Before Ozzie thinks about sending Brian Anderson down to Triple-A, he might want to watch tonight’s game a few more times. Rob Mackowiak’s two misplays in a row set off a horrific series of events that may have cost them a shot at the sweep.
With the game tied at 2 and Ivan Rodriguez at first, Magglio Ordonez hit a routine flyball to center field. Mackowiak caught the ball flat-footed, and Rodriguez took advantage to tag up from first to second on what appeared to be an ordinary flyout, putting a runner on scoring position with two outs.
Sure enough, Carlos Guillen follows up with a jam-shot single into center, scoring a Rodriguez who should’ve never been on second easily. Mack makes matters worse by trying in vain to throw out Rodriguez, missing the cutoff man and allowing Guillen to get into scoring position.
Then it was Paul Konerko’s turn to get into the act. Omar Infante got sawed off and hit a weak roller to short. Juan Uribe charged, but his throw to first was late. Konerko looked back to check with the ump, not realizing that Guillen didn’t stop at third. By the time Paulie got the throw home, Guillen already stepped on the plate to make it a 4-2 game.
After that, Garland decided to just give up the runs himself, allowing a first-pitch homer to Marcus Thames to push the game out of reach. Before the inning, the only mistake Garland made was to Placido Polanco, who hit a two-run homer in the third. He pitched well, but ultimately he’s a guy who relies on his defense, and his defense let him down three times.
It was the anti-Mark Buehrle inning – after a defensive lapse, he kept making good pitches, and all the runs were earned.
Then again, given the way the offense performed after the first inning, Garland wouldn’t have had much help anyway. What the Sox’s defensive lapses did to the Tiger offense, Joey Cora’s mistake did for Kenny Rogers.
The offense had Rogers on the ropes in the first inning. With two outs, Jim Thome singled and Konerko followed up with a two-run shot to right-center. Yet this was no rally-killing homer, as Jermaine Dye followed up with a single and A.J. Pierzynski doubled over Ordonez’s head.
Yet with the ball reaching the cutoff man and Dye just touching third, Cora sent him around anyway, and Dye was thrown out by a good 10 feet with no way to even get to the plate. The inning was over, and the Sox offense was done, too. Rogers retired the last 17 he faced.
The one bright spot was Sean Tracey’s major-league debut. The rookie threw two scoreless innings, and worked out a jam when Alex Cintron let a perfect double play ball go under his mitt. Tracey responded by striking out Curtis Granderson, and then Juan Uribe made a beautiful stab on Placido Polanco’s sinking liner. He caught it on a hop, but runner on second Chris Shelton thought he caught it in the air. Thus, he didn’t run when Iguchi’s relay throw to Konerko was late, and they hung him up between the bases. Uribe finally applied the tag on him completing the rare 6-4-3-5-4-6 double play.
Record: 36-23 |
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