State of the Sox 2009

September 30: Indians 5, White Sox 1 (Game 1)

Fausto Carmona entered this game 3-12 with a 6.81 ERA, and it certainly looked like he was in for a rough day when Scott Podsednik and Gordon Beckham led off with singles.

Carmona then retired the next three hitters and cruised through seven innings, leaving Carlos Torres to look the part of a AAAA pitcher by himself.

Torres struggled with his control at times, walking four batters over six innings. But it was more a matter of the Indians seizing every opportunity. Whenever they put multiple runners on base, multiple runners would score, and the Tribe often used unglamorous measures (productive outs, sac flies) to do it.

The Sox had nothing against Carmona with the exception of a Dewayne Wise RBI triple that scored Dewayne Wise.  They were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, so on the rare occasion that they mounted a threat, they couldn’t cash it in.

Wise also provided the nicest moment on defense, throwing out Matt LaPorta from right field for a double play. Ramon Castro, playing in place of Tyler Flowers, who suffered a bruised elbow after getting plunked, made a nice catch on the short hop to make the tag.

Record: 76-82 | Box score | Play-by-play

September 28: White Sox 6, Indians 1

From the lackluster lineups to the lack of an upper deck, this game had all the makings of a Triple-A affair.

John Danks dominated accordingly, throwing his first major-league complete game while posting the best game score of his career.  The previous high: You guessed it, Game 163.

His least-favorite inning was the only thing that bit him. With a 2-0 count on Shin-Shoo Choo, Danks grooved a fastball on the inside half, and Choo Choo-Choo-Chose to knock it into the right-field seats to cut the lead to 3-1.

Otherwise, Danks’ night was almost as easy at it gets. He allowed just three hits and a walk while striking out seven. He pitched around the walk by inducing a double play, and he did the same after a Brent Lillibridge error in the seventh.

The offense?  Yeah, that looked a little more bush-league.

The Sox scored three off Aaron Laffey despite their best efforts after loading the bases with singles by Alex Rios, Josh Fields and Tyler Flowers with one out.

Jayson Nix struck out looking — which would turn out to be his first of two backwards K’s with the sacks packed — and Laffey just needed to get past Lillibridge and his zero RBI to escape the inning unscathed.  Lillibridge hit a 60-foot chopper to third, but Jhonny Peralta couldn’t handle it cleanly. Rios scored, Lillibridge was given an infield single, and thus he drove in his first run of the season.

Dewayne Wise was then clipped on the jersey on his first pitch for a 2-0 lead, and he would beat Asdrubal Cabrera to second on a grounder up the middle to score a third run.

The Sox wouldn’t score again until the ninth inning, and they did so with a little more authority off  Jensen Lewis, who made the mistake of walking Lillibridge to start things off.

Wise got him to third on a hit-and-run single, and Gordon Beckham doubled them both in with a laser off the base of the wall in left. Beckham would score on Paul Konerko’s single, although it took a wild throw home to accomplish that.

Record: 75-81 | Box score | Play-by-play

September 27: White Sox 8, Tigers 4

Note: K8T wrote this recap:

It took six innings, but the Sox finally showed up. A three-run sixth inning and a four-run eighth inning solidified a solid offensive showing including Carlos Quentin’s 3-run dinger, and gave Daniel Hudson his first big-league win.

Hudson gave up a home run to Curtis Granderson on the second pitch of the game and didn’t give up another run until the top of the sixth when he walked three batters. Give the assist to the White Sox offense though, as the bats were hot today.

In addition to the his home run, Quentin also had a double. Scott Podsednik had an RBI triple (yes, a triple) and a run scored. Gordon Beckham had an RBI double and single with two runs scored. Mark Kotsay and Alex Rios both had hits and runs scored, while Alexei Ramirez had a hit and two runs scored.

Jermaine Dye did have an RBI single, and received the standing ovation that so many fans had hoped for.

Also, give an assist to the Sox defense. Podsednik made a diving catch in center field, and Aubrey Huff was so far off second that Podsednik could get up, start running to second and throw off the wrong foot in time for the double play.

Later in the game, Alex Rios ran down a liner in the right field that could’ve easily been a JD triple.

All in all, it was a very fitting ending for the home season, even if it meant nothing in the end.

Record: 75-81 | Box score | Play-by-play

September 26: Tigers 12, White Sox 5

Briefly:

*The Sox led this one 5-0 through four, thanks in large part to a solo homer by Alex Rios, and a three-run shot by Carlos Quentin.

*The Tigers finally got to Freddy Garcia for one run in the fifth, two in the sixth, and two more in the seventh. Tony Pena came in and allowed two more singles, making for six in the seventh inning overall.

*Scott Linebrink was hammered in the eighth, giving up four straight two-out hits.

Record: 74-81 | Box score | Play-by-play

September 25: White Sox 2, Tigers 0

Briefly:

*Jake Peavy survived a flurry of weak singles to throw seven scoreless innings, getting two double-play balls. He was late covering on a 3-6-1 double play, but made up for it by turning a 1-6-3 later on.

*Jermaine Dye made a great play on one of the only hard-hit balls of the night, crashing against the fence to take a double (or more) away from Curtis Granderson.

*Gordon Beckham broke up Eddie Bonine’s no-hitter and shutout with a two-run shot.  It came with two outs and after a Brandon Inge error, so both runs were unearned.

*Matt Thornton walked Carlos Guillen with two outs, but was able to record his first save since Bobby Jenks went down for the year.

Record: 74-80 | Box score | Play-by-play

September 23: Twins 8, White Sox 6

Good news:

1. Jermaine Dye hit a pair of homers, his first in September, and his first multi-homer game since August of 2008.

2. Tyler Flowers ripped a double off the right field wall, his first major-league extra-base hit. He then scored.

Bad news:

1. Bill Welke might’ve made the worst strike call of the season, on a Joe Nathan curve ball that was caught in the opposing batter’s box. It turned a 2-1 count into a 1-2 count on A.J. Pierzynski in the ninth inning, and he struck out on a high fastball. After which, he tried to get ejected. Didn’t work.

