2006 State of the Sox

April 18: White Sox 4, Royals 1

Today, we saw what the key is to playing the Royals -- you don't necessarily have to beat them, because they'll beat themselves if you wait long enough. 

The Sox didn't do much today, but they did just enough when opportunities presented themselves to win their fourth in a row, and eight of nine.  The Indians won again, so the Sox still share first place with the Tribe.

We also saw the real Jon Garland, and while I'd normally discredit a quality start against Omaha, these are the same Royals that roughed him up in his first outing.  Garland didn't walk a batter, kept the ball down and the Royals hit themselves into mostly routine outs.  Brandon McCarthy provided a nice bridge to Bobby Jenks, whose save was far less dramatic this time around.  He struck out Reggie Sanders instead of throwing him a gopher ball, and he induced two other weak outs to end the ballgame. 

Garland's only real mistake was a 1-0 pitch that Mark Teahen put in the seats in the third to give the Royals a short-lived lead.  Otherwise, he was only in one other jam, when Mark Grudzielanek doubled to start off the sixth.  Jermaine Dye helped Garland to avoid another one when he threw out Mike Sweeney, who was trying to stretch a single into double. 

Jim Thome started off the Sox's big inning with a one-out walk.  Then after getting Paul Konerko to pop out, Royals starter Jeremy Affeldt should have been out of the inning when Jermaine Dye hit a routine grounder to short.  But these being the Royals, it ramped up the heel of Angel Berroa's glove to load the bases.  Two soft singles by Joe Crede and Juan Uribe later, the Sox had a 3-0 lead.  Those singles were the Sox's first two hits of the game.

Scott Podsednik added an insurance run in the seventh when he singled with one out, stole second, advanced to third on Tadahito Iguchi's flyball to right and scored on a Jim Thome single.  He's 3-for-3 stealing bases on the season, and after starting the season 2-for-34, Pods has hit in his last four games (7-for-17).  Better yet, both of Pods' hits were off lefties Affeldt and Andrew Sisco, so he's hanging in there against guys who are designed to get his kind out. 

Other streaks of import:  Jim Thome has scored a run in all 14 games this season, which is the longest streak to start the season since the man he replaced, Frank Thomas, did the same in 1994.  With no hits and one walk, Paulie ended a seven-game hitting streak tonight, as well as a streak of equal length in which he reached base twice or more.

And once again, with another hitless night, Brian Anderson's slump extends to 1-for-23.  In his last at-bat, he did draw a tough walk after Jimmy Gobble had him in a 1-2 hole, fouling off three pitches before laying off an outside pitch for ball four.  We'll see if that's something off which he can build.

Record: 9-5 | Box score | AP recap