2008 State of the Sox

April 7: White Sox 7, Twins 4

JOOOOOOOOOOE!  CREDE!

We know the drill by now. Two outs, tie game, one of baseball's toughest righties on the mound in the seventh inning, and Joe Crede takes him deep.  Making matters more exciting, the bases happened to be loaded, so Crede happened to pick a great time for the first grand slam of the year.

Jim Thome started the seventh by drawing a walk from Matt Guerrier.  Paul Konerko shot a single to right-center to get Thome to third, and in came the tough Pat Neshek.

Jermaine Dye then followed up with a terrific at-bat off Neshek -- he fell behind 0-2, then fouled a couple pitches off before throwing his bat at a low, outside slider and shooting it back through the box to tie the game at 3.

After an A.J. Pierzynski strikeout, Carlos Quentin lined a single to Delmon Young.  Jeff Cox held Konerko at third, as he would've been a dead duck at home.  You can call it either station-to-station baseball or building the drama, because Crede ripped an inside fastball just inside the left field foul pole for his fifth career slam.

Scott Linebrink was touched up for his first run thanks to an unwise walk of leadoff man Denard Span in the eighth inning, but Bobby Jenks worked his calmest ninth in quite some time.  He allowed a one-out single to Matt Tolbert, but erased him with a double play from Carlos Gomez.

The bullpen work preserved a win for Javier Vazquez, who worked a little too hard at the beginning of a game before picking it up later this time around.  His struggles were due to his inability to retire the leadoff man, as the Twins' first batter reach in each of the first three innings.  Vazquez kept the ball in the yard, but he was dinged up by singles and doubles, including Mike Lamb's one-out two-bagger that stretched Minnesota's lead to 3-1.

Once he hit the fifth, Javy put it into cruise control.  He retired the last 11 batters he faced and struck out eight on the day.

Up to hte seventh, the question was whether he'd receive enough run support to get the win.  Nick Blackburn spoiled a good scoring opportunity for the Sox early.  The Sox started with three straight hits off Blackburn, but with runners on first and second and no outs after a Thome RBI single, Blackburn struck out Konerko and Dye before getting Pierzynski grounded to short.

Record: 5-2 | Box score | Play-by-play

Week in a Box: March 31 - April 6

After nearly a year off, this feature returns.  Hopefully you'll add your own highs and lows, and feel free to disagree with my selections, because I can be persuaded.

Player of the Week:  A.J. Pierzynski.  You know things are going well for A.J. when he's intentionally walked twice in the same game, and once with a seven-run lead and two outs.  He also provided the winning runs in the opener against Detroit with a three-run homer, and was one of the few to show up against Fausto Carmona.

Player of the Weak:  Juan Uribe.  He struck out in his first three at-bats of the year and went 1-for-7 with runners on this week, although he hit a big solo shot against the Indians.  If he's having the worst week at the plate of all the regulars (4-for-20), the lineup isn't in bad shape.

Pitcher of the Week:  John Danks.  Danks held the Indians to two hits -- one of which should have been caught by Jermaine Dye -- over 6 2/3 stellar innings to lead the Sox to their first win of the year, sparing a bullpen that was worked hard over the first two games.

Pitcher of the Weak:  Jose Contreras.  This had Mark Buehrle's name all over it until he rebounded with seven strong against Detroit Sunday night.  Now it goes to The Count, and his dropping down 89.3 percent of the time.

Fireman of the Week:  Scott Linebrink.  Others can make a good case for this one, like Bobby Jenks (three saves) and Boone Logan (excellent situational relief work), but Linebrink handled the eighth inning with ease not once, not twice, but thrice.  Three innings, one hit, no walks, three strikeouts -- just like Kenny Williams drew it up.

Gas Can of the Week:  Octavio Dotel.  Dotel spoiled a comeback effort from the Sox offense by giving up a three-run double to Casey Blake in the opener.  He did gain his revenge, at least.

Super Sub of the Week:  Carlos Quentin.  After Alexei Ramirez's early struggles, Ozzie gave Quentin a shot, and Quentin has given the Sox a shot in the arm with seven RBI in four games, plus a couple homers he missed by a matter of feet.  He delivered twice with the bases loaded against Detroit Sunday, and then there was his throw.

Super Scrub of the Week:  Toby Hall.  He looked overmatched at the plate in his one appearance, and scouts say he's the easiest catcher to run on.

Gold Glove:  Nick Swisher.  This had Carlos Quentin's name all over it until he dropped an easy fly ball against Detroit Sunday, which is something that can't be done when Mike MacDougal's on the mound. He made a couple nice catches against Detroit and one against Cleveland, and his steady play in center might keep Jerry Owens out of the starting lineup.  He was charged with an error, but he didn't deserve it.  Who did?

Hands of Stone: Jermaine Dye.  Dye missed a couple catches a better right fielder likely would have made, and had the penchant for running into his center fielder; the second incident resulted in an error charged to Swisher.  He did make a nice sliding grab to close out the opener against Detroit, and started an excellent relay to nail Ramon Santiago at third to keep an inning from getting out of hand.