2. Mark Buehrle’s back to being a first-half pitcher.

3. The Sox committed three errors.

4. With the bases loaded and a 3-2 count and the Twins clinging to a one-run lead, Nick Punto hit a line to center that Alex Rios pulled up on. It would’ve been an incredible catch had he left his feet, simply amazing — but he didn’t even give it a chance. The final margin? Two runs.

Record: 73-80 | Box score | Play-by-play

September 22: Twins 8, White Sox 6

Here’s a loss you can’t pin on the offense.

John Danks put the Sox in an early hole in just two batters, walking Carlos Gomez to start the game, then giving up a homer to Orlando Cabrera for an early 2-0 deficit. A double, single and sac fly gave the Twins another run before the Sox got a chance to bat.

But the Sox fought their way back in. Scott Podsednik chipped into the lead by walking, stealing second and advancing on two groundouts to get the Sox on the board. They sunk Jeff Manship two innings later, with an Alex Rios solo shot starting a barrage of five consecutive hits, including a two-run Gordon Beckham homer to give the Sox a 4-3 lead.

Danks had a habit of killing any momentum, and Mike Cuddyer played a large part.

Cuddyer scored a tying run with a leadoff double, moving to third on a single and scoring on a double play. Later on, with the game tied at 5 (more later), Cuddyer immediately regained the lead with a solo shot. Matt Tolbert hit one off the top of the wall — just out of the reach of Carlos Quentin for a two-run lead.

A good left fielder probably makes that play. An inning earlier, a good center fielder probably also catches Joe Mauer’s line drive to center. However, it got past Scott Podsednik, and A.J. Pierzynski couldn’t come up the short hop from a pretty good relay throw from Chris Getz, allowing Orlando Cabrera to score from first for a 5-4 lead.

Paul Konerko scored Gordon Beckham from first on a double to get that run back, before Danks let the game get away for good. Jason Kubel homered off Octavio Dotel in the seventh, the Twins’ fourth homer on the evening. Konerko came back with a solo shot of his own, but the Sox couldn’t muster anything more to close the gap.

Beckham and Konerko had nice days, both reaching base three times.  The Sox only stranded five runners.  Unfortunately, pitching couldn’t make it pay off.

Record: 73-79 | Box score | Play-by-play

September 21: Twins 7, White Sox 0

Orlando Cabrera hit a flare to short right, down the line. A diving Jermaine Dye didn’t get there. Nor did he stop it. It rolled away slowly behind him for a JD triple.

He then scored on an A.J. Pierzynski passed ball — on a fastball over the plate. One batter after Daniel Hudson prevented Joe Mauer from driving him in.

That was how the game started, and that was how it ended. The Twins scored their first four runs with heavy assistance from the Sox, and the offense showed nothing en route to its 13th shutout.

Hudson ran into control problems in the second, walking three batters — including two with two outs, leading to the Twins’ second run. They’d score their third thanks to a leadoff throwing error by Hudson on a Cabrera bunt.

All in all, Hudson pitched pretty well for his first major-league start, and I’ll write plenty more about it later.

Otherwise… Mark Kotsay had a nice game, with two singles and a nice diving play along the first base line. But Kotsay failed to score A.J. Pierzynski from third with less than two outs, so even he was tainted.

Record; 73-78 | Box score | Play-by-play

September 20: Royals 2, White Sox 1

If Jermaine Dye ever had an occasion to break out of his slump with style, it was with the bases loaded against Joakim Soria in the eighth inning.

Soria loaded the bases with a walk to Alexei Ramirez, bringing Dye and his 4-for-35 slump to the plate.

It ended with a medium-range flyout to right. So much for redemption.

The game ended in equally disheartening fashion, with pinch-running Dewayne Wise gunned down at second on an unsuccessful stolen base attempt. You could see the strategy in it — Scott Podsednik isn’t likely to drive anybody in from first, and Gordon Beckham’s slumping pretty badly himself.

But that didn’t work either. Not much did against Robinson Tejeda and the Kansas City pitching staff today, outside of Scott Podsednik and A.J. Pierzynski. They combined for four of the team’s six hits, and Pierzynski drove in Podsednik (after Pods stole his 28th base) for the lone run of the game.

Carlos Quentin had a chance with the bases loaded following that series of events, but he faltered as well. The Sox stranded eight on the day.

It wasted a terrific effort by Freddy Garcia, who allowed a single run in the first (wild pitch) and third (RBI single) innings and nothing after. He finished his day by retiring the last nine he faced.

Record: 73-77 | Box score | Play-by-play

September 19: White Sox 13, Royals 3

In the bottom of the sixth, Gordon Beckham watched a pitch out of the zone as Jayson Nix tried to steal second.

John Buck rose and fired to second in time to get Nix. On his follow-through, he got Beckham as well.

Buck’s fist came through and punched Beckham right in the nuts, causing Beckham to double over and fall on his ass. A.J. Pierzynski, who knows what it’s like to take a shot to the nuggets, rubbed Beckham’s back with a smirk as Hawk Harrelson and Steve Stone failed to contain their laughter.

If this happened a day earlier, a shot to the groin would’ve been a fitting tribute to this September nosedive. Tonight, it was merely a comedic break during a game full of feel-good moments.

Jake Peavy picked up the win in his White Sox debut. He was touched up for three runs over his five innings, including a rough stretch in the second including a couple singles, a walk and a squeeze bunt. He also gave up an opposite-field homer to Billy Butler in the fourth.

Yet it was more good than bad for Peavy, who showed a fastball between 91 and 93 m.p.h. with good movement and a slider with nice late-breaking action. The combo was good enough for five strikeouts, and two of his five innings were of the 1-2-3 variety.

He also showed that he knows how to win — something John Danks has yet to figure out.

Peavy’s night came to a close with the game tied at 3. The Sox, though facing a rookie lefty, had gotten to Dusty Hughes for runs in three of his four innings when he came out for the fifth. He only lasted one out, leaving with discomfort in his elbow a couple of pitches into Paul Konerko’s at-bat.

