2008 State of the Sox

May 9: White Sox 4, Mariners 2

When compared to the Mariners' offense, the White Sox's offense looked downright functional.

Sox hitters didn't do anything flashy, but they did take advantage of the one time they had runners in scoring position with fewer than two outs, and that was enough to win.

Juan Uribe led off the third with a single off Carlos Silva -- his 20th hit off the former Twin in 38 at-bats.  Carlos Quentin singled two batters later, and a Jim Thome walk loaded the bases.  Up came Paul Konerko, who stood 1-for-10 with a runner on third and fewer than two outs.

Konerko made that 2-for-11 with a double down the right field line to score two, and Jermaine Dye made it a 3-0 lead with a sacrifice fly to center.  Thome scored on a bad Ichiro throw, and that was the first White Sox sacrifice fly since April 23.

Instead, it was the Mariners who struggled with a runner on third.  In the second, Adrian Beltre stood on third with nobody out after he singled, stole second and advanced to third when A.J. Pierzynski airmailed the throw.  But Jose Contreras bore down, striking out Jose Vidro and getting Richie Sexson to ground out to the drawn-in Joe Crede.  Crede nearly couldn't handle it, but he picked up the ball after dropping it and threw home in time to get Beltre.  The Mariners wouldn't score.

They would have to wait until the bottom of the third to score their first run in 25 innings, and it came courtesy of Contreras and Pierzynski.  Ichiro singled, stole second and advanced to third on a grounder.  But with two outs, Contreras threw a pitch in the dirt that Pierzynski probably should've handled.  It got past him, and Ichiro came around to score to make it a 3-1 game.

After that, the game was pretty much well in hand.  Jose Contreras was well in control, allowing one runs over seven drama-free innings, and Jim Thome and Wladimir Balentien exchanged solo homers for the only other runs.

It wasn't Pierzynski's finest hour -- a pseudo-passed ball, a throwing error, and he was nailed by Wladimir Balentien at second after he roped one to the wall.

On the other hand, Brian Anderson had himself a day with the glove.  He was unsuccessful diving on a Jeff Clement single to right in the second inning, but he snared the ball on the hop.  If the ball got past him, a runner would've scored.  Instead, Contreras had two outs with runners on the corners, and he got out of the ininng unscathed.

He followed up by making the catch of the year two innings later.  After Jose Vidro led off with a single, Richie Sexson blasted the ball to center.  Anderson sprinted back and made a leaping catch, crashing into the wall a split second after the ball landed in his mitt.  Not only that, but he had the presence of mind to throw to first, and nearly doubled up Vidro back at first.

Record: 17-17 | Box score | Play-by-play