score | Play-by-play

Sept. 28: White Sox 5, Indians 1

The White Sox live another day, and they have Mark Buehrle to thank for it.

Pitching on short rest, coming off his highest pitch count in 3 1/2 seasons and throwing against the team that beats him up, Buehrle pitched a complete game, though not in the glossary sense.

Buehrle threw strikes, he got ground balls, he defended his position and he quashed the running game for seven innings.  The offense gave him enough support, and Buehrle prevented anybody from the bullpen besides its top two relievers from making any appearances.

His only mistake was a slider that wasn't in enough on Jhonny Peralta, who blasted it over the left-field wall for a quick 1-0 lead.  But Paul Konerko got it right back with his fourth homer of the series, and thanks to bad Cleveland defense, they'd add on.

It was almost a flashback to the Nick Blackburn start when Juan Uribe hit a chopper to third with the bases loaded and one out.  Bryan Bullington had nothing, but it appeared they would let him off the look.  But Jamey Carroll booted it, leading to a run.  Dewayne Wise followed up with a sac fly to give the Sox a 3-1 lead.

Buehrle held the Indians in check thanks to the double-play ball.  He induced four of them on the day, including a nifty 1-6-3 started when Buehrle kicked the ball into his glove.  He also made a helluva play on a Peralta nubber, sliding to the ball and throwing to first on one knee.  Konerko made a brilliant pick, but first base umpire Mike Dimuro erroneously ruled him safe.

Of course, Ryan Garko followed  up with a single, but the corpse of Travis Hafner flew out to left to end the threat.  Buehrle ended up allowing just that one run over seven innings, scattering nine hits on 111 pitches.

The Sox gave him a little more support thanks to a big two-out single by Jermaine Dye.  He picked up Dewayne Wise after Wise failed to score Juan Uribe from third.  Uribe started the rally with a single, then went from first to third on a beautiful hit-and-run by Orlando Cabrera.

Wise popped up a squeeze bunt attempt, then grounded harmlessly to third.  Dye followed by hitting a bloop single over Peralta's head.  Matt Thornton and Bobby Jenks didn't make the margin any tighter.

Record: 87-74 | Box score | Play-by-play

Sept. 27: Indians 12, White Sox 6

Sox pitching had already failed the team once when Javier Vazquez and a little bit of Clayton Richard gave up a six-run fifth inning to Cleveland for the second straight night.

It was far from done.  Every time the Sox tried to narrow the six-run deficit, the bullpen gave it right back.

First, Paul Konerko hit a solo shot in the seventh to make it a 7-2 game.  Lance Broadway, relieving Clayton Richard, gave up an RBI double to Ryan Garko in the top of the eighth.

In the bottom of the frame, the Sox rallied for four runs.  Juan Uribe started it with a liner off Brendan Donnelly, and Orlando Cabrera followed with a double just inside the right-field line and out of the range of Shin-Shoo Choo.  After a Jermaine Dye sac fly, Jim Thome slashed a single the other way off Rafael Perez, his first hit off the Indians lefty in 14 at-bats.

Konerko then connected with Jensen Lewis' first pitch to make it an 8-6 ballgame, giving the fans to be excited again.

Cheers turned to boos shortly after.  Scott Linebrink's night started with some bad luck -- an Asdrubal Cabrera single under Paul Konerko's glove -- and got worse.  He gave up a pair of singles for a three-run game.  Matt Thornton gave up two singles, leading to three more runs, and the Sox were right back where they started.  The game would end that way.

Nevertheless, Vazquez is most to blame for this one.  Outside of a Choo homer (that Jermaine Dye answered immediately), Vazquez cruised for the first four innings before hitting a wall in the fifth.  He loaded the bases with two singles and a walk, and Asdrubal Cabrera roped a fastball over the middle of the plate down the line to clear the bases.  A.J. Pierzynski voiced his displeasure.

His night would end two batters later, when Jamey Carroll followed an intentional walk to Grady Sizemore by throwing his bat at an outside pitch on a hit-and run, and doinking it into shallow left field for two more runs.

Record: 86-74 | Box score | Play-by-play

Sept. 26: Indians 11, White Sox 8

Even by 2007 standards, the Sox bullpen's fifth inning meltdown was impressive.

After John Danks watched a 4-3 lead turn into a 5-4 deficit when he allowed the first four men to reach (including a three-strike four-pitch walk to Ben Francisco), D.J. Carrasco entered -- and things fell apart.