Yasuhiko Yabuta relieved Hughes and had nothing. He finished Konerko’s walk, gave up a single to Alexei Ramirez, then walked Jermaine Dye to load the bases. He also fell behind Carlos Quentin 3-0, and he threw one get-me-over fastball too many. Quentin turned on it and sent it into the seats for the game-breaking grand slam.

It was all gravy after that. Randy Williams, D.J. Carrasco and Scott Linebrink combined to throw four shutout innings while the offense piled on, batting around with six more runs in the sixth.

Tyler Flowers recorded his first major-league hit that inning, with a single through the left side off Victor Marte. He came around to score his first major-league run on a bases-loaded single by Paul Konerko.

Everybody but Beckham, who merely singled, reached base twice. Alex Rios had two hits and his first RBI since Aug. 28. Konerko hit his 27th homer, Jermaine Dye singled twice and walked twice, and Alexei Ramirez hit a two-run ground rule double, his 13th two-bagger of the year.

Record: 73-76 | Box score | Play-by-play

September 18: Royals 11, White Sox 0

Mark Buehrle had never walked three consecutive batters before.

That’s how the Royals’ first run crossed the plate, and that’s all the offense they needed as the Sox lineup — with no Jermaine Dye, Alex Rios or Carlos Quentin — managed only three singles.

And only one of them left the infield. Luke Hochevar was simply too much.

Miguel Olivo — who has 14 walks to 119 strikeouts this season — drew the bases-loaded walk, and tossed two homers and five more RBI on top of his evening.

Jhonny Nunez gave up four runs and couldn’t get out of the eighth. Dan Hudson gave up his first big-league homer to John Buck in the ninth.  Awesome.

Record: 72-76 | Box score | Play-by-play

September 17: Mariners 4, White Sox 3 (14 innings)

Bobby Jenks had never given up two homers in an outing before, so, for the second consecutive game, now you’ve seen something you’ve never seen before.

Of course, this wasn’t the “hey, neat,” kind of novelty. It was another punch in the nuts in a season chock full of them.

Jenks squatted over a great John Danks start and befouled it by giving up a pair of solo shots in the ninth inning.  Jose Lopez led off by taking a 1-0 fastball over the Sox bullpen in left field, and after a pair of groundouts, Bill Hall took a 1-1 fastball to the same place. The only difference was that Hall used a shorter swing.

After Mariners pitching threw a shutout — the Sox scored their third and final run in the fifth inning — Ozzie Guillen decided to end it by bringing in Scott Linebrink.

Linebrink got the job done. After a leadoff out, Linebrink gave up a single to Ryan Langerhans, then hit Kenji Johjima on the elbow with a fastball that was supposed to be on the other side of the plate. That gave Ichiro a golden opportunity to come through, and he did just that with a single to right-center to end it. So much for the nice job done by Matt Thornton, Tony Pena, Randy Williams and Octavio Dotel, who combined to throw four scoreless innings in an attempt to get Jenks off the hook.

But Danks was the real victim. He allowed only four hits and two walks over eight efficient innings, and Adrian Beltre’s solo shot in the seventh inning constituted the only real damage.

Danks grew stronger as the game grew longer. He started off each of the first two innings with leadoff walks but worked around them, and ended up retiring 13 of 14 at one point.

Alexei Ramirez also made a tremendous play on Adam Moore, snaring a one-hop rocket behind him, spinning and making a throw to first to prevent the leadoff hitter from reaching in the third.

Danks helped himself out with his glove in the eighth. After Matt Tuiasosopo led off with a double, Danks kept him there by making a great snab on an Ichiro chopper, which prevent Tuiaososopo from advancing. He never got within 90 feet of home.

And while the Sox offense eventually settled into its snooze-inducing ways, they appeared to get to Brandon Morrow just enough to help Danks toward his 13th win.

Scott Podsednik drew a walk to start the game, then went to third on Gordon Beckham’s single and scored on A.J. Pierzynski’s sac fly. Simple enough.

In the third, Paul Konerko doubled off the top of the left field wall with one out. He would come around to score on Mark Kotsay’s single. Kotsay was thrown out at second assuming the throw wouldn’t be cut off — or maybe trying to prevent the throw from going home — but it gave the Sox a 2-0 lead.

They added one more in the fifth. Gordon Beckham led off with a walk, moved to second on Pierzynski’s groundout to second, and Mark Kotsay bounced one over Jose Lopez’s mitt at first for a 3-0 lead. Not pretty, but certainly effective.

The Sox lumber went into slumber afterward. They combined to go just 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position, and Jermaine Dye and Alex Rios went 0-for-6 apiece.

Another way to show how bad it was: Chris Getz drew four walks, stole his 25th base… and never scored.

Record: 72-75 | Box score | Play-by-play

September 16: Mariners 4, White Sox 1

On the first pitch of the game, Ichiro Suzuki laced a double to left-center.

Yet it was the second pitch — a strike to Franklin Gutierrez — that carried the bad omen. Floyd did a baby hop off the mound, and would do it on just about every other pitch.

He managed to strike out Gutierrez on a good curve, but he had trouble missing bats the rest of the night. His slider lacked movement, his fastball was a tick slower, and the Mariners hit him all around the yard.

Floyd lasted only three innings, and left the game with a sore left hip.  So there you go.

It was a minor miracle that the Sox only trailed 3-0 by the time Floyd left, although Jermaine Dye made a great throw from right to end the first inning by catching Adrian Beltre trying to stretch an RBI single to a double.  A Mike Carp solo homer off D.J. Carrasco would be the only one allowed by Sox relievers in five innings of work.

But it didn’t matter, because the Sox didn’t want to hit a man with glasses.

The begoggled Ryan Rowland-Smith, making his first-ever appearance, shut down the Sox despite an unimpressive selection of offerings.  Really, the only pitch that he had was a straight change that didn’t have a lot of movement. But the Sox, who were trying to pull the fastball, couldn’t stay back on the off-speed stuff long enough to make it hurt.

Gordon Beckham’s solo homer in the eighth inning was the only form of offense the Sox could mount. A couple other promising rallies were cut short.

In the second, the Sox had two on and one out after a pair of singles. Carlos Quentin then ended the inning on the first pitch he saw, rollowing over on an outer-half fastball for a 6-4-3 double play.

