State of the Sox 2009

August 31: Twins 4, White Sox 1

Nick Blackburn recorded his last victory on July 10 against the White Sox.

Since then: 38 1/3 IP, 66 H, 38 R 10 HR, 9 BB, 14 K.

Tonight: 7 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 7 K.

That’s all that needs to be said about the White Sox offense.

Gavin Floyd pitched well, too, but one bad half-inning killed him. With two outs, he ran into the left-handed buzzsaw of Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Jason Kubel. Mauer cranked a homer, Morneau singled, and Jason Kubel drilled a low fastball over the right-center fence for a 3-0 lead.

Otherwise, it was another quality start that went unsupported.

Record: 64-68 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 30: Yankees 8, White Sox 3

The White Sox appeared to have a good thing going in the third inning, as they greeted Joba Chamberlain with three straight singles. Alexei Ramirez slashed one to left-center, stole second, moved to third on Jayson Nix’s single, and scored on Scott Podsednik’s single back through the box for a 2-1 lead.

Then, for whatever reason, Nix got greedy. Melky Cabrera’s throw back to second escaped Robinson Cano, rolling away toward the mound. Nix took off for third, but Cano got to the ball and fired a rocket to Alex Rodriguez in time to get Nix at third. He’d committed a cardinal sin, getting thrown out at third with nobody out.

That basically killed the Sox offense. Podsednik stole second to get a runner back in scoring position, and only Mark Kotsay would get past first base the rest of the day. Yankee pitchers retired the next eight, and the Sox’s only other form of offense would come with two outs in the ninth, when Jermaine Dye homered off Phil Coke to narrow the lead to 8-3.

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August 29: Yankees 10, White Sox 0

Record: 64-66 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 28: Yankees 5, White Sox 2

Record: 64-65 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 27: White Sox 9, Red Sox 5

Hats off to Jayson Nix, who changed the course of this game with one big swing.

The Sox had the bases loaded, nobody out and a 3-0 count off Junichi Tazawa, who only had one pitch and couldn’t even locate it. Mark Kotsay took strike one, then swung at ball four — and perhaps ball five — to hit a sac fly to left.

Alexei Ramirez followed with a routine fly to center on a 2-0 pitch, and it appeared Tazawa would be let off the hook despite having plenty of nothing.

Nix made Tazawa pay, hitting a towering fly on another 2-0 pitch that scraped the Green Monster. The hang time allowed both runners on base to score, giving the Sox a 3-0 lead. Scott Podsednik put the cherry on top with a single back through the box for a 4-0 lead.

More surprisingly, they doubled their lead in the third. A.J. Pierzynski and Paul Konerko led off with singles. Although Konerko should’ve had a double off the Monster, Carlos Quentin picked him up. He came up after Jim Thome’s sac fly and hit his 15th homer to stretch the lead to 7-0. Alexei Ramirez doubled and Jayson Nix singled — both with two outs — for an 8-0 lead.

The Sox ended their night of offense with one more two-out run. Paul Konerko picked up his extra base by scoring from first on a Jim Thome doubled.

It was pretty much smooth sailing after that. John Danks pitched six strong innings; the only glitch came in the form of back-to-back homers by J.D. Drew and Alex Gonzalez.

Nix prevented another run from scoring on Danks when, learning from his mistake in the first game, he threw home to get a runner at home instead of pursuing a rundown between first and second. Pierzynski placed the tag on Jacoby Ellsbury, who sprained his ankle against Pierzynski as he blocked the plate.

If there was one reason to be discouraged, a Red Sox shortstop had a better relief outing than the White Sox’s two highest-paid relievers. Nick Green walked a three batters, but didn’t allow a hit for a 0.00 ERA. Meanwhile, Octavio Dotel couldn’t finish a second inning due to control issues and double issues (David Ortiz and J.D. Drew hit consecutive wall-bangers), giving up two runs.

Then, one moment after Steve Stone laid down the adrenaline excuse, Bobby Jenks gave up a homer to Drew to lead off the ninth.

Record: 64-64 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 26: Red Sox 3, White Sox 2

Three games, three different ways to lose.

This was a tidy, well-played, well-pitched game on both sides. Neither team committed an error. Tim Wakefield didn’t miss with his knuckler, and Gavin Floyd gave up two solo shots but limited the damage otherwise.

Scott Podsednik even came through with a pinch-hit homer to tie it in the eighth, the first Sox batter to come to the plate after Wakefield departed.

But, in the end … Tony Pena. David Ortz. Ballgame.

Record: 73-53 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 25: Red Sox 6, White Sox 3

The Red Sox desperately wanted to give this game away. The White Sox wouldn’t let them.

Boston tried three times to let the White Sox have this one, since Pale Hose were so kind to wrap up more than a half-dozen gift runs the same before.

