posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 11:43 PM by Jim

April 28: White Sox 3, Orioles 3 (Susp. 12)

An ugly, wet mess of a day led to an ugly, wet mess of a ballgame, with the Sox blowing several opportunities to put the game away.

And then Juan Uribe of all people saved his team's bacon, going ¡Profundo! and showing the homer hands to tie it up again.  After that, the game had been stretched to its limits.  With no break in the rain from start to finish and standing water all over the field, the umps had to call it a day.

The Sox have nobody to blame but themselves.  Javier Vazquez pitched a whale of a game -- a solo homer by Aubrey Huff was really his only mistake -- so the Sox could've put an end to the madness a heck of a lot sooner -- especially since Daniel Cabrera couldn't find the strike zone for most of the day. For instance...

Second inning:  Alexei Ramirez grounds out with runners on second and third to end the inning with the Sox trailing 1-0.

Fourth inning:  Ramirez grounds into a 6-4 with the bases loaded to end the inning with the Sox trailing 1-0.

Fifth inning:  Nick Swisher walked to give the Sox their first leadoff man aboard on the day, and Orlando Cabrera erases him with a GDP.

Eighth inning:  The Sox have two on and no outs after Brian Anderson's infield single and a sac bunt by Ramirez that Dennis Safarte can't make a good throw on. Swisher then grounds into 4-6-3 double play and Cabrera pops out.  The Sox miss out an insurance run they'd end up needing.

Ninth inning:  Though he should've had more than a one-run lead, Bobby Jenks blows his second save of the season -- both against Baltimore -- when Brian Roberts doubles leading off, stealing third and scores on Melvin Mora's single. 

10th inning:  Carlos Quentin doubled to lead off the inning, then advanced to third on Joe Crede's flyout to right.  Ozzie Guillen calls for a squeeze, Anderson misses, Quentin is tagged out after a brief rundown, and Anderson ends up striking out.

Really, Quentin was the one guy who came through all game long.  He put the Sox on the board with a solo homer in the sixth, and finished 3-for-4 with a walk.

Fortunately for the Sox, the Orioles ran themselves out of a couple threats.  Mora was picked off after his single (a rarity for Jenks), and in the 10th, the Sox ended the inning thanks to a heads-up play by Cabrera.

With Adam Jones on second and two outs, Brandon Fahey hit a weak grounder to short.  The conditions made it impossible for Cabrera to throw Fahey out at first (Fahey would make an error on a Cabrera grounder in the bottom of the 11th), but he kept an eye on the situation over by third.  Jones rounded the bag a little too aggressively, and Cabrera threw behind him.  Crede placed the tag, and Scott Linebrink was out of the inning.

Linebrink then gave up his first homer of the season when Ramon Hernandez went deep leading off the 11th, but Uribe made up for it by belting a belt-high fastball well into the left-field seats to tie it back up.

Record: 14-10 | Box score | Play-by-play

Comments

# re: April 28: White Sox 3, Orioles 3 (Susp. 12)

Tuesday, April 29, 2008 12:01 AM by El Duque's Raft
Nothing like kissing your sister to close out a homestand. I wonder if all the dopes that say Ozzie protects his Latin players will point out the tire tracks on Alexei Ramirez's back after Guillen's post game comments. After that lashing, I got to think that he's going to find himself in Charlotte pretty soon.

# re: April 28: White Sox 3, Orioles 3 (Susp. 12)

Tuesday, April 29, 2008 1:18 AM by Jim Margalus
Did he say more than what was written in the papers? I only saw the one terse comment.

And the cool thing about the tie is that, theoretically, Carlos Quentin could complete a cycle months apart.

# re: April 28: White Sox 3, Orioles 3 (Susp. 12)

Tuesday, April 29, 2008 7:50 AM by Salty Dog
What a crappy roller coaster of a ballgame. I laughed. I cried. I barfed.

# re: April 28: White Sox 3, Orioles 3 (Susp. 12)

Tuesday, April 29, 2008 8:59 AM by Florida Jim
It was a roller-coaster of a game as stated above but the sox just do not have any batter that we can feel comfortable with, excepting Carlos Quentin, who seems to be determined to have a good at-bat EVERY at-bat. Why the others do not is frustrating- AJ- 0-6 with easy pop-ups when any sort of ball scores a run, Alexi-I did not hear Ozzie I know what I thought and Alexi would be gone, Thome all or nothing when a punch hit to left starts or helps , Anderson simply looks lost at the plate-how can he look himself in the mirror?
YUCK, what a day! When a win makes a positive series and homestand and we cannot get it done.

# re: April 28: White Sox 3, Orioles 3 (Susp. 12)

Tuesday, April 29, 2008 11:09 AM by Orestes
Especially against a lefty in a tight game, with men on, Thome has got to learn to go to Left...a weak grounder there will be fart better than a flailing wiff.....

Anderson has enough on his mind at the plate than to worry about executing a suicide.....

# re: April 28: White Sox 3, Orioles 3 (Susp. 12)

Tuesday, April 29, 2008 11:26 AM by Orestes
PS This type of late inning "stick-handling" that we woefully lacked last night, was one of the strongest parts of Ozzie's game when he played....so it must drive him nuts when he sees these "execution-failures".

# re: April 28: White Sox 3, Orioles 3 (Susp. 12)

Tuesday, April 29, 2008 3:43 PM by El Duque's Raft
Here is Ozzie's exact quote about Ramirez. This is from Merkin's preview of today's game at the bottom under tidbits:

With the bases loaded and two outs in the fourth inning on Monday, Alexei Ramirez swung at the first pitch from Baltimore starter Daniel Cabrera following five straight offerings from him outside of the zone. Guillen deferred to Ramirez for the reasoning behind his lack of patience. "Go ask him," Guillen said. "I'm not a babysitter. I'm the manager. This is not college. This is the big leagues. In high school, you can handle that. In Little League, you can handle that. In the big leagues, you should know what you are doing."

# re: April 28: White Sox 3, Orioles 3 (Susp. 12)

Tuesday, April 29, 2008 10:18 PM by Jim Margalus
"PS This type of late inning "stick-handling" that we woefully lacked last night, was one of the strongest parts of Ozzie's game when he played....so it must drive him nuts when he sees these "execution-failures"."

It was pretty much the only part of his game, right? Otherwise, he just about gave up ABs with the best of them.

Thanks for the quote. That's some bus work.

# re: April 28: White Sox 3, Orioles 3 (Susp. 12)

Tuesday, April 29, 2008 10:23 PM by Jim Margalus
On the other hand, Ozzie shouldn't have to defer. Ramirez swung at the first pitch because that's what Ramirez is doing right now to survive. He just happened to get more easy fastballs in the spring.