Time To Sound Off

I don't want to go off on a rant here, but....

Its hard to complain when you're team is in first place and has the best record in baseball. The lack of production from a few guys in the lineup make it hard not to though.

• Why is it that Joe Crede has been given what feels like an eternity to start producing consistently while other players such as Willie Harris, or even Aaron Rowand 2 years ago, get about 200 AB's before the Sox make a trade to replace them? Two season's in a row the Sox gave away prospects to aquire Robby Alomar and Carl Everett and two year's in a row they did not make that much of an impact, if any, compared to who they replaced. All the while, Joe Crede was the everyday 3rd basemen finishing the last two seasons with an avg. of .231 and 75 strikeouts, and .261 with 81 strikeouts, respectively. He started this season out strong, finishing April hitting above .300, but in May he has been absolutely terrible and his avg. now sits at .234. Am I the only one who see's him as the weak link who should have been replaced long ago? I don't understand why he gets all the time in the world to break through while other player's who don't look lost at the plate for weeks at a time like Crede does get the hook after a couple hundred AB's. I know in a few years we might end up kicking ourselves for it, but I think this season our biggest need is a 3rd basemen who can hit to replace Crede at the hot corner.

• I want to make it clear that I was not an advocate of bringing Jose Valentine back to start at SS, but I also wasn't too sure about handing the job to Uribe either. I know the guy went on a tear to start the season last year and finished with an avg. of .283, but that was pretty much a career year for him. His highest batting average when he had more than 300 AB's prior to last season was .253. In his one season as an everyday player in Colorado he hit .240 with a .284 OBP and struck out 120 times. If those numbers sound familiar, they should, because they are just about the same as Valentine's over the past couple years, the guy the Sox are trying to upgrade over and replace. So what do the Sox do? Sign Uribe to a multi-year contract and hope that his one season with them was not a fluke. I don't know who else could have been signed at the price we got Uribe for, but a quarter of the way through the season it looks like last year might have been a fluke, and the Sox are missing Jose's clutch 3 run homers. (Valentine might have hit only .230 but he seemed to come through in the clutch so often...Uribe's avg. is almost as bad and he isn't coming through in clutch situations)

• Jermaine Dye I'm going to take it easy on because even though he's hitting just .213, he's looked better as of late and there really weren't many other options in the free agent market, especially at the price we got JD for. The reason I bring him up is because he has something in common with the two preceding players I highlighted, in that he is prone to the strikeout. If he stays healthy the rest of the year, he'll be approaching 100 K's at the end of the season. This is not what you want out of the back end of your order, 3 guys barely hitting over the Mendoza Line and on pace to strikeout nearly 100 times.
  

We better hope that having Big Frank's presence in the lineup has a rippling effect on some of the other guys because the offense is in desperate need of a shot in the arm. Having him will also give us the ability to ride whoever is hotter between Dye and Everett, and also should relieve us of having to watch Timo Perez sub in the OF and pinch hit, I mean pinch out. Hopefully the Sox wake up and demote him to AAA and he refuses the assignment and is released so we never have to see his hot dog, one-handed fly ball catches again.

Garland Shoots Himself In The Foot

Jon Garland had a flashback to past seasons in the 6th inning of Sunday's ballgame when he allowed the leathal and all to familiar big inning to ruin an otherwise solid outing. Going into the innng he held a 3-1 lead over the heavy hitting Rangers but it would not last long. After giving up a couple of hits to start off the inning he allowed a run to score on a fielders choice to trim the Sox lead to 3-2. Then, after getting the second out, he allowed another hit to Soriano setting the stage for Mench to hit a 3 run bomb to put Texas ahead 5-3. After that Garland was still unable to stop the bleeding, giving up 2 more runs before the inning was over. So he held a 2 run lead going into the 6th and came out of it down by 4. It was only one inning of one game, but I'm think that Garland's bubble might have burst this afternoon. BTW, Shingo came on to give up 4 runs in the 8th, 3 coming on a HR he allowed.
The one bit of good news coming out Sunday is that The Big Hurt will be joining the Sox on Monday and that he should be in the lineup tomorow vs. the Angels. OK, maybe there is one more piece of good news...The Twins were shut out by Roy Halladay today, remaining 3.5 games behind the Sox. Today was the 3rd straight loss for the Sox, matching their longest losing streak of the season for the 2nd time (3 times in all), and it was the 8th straight victory for the Rangers.