Trailing 2-1 and Paul Konerko on thirdwith one out in the seventh, Alex Rios hit a fly to medium range right. Paul Konerko bluffed going home, but it baffles the mind that he didn’t commit fully. Drew caught the ball flat-footed, and his throw ended up well on the first base side of the plate.

But they pardoned Konerko (or Jeff Cox) with a strikeout of all things. Alexei Ramirez swung at a curve in the dirt, but it hit the front of the plate and skipped over Jason Varitek. Konerko scored, and Ramirez reached first, and Jermaine Dye, who was on second, moved up to third. He would score when Jayson Nix’s line drive didn’t stick in Mike Lowell’s mitt, and the White Sox led 3-2.

The Sox let the Red Sox tie it in the bottom of the frame. Freddy Garcia, who pitched so well, gave up a one-out double to Jason Varitek. Terry Francona called for Victor Martinez, and Ozzie Guillen, as he so often did when Martinez was on the Indians, brought in Matt Thornton to make Martinez hit from the right side of the plate.

Martinez, as he so often did when he was on the Indians, lined a single to left on the first pitch to tie the game.

The ever-charitable Red Sox weren’t dismayed. In the top of the eight, Carlos Quentin hit a pop-up over the mound. Hideki Okajima couldn’t make an over-the-shoulder catch, and Quentin reach on the error.

He advanced to second in stranger fashion. Okajima wasn’t looking at Martinez after his first pitch to Konerko, and Martinez’s throw back to the mound bounced into center field. Quentin moved to second, and then went to third on Konerko’s single to right.

Quentin would stay there. Jermaine Dye popped out to short, A.J. Pierzynski struck out, and Rios flew out to center on a high 2-0 pitch to end the threat.

By that time, the Red Sox just decided to win it themselves. Then again, with Scott Linebrink on the mound, it might’ve  been unavoidable.

Linebrink actually bailed out Thornton by getting Kevin Youkilis to ground out to second with runners on second and third to end the seventh, and started the eighth by getting David Ortiz to fly out. As was the case against Kansas City, he struggled to record a third out.

Jason Bay, who couldn’t figure out Garcia’s off-speed stuff, sat on a Linebrink curve and sent it over the Monster for a 4-3 lead, and they’d add two more runs with two outs for the final margin.

Record: 63-63 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 24: Red Sox 12, White Sox 8

I wonder if Jayson Nix actually knew who was starting for the White Sox tonight.

You’d think that, if he did, he wouldn’t have let the Red Sox score a run for no good reason in the second.

After the White Sox jumped ahead 2-0, the Red Sox had runners on the corners and two outs against Jose Contreras. J.D. Drew took off for second, and A.J. Pierzynski threw down to Nix. Drew stopped, voluntarily getting himself into a rundown to give Jason Bay a run to score.

Nix let it happen, not even looking home before tagging Drew to end the inning.

The Sox still led 2-1, and a Gordon Beckham homer in the top of the third made it a 4-1 game. But a Contreras collapse was coming, and it was the worst I’d ever seen.

He had runners on second and third, two outs, and an 0-2 count on Kevin Youkilis. He tried to get him with a forkball, but instead hit him with a forkball, loading the bases.

Up came David Ortiz, who worked the count to 3-0, and just as easily as he put Contreras on the hook, he appeared to let him off by dribbling a 3-0 fastball up the first base line. But Contreras, who ruptured his ACL on a grounder to the right side against Boston roughly one year ago, had another misadventure. This one might’ve hurt worse.

Contreras had plenty of time to pick up the roller and tag Ortiz, who was at no risk of outrunning Contreras to the bag. But Contreras took his eye off the ball, swatted it away from himself, and then fell to the ground in a futile attempt to pick it up while Ortiz jogged around him to score.

He wouldn’t record another out. He walked in a run, and then after a wild pitch (on a poor A.J. Pierzynski effort) allowed a run to score, Contreras ended his night by serving up a three-run shot to Mike Lowell.  Six two-out runs gave the Red Sox a 7-4 lead.

The Sox offense never called it quits. Hitters remained patient throughout this three-hour, 42-minute game, and as a result, Red Sox pitchers only threw six fewer pitches on the evening (176) than their counterparts (182).

Unfortunately, the White Sox bullpen had its own issues.

Paul Konerko picked up Jermaine Dye — who struck out with runners on the corners and one out in the fifth — by sending a three-run homer over the Monster to cut the lead to 9-7, making up for D.J. Carrasco’s bad fourth inning.

The White Sox threatened again in the seventh, when two walks and an HBP loaded the bases for Carlos Quentin. Quentin fouled off some high-90s heat from Daniel Bard, but his attempt to go the opposite way died in Drew’s glove on the right field warning track.

Octavio Dotel then put the game out of reach by allowing more three more two-out runs to score, giving up a homer, double, a triple and another double in quick order.

Notes:

• Randy Williams got the job done, striking out David Ortiz with the bases loaded to keep it a 9-7 game.
• A.J. Pierzynski had three hits, Paul Konerko reached base four times, and Scott Podsednik reached three times, stole a base and induced an errant pickoff throw.
• Nix committed an error to go with his brain fart.