He walked Jhonny Peralta on four pitches to load the bases, then made it five in a row with a first-pitch ball to Ryan Garko.  When he finally found the plate with the next pitch, Garko blasted it over the center field wall -- just over the outstretched mitt of Brian Anderson -- for a grand slam.

Carrasco wasn't done.  He then got ahead of Kelly Shoppach 0-2 -- before hitting him with an uberslow breaking ball.  Ozzie had seen enough.

Or so he thought.  He brought in Mike MacDougal, and he hit the first guy he faced.  He then fell behind 3-0 to Josh Barfield, but ended up coming back to freeze him with an outside-corner fastball for the ... first out of the inning.  Of course MacDougal retired the next two as well, and the Sox had lost the game right then and there at 9-4.

It wasted a pretty nice day by the White Sox offense.  They roared back from an early 2-0 hole (due in part to Orlando Cabrera fumbling what should've been a double-play ball) when Paul Konerko led off the second with a homer.  A.J. Pierzynski added a two-run shot, and a Ken Griffey-like nubber drove in another run to make it a 4-2 game, and a lead Danks couldn't hold.

They continued to chip away after the deficit, with Jermaine Dye hitting his first homer of September to narrow the lead to 9-6.  And after MacDougal walked the bases loaded in the sixth and Ehren Wassermann walked in a run -- and Horacio Ramirez allowed another run with a wild pitch -- the Sox weren't done.  Paul Konerko drove in a run with a double, and Dewayne Wise added a pinch-hit single to make it a three-run ballgame.

That also brought Jermaine Dye to the plate, but he'd fly out weakly to right to end the last Sox thread.

Record: 86-73 | Box score | Play-by-play

Sept. 25: Twins 7, White Sox 6 (10 innings)

Record: 86-72 | Box score | Play-by-play

Sept. 24: Twins 3, White Sox 2

If only the umpire correctly ruled Carlos Gomez out when Mark Buehrle picked him off second base.

If only Buehrle didn't have the yips in the first three inning, instead attacking the strike zone like in the last four.

If only Juan Uribe could've gotten the runner home from third with less than two outs.

If only Dewayne Wise could've come up with one measly hit with runners on base.

If only Gomez hadn't managed to run down A.J. Pierzynski's smoked liner off Joe Nathan with one out in the ninth.

If only the Sox had the same quality of at-bats off the other Twins relievers as they did off Nathan.

If only.

Record: 86-71 | Box score | Play-by-play

Sept. 23: Twins 9, White Sox 3

Ken Griffey Jr. didn't provide a lot of confidence when he managed to score the game's first run by grounding into a 4-6-3 double play with nobody out in the top of the second inning.

Neither did Javier Vazquez when he started the bottom of the frame by walking Justin Morneau on four pitches, then hanging a changeup to Jason Kubel for a quick 2-1 lead.

We had reasons for apprehension, because that was the ballgame right there, with the only alterations various Sox sprinklings of suck.

General Soreness ushered in the blowout when he turned an out into a triple by ... well, being old and slow.  Any of the other Sox center field options would've made the play; Soreness dove, missed, and after Jermaine Dye was two steps too slow on a shallow fly, the rout was on.

Vazquez only lasted four innings, and if you had to divvy up the score, you could say it was Vazquez 3, Defense 2, White Sox 1 when he left.  He pitched well enough to retire the first three batters, but instead only had one out to show for it.  Nevertheless, that doesn't excuse him from allowing a Carlos Gomez single when he was ahead 0-2, nor his indecision on Nick Punto's squeeze bunt that resulted in nobody out.

Clayton Richard didn't provide any relief, although he looked like Dennis Eckersley in his prime compared to Boone Logan, who gave up Kubel's second homer, then Delmon Young's one pitch later.

The Sox only threatened once, when Griffey led off the fifth with a walk.  Alexei Ramirez got an infield single, and three batters later, Orlando Cabrera slashed a single.  But it was hit too hard, and Soreness had to stop at third.  A.J. Pierzynski came to the plate as the tying run, but only could manage a well-struck grounder to short.

Of course, General Soreness hit his second homer with a seven-run deficit and two outs in the bottom of the ninth.  At that point, that was the worst thing that could happen.

Record: 86-70 | Box score | Play-by-play

Sept. 21: White Sox 3, Royals 0

John Danks won his first game in more than a month, maybe because he lasted through the seventh inning for once.

Danks got an early slight lead, went toe-to-toe with Brandon Duckworth, and then went a little longer after Duckworth was out for his 11th win of the season, helping maintain a 2 1/2-game lead as the Sox head to Minnesota Tuesday.

