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

July 2: White Sox 6, Indians 5 (10 innings)

Watching the White Sox bullpen the last two nights reminds me of the Family Guy episode where Death gets injured and Peter discovers he can't die.

Or, in this case, giving up a late-inning homer doesn't mean the end of the game.  One night after Matt Thornton nearly gave up a game-winning homer to Casey Blake in the 10th (it ended up merely being brief-lead-providing), Scott Linebrink decided to serve up another untimely gopher ball to Grady Sizemore that tied the game at 5.

It was the first of two curious decisions by Ozzie Guillen, both of which may have been altered by injury.  Boone Logan, who owns Sizemore to the tune of 0-for-9 with 4 K's, didn't get the call in the ninth or the 10th, when lefty Shin-Soo Choo led off.

Then again, he went to Adam Russell.  Though his head brushed the clouds and shook some rain loose, he managed to keep it together for a 1-2-3 inning.

A.J. Pierzynski's homer -- his second of the game -- would give him his second win in as many nights.  He scored the Sox's first run with a blast into right field off a C.C. Sabathia first pitch, and finished it with one to left on Masa Kobayashi's first pitch.

It capped off a successful night by the offense, who roughed up C.C. Sabathia early and late, providing relatively quick answers every time Cleveland threatened to build momentum.

Sure, they used the longball, as Pierzynski and Jermaine Dye homered in the first.  But they also found other ways to get runs across the plate.

None of them involved the bunt directly, but twice the Sox scored after botched sacrifice bunt attempts by Nick Swisher.  In the second, Swisher tried to bunt Pablo Ozuna to third with no outs, only to poke it foul.  He then swung away, and ended up with a shattered-bat single over Jhonny Peralta to give the Sox a 3-2 lead.

In the seventh, Swisher once again botched a bunt with Ozuna on second (after a Casey Blake error), except this time he hit it twice with his bat, and was therefore out.  His teammates picked him up.

After Alexei Ramirez reached with an infield single -- which was really another error by Blake, who dropped a hard liner -- Brian Anderson of all people drove them both in with a double off Sabathia to the left-center gap for a 5-4 lead.

Sizemore would foil it, and that was the story all evening.  The Cleveland center fielder scored four of the Indians' five runs, including the first of the game.  He reached on an infield single, advanced to second and scored two singles later.  He also reached on a leadoff walk, stole second and scored, and then left Jose Contreras with a bad taste in his mouth by homering with two outs in the Count's final inning of work.

Sizemore aside, Contreras pitched pretty well -- six innings, three earned runs.  Ozuna let a ball handcuff him and led to one unearned run, and Dye played a double into a triple.  Contreras pitched around that one, though, walking a tightrope with a groundout, walk, flyout and strikeout to end the inning.

Ultimately, There's not much room to complain.  Sabathia started, Sizemore brought his best, and the Sox still came away with the win and the sweep.  Everybody has to feel pretty good about this one.

Record: 49-35 | Box score | Play-by-play

July 1: White Sox 3, Indians 2 (10 innings)

Thank God for home-field advantage.

When Matt Thornton allowed the requisite last-inning homer by Casey Blake, it didn't end the game! The Sox had three more outs to work with!

And of course, the offense burned the first two when Joe Crede grounded out and Nick Swisher struck out, just to make it interesting.

Alexei Ramirez played the evening's first hero by launching a high fly on a 2-0 Joe Borowski that barely landed in the Sox bullpen, over the outstretched glove of Ben Francisco, to tie the game.

The Sox weren't done.  Dewayne Wise followed up with a single, then stole second on the first pitch.  That set it up for Orlando Cabrera, who came through with a line drive up the middle that drove in Wise for the win.

For 29/30ths of the evening, it looked like Ramirez's second-inning sacrifice fly would be the game's only run.  Cliff Lee kept the door shut after that, getting ahead in the count often by throwing two strikes for every ball.

The Sox only threatened once after that, when A.J. Pierzynski and Carlos Quentin singling to lead off the sixth.  Lee hunkered down and threw Jermaine Dye two nasty pitches before inducing a 5-4-3 double play to give him two outs.  Jim Thome popped up the first pitch he saw to end the inning.