McCarthy Shelled

The Sox lost Friday night 6-1 to Texas and Pale Hoser's were having a flashback of what last year's 5 hole revolving door of rookies felt like. 21 year old phenom Brandon McCarthy was touched up for 4 home runs in his 5+ innings, two of which were hit by Soriano. He held strong the first 4 innings, surrendering only a pair of solo shots keeping the Sox within reach at 2-0 but in the 5th he fell apart, giving up a pair of 2 run shots before getting the hook.
Garland goes for the Sox tomorrow against the Ranger's Chan Ho Park. Thankfully the Sox will miss out on Kenny Rogers in this series, he of the league leading 1.whatever ERA. How he is doing it pitching at the Ballpark in Arlington bewilders me, but on the other hand you could say the same thing about almost all of our starters pitching in the Cell. Maybe thats why the Sox have already been accused of cheating twice this season.

Sox Blow Late Lead And Fall 3-2

Jose Contreras pitched a gem on Thursday night holding the Angels to 2 hits and 1 run through the first 6 innings. With 2 out and a man on in the 7th, Jose tried to sneak an inside fastball by McPhearson, and McPhearson deposited it into the seats in right center putting the Halo's ahead 3-2, a lead that they would not relinquish.
This loss should not be pinned on Jose but it can be attributed to the Sox anemic offense of late. They once again were not able to get a hit until the second time through the order. After finally getting some men on base, they choked on almost every scoring opportunity that they were presented with. At one point they had men on 2nd and 3rd with no outs and did not score. That was partly bad luck though, as a wild pitch bounced off the backstop far enough for Molina to get to it in time to throw Iguchi out at the plate, although replay's showed that Iguchi slid under the tag. Other than that though, the only excuse that the Sox can use is that they just suck at the plate right now.
This is the type of loss that drives me nuts. We get another QS out of a starter and fail to back him up. When you get such consistent work out of your rotation, you expect more than a split. The lone bright spot coming out of this game was that Don Paul was replaced in the booth by Black Jack McDowell. I thought he was awesome. He had great analysis and pitching insight, and he wasn't afraid to say, "That is just terrible. Why would he throw that pitch in that situation?" I found him to be 100 times better than DJ, and I'd love it if he came on permanently as a 3rd announcer once Hawk gets better.
The Sox head to Texas for a 3 game set and are sending McCarthy out to the bump for his second career start this evening. It looks as if the Sox will not put him in the pen once El Duque comes off the DL, which in my mind is good news because I'd rather see him getting starts every 5 days at AAA than have him rot away in the pen working maybe an inning a week.
In other news around baseball: That other Chicago team displayed their great karma this afternoon when their golden boy, Mark Prior, took a hard liner off of his elbow on his throwing arm. I hear x-rays were negative, but with the way he was rolling around on the ground in pain after it happend, I wouldn't be surprised if he'll be missing a few starts. Scrub fans can at least take solice in the fact that their team did win, although it was against a team who has won only 4 games on the road all year. (Their 4th road win came against the Scrubs yesterday, a day after the Srubs allowed the Astro's to win their 3rd road game of the season.)

Buehrle & Garcia Tame Angel's

Mark Buehrle and Freddy Garcia each lead the Sox to W's the last two evenings, although Buehrle did not earn a decision. Buehrle pitched 9 innings of 1 run ball on Tuesday and was relieved by Marte who earned the win and the save by holding the Angel's scoreless in his 2IP. The Sox went ahead in the 11th on an RBI double by Iguchi scoring Crede who led off the inning with a single.
Last night Freddy pitched one of his best games of the year holding the Halo's to 2 runs in 8IP. He was using his fastball effectively to set up the hitters for his off speed stuff in the dirt and it was working for him all night. The Sox offense scored all 4 of their runs off of HR's, with Paulie hitting a 3 run bomb in the 1st and Widger following a few innings later with a solo shot of his own.
The Sox have a chance to win a series in Anaheim for the first time since 1994 this evening. Contreras takes the hill for the Sox in an attempt to make that happen.

