posted on Tuesday, June 24, 2008 11:59 PM by Jim

June 24: White Sox 6, Dodgers 1

Tonight, Mark Buehrle looked a lot like he did against Minnesota June 7.  He went eight innings, and the only run he allowed was the first homer of the season for one of Dmitri Young's brothers.

This time, however, he needed to be sharper for longer thanks to the White Sox offense's struggles in the early going.

They started the night off with three straight singles off Derek Lowe, but Jermaine Dye struck out swinging on a low-and-away slider, and Nick Swisher's sac fly scored the inning's only run.  They'd spoil another attempt in the fourth when they had runners on second and third after a Pablo Ozuna walk and a Dewayne Wise double, only to see three consecutive fielder's choices allow Lowe to escape the frame unscathed.

Only in the second did the Sox have anything resembling an aesthetically pleasing offense.  Wise singled, advanced to second on a Buehrle bunt and scored on an Orlando Cabrera single.  But it appeared two runs would be all they could muster as Lowe and his sinker settled in.

Fortunately, Buehrle was up to the task.  Only one runner reached scoring position, when Cabrera threw short to first and Swisher couldn't handle the hop (a tough error) and Russell Martin flared an inside cutter into left field to put two on with one out.  But Buehrle got James Loney to ground to Swisher, who started a 3-6-1 DP with Buehrle beating Loney to the bag by a step.

Yet that was only the second-prettiest of the Sox's three double plays on the night.  First prize went to Alexei Ramirez, who chased down a flare off Jeff Kent's bat to center, sliding on one knee to grab it in front of Wise.  He then popped up and fired a one-hopper to first to get Matt Kemp by a few steps to end the inning.

Buehrle eventually got breathing room in the eighth, when Dye followed up a Carlos Quentin single with his seventh homer in eight games, a two-run shot over the wall in right-center to give the Sox a 4-1 lead.  They'd eventually stretch it to 6-1 when Swisher singled, Wise tripled past a diving Delwyn Young in right, and Ramirez singled him home with a bouncer through the right side.

Record: 42-34 | Box score | Play-by-play

Comments

# re: June 24: White Sox 6, Dodgers 1

Wednesday, June 25, 2008 2:40 AM by Joist
Nice recap, Jim.

Did you get your wish and get Scully on Extra Innings? I live in LA now, so of course I did, and it was wonderful. It's really amazing how much of a dying breed good announcers are, but there are so few of them, especially on TV, that it's such a pleasure when you do get them.

Just within the AL, many announcers either are blatant homers (White Sox, Twins), have inexplicably horribly annoying voices (Mariners, Rangers), are amazingly stupid (Indians) or are a combination of all three (Tigers, Angels, Yankees). The Red Sox guy (Jerry Remy) has a ridiculous Boston accent, which is amusing but gets old fast.

And don't get me started on the ESPN "announcers". Am I way off? Do most people find these people entertaining?

Also, re: the game, I actually felt bad for OC on that error, especially since the ump blew the call and Swisher kept his foot on the base. The backward somersault didn't help his case, of course, but replays showed it pretty clearly.

The offense was pretty frustrating early on, especially in the first, but I'll give them a pass on the other one because in a normal game Buehrle wouldn't be batting in the 9-hole, in which case maybe Pablo isn't so eager to sprint home on a one-hopper to third. (Speaking of which, if I see Ozuna call himself safe one more time when he's clearly out I'm going to knock out every one of his unnaturally white teeth.) The rally in the eighth, with Dye's opposite field shot, Wise's almost inside-the-parker, and Alexei's clutch two-out base hit, was a thing of beauty.

I'm going to the game tomorrow night, I can give you a firsthand account.

# re: June 24: White Sox 6, Dodgers 1

Wednesday, June 25, 2008 2:45 AM by Jim Margalus
Sure did get Scully -- writing about it on the other blog right now. I think Cubs fans are pretty lucky the Chip Caray era didn't stick, because they have a pretty good team with Kasper and Brenly. Probably the closest of the younger breed that I've heard.

Looking forward to your observations. If you get any cool pictures, feel free to email 'em to me.

# re: June 24: White Sox 6, Dodgers 1

Wednesday, June 25, 2008 12:51 PM by Joist
If I get any pictures I will send them your way.

Unlike some people who get the Extra Innings package to watch as many games as possible, I pretty much stick to White Sox games, so I'm not too familiar with the NL announcers. Generally, though, I would say that's the one area where the NL's got the AL beat.