John Danks matched him pitch-for-pitch, though.  His only mistake was a thigh-high fastball to Kelly Shoppach, who deposited it into the left-field stands for the only run he'd allow over eight innings, his longest start of the year.

While he struck out eight, he only used 98 pitches to do so.  I thought he could've started the ninth, as he had retired seven of the last eight batters he faced, with a Grady Sizemore single being the only exception.  Danks picked off Sizemore (on a balk) to immediately negate it, one of Danks' two pickoffs on the night.

When the ball was put into play, his defense helped him out.  Quentin made a couple nice catches in left field, and Swisher used cat-like reflexes to snag an absolute rocket off the bat of Shin-Soo Choo, one that could've meant extra bases and possibly a run.  Instead, it ended the seventh.

Record: 48-35 | Box score | Play-by-play

June 30: White Sox 9, Indians 7

This game should've been a more satisfying victory, what with Nick Swisher hitting a grand slam -- again -- and homering from both sides of the plate -- again.  But Joe Crede and his 16th error would have none of that.

A big early cushion provided by a mighty three-run swat by The Gentleman Masher and a Swisher slam nearly went to waste courtesy of Joe Crede's 16th error of the season.  He airmailed a routine throw once again, and the Tribe used the extra outs to score a couple runs off Nick Masset and Matt Thornton which brought the tying run to the plate in the form of Casey Blake.  Blake, however, hit a floating liner to right to end the game.

It gave Gavin Floyd his ninth win of the year, one he earned by setting a career high with 10 strikeouts.  He gave up a quick run on a Jhonny Peralta double in the first inning, but after he got the lead, he didn't give much reason for worry.  In fact, Five-Hit Peralta was the only real thorn in his side.  He hit a solo homer off Floyd to make it an 8-2 game, then scored the third run of the game when he doubled and scored on Shin-Soo (Big League) Choo's RBI single.

The other run would be unearned, because Choo took off for second on a strikeout, and while Toby Hall did his job by throwing down to second, somebody didn't do their job on the receiving end.  The ball skipped into center field, and Choo would score on an infield single off a leaping Alexei Ramirez's mitt.

Ramirez had an uneven day.  He drew derisive laughter from Ryan Garko when he tried an ill-advised headfirst slide into first on a bunt.  He wasn't close to being safe, but he tried selling it to the umpire anyway. 

He made Ben Francisco the butt of a joke the next half-inning.  After singling to left, Francisco rounded first casually as Carlos Quentin's throw bounced back into the infield.  Ramirez saw him retreating a little too slowly and fired to Swisher before he could get back to the bag for a clever out.

Toby Hall gave him a run for his money in the laugh category.  Like Brian Anderson before him, Hall granted himself time while the umpire did not with two strikes, and he was unsuccessful on his running swinging attempt back in the box for strike three.

Later in the game with Tom Mastny on the mound, he called time while Mastny was about to deliver the pitch, but maintained perfect posture in the batter's box.  The ump gave it to him, and Mastny noticed at the last second.  His pitch dribbled toward the plate.

Record: 47-35 | Box score | Play-by-play

June 29: White Sox 5, Cubs 1

Some bullet points, since I haven't watched it yet.  An hour and a half delay on my flight made me miss the whole thing, and I ended up watching some of it on GameCast and some highlights on Baseball Tonight.

*The defense continues to work for Mark Buehrle, and Buehrle's returning the favor.  Alexei Ramirez played a part in two nice double plays -- a bizarre 4-3-6 caught on a liner for one -- and almost started a third with a glove flip.

*Buehrle also did his part with five strikeouts.

*Joe Crede's 15th error, a shot through the wickets, led to the only run, but Buehrle staved off the big inning.

*A double play also helped Scott Linebrink work out of bigtime trouble, as he started the eighth inning with the dreaded leadoff walk while trying to hold a two-run lead.

*Carlos Quentin and Jim Thome each struck mighty blows.

*Brian Anderson blew a hit and run by hitting a two-run homer.