Quentin then singled in his next at-bat on a bloop to right, but he thought it would get away from a sliding Ichiro. He ended up corralling it rather easily, and Quentin was dead meat between first and second.

The Sox had the first two hitters reach in the seventh, and they advanced one base on Quentin’s deep fly to right. But Alex Rios, who had two singles, tapped out to the catcher, and Jayson Nix struck out swinging to end the threat.

One bright spot: Carrasco struck out Ichiro on a ball in the dirt, and the ball caromed off A.J. Pierzynski’s shinguard and up the first base line. Because Ichiro didn’t react right away, Carrasco could take his time on the throw to first, recording the rare K 1-3.

Record: 72-74 | Box score | Play-by-play

September 15: White Sox 6, Mariners 3

This game had the hallmarks of a team White Sox fans have seldom seen this year.

The offense rallied from an early 3-0 hole, finally supporting a quality start, thanks to some timely hitting. And they held it thanks to some excellent middle relief work.

A.J. Pierzynski, who hasn’t done much with runners in scoring position, changed the game with his best plate appearance of the year.

Pierzynski came to the plate to face Mark Lowe with runners on second and third and two outs. Lowe got a 2-2 count on him, and thus began the battle. Three fouls, a ball and a foul later, Pierzynski finally found one he could square up. He slashed one to left, and that would be good enough to score both runs as Bill Hall airmailed the throw.

The throwing error allowed Pierzynski to reach second, and Paul Konerko cashed him in with his second double of the night, a beautiful liner to the right-center gap.

Ozzie Guillen called on a combination of Octavio Dotel and Matt Thornton to take care of the seventh and eighth, and they teamed up to work around an error (see below) with maybe the most beautiful pair of outs the bullpen has provided all year.

Dotel had runners on second and third with one out and Jose Lopez at the plate, and Dotel got ahead 0-2.  He tried one slider that Lopez fouled off, and then came back with fastballs. Lopez kept fouling them off, but eventually Dotel got one Lopez kept in play, and it ended up in Mark Kotsay’s mitt on the foul side of first base.

Guillen then called on Thornton to face Griffey, and he simply blew him away. Two fastballs looking, one fastball swinging, thank you very much. Thornton retired all four men he faced.

The Sox added an insurance run in the ninth. After a hit-and-run that Alexei Ramirez executed to get Chris Getz to third, Getz came around to score on a wild pitch.

The run came in handy, as Bobby Jenks allowed the tying run to come to the plate, even with a three-run lead. He did get screwed when Angel Hernandez didn’t believe that Jenks won a footrace with Ichiro Suzuki for what should’ve been the third out, but after a single, he struck out Lopez with a ball in the dirt to end the game.

Freddy Garcia ended up getting the win, one he deserved after shaking off a shaky start. He allowed all three runs over his first three innings of work. The first came on a solo shot by Ken Griffey Jr., right after he hooked one home-run diestance ball just foul. It was almost like Garcia was helping General Soreness hit No. 626.

Garcia then gave up a two-out double and single to fall behind 2-0 after two, and an RBI groundout after a double steal to stretch it to 3-0 after three.  He did strand Franklin Gutierrez on second, though, and settled down after that.

The offense then began to chip away. Pierzynski scored the first run after leading off the fourth with a single.  He moved up on a Paul Konerko walk and a passed ball/wild pitch, and Mark Kotsay drove them both in with a double. Kotsay advanced to third on a deep Jermaine Dye fly, but he’d be stranded there after Carlos Quentin lined out to third and Chris Getz grounded out.

Dye failed to score a runner from third with less than two outs in the fifth, striking out on three pitches. That’s what made Pierzynski’s sixth-inning at-bat such a big one.

Despite the satisfaction from this comeback, a few indicators of the same ol’ Sox remained:

*A ball fell between Carlos Quentin and Alexei Ramirez for a non-error error, putting the pressure on Octavio Dotel. It should’ve been Quentin’s ball, but Ramirez sent mixed signals with his pursuit.

*Scott Podsednik had another problem with the wall on a fly to deep right, which ended up as a Mike Carp triple. Garcia pitched around it.

*Pierzynski ran into yet another out on an unsuccessful attempt to stretch a single into a double.

On the other hand, Gordon Beckham made two beautiful stabs to his right, and defensive replacement Alex Rios made a deep fly over his head look like a piece of cake.

Record: 72-73 | Box score | Play-by-play

September 13: Angels 3, White Sox 2

This was your garden-variety hard-luck loss.

Mark Buehrle pitched well, especially with a small strike zone from Angel Campos that frustrated both sides. He allowed only five hits and two walks, but Torii Hunter’s homer in the seventh made the difference.

What didn’t make a difference?  Numerous at-em balls hit by the Sox. They out-hit the Angels 9-5, made Scott Kazmir and the Anaheim bullpen work harder (they threw 163 pitches over nine, compared to 109 over eight by Sox pitchers) … and they couldn’t get anything on the board besides two first-inning runs via a Carlos Quentin single.

The Sox stranded nine runners compared to the Angels’ two.

Record: 71-73 | Box score | Play-by-play

September 12: White Sox 4, Angels 3 (10 innings)

If the White Sox can’t make wins look easy anymore, then we’re all screwed.

They held a 3-0 lead entering the eighth with their best relievers — Matt Thornton and Bobby Jenks — tanned, rested and ready. They finished the game in the 10th, clinging to a one-run lead with Tony Pena, of all people, attempting to rack up the save.

Thornton started the ruination of a perfectly good win opportunity for John Danks by allowing four straight singles — good for two runs — in the eighth inning. He could only retire one batter, and needed Jenks to clean up his mess.  Jenks did so in one pitch, getting Juan Rivera to ground into a double play immediately.

Then Jenks ran into his own problem, giving up a nine-pitch leadoff walk to Gary Matthews. He went to third on Kendry Morales’ single and scored on Maicer Izturis’ sac fly. Just like that, the game was tied.

Thank goodness for Scott Podsednik.