Record: 63-62 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 23: Orioles 5, White Sox 4

Jason Berken entered today’s start against the White Sox with a 2-11 record and a 6.72 ERA.

And yet, the Sox and Mark Buehrle still couldn’t beat him. The Orioles took Buehrle deep twice, and he’s still looking for his first win since the perfect game.

Buehrle had a rough afternoon from the start, with Brian Roberts taking a low-and-away changeup into the left-center gap for a double, and Adam Jones doing the same for a run-scoring single. He needed 31 pitches to survive the inning.

Some atrocious Oriole defense allowed the Sox to tie it up — Scott Podsednik reached on an error by Robert Andino, he reached second when Brian Roberts couldn’t handle the throw, and scored on Melvin Mora’s inexplicable throwing error.

But Roberts got to Buehrle again in the third with a leadoff single. He’d score on a sac fly, but Buehrle couldn’t limit the damage to one run. Nick Markakis tapped an infield single to the left side, and Buehrle served up a homer to Nolan Reimold for a 4-1 Baltimore lead.

Felix Pie would make it 5-1 by taking a center-cut fastball over the Bullpen Sports Bar, and Buehrle would be yanked with one out in the sixth.

The Sox did show signs of life in the bottom of the fifth against Berken, putting together a two-out rally started by Brent Lillibridge’s four-pitch walk. He stole second, scored on Podsednik’s ground-rule double, and Gordon Beckham scored him with a single through the left side.

Unfortunately, the Sox’s last-gasp rally fell short in the ninth. Paul Konerko led off with a double, advanced to third on Alexei Ramirez’s single to right, and scored on A.J. Pierzynski’s nubber to third. But Ozzie Guillen went to Mark Kotsay to pinch-hit for Lillibridge, leaving Jermaine Dye on the bench, and Jim Johnson struck him out to end the ballgame.

Record: 63-61 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 22: White Sox 4, Orioles 1

How John Danks escaped this game having allowed just one run over 6 2/3 innings is hard to fathom.

With just one out in the second inning, he already had five walks under his belt.  The out itself was a gift — Ty Wigginton drew the first walk, but tried stealing for no apparent reason. A.J. Pierzynski threw him out at second easily, so easily that Wigginton popped up and jogged back to the dugout without reaching the base.

Danks reloaded the bases with a pair of walks sandwiching a Carlos Quentin error (he couldn’t come up with a sliding catch). He appeared to have problems with his bad index finger, and Ozzie Guillen called for D.J. Carrasco to warm up in the dugout.

Did I mention Nick Markakis was at the plate? Against the Sox, Markakis came in owning a .372 average, which shot up to .429 with runners in scoring position. Markakis pushed him to a full count, which made a walk or base hit seem even more imminent.

But Danks rallied back with two consecutive strikes, with Markakis swinging at perfectly placed cutter knee high and on the outisde corner for the second out.  Danks then threw two more strikes to Nolan Reimold, who popped up to Jayson Nix for the third out.

Danks settled down after that, and the Sox gave him a cushion beyond Carlos Quentin’s no-doubt, second-inning solo shot.

They loaded the bases off David Hernandez (a rookie pitcher they’d never seen before) on a Jim Thome walk, a Quentin HBP and the first of two Pierzynski singles that wouldn’t score a runner in “scoring position.”  They actually scored two runs, though it could’ve been disastrous.

Alexei Ramirez followed with a single in front of Markakis in right. Had Markakis been aware that Thome thought he had a chance of catching it, he probably would’ve been able to get a force at home.  Instead, he threw late to second, allowing Thome to score. Mark Kotsay’s ensuing sac fly gave the Sox a 3-0 lead.

They added a run in the fifth when Jermaine Dye scored on a wild pitch, but even that inning had its problems on the bases. Thome’s single, which got Dye to third, actually was a line drive to the wall in left-center.  Thome couldn’t make it to second.

That came into play, because on the wild pitch, Thome only got to second. Which meant that, on Pierynski’s single, Thome only got to third.  He wouldn’t score.

Two times not enough for you? Well, Thome’s speed — or yet another poor baserunning decision buy Pierzynski — prevented another run from scoring in the seventh.

With Thome standing on second and two outs, Cla Meredith walked Pierzynski intentionally to bring Ramirez to the plate. Ramirez made the move blow up in Dave Trembley’s face, because he took Ramirez off the wall in left…

…except, Pierzynski tried going from first to third, and was thrown out on a great throw from Reimold — before Thome crossed the plate. Hawk Harrelson blamed Thome for being too slow, but Pierzynski had the plate in front of him the whole time.

That run almost came into play, because Bobby Jenks ended up bringing the tying run to the plate with one out in the ninth after a bloop single and a walk. Jenks came back by striking out Felix Pie and getting Adam Jones to ground into a fielder’s choice to end the game.

