2008 State of the Sox

June 13: White Sox 5, Rockies 4

Outside of an inning as a defensive replacement May 31, Juan Uribe hadn't seen a full game's worth of action in a month.  Little did we know he'd be in the middle of things tonight.

Uribe, in only his fourth at-bat since May 15, hit the game-tying two-run single, then scored the go-ahead run a few batters later thanks to some unusually adept baserunning.

Going into the bottom of the seventh, Colorado owned a 4-2 lead, scoring all its runs on solo homers courtesy of awful, grooved pitches by Gavin Floyd.  Outside of those four pitches, Floyd was outstanding, which makes his performance all the more bewildering.

Both the Sox's runs had come via solo homers as well, courtesy of Orlando Cabrera and Brian Anderson.  In fact, a two-out Paul Konerko single in the fourth inning was the only hit by either team that didn't leave the yard.

Jermaine Dye provided another non-homer hit, singling to lead off the seventh and sparking the game's only rally.  Jeff Francis walked Orlando Cabrera, which signaled his departure.  It might have been a tactical blunder by Clint Hurdle, because as mentioned before, Joe Crede is lousy against left-handers.  He was 0-for-2 against Francis, making him 5-for-48 against southpaws, but Hurdle called for Matt Herges, who walked Crede to load the bases.

In came Anderson, who struck out with arguably the ugliest swing of the season, going down to one knee and practically throwing the bat at a curveball that started out low and outside and continued in both directions before the dirt in the left-handed batter's box stopped it.

But that set the stage for Uribe, who found a 1-1 pitch to his liking and muscled it into short center for a two-run single.  He advanced to second on a Cabrera fielder's choice that forced Crede out at third, and then got to third on a pitch that didn't get that far away from Chris Iannetta, but one he couldn't make a throw on.

Those 90 feet would turn out to be crucial, because he wouldn't have scored on A.J. Pierzynski's game-winning single, which was a fielder's choice Omar Quintanilla botched by trying to force Cabrera out at second instead of going to first.  Uribe received a hero's welcome in the dugout, and the Sox bullpen would go on to hold the lead.

Of course, Bobby Jenks would make it interesting after a dominating inning by Scott Linebrink.  He retired the first two men he faced easily, but Brad Hawpe inside-outed a single to left, and a pinch-running Scott Podsednik stole second and advanced to third when Pierzynski's throw got away.

Jenks would strand him there, blowing away Iannetta with a 96 m.p.h. fastball for the final out.

Record: 38-29 | Box score | Play-by-play