Podsednik led off the top of the 10th with a double to the right-center gap off Brian Fuentes. Gordon Beckham singled him to third, but A.J. Pierzynski couldn’t score him, flying out to shallow center and keeping Podsednik at third.

Kevin Jepsen came in to face pinch-hitting Paul Konerko, and it looked like Pods would be stranded at third when Jepsen got ahead 0-2.  But he bounced a slider that skipped past Mike Napoli, and Podsednik came around to score the winning run.

Of course, the Sox wouldn’t end it without drama. Randy Williams got ahead on Bobby Abreu 1-2, then walked him without challenging him. Reggie Willits bunted him over (thank you), and Ozzie Guillen called for Pena. Pena got Torii Hunter to ground out, but it looked like Oakland all over again when Rivera bounced a single back through the middle.

This one was hit a little slower than the one Kurt Suzuki knocked through for the game-tying run on Wednesday, and a diving Alexei Ramirez kept it in the infield. That saved the game, because Pena got Napoli to ground into a 4-3 to end it for his first save in a Sox uniform.

The game was closer than it should’ve been after the Sox built an early 3-0 lead through three innings. Gordon Beckham, the second batter of the game, took Ervin Santana deep for a solo shot over the left-center wall. In the third, Podsednik added one of his own — the hard way.

He hit a deep fly to right field, and sent Bobby Abreu up against the wall. Much like what happened to Pods in Oakland a couple years ago, the ball hit the wall, and then Abreu’s head on the way down. It ricocheted away from Abreu toward center, and with Hunter not backing up, Pods circled the bases for the first Sox inside-the-park homer since Joe Borchard’s.

John Danks, meanwhile, kept the Angels down despite pitch count issue. It’s a minor miracle that he got through six considering he had thrown 60something pitches through three. He didn’t have a traditional 1-2-3 inning, but he did benefit from two double plays. One was A.J. Pierzynski’s second strike-him-out-throw-him-out this week.

Unfortunately, the Sox failed to score a run in the sixth when, with runners on the corners and one out, Chris Getz hit a fly to shallow right. It wasn’t deep enough for Ramirez to score on it, but they tried anyway, and Ramirez was out by 15 feet.

Record: 71-72 | Box score | Play-by-play

September 11: Angels 7, White Sox 1

Joe Saunders shut down the Sox, with the exception of Jayson Nix, who homered for the third time in four at-bats off the Angel lefty.

Gavin Floyd didn’t shut down the Angels.

Alas.

Record: 70-72 | Box score | Play-by-play

September 9: White Sox 4, Athletics 3 (13 innings)

Nobody deserved to win this game. Fortunately, the A’s wanted it less.

In a comedy of errors, the Sox had the last laugh, with A.J. Pierzynski’s double ending an awful night of baseball in nearly all respects.

Alexei Ramirez started the 13th with a one-out single off Edgar Gonzalez. Pierzynski came up and sent one over Rajai Davis’ head in center. Davis couldn’t track it effectively, and the ball caromed off the top of the wall and past Davis on its way back to the infield. Compounding Davis’ mistake, left fielder Eric Patterson was extremely late in backing up Davis.

Oddly enough, Ramirez did everything right on the play. It was a hit-and-run, and while it took a second for Ramirez to pick up the batted ball, once he saw it going to deep center, he stayed put on second.  He didn’t lose any momentum when he saw the fly wasn’t caught, and he scored easily while Hawk Harrelson bellowed, “Come on, Alexei!” four times.

Ramirez’s running stood in stark contrast to the display put on by Scott Hairston in the top half of the inning.

He reached on a mistake himself.  With one out, he hit a routine, medium-range flyball to Alex Rios, and Rios inexplicably dropped it.

But Hairston was kind enough to erase the error.  He took off for second on a hit-and-run, but unlike Ramirez, he never checked to see where the ball went.  Chris Getz pretended like it was a potential 4-6-3 ball, but in reality, Kurt Suzuki popped it up to first. Josh Fields caught it, then flipped to first for an easy double play.

Credit Octavio Dotel with excellent relief work, as the 13th inning was his third scoreless one. It was also the second that ended with an unusual double play, as Pierzynski completed a strike-him-out-throw-him-out to end the 12th.  More impressively, it was Pierzynski’s second successful throw of the night.

None of the above should’ve happened if it weren’t for Tony Pena.

Pena, who entered the game with nobody on and two outs with a one-run lead in the eighth, appeared to have everything in hand when he got ahead of Hairston with two strikes. He then proceeded to throw one of the worst 0-2 pitches I can remember — a hanging slider — and Hairston lined it past the outstretched glove of Scott Podsednik for a double.

Pena tried to shake it off by getting ahead of Suzuki 0-2, but guess what? He threw another rolling slider.  This one was a little lower, and on the outer half of the plate, but not enough of either to prevent Suzuki from shooting it back through the middle to tie the game at 3.

It was the only blemish in an otherwise outstanding night for Sox pitching. Freddy Garcia threw another quality start, finishing his night by stranding a runner on third and protecting a 3-0 lead. Matt Thornton threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings and left the bases empty for Pena, and Ozzie Guillen even used Bobby Jenks in a tie game. His counterpart, Bob Geren, left Rookie of the Year candidate and closer Andrew Bailey in the bullpen despite  needing eight innings from his relievers after a four-inning start from Trevor Cahill.

On the other hand, the Sox offense could’ve given its pitching a little more of a cushion. Podsednik had a four-hit game and stole his 27th base, but only scored once. He needed a two-base error on an errant Cahill pickoff throw to do it.

He drove in the Sox’s second run on a ground rule double in the second.  If it didn’t bounce over the fence, it would’ve scored two, but Adam Kennedy set the tone for generosity by double-clutching on Ramirez’s weak chopper. Jayson Nix would’ve been dead meat at the plate had he fielded it cleanly, but it gave the Sox a 3-1 lead instead.

The Sox wouldn’t score another run for another 11 innings, as they couldn’t buy a hit in the clutch. They went a whopping 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position on the evening, and stranded 16 runners overall.

Record: 70-71 | Box score | Play-by-play

September 8: Athletics 11, White Sox 3

Coming off a brilliant start against the Cubs, Carlos Torres looked like a batting practice pitcher against the A’s.

