2008 State of the Sox

July 12: White Sox 9, Rangers 7

John Danks finally got a big showing of run support, and he and his relievers needed a lot of it to close out a victory that was closer than it needed to be.  Danks dominated for most of the day until tiring in the eighth, and the White Sox lineup finally packed some punch with the lefty on the mound.

After squandering a couple of bases-loaded situations in the first two innings and having nothing but a 1-1 tie to show for it, Danks appeared to be in for another tough day.  The Sox finally broke out of a 2-2 tie in a big way in the sixth.

Alexei Ramirez began with a surprise bunt single, and Orlando Cabrera followed with a walk.  They would both score two batters later on Carlos Quentin's single, with Cabrera blowing through a Jeff Cox and scoring somewhat easily with the throw off the line.

Jermaine Dye's single put runners on the corners, and Jim Thome scored Quentin with a double to right for a 5-2 lead.

They didn't let up -- Thome hit a two-run homer, and Paul Konerko made it back-to-back in the eighth to cap off a 4-for-4 day.  In the ninth, Ramirez singled, stole second, advanced to third on the throwing error and came home on a Cabrera fly ball.

Those insurance runs would prove key, because the Rangers would chip away.  Danks was rocked in the eighth, giving up a couple big doubles/near homers, and Josh Hamilton's RBI single would make it a 9-5 game.  That brought an end to his night, and after Octavio Dotel walked a batter, Boone Logan kept it a 9-5 game by keeping David Murphy in the park to end the inning on a deep flyball to Brian Anderson.

The Rangers kept hitting the ball hard in the ninth.  Logan was chased after a couple big drives to center, resulting in a double and a triple.  In came Matt Thornton, who was greeted with a cheap double over Nick Swisher's head for a 9-6 game.  After a strikeout, Ian Kinsler made it 9-7 with an RBI single to bring the tying run to the plate.

Thornton struck out Michael Young for the second out, and then got Hamilton, the league's leading run producer, to hit a grounder to second. Ramirez ranged far to his right, then made a throw across his body to Swisher, who needed every inch of his stretch to catch the ball before Hamilton touched the bag to end the game.

Other notes:

• The first run Danks allowed was a no-doubt shot to Milton Bradley on a changeup, but the second run should've been unearned.  Joe Crede was spared an error after misplaying a hop, but it was ruled a hit.
• Jermaine Dye hit a triple -- even though he started to slow down going to second.
• Jim Thome hit his 18th homer of the year, a mighty blow to center.

Record: 54-39 | Box score | Play-by-play