I only caught the first three innings of this game, but that seemed to be all I needed to see.
The White Sox pushed their record against lefty starters above .500 as they pounded Brandon Claussen for nine runs in two innings of work, finally jumping mercilessly on a mediocre lefty. Looking back, those first three innings may have been the pinnacle of offensive production for the Sox this season, featuring clutch hitting, outstanding baserunning, and contributions from every member of the lineup.
And after Freddy Garcia put the fear of God into us throwing hanger after hanger in the first inning to turn a 4-0 game into a 4-3 affair, he settled down as well to become the team's first eight-game winner, somehow. He allowed two more homers, including a three-run shot by Rich Aurilia, but he had a strikeout-to-walk ratio (6:1) that was ultimately encouraging. Freddy didn't perform badly at the plate either in the team's first NL game, laying down a beautiful sacrifice bunt in the second and adding a single later on.
Joe Crede was undoubtedly tonight's pick that clicked, hitting a grand slam and falling a triple short of the cycle, but the bottom of the order excited me the most. Juan Uribe and Brian Anderson once again had games to write home about. They both went 2-for-5 with an RBI and scored three runs between them, and Anderson had a hit off a lefty and a righty.
Tadahito Iguchi kickstarted the game with a single that he turned into a double when he took advantage of Ken Griffey Jr.'s bobble. The Sox ran on Griffey again later, when Brian Anderson would do the same on a liner to the gap that Griffey took his time getting to. Along with Anderson advancing to second on a wild pitch that got away from the catcher
in front of him, I can't recall the Sox running the bases better than they did tonight. That's even acknowledging that Joey Cora sent a runner who got thrown out of the plate. To Cincy's credit, it was a perfect throw by Adam Dunn.
Record: 42-25 |
Box score |
Play-by-play