If there's anything else, feel free to fill it in.

Record: 46-35 | Box score | Play-by-play

June 28: White Sox 6, Cubs 5

Take some time out of your day to shower Jermaine Dye, Carlos Quentin and the bullpen with praise.

Record: 45-35 | Box score | Play-by-play

June 27: White Sox 10, Cubs 3

Bullet points:

• The Sox knocked Ryan Dempster out during a seven-run third inning, punctuated by a Nick Swisher grand slam.
• Jermaine Dye had three hits and three RBI, and also made a few nice catches in the outfield.
• Carlos Quentin had a four-hit day, and took advantage of Eric Patterson's rough day in left by scoring on a bad throw.
• Jose Contreras gave up three homers, but all of them were with the bases empty.
• Of course, two of them were back-to-back, which means the Cubs have done that in all four crosstown games.

Record: 43-35 | Box score | Play-by-play

June 26: White Sox 2, Dodgers 0

Bobby Jenks recorded his first 1-2-3 inning in more than a month, and it provided a fitting end to one of the strangest games of the year.

John Danks didn't record a single three up, three down frame.  He escaped only one inning with the bases empty thanks to a one-out double play, but otherwise faced some sort of trouble every other inning.

He even saw Juan Pierre reach base twice due to errors, and he ran wild on him.

And yet he lasted six scoreless innings.

Meanwhile, the Sox seemed like they had Clayton Kershaw figured out, as the highly touted southpaw couldn't make it out of the fifht.

And yet the two runs he gave up were the only ones the Dodgers allowed.

It was that kind of game, as the offenses kept finding ways to see potential rallies come to sudden ends.  Occasionally it was thanks to brilliant defense, and other times, it was simply a failure to execute.

Danks ran into trouble immediately when Toby Hall dropped a Juan Pierre pop-up behind the plate.  He'd eventually single after a battle, and he's steal second and third.  Danks found himself with runners on second and third and one out, but worked out of it with a soft lineout and a can of corn to right 

Pierre reached on another error two innings later when Orlando Cabrera couldn't handle a hard grounder to his left, and he'd make it to third on Matt Kemp's single with nobody out. 
But Danks bounced back by striking out Russell Martin with one of the best cutters he ever threw, and then getting James Loney to ground into a 4-6-3 DP, started with an Alexei Ramirez glove flip.

He faced runners on the corners thanks to his own miscue in the fourth.  With a runner on third and one out, Angel Berroa hit a chopper back to the mound.  Danks looked Andy LaRoche back, then threw to third and was a hair late.  Instead of getting the second out, he had first and third and nobody out.  He redeemed himself by snaring a liner off the bat of Danny Ardoin, then going to first for the double play.

Meanwhile, the Sox scored a run in the second and third with a couple of RBI singles by Ramirez (broken bat) and Carlos Quentin, but shot themselves in the feet in every other attempt to add to the lead:

*Danks tried to lay down a sac bunt with runners on the corners and nobody out, but bunted off the plate and thought it was foul.  Martin caught it in fair territory, however, and started a 2-6-3 double play.

*Joe Crede grounded into a 1-2-3 double play with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth.

The Sox stranded 11 overall ... and yet even with the dysfunctional offense once again, they managed to take a series on the road.

Record: 43-35 | Box score | Play-by-play

June 25: Dodgers 5, White Sox 0

Record: 42-35 | Box score | Play-by-play

June 24: White Sox 6, Dodgers 1

Tonight, Mark Buehrle looked a lot like he did against Minnesota June 7.  He went eight innings, and the only run he allowed was the first homer of the season for one of Dmitri Young's brothers.

This time, however, he needed to be sharper for longer thanks to the White Sox offense's struggles in the early going.

They started the night off with three straight singles off Derek Lowe, but Jermaine Dye struck out swinging on a low-and-away slider, and Nick Swisher's sac fly scored the inning's only run.  They'd spoil another attempt in the fourth when they had runners on second and third after a Pablo Ozuna walk and a Dewayne Wise double, only to see three consecutive fielder's choices allow Lowe to escape the frame unscathed.

