2006 State of the Sox

April 19: White Sox 4, Royals 0

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 fifth in a row, and nine of 10.  Yes, I know I used this same lede yesterday, but since the Sox only scored one run by swinging the bat, I reserve full rights to recycle it.  The Royals have now lost 10 in a row; the only two wins on the season have come against the Sox.

Thanks to a beautiful start by Javier Vazquez, the Sox finished the sweep of Omaha by allowing only one run the entire series.  Javy carried a no-hitter into the seventh until with one out, longtime thorn-in-the-side Doug Mientkiewicz broke it up with a check-swing roller that barely stayed fair inside the first-base line.  Vazquez left after allowing a single (legit) to Esteban German to start the ninth.  

His final line:  8 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K.  Now I’m wondering if I was premature in saying Jose Contreras’ start from two days ago would be hard to top.  Contreras only allowed one hit in seven innings, but Vazquez sounded unbeatable.  He had all his pitches working today and any other team would’ve been hard-pressed to score runs off him as well.

Ozzie Guillen turned into Ozzie La Russa in the ninth, using Vazquez, Cotts and Jenks to close out the game.  Jenks got a rare save in a four run game because he inherited two runners with one out.  

The Sox bats didn’t do much, but thanks to Royals pitching and defense, they weren’t needed.  Juan Uribe’s first homer of the year leading off the fifth was the only time the Sox scored via a batted ball.  Scott Elarton struggled with his control, walking five batters in 4 1/3 innings, and he also threw a wild pitch and hit a batter.  Of course, Paul Bako (a terrible ballplayer whose only asset is his defense) didn’t help him out much, either.  Here’s how the Sox scored:

• Alex Cintron scores in first on wild pitch after singling and advancing to third on two walks.
• Jermaine Dye drives in a run after taking a pitch to the torso with the bases loaded in the fifth.
  
• Jim Thome scores on a slider that goes between the wickets of Bako in the fifth.
  

Despite only six hits, the Sox got the job done.  Thome extended his run-scoring games streak to 16, and Scott Podsednik went 2-for-3 with a walk to extend his hitting streak to five games (during which he’s 9-for-20).  Unfortunately, Pods was thrown out twice trying to steal second.  Old baseball wisdom states that it’s a terrible move to make either the first or third out on the basepaths, and ol’ Pods did both.  Bako gunned him down after he reached leading off the game, and once again to end the sixth inning.

Record: 10-5 | Box score | AP recap