That’s no exaggeration. Torres lasted just two-thirds of an inning, allowing five runs on five hits in the worst start of the season. He threw about six gopher balls, and was fortunate – the A’s only happened to convert on two of them. Three, if you count a bullet sac fly to right by Kurt Suzuki.

Ozzie Guillen had D.J. Carrasco warming before the first run was scored, but by the time Carrasco was warm, it was too late. Jack Cust hit a three-run shot, and Mark Ellis added a solo shot as well.

Making a bad night worse:

• Carrasco was ineffective, giving up six more hits and three earned runs himself over 3 1/3 innings.
• Brett Tomko both picked up the “W” and got his shot at A.J. Pierzynski without retribution (unless you want to count Kotsay’s two-run shot as adequate revenge).
• When the Sox had something going — runners on second and third, nobody out — Jayson Nix was doubled off second when he inexplicably took off on Alexei Ramirez’s soft liner.
• Daniel Hudson got his second shot and was tagged with two runs — one helped by an Ramirez error (missed a perfect throw from Pierzynski on a steal attempt), another allowed by Randy Williams.
• Tyler Flowers had one at-bat and struck out.

At least  Jhonny Nunez tossed a scoreless inning.

Record: 69-71 | Box score | Play-by-play

September 7: White Sox 5, Red Sox 1

It took nearly a month and a half, but Mark Buehrle finally picked up his first win since the perfect game.

He definitely worked hard enough for it.  Only two of his seven innings were of the 1-2-3 variety, and he stranded runners in scoring position in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.

The fifth inning nearly could have broken him. He retired the first two hitters before Alex Gonzalez and Jacoby Ellsbury hit back to back singles. Dustin Pedroia worked a tough walk, and that set the table for White Sox nemesis Victor Martinez.

Buehrle got ahead 1-2 on Martinez, and won the battle when Uncle Victor hit a can of corn to Alex Rios in center. After halting that two-out rally, the rest of Buehrle’s day was smoother. He ultimately limited the damage to a bloop RBI single by Kevin Youkilis in the first.

He received enough support, both by the offense and bullpen.

The Sox touched up Josh Beckett for all three runs he allowed in the third inning. Jayson Nix didn’t move on an inside curveball to lead it off, and Scott Podsednik followed with a single to center. After a sac bunt by Alexei Ramirez, A.J. Pierzynski hit a tapper to short soft enough to score Nix to tie the game.

Mark Kotsay then inflicted more damage upon his former team. He followed a Jermaine Dye four-pitch walk with soft single to center to score two runs.

Kotsay tried to make it a 4-1 lead when Jeff Cox sent him home on Carlos Quentin’s double to left, but home plate umpire Marc Crawford ruled Kotsay out. The throw beat him, but it appeared Kotsay made a great slide to avoid Jason Varitek’s tag. Crawford did not reward Kotsay for his effort.

Thankfully, the Sox didn’t need that run. Tony Pena entered the game in the eighth inning after Buehrle allowed a leadoff single and retired all three men he faced, including two by strikeouts. He did cause the heart to stop when he allowed a long foul ball to Jason Bay that would have tied the game, but instead he walked out with a rare hold.

Quentin gave the Sox a little more breathing room in the bottom of the eighth with a two-out homer off Hideki Okajima, a liner that rocketed off the back of the Sox bullpen.

Record: 69-70 | Box score | Play-by-play

September 6: Red Sox 6, White Sox 1

It was just three days ago that Scott Podsednik started off the game by reaching second base with nobody out, then getting doubled up thanks to some dumbassed baserunning.

So you’d think that particular event would be so fresh in his memory that he wouldn’t do it again.

Apparently not.

Podsednik slapped a bunt to shortstop for a single, then stole second on Jon Lester and Victor Martinez. After Jayson Nix walked, Paul Konerko hit a dying quail to short right, behind first base.

Now, Dustin Pedroia made a terrific play. He made a sprinting catch, needing every bit of speed and reach to snag it.  He then had the werewithal to spin and throw to second, on the off-chance that Podsednik had strayed too far from the bag.

We know there’s no “off chance” about it. Podsednik was two-thirds of the way to third when Pedroia made the catch, and had no way to get back. It was yet another awful double play, and the offense never mounted a similar thread off Jon Lester for the rest of his start.

Lester was good, throwing seven shutout innings and eclipsing the 200-strikeout mark with eight of them.  He also happened to be better than John Danks.

Danks met the minimum for a quality start, but some long early innings kept his day abbreviated. One swing by Mike Lowell altered the course of his day, as his towering fly landed five feet into the White Sox bullpen for a two-run homer, giving the Red Sox all the runs they would need. A Jason Bay RBI single in the fifth gave them a key two-out run.

Ramon Castro prevented the Sox from getting shut out by hitting a no-doubter off Billy Wagner, but Octavio Dotel made the game uninteresting just as quickly. With two outs in the eighth, he gave up a three-run shot to Victor Martinez that kept Sox fans from watching Jonathan Papelbon take 20 seconds with an O-face to decide to throw another fastball.

Note: Alex Rios struck out three times in three plate appearances, even though he was ahead 3-0 in every instance.

Record: 68-70 | Box score | Play-by-play

September 5: White Sox 5, Red Sox 1

Tim Wakefield wasn’t as sharp, and the White Sox hitters wisened up.  As a result, the Good Guys jumped on the knuckleball early, giving a halfway-perfect Gavin Floyd a nice early cushion en route to their four consecutive victory.

Scott Podsednik provided a positive omen when he led off with a single up through the middle — a nice change of pace after Sox hitters were way too pull-happy in their first outing against Wakefield.  He stole second, Jayson Nix (pinch-hitting for Gordon Beckham, who left early with a stiff back) walked, and A.J. Pierzynski tested Wakefield’s bad back with a bunt that at least moved the runners over.

Paul Konerko lined a single back through the middle to drive two runs in, and two batters later, Paul Konerko would score on Chris Getz’s flare for a quick 3-0 lead.

