State of the Sox 2009

October 4: Tigers 5, White Sox 3

When Ozzie Guillen countered Justin Verlander with a lineup that included Ramon Castro and Brent Lillibridge, no Paul Konerko and only half a game of Jermaine Dye, it didn’t seem likely that the Tigers would be eliminated at day’s end.

Still, the half-a-team made a pretty good run at it, putting a scare into the Detroit ace and the Tigers’ shaky playoff hopes with a three-run eighth, and bringing the tying run to the plate in both innings.

The Tigers had built a 5-0 lead thanks to three homers — two off an ineffective John Danks (hanging changeup, grooved fastball) and one off Daniel Hudson (hanging slider), while Verlander held the Sox off the scoreboard thanks in part to the best curve I’ve ever seen him throw.

But the Sox chipped away, starting with a one-out Alex Rios single back through the box. Alexei Ramirez did the same, and Castro put the first run on the board with a double to left-center.  Lillibridge made it four straight hits to drive in Ramirez and Castro to make it a 5-3 game.

Lillibridge advanced to scoring position on a wild pitch. Scott Podsednik popped out, but Jayson Nix drew a two-out walk to keep the inning alive, and end Verlander’s day.  Jim Leyland called on Fernando Rodney to face Carlos Quentin, who appeared to get out of the inning with an easy fly ball.

Curtis Granderson made it a lot harder when he broke the wrong way, but his makeup speed allowed him to make an incredible diving catch to preserve the two-run margin.

A great defensive play by the Sox helped preserve that same deficit in the bottom of the eighth, when Dewayne Wise gunned down Gerald Laird at home on a shallow Placido Polanco flyball.  It was his third such assist on the year, and the 9-2 double play ended the inning.

Wise then brought the tying run to the plate when he led off the ninth with an infield single, but neither he nor anybody else would score. The season ended, fittingly, on a Rios 4-6-3 double play.

Record: 79-83 | Box score | Play-by-play

October 3: White Sox 5, Tigers 1

If you weren’t convinced that Jim Leyland thought this game was a must-win, you had to be sold when he pulled his starter after 1 1/3 innings… when he allowed just one run.

Alfredo Figaro found himself in a jam in the second. The inning started with a titanic Carlos Quentin shot, and grew worse when he found the bases loaded and one out after a walk, a single, a double-steal and a Brent Lillibridge walk.

Then, he found himself out of the game. Leyland might’ve set the record for earliest LOOGY appearance when Fu-Te Ni relieved Figaro to face Scott Podsednik. It almost worked, but Podsednik’s grounder to second proved too hot for Placido Polanco to field cleanly. A fielder’s choice made it a 2-0 game, and it gradually slipped away from Detroit despite Leyland’s best overmanaging.

Just like Friday, it was steady as she goes for the Sox starter.  This time, it was Freddy Garcia, who baffled the Tigers with his assortment of junk. Miguel Cabrera looked particularly out of sorts, failing to hit a ball out of the infield and striking out with Garcia failing to crack 90.

To illustrate the contrast in fortunes, Alex Rios barely muscled the ball out of the infield — and ended up driving in the Sox’s final three runs.

One day after Carlos Guillen mis-slid and missed a lazy fly toward the line, Magglio Ordonez did the same. It gave Rios an RBI double. He then muscled a pop-up over Polanco’s head for a run-scoring single off Ryan Perry in the eighth, and gave the Sox an insurance run with a fly that dropped in front of a hard-charging Curtis Granderson in the ninth.

Cabrera did have a chance to make it interesting in the eighth beforehand.  Trailing 4-1 in the bottom of the eighth, the Tigers knocked Garcia out of the game with a double and a single, putting runners on the corners in the process. Ozzie Guillen called for Tony Pena, who allowed an RBI single to Polanco before getting Magglio Ordonez to line out to Alexei Ramirez.

Pena won the battle, getting Cabrera to ground into an easy 6-4-3 double play that dashed the Tigers’ hopes. Matt Thornton closed it out for the non-save, dropping the Tigers into a dead heat with the Twins leading into the final day of the season.

Two items of note:

*The Sox stole six bases in six attempts.

*Quentin homered, doubled, nearly homered, and was hit by two pitches.

Record: 79-82 | Box score | Play-by-play

October 2: White Sox 8, Tigers 0

Jake Peavy was good.  The Tigers were really, really bad.

Peavy threw eight incredibly easy innings, allowing just two hits and two runs while striking out five as he recorded his third win in as many starts in a White Sox uniform.

And he got all the runs he needed when Scott Podsednik led off the game with a massive homer.  Seriously, it was a no-doubt blast just inside the right-field foul pole off Edwin Jackson.

From there on out, the Sox tacked on.  They labored, but Detroit was happy to help out.

Jermaine Dye “doubled” in a run in the fourth when Carlos Guillen went to make a sliding catch on a ball he could’ve caught standing.  As it turned out, he hit the ground well before the ball, and it ended up dropping between his legs for a 2-0 lead.

Dye then walked in a run in the sixth, Jackson’s third walk in four batters to start the inning (with some help from Tim Tschida’s shapeshifting strike zone). Mark Kotsay chased him from the game with a double, and the Sox ended up crossing the plate five times for the game’s final score.

Peavy cruised all the while, retiring 19 of 20 batters at one point — and that batter reached on an Alexei Ramirez error.  But Ramirez made up for it with a brilliant play on a sinking one-hopper off the bat of Ramon Santiago. Ramirez gloved it on the shortstop while going down to one knee and his back facing home, then uncoiled and let loose a laser to get Santiago by a half step.

Peavy only lost composure once — on a weird jump balk that allowed Magglio Ordonez to advance to second following the Ramirez error.  As the final score would tell you, it didn’t hurt.

Record: 78-82 | Box score | Play-by-play

September 30: White Sox 1, Indians 0 (Game 2)

Mark Buehrle suffered through a difficult second half, but he ended his season on a fine note.

Buehrle threw six efficient shutout innings, needing only 79 pitches for his 13th victory of the season. He didn’t allow a baserunner before he recorded two outs in an inning, and he didn’t walk a batter.

He frontloaded his start with tension. The Indians put runners on second and third after a single and double, but Matt LaPorta grounded out to second to end the inning.

That groundout started a run in which Buehrle retired 18 of his last 19 batters, with only Trevor Crowe reaching on an infield single.

Paul Konerko provided the only run off an excellent Justin Masterson, beating a single back up the middle to score Dewayne Wise in the fifth inning.  The Sox had stranded a runner on third with less than two outs on two occasions prior to Konerko’s knock.

Konerko then followed it up by stealing second, his first of the year. It was odd considering Konerko failed to score from second, setting up one of the aforementioned failures.

Masterson ended up striking out 12 Sox, a career-high. But it wasn’t enough, as Tony Pena served as a one-man bridge to Matt Thornton, who closed it out with a 1-2-3 inning.

Record: 77-82 | Box score | Play-by-play