Sox Machine: Chicago White Sox blog

The repercussions of a rally

If you approach tonight's historic comeback against the Twins from the Crash Davis Media School -- taking it one day at a time -- the six-run rally was without a doubt the high point of a lost season.  It's nice when the Sox provide a reason to watch them in the season's final month.  Plus, having seen the game where the Sox and Yankees traded eight-run second innings, it was nice to find out what it's like to root for the team doing the tying under such circumstances.

On the other hand, I'm a little concerned about how performances like tonight might affect the White Sox's budget for next year -- even though wins will save them money if they drop down the standings in the Hunt for Pedro Alvarez.

For instance:

1. Mike Myers ($1.1 million) over Boone Logan (league minimum).

When Myers entered the game to face Justin Morneau with one on and nobody out, a double play was far down on my list of likely outcomes*.  Yet somehow Myers turned one pitch into two outs, as the reigning American League hacked a high fastball to the left side and started a 5-4-3 double play in the process.

Furthermore, he retired Mike Cuddyer.  And Rondell White.  And when Brian Buscher singled, Myers erased him by inducing a double play off the bat of Chris Heintz.  At this point, Nick Punto's rally-starting single at the top of the ninth is immaterial, as it'd be ridiculous to expect more than two innings out of the LOOGY Supreme when two consecutive batters is pushing it.

Myers faced the minimum over two innings.  Until his one-third of an inning Wednesday, Myers hadn't escaped an outing ultimately untouched, whether he was asked to retire one hitter or three.

Meanwhile, Logan couldn't do anything right.  He faced three hitters, and all them reached.  Furthermore, each of the hits resulted in a run, capped off by a three-run homer by Rondell White, who had entered the game hitting .141.  He couldn't spot his fastball, and he left his sliders up.

Booner fumbled a golden opportunity last year, and he hasn't done anything to stand out from a crop of struggling relievers this year.  He's only 23, but he's also firmly establishing himself as part of the problem.

(*Order of likely outcomes: Single, walk, double, homer, HBP, flyout, pop-out, groundout, triple, Myers injury mid-at-bat, Morneau injury mid-at-bat, double play, strikeout, catcher's interference, universal implosion.)

2. Alex Cintron ($2+ million) over Andy Gonzalez (league minimum).

Since returning from the bereavement list, Cintron is hitting .417/.417/.917 over 12 at-bats, with two more homers (2) than he had in the first five months of the season.  It's hard to say what's gotten into him, because he still has that same ugly swing where everything -- head, shoulders, arms, hips, knees, feet, chi -- travels through the strike zone before the bat does.

Meanwhile, Gonzalez went 0-for-2 to drop his average to .204, and also committed his fifth error of the season.  His strikeout today means that he's whiffed at least once in 12 of his last 13 games.  And he's still only played two innings at shortstop.

The one saving grace is that Cintron's error was both uglier and costlier.  Gonzalez threw a little high after slipping, but Cintron rushed a routine throw and ended up bouncing it about 10 feet short of second.  And it started that six-run rally.

3. Darin Erstad ($3.5 million) over another bench player (TBD).

It's hard to say who Erstad is competing against, but the game-tying ground-rule double is exactly the kind of production the Sox expected from him.  He has also played some great defense in right field while Jermaine Dye nurses his aching quad, and with Gonzalez flailing, he's still the only backup first baseman.

Not to mention that his neck stubble is seriously off the charts right now.  His 5 o'clock shadow is growing a 5 o'clock shadow, while Jerry Owens sports the high-school moustache.  It's not even fair.

Wild card:  Luis Terrero.

I'm not quite sure where Terrero fits into the Sox's plans, but he had better at-bats than anybody in extra innings tonight.  Pat Neshek befuddled Cintron, but Terrero hung with him.  He worked an 0-2 count to 3-2, and ended up shooting an opposite-field single past a diving Nick Punto.

He was caught stealing trying to move himself into scoring position, but he didn't make the same mistake when he walked to start the 13th.  He ended up scoring the winning run.