Sox Are Shut Out For First Time This Season

The White Sox hitters were dominated by a starter named Santana, though this time his first name was not Johan. Tonight it was Angel starter Ervin Santana who earned his first Big League win by throwing a complete game shutout against the Sox Monday night, and in the process Jon Garland was handed his first loss of the year. Check out this line on Santana: 9IP 5H 0R 1BB 7K and threw only 115 Pitches, 83 of which were strikes.
Garland had a solid start, although he did surrender 11 hits. A few were given up on good pitches that jammed the hitter but some how found a spot to fall in. The most glaring example was in the 6th, when with a runner on 3rd and one out, Garland jammed Molina and he popped up to short center field, but the Sox had the infield drawn in to protect against the squeeze and no one could get to it in time. He didn't come out for the 8th and left with a line of 7IP 11H 3R 3ER 1BB and 4K's on 104 pitches, and 71 were for strikes. Although he didn't win, he added another quality start to the Sox' league leading total of QS's.
The Sox failed to score at least one run for the first time this season tonight, which is surprising with how shaky our offense has been in the early goings. Crede once again looked lost, drawing the hat trick with 3 K's. Iguchi and Konerko had 2 hits apiece, accounting for all of but one of the Sox hits on the evening by themselves. Other than a Timo Perez dribbler back up the middle and a walk drawn by Dye, no other Sox hitter reached base. If the White Sox hitters are any indication of how the rest of the AL will do against this kid when he's on, there's going to be 2 famous young ace's by the name of Santana.

Great Outing By The Rookie Wasted By Vizciano

Brandon McCarthy pitched as well as one could have hoped he would, giving up only one run in 5.1 innings. The score was 2-1 Good Guys when he was pulled in the 6th with one out and a man on 1st for Vizciano, who came on to give up another single and then a towering 3 run bomb to Dubois putting the Sox down 4-2. In my mind, this game was McCarthy's to lose and he should not have been pulled so early. He should have at least gotten the chance to get out of that inning. Konerko hit a homer of his own in the 9th to shave the lead down to 1 run, but the Sox were not able to muster any more offense. Mark Prior pitched a complete game, unfortunately, and he was able to hold the Sox down just enough to get the W. The Sox best chance against him came in the 8th when they had runners at the corners with only 1 out, but Uribe and Crede each hit infield pop-ups to end the inning.
I can not find the words to describe how happy and relieved I am with how well McCarthy pitched today. He held his own going up against the Cub's ace, who some will argue is the best young pitcher in baseball, and he had good stuff going today. I was prepared for the worst after wintessing all the rookies we tried last year get killed, time after time. The Sox staff won't miss a step if this kid can pitch the way he did today consistently.

As Good As It Gets

In the second game of the crosstown-classic Jose Contreras and Carlos Zambrano each decided to one up Freddy Garcia's outing from yesterday. Jose pitched his best game of the season giving up only one run in 7 innings, and did not walk a batter until I believe his last inning. Zambrano was a step above Contreras though, throwing a no-hitter through 5+ innings. He exited the game without surrendering a run and had 7K's.
The Sox were unable to help add anything to Carlos' ERA, but they were able to take advantage of the "Cubs charitable bullpen", as I called it in my previous post. They exploded for 4 runs in the 8th off of a revolving door of relievers, which continued in the 9th when Dye, a defensive replacement for Everett, hit a pinch hit home run off of Latroy Walk-ins. That was a huge insurance run as Politte gave up a couple doubles and a single in the 8th and was tagged for 2 runs, shaving the Sox 3 run cushion to 1.
Just to let you know how into it I was during today's game...When Konerko's 2RBI single bounced off Patterson's glove giving the Sox their first lead of the game, I jumped out of my seat with my fists in the air. One problem. I have sharp stucco ceilings, and I nailed my fist into my ceiling scraping the shit out of my hand. Blood was dripping down my fingers before I realized what I did because my adrenalin was so high that at first I didn't even feel the cuts. Witnessing what I saw, it was well worth it.
Tomorrow Brandon McCarthy will take the hill for the Sox, making his major league debut. He will face the Cub's golden boy, Mark Prior, who has started the season strong after a brief stint on the DL during the spring. How's that for being thrown into the fire? At least we'll see what the kid's made of. Personally, I'd rather see Garland go Sunday and McCarthy on Monday vs. the Angels, as the Sox had an off-day on Thursday and Jon would be working on 5 days rest. A sweep would be sweet and in my mind Garland gives us the best chance to win tomorrow...to hell with his career numbers vs. the sCrUBS.
The way the Sox have continued finding ways to win and their "Win or Die Trying" ad campaign reminds me of the words of a great leader. These quotes are perfect example's of the type of mentality the Sox as a team have displayed thus far this season.
Quoth Winston Churchill:
"Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. We stood all alone a year ago, and to many countries it seemed that our account was closed, we were finished. All this tradition of ours, our songs, our School history, this part of the history of this country, were gone and finished and liquidated."
"We will have no truce or parley with you, or the grisly gang who work your wicked will. You do your worst - and we will do our best."
"We shall not flag nor fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France and on the seas and oceans; we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island whatever the cost may be; we shall fight on beaches, landing grounds, in fields, in streets and on the hills. We shall never surrender and even if, which I do not for the moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, will carry on the struggle until in God's good time the New World with all its power and might, sets forth to the liberation and rescue of the Old."