More ugliness:

*Cesar Izturis entered the game with a .293 OBP.  Danks walked him once, and Matt Thornton hit him with a pitch after throwing a wild pitch in the same at-bat. His low-and-in slider escaped Pierzynski, who didn’t appear to make a great effort to his left.

*Jermaine Dye played a pop-up into a triple when he short-armed a diving attempt in shallow right.

Record: 63-60 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 21: Orioles 5, White Sox 1

Scott Podsednik started the Sox off with a single, then advanced to second on a Brian Roberts error. Two on and nobody out is a good start against Jeremy Guthrie, a pitcher the Sox usually pound.

Or at least, it was until Podsednik was picked off second.  It was nearly as dumb as his pickoff at third base — Guthrie wasn’t even set, and Pods was looking at second.

That killed that rally, and the Sox couldn’t come through with another one. A Jim Thome solo homer was the only offense all night.

It was a shame they couldn’t support Gavin Floyd, who had a Roberts problem the entire evening. The guy he was rumored to be traded for hit two homers off him, including a back-breaking two-run shot in the eighth inning, snapping a 1-1 tie.

The bullpen didn’t help him out, either. Matt Thornton gave up an RBI triple to Nick Markakis, and then Tony Pena allowed a bloop single before the eighth was over.

Record: 62-60 | Box score | Play-by-play

Floyd

August 19: White Sox 4, Royals 2

Jose Contreras’ day began with a nine-pitch at-bat against David DeJesus; an ominous beginning for a guy who has battled inefficiency issues for the past couple of months.

That was one fewer pitch than Contreras needed to finish the entire seventh. First impressions can be misleading.

Contreras threw a quality start for only the second time in his last seven outings, limiting the damage to a DeJesus solo homer on a 3-2 fastball in the fourth inning.

That homer kicked off the only really laborious inning for Contreras. He needed 27 pitches to get through the frame, using a dozen to strike out Willie Bloomquist. The Royals couldn’t break him. Instead, the high-sock-sporting Contreras converted that battle into positive momentum — he finishes his day retiring 12 of his last 13 batters. DeJesus, of course, drew the lone walk.

He outdueled Zack Greinke in the process. The Sox didn’t get to Greinke often, but they made their six hits count.

In this case, first impressions weren’t misleading. Scott Podsednik started the bottom of the first with a double, and he would score three batters later on Paul Konerko’s rattler into the left-field corner.

Gordon Beckham and Alexis Rios then found a couple of hanging breaking balls to their liking for solo shots. Rios turned on a slider for his first homer in a White Sox uniform.

The Sox didn’t record a non-extra-base hit until the eighth inning, when Paul Konerko(!) scored an infield single by grounding one far enough away from the rangeless Yuniesky Betancourt.

Record: 62-59 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 18: Royals 5, White Sox 4

Gil Meche had nothing. The Kansas City defense didn’t sparkle. But he had enough to beat the White Sox thanks to some characteristically bad baserunning.

Alexei Ramirez popped up with one out in the second inning, and Alberto Callaspo parked under it to make the catch. He didn’t, but Ramirez absentmindedly rounded first at a medium pace right in front of the error. He’s eventually tagged out, and the Sox go to load the bases behind him with two outs. No runs score.

In the fifth, Ramirez once again hit a fly to the right side with runners on the corners and nobody out. This one was a little further, but right fielder Willie Bloomquist was running towards the plate when making the catch. Carlos Quentin tested Bloomquist, and he was out by 10 feet. No runs score.

With the Sox trailing 5-4, it seemed like the Sox still had a great chance to pull this one out, but Royal relievers held the Sox hitless the rest of the way. Robinson Tejeda struck out five Sox over three innings, and Joakim Soria retired them 1-2-3 for the save.

Freddy Garcia took the loss in his return to the South Side, giving up a 4-1 lead. Paul Konerko busted out of an 0-for-23 slump with a single that set up an A.J. Pierzynski RBI single, and then adding a solo shot to right-center. Carlos Quentin followed with his first homer since Aug. 4.

But hanging breaking balls spelled Garcia’s demise. One turned into a John Buck two-shot to cut the lead to 4-3. Billy Butler roped another one for a game-tying double in the left-center gap. Randy Williams came in and gave up an RBI single to Alberto Callaspo, but the Sox bulllpen held the Royals in check after that. Unfortunately, the Kansas City ‘pen happened to be a little bit better.

Record: 61-59 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 17: White Sox 8, Royals 7

Scott Linebrink knows how to win.

He knew what he was doing when he walked two batters with two outs, then gave up a first-pitch homer to Mike Jacobs, erasing the 7-4 lead Ozzie Guillen brought him in to protect.

He knew Scott Podsednik’s deal with the devil would continue, as he would drive in Alex Rios (dreaded leadoff walk, Alexei Ramirez sac bunt) with a single up the middle off drop-down lefty John Bale. He also knew Josh Anderson would bobble the ball in center, which made what should’ve been a play at the plate an easy run.

