State of the Sox 2009

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 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 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 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 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

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 28: Yankees 5, White Sox 2

Record: 64-65 | 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 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 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 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 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

April 7: White Sox 4, Royals 2

The 2009 Chicago White Sox may be heading in a younger direction, but this is still the same team.

They made errors on the basepaths when they weren’t going station-to-station, struggled through another shaky Opening Day starter, found no evidence of a center fielder … and somehow came away with the victory.

That’s thanks to Jim Thome, whose three-run homer off Kyle Farnsworth in the bottom of the eighth gave the Sox their only lead all day. Bobby Jenks nailed down the save — and a helluva day by the Sox bullpen — to make it stick.

The Gentleman Masher stretched his game-winning homer streak in regular season play to two games. Like I keep saying, embrace the home run. This is how they’re going to win.

The eighth-inning rally really started when Trey Hillman called for Kyle Farnsworth to replace an extremely effective Gil Meche. In the box score, however, it began with a bunt single by Josh Fields of all people, who had a tremendous Opening Day.

Dewayne Wise — the one person who is supposed to be able to bunt — popped up two of them before hitting a lazy flyout to center. But Chris Getz picked him up with a bloop single on a hit-and-run, getting Fields to third.

Carlos Quentin struck out, which was a theme all day (the Sox were 0-for-3 in scoring runners from third with less than two outs), but up came Thome, who blasted a 2-1 fastball over the wall just left of center for the winning margin.

Octavio Dotel retired all four hitters he faced, but had to strike out an extra one after a third strike got past A.J. Pierzynski. He ended up with a win for his performance, which was much better than his previous Opening Day, when he gave up a bases-clearing double to Casey Blake. Clayton Richard preceded him by pitching two perfect innings, with a strikeout and four groundouts.

They helped Mark Buehrle avoid the “L” on a day where he had trouble with his command. Pitch count was a problem right away, and he walked three batters and plunked two over five innings. He also gave up one homer, a no-doubt solo shot by Alex Gordon.

But it could’ve been worse when he had the bases loaded with no outs in the fifth. Fields prevented one run crossing the plate with a great play, backhanding a ball behind the bag and jump-throwing over Mark Teahan to get the force at home. Billy Butler’s 4-6 fielder’s choice scored a run, but Buehrle struck out Miguel Olivo to end the threat, as well as his day, only trailing 2-1.

The Sox wasted a bases-loaded, nobody-out opportunity of their own in the second. Thome, Jermaine Dye and Paul Konerko greeted Meche with singles to load the bases. But A.J. Pierzynski and Alexei Ramirez both hit weak flyouts to left, freezing Thome at third.

Fields made sure the Sox scored at least one with a single to left. Unfortunately, Jeff Cox made his first bad call of the season when he waved Dye around. DeJesus had made two throws home already on the shallow flies, so he had plenty of practice to throw out Dye by 10 feet.

That wasn’t the only bad baserunning of the day, either. Pierzynski nullifed his only contribution of the day when he tried to stretch a single down the left-field line into a double after hesitating rounding first. DeJesus gunned him down at second for his second outfield assist.

Pierzynski’s bad day (effectively an 0-for-3, three stranded, one passed ball that was called a wild pitch) paled in comparison to Wise’s, who struck out his first three times at the plate before botching the bunts in his last at-bat.

Record: 1-0 | Box score | Play-by-play