2006 State of the Sox

August 9: Yankees 7, White Sox 6

I wouldn't have been as frustrated with the Sox for having the bases loaded, no outs, and getting zero runs out of the situation.  After all, they hadn't scratched a single hit off Randy Johnson for the first six innings, so I was just glad they weren't embarrassed by a pitcher who entered the game without a strikeout in his last two starts.

But watching the events unfold in the next inning, when Tadahito Iguchi led off with a homer, and Joe Crede hit a two-out, three-run bomb to make it a one-run ballgame, I couldn't help but become peeved by the at-bats by A.J. Pierzynski, Alex Cintron and Brian Anderson. 

With the bases loaded, Ron Villone jammed Pierzynski into a weak pop-out at first.  One down.  Then Cintron popped out on a bad 1-0 offspeed pitch.  Two down.  Then Anderson tried jumping on a first pitch and flew out to left.  Three outs.  Threat over.  Anderson was the least culpable, but when you have three bullets against Ron F. Villone and get nothing, that's just plain stupid.

The Sox almost made up the margin in the ninth, trying to force Mariano Rivera into his second straight blown save.  Anderson reached base when he was hit in the arm, and after Podsednik struck out (0-for-2 with Ks), Iguchi looped a single in front of Bernie Williams, putting runners on the corners.  Jim Thome would ground out to end the inning, and the Sox found themselves on the wrong end of a nailbiter this time. 

Jon Garland didn't have his finest start, giving up three homers and looking generally like he did in the early part of the season.  Only Crede's defense kept the game from being a complete disaster.  Joe saved two runs -- one on a 6-3 double play that ended a scary first, and another with a sharp grab of Craig Wilson's grounder with a runner on third and one out.  Unfortunately, he couldn't toe the line in innings No. 5-7.  David Riske and Mike MacDougal combined for three scoreless innings to keep the Sox in it -- unlike the middle relievers in yesterday's game -- but it was too little, too late. 

Record: 66-46 | Box score | Play-by-play