He also knew Bobby Jenks would have his easiest save in ages: a 1-2-3 ninth, eight pitches, seven for strikes.

Unfortunately, Mark Buehrle is a little befuddled by it all.

Buehrle didn’t exactly deserve the win. When you let Yuniesky Betancourt help put you in a 3-0 hole, you shouldn’t expect any favors. But he kept the Sox in the game, enduring some soft hits and bad defense by Jermaine Dye (who misread a high fly, stopping short then flopping in vain) to last six innings, only trailing 4-3 when he departed.

The Sox put him in position for the win in the bottom of the sixth. Brian Bannister hit Carlos Quentin to start the inning, and Rios drove him in as Mark Teahan pulled his own Dye, overrunning his double to the gap and turning it into a run-scoring three-base event. Ramirez followed with a sacrifice fly for a 5-4 lead.

A.J. Pierzynski looked like he put it out of reach in the seventh. Two batters after a Paul Konerko walk, Pierzynski blasted a no-doubter through a downpour for a 7-4 lead.

Record: 61-58 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 16: Athletics 3, White Sox 2

Ugh.

August 15: White Sox 8, Athletics 1

This game wasn’t on TV, so here are the bullet points:

*Jayson Nix is making the most of his time on the field in Chris Getz’ place: one for three with three RBIs including a two-run homer and a sacrifice fly.
*Gordon Beckham went two for four with a double and two RBIs.
*A.J. Pierzynski went two for four and drew a walk.
*Alexei Ramirez not only was caught stealing, but he got picked off at first too.
*Brent Lillibridge hasn’t changed much, he went zero for two while pinch hitting for Ramirez.
*Gavin Floyd had a great outing. His final line: seven innings, eight hits, one run (earned), two walks and eight strikeouts, bringing his ERA to 3.94 on the season.
*Scott Linebrink and Randy Williams had an inning a piece, holding the Athletics scoreless for the remainder of the game.

August 14: White Sox 8, Athletics 7 (10 innings)

Considering the amount of miscues and miscommunications, the Sox shouldn’t have won this.

The scoring began with a home run, and ended with a home run 10 innings later. Alexei Ramirez played the hero once again, hitting the go-ahead home run in the 10th inning, ending the 7-7 deadlock.

The late game heroics wouldn’t have been necessary if it weren’t for the lack of communication in the field, and two fateful innings. Twice miscommunications almost lead to collisions, one in the outfield, one in the infield. Both led to runs.

Staked to a 6-0 lead, Jose Contreras surrendered five runs thanks in part to some horrible defense. Alexis Rios dropped a ball in left center after Carlos Quentin crossed right in front of him, and Jayson Nix muffed a slow roller to his left. He was finally pulled for D.J. Carrasco with one out in the fifth, and although he allowed Contreras’ inherited runner to score, he finished with 2 1/3 scoreless innings.

A few things to note: Jermaine Dye had an RBI single in the first and a two-run single in the second. Ramon Castro had a two-run dinger in the second and Gordon Beckham went 3 for 5 with a double. Bobby Jenks earned his 24th save with Octavio Dotel (2-3) earning the win.

In other news, Jayson Nix replaced Chris Getz as the temporary starter at second base while Getz takes a trip to the DL for his latest injury, a strained oblique muscle. With Getz moving down, Brent Lillibridge moved up to take his spot on the roster.

August 12: Mariners 1, White Sox 0 (14 innings)

Note: k8t is pinch-hitting for this recap.

In the sprint to the finish line, it was the Seattle Mariners who arrived first. It was a game that started out in a typical Mark Buehrle speed, and ended 14 innings later on a walk off. Ken Griffey, Jr., in a pinch-hitting role, hit his two-out, RBI-single off of Tony Pena, and sent everybody home.

Before that fateful at-bat, it had been a pitcher’s duel between Buehrle and Felix Hernandez that had no end in sight until their managers pulled them out. Buehrle allowed six hits over eight innings while striking out three and walking one.

The game would have ended much sooner if it hadn’t been for Mark Kotsay in the bottom of the 12th. Kotsay dove to catch a fly ball from Rob Johnson, then scooted back to first base to send Jack Hannahan back to the bench and finish the solo double play. Carlos Quentin also made a sliding catch in left field to end the ninth inning.

In terms of offense, Kotsay, Jayson Nix and Scott Podsednik each had two hits, with Kotsay having the only extra base hit for the Sox (a double).

Podsednik nullified his contributions with the dumbest baserunning play of the year, getting picked off third by catcher Rob Johnson in the 10th with one out. It’s the second time he was picked off in the series.

The blunder ruined the best scoring opportunity in a game with few of them. In the top of the fifth, Nix got thrown out at home by Ichiro. In the seventh, Gordon Beckham hit into a double play to end that inning.