That was all Floyd needed.  He took a perfect game into the sixth inning before Nick Green spoiled it with a two-out single.  It appeared that he might have a Mark Buehrle performance in him thanks to some nice defense.  Mark Kotsay ran a ball down in deep right field, and Alexei Ramirez gloved a grounder up the middle and made a spinning throw to get Mike Lowell out at first.

Even though Green shattered that dream, it didn’t seem to bother Floyd too much.  He finished with a career-high 11 strikeouts, with only Jason Bay’s leadoff homer in the eighth getting on the board.

Ultimately, it was no harm done, because Paul Konerko answered in the bottom of the inning with his 25th homer, doinking it off the left-field foul pole to get the run back.

Mark Kotsay also homered off Wakefield, giving him two in two games against his former team.

Record: 68-69 | Box score | Play-by-play

September 4: White Sox 12, Red Sox 2

A hugely productive day by the starting lineup + a chance to see the call-ups = a terrific September ballgame.

Mark Kotsay, who entered the game with 14 hits in 29 at-bats against Paul Byrd, keyed the 20-hit White Sox attack with three hits, including a two-run homer to kick it off in the second.

He finished 3-for-4 with three RBI, a walk and three runs scored.  And he wasn’t alone.

Chris Getz had a four-hit game — including two flared singles — and A.J. Pierzynski went 3-for-4 with a double as well. Alexei Ramirez had two hits and three RBI himself. The Sox batted around twice against Boston, scoring five runs in the third and five more in the fourth.

All while Freddy Garcia held the Red Sox down.  Unlike Byrd, his assortment of junk worked.

Kotsay helped kill any momentum the Red Sox could build in the fourth. Victor Martinez followed up a leadoff single with one of his own down the line. Kotsay hustled after it, and made a perfect throw in second for Ramirez to apply the tag. The Red Sox scored their only run off Garcia after Kevin Youkilis singled, but their rally had decidedly less bite.

The big cushion allowed Daniel Hudson to make his big-league debut, which began inauspiciously after he hit Josh Reddick on the foot with an 0-2 pitch. He settled down and retired the next six he faced, including a backwards K of Brian Anderson in his return to the Cell.

Record: 67-69  | Box score | Play-by-play

September 3: White Sox 5, Cubs 0

Sox fans often tell themselves in tough times, “At least we’re not the Cubs.”

After today’s victory, Sox players might be telling themselves the same thing.  They found one team that could make costlier mistakes than they do.

And the Sox started this one out as sloppy as it gets.

Scott Podsednik led off with a double that should’ve been a triple — except it rolled into the ivy. He then got caught up between second and third thanks to terrible baserunning. He was off on contact, and would’ve made it to third since Ryan Dempster didn’t field Gordon Beckham’s chopper cleanly.

For some reason, Pods slowed to a trot while Dempster lunged after the ball. He got hung up between second and third, where he was tagged out by Aramis Ramirez.

Beckham compounded the error by making one of his own. He got caught between first and second, where he was tagged out for the 1-5-3-6 double play.  Oy.

But leave it to the Cubs to help them out. In the second inning, Chris Getz hit a two-out single. Jake Fox decided not to catch a pickoff throw, giving Getz second on the error. He’d score on an Alexei Ramirez single for a 1-0 lead.

…and Ramirez would get thrown out at second on a stolen base attempt, in which he apparently stopped running halfway.

Carlos Torres remained unshakable, taking advantage of the wind blowing in and getting a lot of medium-to-deep flyouts.  He pitched around trouble in the fourth, striking out Alfonso Soriano with runners on the corners and one out before getting Jeff Baker to ground out to second.

He had retired eight in a row before Jake Fox’s double leading off the seventh. After striking out Soriano (again), Baker singled to right. Fox headed for home, and Dewayne Wise made him pay. His throw made it home on the fly, easy enough for A.J. Pierzynski to catch, and giving him time to diving across the plate and tag the diving Fox.

Ozzie Guillen visited Torres after the second out and left him in. Torres responded by striking out Koyie Hill for his seventh scoreless inning.

Wise’s throw and Torres’ toughness may have broken the Cubs. Either that, or it was Soriano.

After Beckham led off with a single, A.J. Pierzynski hit a lazy flyball toward the left field line. Soriano overran it, slipped, and watched the ball bound past him into the corner for a run-scoring, three-base error. Paul Konerko followed with a single for a 3-0 lead, and the game was never in doubt afterward.

Two more misplays led to two more Sox runs in the ninth. Jake Fox thought about going home on Pierzynski’s chopper, but realizing he had no chance at Podsednik, he turned to first — and Jeff Baker wasn’t covering.

Baker then made another miscue when he hung Ryan Theriot out to dry on what should’ve been a 4-6-3. Pierzynski broke up the double play as Baker’s toss put Theriot right in the path of his slide, and his return throw wasn’t in time. That extended the inning for Carlos Quentin, who put a grounder just far enough away from Theriot for another RBI infield single.

Along with victory No. 1 for Torres, this game featured another first — Tyler Flowers’ big-league debut. His first plate appearance ended with a pop-out to first, but it’s a start.

Record: 66-69 | Box score | Play-by-play

September 2: White Sox 4, Twins 2

Gordon Beckham and the White Sox were down to their last bullet. Down 2-0 because they couldn’t get to another pitcher of no repute, the Sox faced a taller task of having to get to Nathan … with nobody on and an 0-2 count.

Nathan threw his best put-me-away slider, diving down and out of the zone. Beckham checked his swing, and first-base umpire ruled no swing on Mike Redmond’s appeal. Another slider, same location, but Beckham found it easier to lay off. Beckham didn’t bite on a low-and-away fastball, either, filling up the count.

Nathan then threw a fastball right down the pipe, and Beckham cranked it into the left field seats to put the Sox on the board.

But the Minnesota closer got back on the horse, getting Paul Konerko against the ropes with a 2-2 count. Konerko laid off an outside fastball to work the count full. He fouled back another fastball, and when Nathan came back with a hanging slider, Konerko got enough of it to put it in the first row, over the glove of a leaping Denard Span.

Suddenly, the Sox that showed nothing against Brian Duensing tied the game against one of baseball’s best closers.

