2008 State of the Sox

April 11: Tigers 5, White Sox 2

If tonight's game was any indication, Nick Swisher better not miss any serious time.

Swisher sat out his first game as a member of the White Sox to rest a sore hip flexor, and the rest of the Sox offense sat too -- at least after Dontrelle Willis left.  The Detroit starter hyperextended his plant knee and didn't make it out of the first inning, but the Sox only managed single runs in the first and second innings before shutting down the rest of the night.

While I said this start was important for Jose Contreras, Mark Buehrle probably wouldn't have made much of a difference either.  Unbeknownst to him at the time, Contreras lost the game in the third inning.  Edgar Renteria doubled off the left center wall on a middle-in fastball from a three-quarter arm slot.  He advanced to third on Ivan Rodriguez's groundout to second, and scored when Brandon Inge inside-outed a middle-in fastball from the three-quarter slot.

Contreras should've gotten out of the inning when Placido Polanco chopped a 35-foot roller -- he just happened to put it in the right place to put runners on the corners.  He probably made a mistake walking Carlos Guillen on four pitches, and Magglio Ordonez made sure Contreras erred in judgment with a two-run single up the middle (on a drop-down fastball) to give the Tigers a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

He provided a scare when he walked Jacque Jones on four pitches to start the fourth, He pitched well enough afterward, giving up only one run over his last 3 2/3 innings, but Renteria grounded back to Contreras, who made a perfect throw to second to start a 1-6-3 double play.  He cruised the rest of the night, but the Sox couldn't muster a rally.

The Sox scored a run without a hit when Dontrelle Willis started his night by walking Carlos Quentin (hitting leadoff for the first time) and Orlando Cabrera to start the night.  Willis hyperextended his knee on his first pitch to Cabrera, and stayed in for only eight more pitches, including one wild one that allowed Quentin and Cabrera to advance a base.  Paul Konerko hit a sac fly to right to give the Sox an early 1-0 lead.

Brian Anderson received his first start and came through in the second, smacking a single through the box, advancing to third on Toby Hall's first hit of the season and coming around to score on Quentin's single through the left-hand side.

From that point on, the Sox resembled their 2007 selves.  Aquilino Lopez earned the win with four innings of one-run baseball as the first man out fo the pen.  Jason Grilli, who allowed three runs on three pitches in his first appearance against the Sox, threw three shutout innings.

In fact, the only fight the Sox showed ended up directed at the umpire.  With one out in the fifth, Grilli hit Carlos Quentin and Orlando Cabrera to put two on and one out.  With a 3-2 count, Grilli threw a curveball to Jim Thome that appeared to be quite low, but home plate umpire James Hoye rung him up.  The Gentleman Masher, perhaps irked by a low and outside fastball called for the first strike, was ejected after not-so-gentlemanly conduct.  Paul Konerko tried to revive the Sox with a walk, but Jermaine Dye grounded hard into a fielder's choice.

The Sox went 12 up, 12 down the rest of the way.  Dye did single in the eighth, but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double with two outs for reasons I don't understand.

Other notes:

• The Sox utilized their oddest lineup of the year to date: Quentin, Cabrera, Thome, Konerko, Dye, Crede, Anderson, Uribe, Hall.
• Boone Logan gave up his first run of the year in an unlucky fashion.  He started the eighth by allowing a weak single to Carlos Guillen that got past a sliding Orlando Cabrera in the hole (a play that Juan Uribe might make).  He left and Octavio Dotel entered.  Guillen stole second off Dotel and Hall, advanced to third on a grounder to Cabrera, and scored on a nice single by Miguel Cabrera.
• Orlando Cabrera, however, showcased his range to his left by diving on a grounder up the middle and flipping it to Juan Uribe to start a terrific 6-4-3 double play in the first inning.
  

Record: 5-4 | Box score | Play-by-play