This game was one of for the record books. The Mariners had never held a scoreless tie for so long, and it was the longest scoreless tie for the White Sox since 1975.

Unfortunately, it overshadowed the debut of Alex Rios, who played right field in place of Jermaine Dye. Rios went one for six with two strikeouts.

August 11: White Sox 3, Mariners 1

Entering tonight, the White Sox were 0-49 in games they trailed after eight innings.

Courtesy of old friend David Aardsma, the Sox are now 1-49 thanks to Alexei Ramirez’s three-run homer.

It appeared Paul Konerko missed the best chance to get to Aardsma when his deep fly to center landed in Franklin Gutierrez’s mitt one foot shy of the wall. Little did we know that it would be something the Sox could build on.

A.J. Pierzynski followed his a walk — his second of the game — and Carlos Quentin ripped a single to left.  That brought Ramirez to the plate, and he cranked a high fastball over the left-field wall

Bobby Jenks did allow the tying run to come to the plate, and, of course, it was Russell Branyan. The same guy who turned the tides against Gavin Floyd on Monday and had driven in the lone Seattle run against John Danks couldn’t swing the game once more. He flew out harmlessly to center to end the game.

Danks lasted long enough to earn the victory. In his finest outing since coming off the DL, Danks allowed just the one run on seven hits over eight innings. More importantly: one walk, eight strikeouts.

He benefited from some hard-hit at-’em balls, and — more shockingly — great defense from Jermaine Dye.

Who knows how the game would’ve turned out if Branyan led off the eighth with a double?  We’ll never know, because Dye grabbed Branyan’s smash off the wall with his bare hand and fired a strike to second to erase the leadoff man. He finished the inning in 1-2-3 fashion, and the Sox offense finally heated up.

It helped that Doug Fister was out of the game. Another rookie pitcher shut down the Sox, as he held the m to one hit over six innings.  He did walk four, but the Sox couldn’t find ways to capitalize. They kept finding ways to shoot themselves in the foot, instead, as they grounded into three double plays.

Record: 58-56 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 10: Mariners 6, White Sox 4

Note: k8t wrote this recap.

The latest episode of “Rookie Pitcher Hassles The White Sox” featured a different storyline, but the same old ending. After four shutout innings on both sides, former Sox Ken Griffey Jr. of all people hit the two-run single that got the Mariners on the board, and the hits just kept coming for both sides.

The fifth inning proved most crucial for the Good Guys with a double by Carlos Quentin (his first of two on the night) and a walk by Jayson Nix, which set up Ramon Castro’s game-tying two-run double.

Unfortunately for the Sox and Gavin Floyd, they couldn’t cut off the offense. In the bottom of the fifth, after walking Michael Saunders (who then promptly stole second), Floyd gave up a single that scored another run. Floyd got himself out of the jam and the Sox picked him up the next inning.

Luke French, the Mariner rookie had reached his limit and walked Gordon Beckham and Jermaine Dye back to back. After striking out Jim Thome, he walked Paul Konerko, too. That was it for French, who was replaced by Sean White. Quentin doubled for the second time of the game to score both Gordon Beckham and Dye.

That was it for Floyd, too. After starting his half of the inning with another single to Griffey, Jr. (promptly thrown out in the first half of a double play), Floyd gave up a home run on the worst pitch of the season to date — an 0-2 fastball in the strike zone to Russell Branyan — and the White Sox lost the lead for good. One at-bat later after walking Jack Wilson, Floyd received a visit to the mound and found the bench for the remainder of the game. That would have been fine, except Tony Pena entered the game and gave up a two-run dinger to the first batter he saw, Kenji Johjima.

It could have been worse considering during the first four shutout innings, Scott Podsednik got picked off at first and Nix ended up out in a double play because he made a mental mistake, strayed too far away from first base on a fly ball and couldn’t get back in time. However, the damage was contained, all things considered.

Scott Linebrink entered the game and had a 1-2-3 inning composed of a strikeout and two groundouts. Mariners relievers posted zeroes, themselves. For the most part, the Sox stayed even with the Mariners and if it hadn’t been for that crucial sixth inning, this story may have ended differently.

Record:57-56 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 8: White Sox 8, Indians 5

For the first four innings, this game appeared to largely be a carbon copy of Friday night.

Sure, the Sox fell into a hole because of Carlos Torres’ control problems, not Mark Buehrle’s hittability.  Torres should’ve been worse off, actually.  He loaded the bases in the first with three consecutive one-out walks, but struck out Travis Hafner and Chris Giminez to escape the inning unscathed.

Eventually, missing the strike zone would come back to bite him. Shin-Soo Choo walked with one out in the third and scored on Jhonny Peralta’s double (oddly enough, an 0-2 pitch that Torres didn’t miss enough with).  A good relay may have gotten Choo at home, but Carlos Quentin’s throw went between Alexei Ramirez’s wickets.

