There was one pitch that Jake Peavy made on Saturday night that almost convinced me to write.
It was his 110th pitch of the night. On an 0-1 count to Jose Guillen, Peavy unleashed the running fastball from hell. It started in the left-handed batter's box, and broke back over the outside corner, knee high, at 94 m.p.h. to put Guillen in the hole. Three pitches later, Peavy made Guillen fish on a cutter low and outside for the first out of the ninth.
But I wasn't going to buy it.
That's to take nothing away from Peavy, who, on Saturday night, was everything the White Sox haven't been all season -- energetic, resilient, proud, handsome, free and tall. But we had seen this act before -- an inspiring victory, followed by efforts nearly worthy of the squatting dog.
Sadly, Sunday afternoon was going to tell us a lot more than Saturday night. They should have beaten Brian Bannister, a guy they always hit well. They should have taken two of three from the Royals, especially since Zack Greinke wasn't pitching.
They didn't.
So we're at the point where we can no longer say the Sox "should have" done anything to make up ground. And Kenny Williams knows it.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A one-word text response spoke volumes.
Asked on Saturday if he was ''losing patience,'' general manager Ken Williams waited a good 10 minutes to fire back: ''Yes.''
And the vultures are starting to circle, as the Rangers have inquired about A.J. Pierzynski, who at least had the courtesy to back me when some had challenged my claim that he was a bad baserunner.
It's about time, really. It's getting to the point where the rationalizations are razor-thin at best. Look at Mark Kotsay:
''I don't think anybody in here has the answers to why we haven't hadsuccess,'' Sox veteran Mark Kotsay admitted before the rain-delayedsecond game of the Royals series. ''Because if you put them all down onpaper, put the numbers down and throw down the average years for eachindividual in here and you get that from everyone, you would assume thatwe would win the division."
Just for giggles, career OPSes:
And when you consider how many of those White Sox ones are on the way down, there are no two ways about it.This team, she is flawed.
I have to get up early for golf, but I'll have more on where the Sox stand tomorrow, as they try to embark on yet another one-game roll.
********************************
Minor league roundup:
- Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 7, Charlotte 6
- Dayan Viciedo went 2-for-5 with a homer and three RBI.
- Jordan Danks doubled, tripled and struck out twice.
- Tyler Flowers walked and struck out over four at-bats; C.J. Retherford doubled.
- Jeff Marquez allowed three unearned runs on six hits and a walk over six innings. He struck out three and induced 10 groundouts.
- Alan Embree allowed four runs on four hits and a walk in the time it took him to retire two batters. At least he struck out both of them.
- Birmingham 9, Montgomery 0 (7 innings)
- Brent Morel went 2-for-3 with a double, two RBI and a walk.
- Christian Marrero went 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Nice game for Matt Long, who allowed just a hit over six innings, striking out seven.
- Winston-Salem 6, Lynchburg 4
- Nathan Jones worked around a lot of hits: 5 1/3 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 HR.
- Dan Remenowsky struck out two over a perfect ninth.
- Jon Gilmore hit his first homer of the season, part of a 2-for-5 day.
- Brandon Short drew his fourth walk of the season, part of a 2-for-4 day.
- Justin Greene walked, struck out and stole his 10th base.
- Kannapolis 7, Hickory 1
- Justin Collop allowed one run on three hits and a walk over six innings. He struck out just one.
- Jimmy Ballinger and Ryan Buch each worked a scoreless inning. Buch allowed a hit and struck out a batter.
- Miguel Gonzalez went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI.
- Brady Shoemaker went 2-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Trayce Thompson went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Kyle Colligan wore the collar and a silver sombrero.