Only in the second did the Sox have anything resembling an aesthetically pleasing offense.  Wise singled, advanced to second on a Buehrle bunt and scored on an Orlando Cabrera single.  But it appeared two runs would be all they could muster as Lowe and his sinker settled in.

Fortunately, Buehrle was up to the task.  Only one runner reached scoring position, when Cabrera threw short to first and Swisher couldn't handle the hop (a tough error) and Russell Martin flared an inside cutter into left field to put two on with one out.  But Buehrle got James Loney to ground to Swisher, who started a 3-6-1 DP with Buehrle beating Loney to the bag by a step.

Yet that was only the second-prettiest of the Sox's three double plays on the night.  First prize went to Alexei Ramirez, who chased down a flare off Jeff Kent's bat to center, sliding on one knee to grab it in front of Wise.  He then popped up and fired a one-hopper to first to get Matt Kemp by a few steps to end the inning.

Buehrle eventually got breathing room in the eighth, when Dye followed up a Carlos Quentin single with his seventh homer in eight games, a two-run shot over the wall in right-center to give the Sox a 4-1 lead.  They'd eventually stretch it to 6-1 when Swisher singled, Wise tripled past a diving Delwyn Young in right, and Ramirez singled him home with a bouncer through the right side.

Record: 42-34 | Box score | Play-by-play

June 22: Cubs 7, White Sox 1

If you watched the first inning of this one, that's about all you need to get the idea of this game.

Top of the first: Two singles in three at-bats, followed by Jermaine Dye smashing a high splitter into the ground somehow for a 4-6-3 double play.

Bottom of the first:  Javier Vazquez throwing the first eight pitches out of the zone, followed by Derrek Lee executing a hit-and-run to score one, with Orlando Cabrera dropping the throw back into the infield to allow another run to cross the plate.

The Sox grounded into more double plays, the Cubs went back-to-back for the third straight game at one point, and that's about all there is to this one.  Writing any more about it would be the equivalent of cutting.

Record: 41-34 | Box score | Play-by-play

June 21: Cubs 11, White Sox 7

Can't blame the offense for this one.  They staked Jose Contreras to a 4-1 lead with a pair of homers -- Jermaine Dye's fourth in three games, and Dewayne Wise's first as a member of the White Sox.

Contreras then did his best Octavio Dotel impersonation by allowing back-to-back homers to Jim Edmonds and Mike Fontenot, and his day went downhill from there.  And if the solo homers weren't the tipping point, the fulcrum of the inning was likely Jason Marquis' at-bat.

With one out and one on, Marquis -- a .204 lifetime hitter, not an automatic out by any means -- was set to give himself up with a sacrifice bunt.  He missed the first pitch and looked at the second, which took the bunt off.  Marquis then slashed the next pitch through the right side, and Contreras wouldn't record another out.

Singles and homers were the story of the inning.  Marquis' base hit was the first of four consecutive ones allowed by Contreras, and an Aramis Ramirez homer ended his day.  Edmonds ended up going deep twice, with Boone Logan serving as the second victim.

The Sox answered back with a run when A.J. Pierzynski singled, but Jermaine Dye extinguished any chance at a bigger rally by grounding into a 1-6-3 double play with one out and two on.

Record: 41-33 | Box score | Play-by-play

June 20: Cubs 4, White Sox 3

Today marked the fourth time a White Sox reliever has surrendered a walk-off homer in the ninth inning of a tied game, and Scott Linebrink became the first to two it twice. But this game was more like Matt Thornton's loss than any of the other ones.

Aramis Ramirez's second homer of the game ended this one, and it came after four consecutive innings in which a Sox leadoff batter reached.  I'll borrow South Side Sox's rundown to save time:

• 6th inning -- Leadoff double. Stranded. Never moved.
• 7th inning -- Leadoff single. Stranded. Moved to second on 2-out walk.
• 8th inning -- Leadoff single. Stranded. Erased on Crede GIDP.
• 9th inning -- Leadoff double. Stranded. Never Moved.