Torres departed with one out in the fourth.  He walked the first two batters of the inning before a sac bunt, giving him six walks over 3 1/3 innings.  Both runs would come around to score on a pair of grounders, and the Sox were down 4-1.

Fortunately, Justin Masterson, acquired from Boston in the Victor Martinez deal, hadn’t yet started this season.  He brushed off an A.J. Pierzynski RBI single in the first and shut down the Sox over the next three innings (with Paul Konerko failing to score a runner from third with less than two outs in the third).

Eric Wedge pulled him after four innings and 61 pitches, and the Indians bullpen did its thing.

*Tomo Ohka, who couldn’t crack the Sox pitching staff last year as he sat in Charlotte, hit Gordon Beckham before allowing a massive blast that fell just short of the fan deck in center to cut the lead to 5-3. He left after allowing a pair of singles and a Quentin double that scored both runners.

*Jess Todd gave up a leadoff double to Dewayne Wise in the sixth, who then advanced to third on Scott Podsednik’s productive out and came home on Beckham’s sac fly.

*Rafael Perez gave up a run himself, due mostly to his defense. A.J. Pierzynski hit a soft grounder to short, and Asdrubal Cabrera tried starting a double play. It developed so slowly that Konerko was able to reach second base and take out Luis Valbuena on the pivot. His throw sailed on him and ended up in the dugout. Pierzynski was awarded second and came around to score on Chris Getz’s single.

(Getz cost the Sox a run, potentially, when he was thrown out at second trying to take advantage of the throw home. The Sox would’ve had another runner on third with less than two outs had he stayed put.)

*Jensen Lewis hit Scott Podsednik (the third HBP of the game).  Beckham was called for interference on an otherwise good bunt, because Lewis’ throw hit him and he was on the wrong side of the baseline, but Podsednik still came around to score when a Konerko grounder went under Peralta’s mitt for the E-5.

Meanwhile, the Sox bullpen preserved the lead, with D.J. Carrasco earning a well-deserved win for his 2 1/3  scoreless innings. Matt Thornton and Bobby Jenks (first game back from a kidney stone) closed it out.

All in all, Sox pitchers combined to strike out 15 Indians. They also benefited from errorless Sox ball (aside from the relay throw), with Torres even benefiting from the rare strike-him-out-throw-him-out courtesy of Pierzynski in the second inning.

Record: 57-54 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 7: Indians 6, White Sox 2

Considering Mark Buehrle dug himself into a 4-0 hole, I felt unusually optimistic.  Alas, it was unwarranted.

The Indians had Jeremy Sowers on the mound, whom the Sox almost always beat (0-6 lifetime in seven starts).  Sometimes it takes a while, but usually the third time through does the trick.  After all, opponents are batting .466 against him that go-around.

That never materialized. The Sox scored two runs off Sowers, both in the third inning on Gordon Beckham’s double and Jim Thome’s single. That was it.

Later on, Chris Perez entered the game. He had a pretty impressive history of failure against the White Sox in his young Cleveland career, and it certainly looked promising when he walked Jermaine Dye to load the bases and started Jim Thome off with two out of the strike zone.

Problem was, the second one was called a strike, and Perez found his sea legs. He struck out Jim Thome, got Paul Konerko to pop out and A.J. Pierzynski to line out to second.

Of course, it would’ve been a tall order to bail out Buehrle, anyway. He didn’t pitch particularly well, and Kelly Shoppach punished him for two opposite-field homers.

Yet despite allowing six runs on 11 hits, because the Indians’ offense was so consistent, Buehrle was able to last 7 2/3 innings because he induced six double plays. He became the first AL pitcher to do that since Dick Drago in 1972.

He somehow achieved that feat despite Jayson Nix throwing away what should’ve been a double play ball in the first inning.  The Indians ended up loading the bases with nobody out after Buehrle plunked Shin-Soo Choo, but he got Jhonny Peralta to ground into the first twin killing to limit the damage to one run.

Gordon Beckham booted a grounder, and, because bad things come in threes, Jayson Nix dropped a foul ball for his second error of the game.

Record: 56-54 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 6: Angels 9, White Sox 5

John Danks didn’t have his good stuff.  That resulted in three homers, including no-doubt shots to Jeff Mathis and Vladimir Guerrero.

He also didn’t have his head in the game.  The Angels — like they did last year — figured him out early and ran wild.  Danks gave up a double steal in the first inning, then a pair of steals to Chone Figgins in the second.

He also had a couple things working against him:

Bad luck

*Paul Nauert might’ve erroneously called Erick Aybar safe on a bang-bang play at first after a nice bunt. He’d come around to score.

*Paul Schrieber didn’t give Danks a call on a 2-2 fastball on the outside corner to Bobby Abreu. Abreu homered to opposite-field on the next pitch. It seemed like Schrieber was squeezing him, but Pitch f/x doesn’t seem to indicate that.

