2008 State of the Sox

July 3: Athletics 3, White Sox 2

Javier Vazquez and Justin Duchscherer each had two bad innings.  The A's just did a better job capitalizing on the second one, and that provided the margin.

The Sox struck early against Duchscherer, with Dewayne Wise leading off with a homer.  A.J. Pierzynski doubled, advanced to third on Carlos Quentin's deep fly to center, and scored on Jermaine Dye's hustle double for a quick 2-0 lead.

For a while, that looked like all the offense Vazquez would need, as he struck out the first four hitters and had seven K's after three.

Nope.  His perfect game bid ended with a two-out HBP in the fourth on a 1-1 fastball, and Jack Cust knotted it up with a homer over the bullpen in right field.

Both pitchers would stumble again in the fourth.  The Sox had runners on the corners and one out after a Dye single, a walk to Thome and Joe Crede's flyball.  But Nick Swisher hit a rocket right at Daric Barton, who stepped on first for the double play.

Javier Vazquez followed up by allowing another two-out homer, this one by Donnie Murphy, to provide the winning margin.  The Sox would kinda threaten a couple times the rest of the night, but not enough to say they blew any opportunities.  A's pitching did its job.

Javy threw the Sox's fourth complete-game loss of the year on 119 pitches.

Record: 49-36 | Box score | Play-by-play