The ninth inning was the most painful because it started in the most unlikely of fashions -- with a double by Brian Anderson off Kerry Wood.  But pop-ups would leave him stranded.  The Sox could only score off homers, as Jermaine Dye hit a solo shot and A.J. Pierzynski added a two-run blast to center.

Of course, after manufacturing a run off John Danks in the first with a couple of singles and a double play ball, that's how the Cubs scored their runs.  They just happened to make it hurt.

Two of them came back-to-back off Octavio Dotel, who was the first pitcher in from the bullpen.  The removal of Danks was questionable, although by no means indefensible.  Ozzie Guillen took him out of the ballgame when it was his turn to bat leading off the seventh.  Juan Uribe made it pay off by singling, but as the above list indicates, he didn't score.

Enter Dotel, who started by giving up homers to Derrek Lee and Ramirez, and since Danks was only at 85 pitches and wasn't hit hard after the first couple innings, the second guessing began.  Dotel settled down after that, and Thornton threw a scoreless inning of his own before Linebrink blew it with the second pitch he threw.

Record: 41-32 | Box score | Play-by-play

June 19: White Sox 13, Pirates 8

Last year, I was lucky enough to attend the game in Yankee Stadium where the Sox scored eight runs in the top of the second, only to watch New York tie it in the bottom of the frame.

It's far more enjoyable to watch it happen the other way around.

Gavin Floyd appeared to have this game lost when he gave up half a dozen runs to Pittsburgh after starting the game with a 1-2-3 inning.  All six runs were unearned because Pablo Ozuna threw high and wide on an attempted force at second, which would've been the third out and kept the game scoreless but instead pulled Alexei Ramirez.

Still, Floyd was off his game.  He walked the leadoff man that inning and the next, couldn't locate his slider, and grooved a fastball to Nate McLouth that cleared the bases.  Freddy Sanchez crushed another piped fastball, and the Pirates had a quick 6-0 lead, all scored with two outs as five consecutive batters reached base.

Somehow, the Sox struck back by using the opposite field.  Jim Thome led off with a double that short-hopped the left-field wall, and Jermaine Dye doubled him home to the right-center gap.  Nick Swisher flipped one off the bat inside the left-field line, and Alexei Ramirez somehow found the hole in the left side to make it 6-2.

Brian Anderson finally made the first out of the inning, but it was a productive one -- a deep fly ball that allowed Swisher to tag up.  Ozuna partially redeemed himself with a single again through the hole on the left side, and Orlando Cabrera tied it with one swing, drilling a first-pitch fastball into the left field stands.

Dye gave the Sox their first lead with a solo homer in the third, but he wasn't done.  With a 9-7 lead and the bases loaded after a single and two walks, Dye hit a grand slam, his 14th of the season and second non-solo shot to turn a ballgame into a laugher.

Floyd managed to last 5 2/3 innings, and though he spoiled a lead by giving up an RBI single to Sanchez in the fourth inning, he left with a 9-7 lead.  Matt Thornton struck out the only batter he faced -- McLouth -- on three pitches.

Octavio Dotel struck out the side, and Scott Linebrink pitched a scoreless frame as well.  Adam Russell gave up his first major league run.

Record: 41-31 | Box score | Play-by-play

June 18: White Sox 8, Pirates 2

Recap in brief:

*Toby Hall -- Toby Hall! -- hit his first homer in a Sox uniform, a line drive that barely cleared the left field wall to give the Sox a 2-0 lead.

*Carlos Quentin and Brian Anderson added solo homers in the same direction, and all of them came off Pittsburgh starter Tom Gorzelanny.  Quentin snapped a 1-for-16 slump.

*Mark Buehrle pitched eight innings for the third consecutive start, taking a no-hitter into the sixth before Jose Bautista homered.  The other run came on a walk and a couple of weak singles.

*Jim Thome scored Orlando Cabrera with a bloop single to left, and Cabrera either lucked out or showed tremendous skill by taking off earlier than most baserunners would have, crossing the plate by sliding hard into Raul Chavez.

*Thome himself scored from first -- in somewhat easier fashion, though he had to slide -- on Nick Swisher's double to the left-center gap.

Record: 40-31 | Box score | Play-by-play