2008 State of the Sox

Week in a Box: May 12-18

Player of the Week: Carlos Quentin.  This is the fourth consecutive week he's taken this award, and once again, it's well deserved for the game-breaking grand slam against the Angels and a big two-run shot against the Giants.  He's the only consistent threat in the lineup.

Player of the Weak:  Nobody.  If you want to give it to Jim Thome, go ahead.  But it's hard to justify it when he not only drove in a game-winning run, but picked up a teammate in the process.

Pitcher of the Week:  Jose Contreras.  Dazzled the Angels with his forkball for seven innings in a heated pitchers' duel.

Pitcher of the Weak: Mark Buehrle.  The defense betrayed him during his start against the Angels, though he rebounded to defeat Barry Zito in a must-win start.

Fireman of the Week:  Bobby Jenks.  Four outings, four innings, no runs, no threats.  He hasn't walked a batter in eight appearances.

Gas Can of the Week:  Ehren Wassermann.  Two of his three outings were failures, and he retired a single batter in the successful one.

Super Sub of the Week: Alexei Ramirez.  He drove in the only two runs against the Giants with his first career home run, and filled in well in place of a hurting Juan Uribe.

Super Scrub of the Week:  Brian Anderson.  Everybody on the bench contributed, but Anderson frustrated me with his bases-loaded strikeout after he was ahead in the count 2-0.

Gold Glove: Gavin Floyd.  Hey, if he doesn't glove that smashed comebacker to start the 1-4-3 double play, his start could've gone in a whole different direction with the crap he was throwing.

Hands of Stone: Joe Crede.  Botched a chopper that allowed the Angels to score the tying run, then threw wide to Ramirez at second in a bases-loaded situation.  While Ramirez did get back to the bag and the ump blew the call, Crede could've made a much better throw.  He was also part of the dismal group effort behind Buehrle.

May 18: White Sox 13, Giants 8

When Nick Magic is the only reliever of seven used by both teams who actually brought his stuff to the mound, you know it was a weird game.

With the Sox clinging to a 9-6 lead, Masset entered the game in the eighth inning after Octavio Dotel walked the bases loaded, and threw his last nine pitches out of the zone, and proceeded to record four outs on five pitches.

The first one didn't count.  Masset got Jose Castillo to chop a ball to third, and Joe Crede's throw to second pulled Alexei Ramirez off the bag.  Ramirez did get his foot back on the bag in time.  He also tagged Randy Winn.  The umpire didn't see either, and it was 9-7 with still no outs.

Masset kept the soft grounders coming.  Ray Durham tapped one to short for a 6-4 fielder's choice, but beat out the double play to narrow the lead to 9-8.  One more chopper to Crede, and the inning was over.

The Sox would pile on four more runs in the ninth off Giants closer Brian Wilson, and Masset would retire the Giants 1-2-3 in the ninth for his first career save.

The final out seemed like it was recorded in an entirely different game, as John Danks and Matt Cain appeared to be locked in a pitcher's duel.  The only damage off them in the first half of the game came off solo homers -- Danks allowed one to Rich Aurelia, Cain to Crede.  Then the Giants grabbed a 2-1 lead when Ray Durham's grounder up the middle hit the bag and bounced 10 feet in the air, over Ramirez's head.

That hop transformed the game into a tennis match featuring good hitting and/or spectacularly awful bullpen work.

Point, White Sox: Cabrera, A.J. Pierzynski and Carlos Quentin go single-homer-single -- Cabrera's barely reaching the seats, Quentin's a mighty blow -- for a 4-2 lead.

Point, Giants:  Aaron Rowand doubled and scored on two productive outs, but Danks stopped it there to exit with a quality start.

Point, White Sox:  Cabrera hits his second homer just past the wall after pinch-hitting Jim Thome walks.

Point, Giants:  After striking out his second hitter of the season, Ehren Wassermann begins the unraveling, allowing a triple to Winn and a Castillo single.  The Giants then feasted on Matt Thornton's first pitches -- a single by Durham and a Bengie Molina double down the right-field line.  Thornton stopped the bleeding with the game tied.

Point, White Sox:  The Sox put together their ugliest three-run rally of the season.  Paul Konerko pushed a single through the left side, Crede hit a soft liner into center and Ramirez's broken bat flare dropped into left to load the bases.  After an awful at-bat by Andreson, Nick Swisher hit a check-swing bloop that dropped into left field.  Ortmeier did a faceplant on the bullpen mound, and Swisher ended up with a bases-clearing "double" and a 9-6 lead.

It's about time the White Sox offense picked up the pitching, even if they had to do it repeatedly.

Record: 23-20 | Box score | Play-by-play