Sox Take Round One 5-1

Freddy Garcia dominated the Cubs lineup yesterday, going 7 strong innings surrendering 5H, 1R, 0ER, 1BB and had 3 K's. While Freddy was sitting the Cub's hitters down one by one, the Sox offense showed what a balanced attack looks like. 2 of our runs came off of solo shots from Crede and Dye, but the other 3 came from small rallies with clutch hits. It's kind of funny to see the Cub's offense take on the same style the Sox have had in past years, living and dying on the 3 run homer, going from station to station, etc. It didn't work for us, and I highly doubt it will for them.
The only negative yesterday was the news that McCarthy has been called up to the show, which can only mean that El Duque is hurt and will not start on Sunday. I think the Sox are rushing this kid, as before this year he had not pitched above AA, and his numbers this year out of AAA are not impressive, although all 9 of his homers surrendered have been at the bandbox in Charlotte. His numbers from spring training were strong, but spring stats for pitchers are always skewed because hitters are not yet in a rhythm. He's only 21 years old and they're throwing him into the fire of a Sox-Cubs series for his first ML start. I guess we'll see what this kid is made of.
Today Contreras (1-1 3.52) goes up against Zambrano (3-2 4.09). This is the one game that I want more than any because Zambrano erks me like no other sCrUB. After reading some of the quotes from Sox players, it seems they agree with me. Hopefully the Sox come through and rough up Zambrano early to get into the Cubs charitable bullpen.

The 5th Spot: '04 vs. '05 Thru 8 Starts

2004 ............Category.................2005
0-7............... Record ..................8-0
10.02 .............ERA.....................2.39
32 1/3 ...........Innings ..................59 2/3
53 .................. Hits......................47
36 .............Earned Runs...............16
17 ................Walks......................10
10 ...............Strikeouts..................27
11 ................... HR ......................3
.378 ................Avg.......................220
(source: Chicago Sun-Times)
Through the first 8 starts out of the 5th starter spot we've seen a complete reversal of fortune. The difference in our record through 41 games this year compared to last can be directly attributed to the performance we've received from Garland out of that spot.

