2008 State of the Sox

August 23: Rays 5, White Sox 3

Ozzie Guillen had a decision to make after the White Sox offense did well enough against Scott Kazmir.  Jermaine Dye had homered twice, and Alexei Ramirez tripled and scored on a Juan Uribe sac fly to give Javier Vazquez a 3-1 lead.

Vazquez had also held up his end of the bargain, retiring the first 15 batters he saw and pitching seven strong innings.  Without a doubt he was starting the eighth -- he had only thrown 84 pitches -- but Guillen had to figure out when to pull him on the heels of a bullpen collapse Friday.

He didn't pull Vazquez after a leadoff single.  Nor a walk.  After a single that skittered under Juan Uribe's glove loaded the bases, Guillen finally had to go to the bullpen.  He called on the only guy who got the job done Friday -- Matt Thornton.

Of course, with the Sox facing the Rays, Thornton couldn't get anybody out, though he tried his damndest.  He walked in a run after a prolonged 13-pitch battle with Akinori Iwamura, in which he fouled off six straight with two strikes, then allowed an RBI "infield single" to B.J. Upton that tied the game -- it was a jam-shot liner that caught Cabrera on an in-between hop.

Thornton then gave up a second-pitch, two-run single to Carlos Pena that decided the game.  D.J. Carrasco retired all three guys he faced, but by then the game was in the books.

All in all, it might've been Cabrera's worst game as a member of the White Sox.  Along with the error, he went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and an inning-ending double play in the fifth.

Record: 73-55 | Box score | Play-by-play