Unlike his last time out against Detroit, Danks didn't receive a ton of run support.  Dewayne Wise provided an early lead by singling, going from first to third on Jermaine Dye's hard-hit single to left, then scoring on Jim Thome's "sac fly."  It was really a popup to deep short, but Wise caught Mike Aviles drifting away from home and beat the throw home for a 1-0 lead before Danks took the mound.

Brandon Duckworth retired 12 Sox at one time though, but Danks kept pace.  After allowing runners in scoring position the first two innings, Danks retired 11 in a row himself, holding the Royals down long enough before Paul Konerko provided more support with a big two-run blast that capped off the scoring.

Danks ran into a little bit of trouble in his troublesome inning, with Alex Gordon doubling with one out to try to get the Royals back in the game.  But Danks shut the door, getting a weak groundout by Esteban German and a wormburner off the bat of John Buck that Alexei Ramirez snagged for the final out.

Ramirez's hands, however, prevented Danks from going deeper.  Starting the eighth, Alexei turned himself around on a shallow, shanked fly, and the ball clanked off his mitt.  Danks would have to give the ball to the bullpen after all, but it actually delivered.

Part of it was Ozzie Guillen's decision to go with the only two relievers worth anything right now.  Matt Thornton got two outs with a fielder's choice and a flyout, and Bobby Jenks worked a four-out save in which he looked dominant.  Two grounders, two strikeouts, two out of three.

Record: 86-69 | Box score | Play-by-play

Sept. 20: Royals 5, White Sox 2

Jermaine Dye came extremely close to hitting his first home run of the month, one that would've tied the game while giving Joakim Soria a rare blown save.

Instead, it landed in Mark Teahan's mitt just short of the wall in left.  Too little, too late for the Sox, who were stymied by Kyle Davies for seven innings until Alexei Ramirez ruined the shutout bid with his second homer in as many games.

Davies outpitched Gavin Floyd handily.  Floyd, who followed Mark Buehrle in throwing on short rest, gave up three homers, including an inside-the-park job to David DeJesus.  The ball richocheted off the right field wall a split-second before Dye did, and the ball bounded away for an easy round-tripper.

Record: 85-69 | Box score | Play-by-play

Sept. 19: White Sox 9, Royals 4

When Alexei Ramirez strolled to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs in the fourth inning, I had begun to have a flashback to Wednesday's Yankees game.  Except the pitcher wasn't Phil Hughes -- it was Brian Bannister.

Bannister had thrown 24 pitches in the inning prior to Ramirez's at-bat.  Ramirez worked it up to 32 with four foul balls after a 2-2 count, none of them hit particularly hard.  It seemed that, just like in Wednesday's game, the Sox were determined to rack up the opponent's pitch count without, you know, actually scoring a run.

Ramirez himself had prevented the Sox from scoring a run earlier in the game.  In the second, Cabrera shot one to the gap with Ramirez in motion from first.  Jeff Cox made a wise choice waving him home even though Jose Guillen had cut it off, but it appeared Ramirez missed the plate on his slide to keep the game scoreless.

But Ramirez atoned, turning on one and crushing it 342 feet, just inside the left-field foul pole, for a grand slam.  In one moment, the Sox went from struggling for one run to pouring it on.

Credit A.J. Pierzynski with a quality at-bat in front of Ramirez.  Like Alexei, A.J. had to battle from a 2-2 count, fouling off three pitches with a full count for a nine-pitch walk.  Between the two of them, they made Bannister throw 18 pitches, and it amounted to four runs.

Funnier yet, the Sox kept scoring with two outs.  Nick Swisher fell behind 1-2, took a pitch, fouled another off, then stroked a solid single up the middle.  Juan Uribe fell behind 0-2, fouled one off, then dumped a blooper just inside the right field line.  Swisher scored on a wild pitch, and Orlando Cabrera scored Uribe with a single for a 6-0 lead.

Mark Buehrle, starting on short rest, might've been a bit rusty from the long inning.  He needed a pickoff for the first out after a Mike Aviles singled, which became even bigger when Buehrle gave up a rocket single to Guillen, hit Ryan Shealy and allowed a three-run Mark Teahan homer to cut the game in half.

Jim Thome, however, hit his 33rd homer over the wall in right-center the following half-inning, and the Royal threat was vanquished.  Dewayne Wise added two solo homers for good luck.

Record: 85-68 | Box score | Play-by-play