Sox Win Rubber Match 7-0

Mark Buehrle improved his record to 7-1 on Wednesday afternoon by shutting out the Rangers, scattering 9 hits over 7 1/3 innings. His only hiccup was in the second inning when after getting 2 quick outs he allowed 3 consecutive singles to load the bases. He escaped without any damage by getting Young to flyout to Paulie to end the inning. His performance makes you wish that he were going up against the Cubs on Friday, rather than Garcia.
The Sox offense exploded for 7 runs on 11 hits, with Paulie and Dye each going 3-4. Dye started the day off going 3-3 with all of his hits being doubles. AJ added on some insurance with a 2 run homer in the 8th. Things did not start off that well though, with the Sox giving away 3 outs in the first 3 innings. Ozuna and sPod were caught stealing, and AJ was picked off of 1st in the 1st. That was easily forgotten in the 4th though, as the Sox rallied for 4 runs after having 6 consecutive batters reach base safely.
My g/f and I did end up heading out to the game, her first of the season. I parked in Lot G, the employee lot, for the first time. I had heard that it's 1/2 price to park over there, $8 rather than the $17 they charge in every other lot. The only thing about it is that I also heard it's only 1/2 price if you get there early, around when the gates open, which we did, and it was only $8 when we parked. I've got to find out if it is always that cheap, meaning upto game time, or if the discount is only around when the lots open. For future reference for you fellow Sox fans out there, Lot G is on the west side of the Metra tracks that run along side Lot C, on the north side of 35th street (between 35th and 33rd). Goto chisox.com and look up their parking lot map if you don't understand my directions. If anybody out there knows any more about this, drop me a comment and help me fill in the blanks.
Anyway, we decided to sit on the fan deck for the first few innings of the game before heading to our seats. I had not been up there since the year it was built when it was just a platform without any seating. I couldn't believe how comfortable the seats were, and on top of that you've got the bar-table in front of you to eat on. I was also keeping score for the first time in about a decade, so it was great to have a surface to write on. The only drawback was that the table's are chrome, and the glare from the sun was killing my eyes. After the first few innings I started to have trouble focusing and I wasn't able to see the all the way to the plate as well as I was able to at first. Other than that one little drawback, which is my fault for not having sunglasses, I was really impressed with what they did up there. I can't believe that they have not yet started selling tickets for those seats. It's still first come, first serve. I doubt that will last much longer...enjoy it while it lasts.

Garland Goes to 8-0, Stops Sox Slide

Jon Garland proved tonight that he is no longer the .500 pitcher he has been the last few years. After the Rangers roughed up El Duque yesterday, Garland turned the tables and as The Hawk would say, "stuck their bats right up their rears". He was not lights out, surrendering 2 runs on 5 hits, but he had great location this evening. Just about whenever he needed to make a pitch, he did, and on almost every pitch he was filling up the catchers glove. (Save those drop off changeups he's been throwing so effectively this season)
A prime example of him truely being a much improved pitcher was in the 6th when he allowed a walk and a HBP before giving up a RBI double, putting runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out. He struck out the next two batters before retiring Mench on a flyout to center to escape the inning only surrendering the one run. In past seasons there is no way Garland would have gotten out of that inning without giving up the lead. (After the RBI double, it was 3-2 Sox)
The offense was also solid with Rowand, Iguchi and sPod all getting an RBI, and AJ with two from his 2 out homer in the 6th. The Sox jumped out to an early lead in the first with sPod leading things off with a single before stealing 2nd, then was driven in by a double from Rowand. Rowand then stole 3rd, miraculously, as the ball beat him to the bag by about 5 feet, but thanks to a nifty slide he got in there safely. He later scored on a infielders choice groundout putting the Sox up 2-0 after one inning.
I had a bad feeling going into this one and I'm extremely relieved that I was wrong. I was getting a feeling that the bubble was about to burst on our starting pitching and that we were going to start a trend of being roughed up. Garcia still has me a bit concerned, but I'll wait 'till after I see what he does against the Cubs before I get on him.

Due up: Buehrle (6-1 3.73) goes up against Drese (3-3 6.14) for a 1:05 start tomorrow afternoon. Thursday is my girlfriend's birthday and it's an off day for the Sox, so weather permitting we're going to head out and catch Wendsday's game for a little premature celebration. The great thing about being a Sox fan rather than a sCrUBS fan is that you can almost always get good seats at the last minute. Viva White Sox beisbol!

Opponents In Disbelief

For the second time in 3 days the mound at the Cell was checked at the request of opponents to see if it meets MLB specs for height and distance on Monday afternoon. The Orioles asked for the mound height to be checked prior to Saturdays contest after being held in check the first two games against the Sox. Then, on Monday, Bucky Showalter and his Rangers asked for it to be checked again, and measured from the plate.
Does anyone else find it amusing that opponents would feel like the Sox must be doing something other than just pitching the hell out of the ball? It's almost insulting, as it's basically being accused of cheating. Now, I don't know what the penalties are, as far as exceeding mound restrictions go, but why would a team even risk being branded cheaters? Their would be a stigma about coming to play in our park. On top of that, even if the mound is higher than is allowed, their pitchers are throwing off the same mound! Aren't we at the same disadvantage as our opponents (at the plate)?
Not only would it effect the Sox reputation (if it were not up to specs), but also the Sox' groundskeepers, Roger Bossard, who is one of the most acclaimed groundskeepers in baseball and has installed his patented drainage system in about 9 of the 13 stadiums that have been recently built. This guy is a 3rd generation groundskeeper, he knows everything there is to know about his profession, which is most likely his livlihood. I doubt there is enough money on the planet to bribe him into risking his job.
When it comes down to it though, let every team check it when they come in here to play us. To me, that just means the Sox are already in their heads before they've even played. If opponents are worried about little BS like that, it can only be to the Sox advantage.