Bad defense

*Gordon Beckham took a risk and lost, fielding a carom off Danks with his bare hand and firing to first.  A good throw, and the inning’s over.  Instead, he threw it way left, and it skipped past Paul Konerko and the Angels took a 2-0 lead.

*Jermaine Dye forgot how many outs there were. He caught a shallow fly ball with a genuine chance to throw out Chone Figgins at home, but instead jogged several steps toward the dugout before cutting off his brain fart. Too late.

Jayson Nix did his best to get the Sox back in the game, hitting a three-run homer on the first pitch off Ervin Santana.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t come through a second time. With one out in the third, the Sox loaded the bases on a walk, single and Paul Konerko taking a pitch to the kidney. Mark Kotsay drew a walk to make it a 6-4 game, but Nix watched a slider over the heart of the plate for the second out. Chris Getz could not pick him up, chopping back to the mound to end the inning.

Sox rallies seemed to run out of steam after that. Dewayne Wise picked up a run with a ninth-inning homer.

Making matters worse, Octavio Dotel threw only 12 of 26 pitches for strikes, and wasted a rare pickoff by giving up an RBI single anyway. Also, a kid got nailed by Howie Kendrick’s bat.

Record: 56-53 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 5: White Sox 6, Angels 2

This type of game is a White Sox tradition — a strong start bolstered by a couple of big homers.  It’s the simple formula that works.

Gavin Floyd threw eight terrific innings and actually got a win to show for it. Jim Thome shouldered the load for the offense, hitting a pair of opposite-field homers.  His second was a three-run shot that broke open the game.

Thome came to the plate with runners on first and third and nobody out. Mike Scioscia pulled Sean O’Sullivan in favor of left-hander Darren Oliver.  The Gentleman Masher punished Scioscia for that decision, blasting his second opposite-field shot of the night to give the Sox a 5-2 lead.

Gavin Floyd made sure the lead stood up, even though his defense made more mistakes than Floyd did:

*Jermaine Dye let an inning-ending Vladimir Guerrero line drive skim off his mitt. It’s unclear whether he lost it in the lights, but either way, it allowed Bobby Abreu to score from first. Guerrero made it to third on the error, but Floyd stranded him there by getting Juan Rivera to pop out.

*Jayson Nix made an inexplicably errant throw on a grounder to short, allowing Rivera to reach and put runners on first and second with nobody out. Floyd erased the mistake with a 4-6-3 double play.

*A.J. Pierzynski once again let a third strike get past him. A down-and-in (but catchable) curve made its way back to the screen, and Morales made it to first safely. Floyd erased the mistake with a 4-6-3 double play.

*Paul Konerko took his eye off a Chone Figgins grounder — perhaps in an effort to turn a 3-6-3 double play. He ended up deflecting it to Chris Getz, who got it back to Konerko in time, but Paul Shrieber called him safe. Perhaps it was a makeup call, as Konerko got credit for tagging out a diving Erick Aybar when the replay showed he missed.

Floyd had to do a little more work to pitch around the third error of the game, but he got the job done. Maicer Izturis tapped weakly in front of the plate to freeze Gary Matthews Jr. at third, and Floyd struck out Abreu with a beautiful inside-half fastball.

Floyd departed after allowing a pair of singles to start the ninth, and one would come around to score on a sac fly.  It wouldn’t spoil his night, though, one in which he struck out six batters and induced three double plays.

At least Nix and Konerko atoned for their errors.  Nix picked up Getz — who struck out on a bogus called third strike — by scoring a runner on third with a flare to right field.  Konerko hit his 21st homer off Brian Fuentes in the ninth inning, putting the game outside of a slam.

Record: 56-52 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 4: White Sox 5, Angels 4

Scott Podsednik won this game the Ed Farmer Way: With a bloop and a blast.

The former took place with two outs and two strikes in the seventh. John Lackey had gained strength as the game went on, and had retired 15 hitters in a row (including a dropped third strike on Jayson Nix, who reached after the pitch skipped to the backstop).

Lackey threw another great pitch — a fastball tailing off the plate.  Podsednik, using a method halfway between unorthodox and complete accident — popped it up with a half-swing.  It landed just inside the left-field foul line, and thinking it even surprised Podsednik, because he wasn’t running full-speed around first, and barely made it into second with a slide toward the outside half of the bag.

That extra bag was huge, because Gordon Beckham ripped a fat curve to left to score Pods and tie the game at 4.

He took care of the blast in the game’s last at-bat, following another unlikely double. Nix hadn’t had a great day at the plate, ripped a 1-2 slider from Kevin Jepsen to the left-center gap.

Jepsen’s slider had given Carlos Quentin and Chris Getz fits earlier in the inning, but apparently, he lost the touch. He threw two more unimpressive sliders to Podsednik, and after taking the first one, he lined the next one deep into the right-center gap for his third walk-off hit of the season. Beckham and Dewayne Wise have the other two.

The game’s conclusion was immensely more satisfying than its beginning after Jose Contreras lost the plate.

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