posted on Friday, June 20, 2008 11:40 PM
by
Jim
June 20: Cubs 4, White Sox 3
Today marked the fourth time a White Sox reliever has surrendered a walk-off homer in the ninth inning of a tied game, and Scott Linebrink became the first to two it twice. But this game was more like
Matt Thornton's loss than any of the other ones.
Aramis Ramirez's second homer of the game ended this one, and it came after four consecutive innings in which a Sox leadoff batter reached. I'll borrow
South Side Sox's rundown to save time:
- 6th inning -- Leadoff double. Stranded. Never moved.
- 7th inning -- Leadoff single. Stranded. Moved to second on 2-out walk.
- 8th inning -- Leadoff single. Stranded. Erased on Crede GIDP.
- 9th inning -- Leadoff double. Stranded. Never Moved.
The ninth inning was the most painful because it started in the most unlikely of fashions -- with a double by Brian Anderson off Kerry Wood. But pop-ups would leave him stranded. The Sox could only score off homers, as Jermaine Dye hit a solo shot and A.J. Pierzynski added a two-run blast to center.
Of course, after manufacturing a run off John Danks in the first with a couple of singles and a double play ball, that's how the Cubs scored their runs. They just happened to make it hurt.
Two of them came back-to-back off Octavio Dotel, who was the first pitcher in from the bullpen. The removal of Danks was questionable, although by no means indefensible. Ozzie Guillen took him out of the ballgame when it was his turn to bat leading off the seventh. Juan Uribe made it pay off by singling, but as the above list indicates, he didn't score.
Enter Dotel, who started by giving up homers to Derrek Lee and Ramirez, and since Danks was only at 85 pitches and wasn't hit hard after the first couple innings, the second guessing began. Dotel settled down after that, and Thornton threw a scoreless inning of his own before Linebrink blew it with the second pitch he threw.
Record: 41-32 |
Box score |
Play-by-play