Game update: Garland just got out of a major jam in the 6th...after already giving up a run cutting the Sox lead to 3-2, he had runners on 2nd and 3rd with NOBODY out. Now, Garland of last year, hello big inning, goodbye lead. Tonight he left them right where they were by getting 2 K's and a flyout to center from last nights villan, Kevin Mench.

El Duque Takes His Turn

The Sox lost again as El Duque was hammered, lasting only 2 2/3 innings giving up one run in the 1st, two in the 2nd, and three in the 3rd before getting the hook with the Sox down 6-4. This was the third straight game that the Sox failed to put up a quality start, and not surprisingly, their 3rd consecutive loss.
The bullpen came on to hold the Rangers scoreless through the 8th inning, with Vizcaino, Politte, and Shingo all getting work. Politte looked the best out of them all, working 2 scoreless innings while relying less on his 95mph fastball and more on his off-speed and breaking stuff than he has recently. Shingo gave up a lead-off double, but left the runner on 3rd escaping the 7th without any damage.
The offense once again gave us a chance, with AJ hitting a grand slam in the 1st after the Sox loaded up the bases with 2 out to put the Sox up 4-1. After falling back behind in the 3rd and trailing for almost the rest of the game, Rowand hit an RBI double to cut the lead down to 1 before Iguchi supplied a pinch hit home run in the 8th to tie the game up at 6. He took a good pitch on the outer half and drove it to right, barely clearing the fence into the Bullpen Bar. This was the first time Tadahito displayed any solid power to right field since coming over from Japan.
Marte would give that run from Iguchi right back though, surrendering a home run himself in the top of the 9th to Mench, his second HR of the game. Damaso fell behind in the count, and Mench was more than ready to pulverize the weak fastball that Marte put right down the middle of the plate. Sox lose 7-6, and just to throw a little salt on the wound, showcased this terrible pitching performance from Marte and El Duque on ESPN. At least it wasn't a blowout and our bullpen kept us in the game so we'd have a chance to come back. I'm just saying, it could have been alot worse.

Due up: Garland and his 1-4 6+ ERA career numbers vs. Texas will start for the Sox tonight and try to prevent the SouthSiders from losing 4 straight for the first time this season. I don't think Garland has had career numbers this bad against anyone he's faced so far this season. This is a good test for him, having an undefeated record at stake and to have to be the stopper against a team he historically hasn't done well against. The Rangers will send Astacio (1-4 5.82 ERA) to the bump to face the Sox for the first time in his career.

Baltimore Beats Sox to Salvage Split

The Sox fell to the Oriole's today 6-2 and in the process snapped their consecutive games with a lead streak at 37. This is one of the few games the Sox have played that they deserved to lose. They were out played in every facet of the game today. Jose pitched well through the first 6 innings giving up only 2 runs on solo homers. He got into some trouble in the 7th though, and was relieved by Cotts who once agian failed to stop the bleeding. He hit the first batter he faced, loading the bases, before allowing a sac fly and being relieved himself for Vizciano. Luis had a little bad luck with Crede misplaying a slow grounder by trying to backhand it, loading the bases again, and then the next batter hit one up the middle that Uribe couldn't come up with cleanly. That allowed one run to score before Jaun pegged Roberts out at home trying to score. That inning exteded the Sox deficit from 2 runs to 5, and you knew this game was over with Bedard having only thrown 78 pitches through 6. The Sox did follow that inning up by hitting a pair of solo shots themselves, with Everett and Dye going back to back. Tomorrow the Sox begin a 3 game set vs. Texas, who fell to the Twins today, before heading up to the Northside to face the sCrUBS.

