Ozzie did go over the top in yesterday’s game, but tonight marked the
second time this season when the White Sox played a solid game in all aspects after their manager criticized them for not picking up their teammates.
Mark Buehrle had his best outing against Texas in some time en route to his seventh win of the season, going eight innings for his
second straight start. It was an important win for both him and the Sox – he’d been hammered in his previous three outings against Texas (including the one where he complained about
the flashing lights). Meanwhile, the Sox won three out of four in Arlington after posting a 1-5 record there last year, and they did so by retaliating with hits, not HBPs.
With exception of the fifth inning, in which the Rangers hit three doubles and scored two runs, Buehrle did an excellent job of keeping the ball down, especially in the early part of the game. He induced more pop-ups as the game went on, but the early inning success gave him the advantage in the chess match.
He was also helped out by errorless defense, including a nice diving stop by Juan Uribe and a two-handed diving catch by the usually unreliable Pablo Ozuna in left field.
I guess you could say Ozuna stuffed the box score – he went 3-for-4 to raise his average up to .427, including a broken bat pop-up that landed in between the second baseman and the pitcher and died, a similar looper that went over the head of Mark Teixiera who was drawn in to play a bunt, and then a pure duck-snort to right. Along with a sac bunt, it was a classic game by the Secret Weapon. It's the
element of surprise, I tell ya.
That looper drove in two runs, and helped to pick up Brian Anderson, who broke his bat hitting a soft liner to short with runners on second and third and one out. This kind of scoring description could only be provided by Pablo:
P Ozuna reached on infield single to first, C Widger and J Uribe scored.
On the other hand, Ozuna also was thrown out easily trying to steal third to stifle a possible first-inning rally, then missed third base for no good reason while jogging around the bag on Paul Konerko’s shot off the left field wall. Pablo stumbled to get back to the bag and could’ve been thrown out at home had Michael Young not assumed Pablo scored easily.
Uribe also had a big day at the plate, hitting a solo shot in the second inning, an RBI double in the fourth, and he executed a perfect suicide squeeze. With a runner on third and one out, I felt Scott Feldman would pitch around Uribe in order to get to Anderson, who wouldn’t have much luck against that low and outside slider Feldman throws. Uribe didn’t give him a chance, as he bunted the first pitch he saw to drive home Joe Crede.
Anderson reached on an RBI single in his first at-bat, and he’s reached base in four straight games.
The offense took a much better approach against John Rheinecker and other Rangers pitchers this time around. They took pitches to opposite field and made him throw a lot of pitches, a stark contrast to a week and a half ago when
Rheinecker threw 94 pitches through eight. Every starter had at least one hit, and Jim Thome capped off the scoring with a monster shot to center, his league-leading 22nd of the year.
Record: 41-25 |
Box score |
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