posted on Sunday, April 06, 2008 10:55 PM by Jim

April 6: White Sox 13, Tigers 2

This time, Mark Buehrle got to watch the other team's pitching unravel.

Coming off his shortest start ever, Buehrle pitched seven strong innings and lowered his ERA on the season to 8.31.  More importantly, he pitched like a No. 1 starter, going toe to toe with Justin Verlander under bad defense and bad luck undermined the Detroit ace.

With a 3-1 lead in the fifth, the Sox pulled away with the most underwhelming of starts.  Paul Konerko grounded to third, but Carlos Guillen didn't stride into the throw at first and dropped the ball.

Jermaine "Doubles" Dye lived up to his name, and an intentional walk to A.J. Pierzynski loaded the bases.  Carlos Quentin flashed his incredible HBP skills, and drew first blood by drawing a fastball to his side.  Joe Crede followed with an RBI infield single to short, with Quentin sliding in before Edgar Renteria's attempt to force him at second.  Four of the Sox's five baserunners at this point reached without getting the ball out of the infield.

Verlander got the second out of the inning by striking out Juan Uribe, but Nick Swisher -- who homered off Verlander to lead off the game -- looped a single to center.  Verlander departed, and Orlando Cabrera cleared the bases with a double to right-center to extend the Sox's lead to 9-1.

Buehrle didn't allow the Tigers to get back in the game.  The double play was his biggest friend all night, as the Tigers grounded into them four times.  Tigers cracked him for their only earned run in the seventh, when A.J. Pierzynski didn't catch a high fastball and it hit home plate umpire Jeff Kellogg on the side of the mask, bringing in the run from third with two outs.

The Tigers' best chance to rock Buehrle was in the third, when Joe Crede threw wide to first on a Brandon Inge, resulting in a three-base error, the first of two Crede errors on the night. Inge scored on Ramon Santiago's double, but Santiago got greedy and tried turning it into a triple.  A perfect relay from Dye to Uribe beat Santiago to third by plenty, and he didn't reach the bag on his slide.

Other notes:
  • Both times Pierzynski was intentionally walked, Quentin made them pay.  The first IBB was understandable, but Leyland called for the free pass to load the bases with two outs, and the Tigers down 7.  Quentin launched one over the head of center fielder Clete Thomas for a bases-clearing triple.
  • Crede had three RBI singles, and Pablo Ozuna could probably make fun of him for how soft they were.  The infield single drove in one, a single that somehow got past Carlos Guillen to the right side, and he blooped one over the head of the second baseman the third time around.
  • The day after making the greatest throw in recent White Sox history, Quentin dropped an easy fly to extend Mike MacDougal's night.  MacDougal walked Inge to load the bases, but induced a fifth double play to end the game.
  • Uribe had a nice game defensively.  Along with the relay throw, he also made a diving snare of a liner to his left, and had a perfect night on the pivot.
Record: 4-2 | Box score | Play-by-play

Comments

# re: April 6: White Sox 13, Tigers 2

Sunday, April 06, 2008 11:30 PM by Bruck
Great game for the White Sox with national broadcast to further solidify last year as an aberration and the Sox should be considered a threat in '08.

# I am way too giddy

Monday, April 07, 2008 12:30 AM by Joist
I had basically written off this team after two games confirmed that our "rock-solid" numbers 1 and 2 starting pitchers were anything but. Then John Danks came out of nowhere, the offense and bullpen bailed out a miserable Contreras start (14 baserunners in five innings???), Gavin Floyd exceeded everybody's expectations, and Mark Buehrle suddenly turned back into the '05 version.

Now suddenly the Sox are 4-2, Jerry Owens is nowhere to be found, and the offense, defense, rotation, and bullpen seem to be clicking on most cylinders (Contreras and MacDougal, I'm looking in your directions).

Quentin is making an awfully good case to stay in the everyday lineup even when Owens returns, his dopey dropped fly ball notwithstanding. Swisher has been every bit as good as advertised.

Even Uribe seems to be working counts and taking a better approach at the plate, and if he keeps playing second base the way he did tonight I have no problem continuing to pencil him in in the no. 9 hole.

Joe Crede had the least impressive 4-hit game I think I've ever seen. His defensive night was even less impressive, although that first double play he started was all kinds of sweet.

Orlando Cabrera still mystifies me a little - his range doesn't seem all that great (I couldn't believe he couldn't reach Sheffield's "single" in the first inning), and he seems a little bewildered at the plate. Even so, there's a bright side there too, as he seems content to take walks and he hammered that 0-2 mistake pitch from Lopez for the biggest hit of the game.

Jermaine and A.J., where was this last year? Did either of them have a five- or six-game stretch like this in all of '07?

The good news about MacDougal, aside from the fact that he miraculously avoided giving up any runs despite the fact that his two innings (with an 11-run lead, mind you) took approximately 45 minutes apiece, is that he seems to have been relegated by Guillen to official "mop-up duty man", so we won't be seeing him in close games anytime soon.

Crede ended up winning out, but Konerko was a close second in the competition for "lamest ways to reach base". I'm not worried about him, his approach looks fine right now and his cuts look healthy.

Finally, anybody else think Crede should start throwing to second base even when there's no runner on first?

# re: April 6: White Sox 13, Tigers 2

Monday, April 07, 2008 2:33 AM by Jim Margalus
Hey, MacDougal actually did pretty well today for what his role is. There were more than a few occasions last year where the Sox had a seven- or eight-run lead and ended up bringing in Jenks because even the mop-up guys couldn't do their jobs.

Crede looked like he did in spring training -- one bad throw seems to indicate another will be on the way.

# re: April 6: White Sox 13, Tigers 2

Monday, April 07, 2008 7:24 AM by Salty Dog
So here's a question: How much slack should fans cut Crede? Historically, Sox fans have been extremely patient with Crede at the plate (seasons prior to 2005) because his defense more than made up for his lack of offensive production. The same thing could be said for Aaron Rowand. But he hasn't looked that good in the field since coming back from back surgery. Undoubtedly there is a lot of rust that collected during his time off, but at some point he should start becoming the rock-solid 3rd basement that we've loved, shouldn't he?

# re: April 6: White Sox 13, Tigers 2

Monday, April 07, 2008 9:52 AM by Florida Jim
Joe Crede has a bad habit of losing focus on easy throws and pop-ups. He makes the great plays but, somehow, carelessly misses easy pop-ups infrequently. Using Contreras'sidearm motion, he sails the ball inside the firstbase bag away from Konerko. Those balls would be caught if both players concentrated.