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
