posted on Monday, April 14, 2008 11:25 PM by Jim

April 14: Athletics 2, White Sox 1

Bad timing to expound upon how enjoyable the Sox are to watch, because they showed how they can often be the furthest thing from fun....

...when the Sox face a pitcher (Greg Smith) they've never faced before and make him look like the second coming of Sudden Sam McDowell and Catfish Hunter combined.

...when that pitcher throws with his left hand.

...when in situation where the Sox managed to reach base, they were picked off twice (Nick Swisher, Jermaine Dye).

...when Jim Thome is forced to face a lefty in a big situation (he was dead meat against Alan Embree).

...when Mike Sweeney finds a way to hurt the Sox even though he's wearing a different uniform.

...when Mike MacDougal gets booed for being unlucky.

It wasn't all for naught -- Mark Buehrle pitched well enough to ward off doubters who thought he might be hurt when the Sox held him back a couple days.

Boone Logan also did a terrific job cleaning up the mess MacDougal left.  With runners on first and second, Logan faced Jack Hannahan and threw him some low and outside sliders of varying speeds that were impossible to bunt.  He struck out lefties Hannahan and Travis Buck before getting Mark Ellis to pop out, ending the threat.

If nothing else, A.J. Pierzynski keeps hitting, lefties or not.  He went 2-for-3 to raise his average to .421, and he had the Sox's only extra-base hit of the night.

Record: 7-5 | Box score | Play-by-play

Comments

# re: April 14: Athletics 2, White Sox 1

Tuesday, April 15, 2008 12:23 AM by Orestes
Ozzie has to come to grips with pulling Thome at situations like there was in the 8th tonight...that was painful to watch.

I wonder what kind of lineup we'll see tomorrow.

# re: April 14: Athletics 2, White Sox 1

Tuesday, April 15, 2008 1:49 AM by Joist
At least Swisher was running on the play. Smith's pickoff move is awfully suspicious, so I don't think we can fault him as much as J.D., who wasn't going anywhere and just got hung out to dry. He's pretty much reached the point where he'll do one thing to delight me every game (like the single off a very tough Huston Street) and one thing to aggravate me to no end (like the pickoff). When's his next day off?

# re: April 14: Athletics 2, White Sox 1

Tuesday, April 15, 2008 11:39 AM by Florida Jim
Thome is hurting us with his refusal to hit to leftfield when the switch is on and, as stated above he cannot hit lefthanders as he flails at the low and away pitches.
Walker is smiling and making comments about how great it is to have players with good OBP-Swisher, Cabrera, Quentin- we have been praying for players who exhibit patience at the plate. As a hitting instructor I would think he would learn how to teach yooungsters how to be patient, like the A's do.