And, they weren’t done.

Nathan lost control of his slider, with Jermaine Dye drawing an easy walk watching four of them slide out of the zone. He was replaced by Dewayne Wise, who stole second during Carlos Quentin’s at-bat. Quentin tried helping him out by chasing a well-outside breaking ball to fall behind 1-2, but Nathan threw three more out of the zone.

Ron Gardenhire had seen enough, as he called for Matt Guerrier to finally end the Minnesota misery. Guerrier picked up where Nathan left off, getting an 0-2 count on Alexei Ramirez. But Ramirez got down for a weak breaking ball, and lined it into left field.

Jeff Cox tested Span’s arm in left, sending Wise. It was a smart decision, but it nearly backfired when Span’s throw appeared on line. Mike Redmond couldn’t handle the short hop, however, and Wise slid in under the catcher as the ball caromed away, giving the Sox an unlikely 3-2 lead.

Another bad bounce gave the Sox the luxury of an insurance run, when Redmond couldn’t block a Guerrier slider, allowing Quentin to score.

Bobby Jenks finally got to pitch when it counted (although, I’m sad to say, Guillen didn’t warm him up until a two-out mound meeting after the Sox tied the game). He couldn’t get Jose Morales out either, as the third catcher fisted a flare to left to keep the Twins’ hopes alive. Jenks ended it one batter later, when Wise made an ugly catch around Jayson Nix in shallow right for the game’s final out.

Mark Buehrle once again failed to record a win since the perfect game, and much like his cohorts in the rotation, his quality start went unrewarded. He held the Twins scoreless until the sixth, when he couldn’t survive the Minnesota cadre of Sox killers.

Alternating between guys who hammer Sox pitcher and guys who don’t, Buehrle ended up on the wrong side of the numbers.  He retired Punto (no big deal), gave up a single on an 0-2 count to Span (per usual), and struck out Orlando Cabrera.  All he had to do was retire one of the Twins’ tough lefties to preseve the shutout.  He couldn’t.

Buehrle even caught two breaks.  Joe Mauer’s opposite-field double bounded over the fence, which kept Span at third when he would’ve scored easily.  After an intentional walk to Justin Morneau to face the equally unfriendly Jason Kubel, Buehrle fell behind 3-1.  He threw a fastball well out of the zone, but as Kubel bent down to unbuckle his shin guard, home plate umpire Bob Davidson surprisingly called “strike.”

Buehrle couldn’t take advantage, as Kubel went the other way on an outer-half pitch and flared one just in front of Quentin for a 2-0 lead.

That appeared to be plenty for the buzzsaw known as Brian Duensing, especially since the Sox routinely shot themselves in the foot.

Scott Podsednik started it in high style by leading it off with a single, then running into an out. He saw hit-and-run when nobody gave him the single, and was effectively picked off.  That set the tone for the day, because when Beckham followed with a walk, Paul Konerko grounded into a double play.

That was the first of four twin killings on the afternoon. Ramirez’s one in the fifth particularly hurt, as the Sox had two on and nobody out, but the seventh inning was the most fitting.  The Sox brought the best of both worlds together — Jermaine Dye grounded into a double play, and Carlos Quentin was thrown out at second trying to stretch a single into a double to end the inning.

But while Buehrle couldn’t get the win, at least the bullpen earned it.  Scott Linebrink survived his inning of work, getting help from Ramon Castro (throwing Brendan Harris out at second) and working around a typical Punto infield. single.

Ozzie Guillen then summoned Randy Williams to start the eighth, and didn’t push his luck after facing Mauer and Morneau.  Carlos Gomez came to the plate, Guillen countered with D.J. Carrasco, and the Sox won the battle with an inning-ending 4-3.

Record: 65-69 | Box score | Play-by-play

September 1: Twins 4, White Sox 3

With the potential game-winning run on first and nobody out, Ozzie Guillen turned to his best pitcher to try to push the game into extra innings.

That’s right: Guillen called for Tony Pena.

Pena alternated between outs and hits, but that wasn’t good enough.  A one-out single put runners on the corners, and after Pena struck out Carlos Gomez the proper way — by not throwing strikes — Guillen came out to visit the mound.

Problem was, he chatted with Pena before Ron Gardenhire announced a pinch hitter. Gardenhire called on Jose Morales (lefty) to hit for Alexi Casilla. Guillen had Randy Williams loose in the bullpen to counter, but he stuck with Pena.

The decision burned him. Morales, who is batting a whopping .750 against the White Sox for his career (9-for-12), boosted that average by lining a single to the right-center gap for the walk-off victory.

The Sox have now lost 12 straight games in which Pena has pitched, and it’s the fourth one for which he’s been mostly responsible.

Otherwise, this game appeared largely like a carbon copy of the previous night. Like Gavin Floyd, John Danks pitched well. Unlike Floyd, Danks spread his poor pitches over three innings instead of one.

Two resulted in Michael Cuddyer solo homers. But Danks was also stricken with poor defense, as Scott Podsednik failed to run down a Denard Span flyball in the gap, resulting in a leadoff triple. He’d score on an Orlando Cabrera sac fly.

Danks looked good, otherwise, allowing the three runs over seven innings. The Twins started to touch him up for hits in the final frame. Three of the Twins’ six hits off him came in the seventh, but he killed any post-Cuddyer-homer rally with a 5-4-3 double play.

Unfortunately, a solo homer by Alexei Ramirez represented the only form of offense against Jeff Manship, a pitcher of little repute who is prone to hits and baserunners.  Not like that matters to the Sox, since he’d never faced them before.

At least Gordon Beckham prevented Danks from getting tagged with the loss.  Scott Podsednik drew a four-pitch leadoff walk from Jose Mujares, and Gardenhire pulled him in favor of Matt Guerrier. Beckham greeted Guerrier with a first pitch homer into the left-field seats to tie the game.

A.J. Pierzynski reached first on after a third strike escaped Joe Mauer to start another rally with nobody out. Pinch-running Dewayne Wise couldn’t advance past second, as Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye (justmissedit) flew out, and Carlos Quentin struck out.

Record: 64-69 | Box score | Play-by-play