State of the Sox 2009

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

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 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