Due Up: Chan Ho Park (3-1 4.99) vs. El Duque (5-1 2.91)

On a brighter note: The Big Hurt will begin his minor league rehab assignment Tuesday. I don't care what anyone says about chemistry, we need to get his bat in the lineup ASAP.

Freddy Falls

Pitching cost the Sox a win last night. The White Sox offense did what it needed to do early in last nights ballgame, scoring 5 runs in the first three innings to give Garcia a 5-2 lead. 3 runs came on a nice 2 out rally in the 3rd breaking a 2-2 tie. The Sox were only able to push 1 more across the remainder of the game though, that coming on a solo homer by AJ leading off the 8th.
Freddy did not have good stuff last night, with his fastball lacking movement and staying up in the zone too often. The O's took advantage of this in the 4th, hitting 2 solo homers and pushing one more across to tie the game back up at 5. Garcia was able to hold them to that until he was sent back out to start the 7th with his pitch count already above 100. After walking the leadoff batter he gave up an RBI double and was pulled. Cotts came on in relief and by the time the inning was over the O's had scored 4 runs, 2 of which were charged to Garcia.
You can't win'em all, but this is not the type of outing you want to see out of your #2 man. Without Buehrle, Garcia would be our front line starter. When given a 3 run lead to work with, you can't go out and give it right back in the very next inning. I'll let him slide on the 7th because Ozzie should never have sent him back out there with how he had been throwing all game. To give credit where credit is due, the O's are a very potent offensive ballclub and you can't expect to shut them out. That doesn't change the fact that this is a game the Sox should have won. Oh well, a new day, a new game.

Side notes: The Sox became the last team in MLB to reach double digits in the loss column with last nights defeat. Garcia became the first Sox starter to lose in back-to-back starts this season. The Sox had 3 guys tagged out trying to score yesterday (2 in rundowns, 1 at the plate). Elsewhere in MLB, Minnesota was shut out by Kenny Rogers (who extended his scoreless innings streak to around 30 innings, I assume) and the Rangers last night, remaining 6 games back of the Sox.

Sundays Matchup: Bedard 3-1 2.31 vs. Contreras 1-0 3.18

Curses...

Over the past couple seasons I've become increasingly annoyed with these curses that some fans say exist on their teams. Thankfully, the people of New England, the worst offenders of them all, will finally shut up about their supposed "Curse of the Bambino" now that Boston finally broke through and won last year leaving the Cubs and White Sox alone atop the longest World Series droughts list, although they already were as the White Sox' drought had been 1 year longer than Boston's.
The BoSox winning left the Cubs as the lone perennial choke artists whose fans insist on some kind of hex keeping their team from winning the World Series. The funniest thing about the sCrUBS curse is that it is not some major event that went down in baseball lure, as was Boston's trading of Babe Ruth. It's a bad joke in comparison. In short, Cubs fans believe that their team was cursed by a local tavern owner whose goat would not be allowed into Wrigley Field during the Cubs last WS appearance in '45, so he cursed the team to never again win a World Series. They ended up losing that year, and haven't returned ever since. Had it not been for Bartman, that would most likely be the excuse we'd be hearing about the collapse of '03. The only curse that the Cubs have is that they are the Cubs.
Bartman is the perfect example of Cubs fans using a scapegoat for why they lost. They completely ignore the fact that Prior imploded, they botched a double play ball at short, and that 8 runs were scored in that inning and all of that did not happen on a play for one foul ball. On top of that, they still had a game 7 to choke on before falling to the Marlins. No, it wasn't the Cubs choking as usual, it was all Bartman's fault...the one guy who got a piece of the ball when he was surrounded by 10 other fans reaching out for it just as he was. Some honestly believe that little tip cost them 8 runs in that inning and an entire game 7. And don't even try to tell me it shifted the momentum...the count on that hitter hadn't changed, nobody on the bases moved up or scored, the game hadn't changed a bit. But that's not how many Cubs fans see it. They seem to believe all that happened on that one play. Look up delusional in the dictionary and you just might see a picture of a Cubs fan beside it.
When your team has thrown a World Series more recently than you've won one, come talk to me about having a legitimate reason for being cursed. Good thing that we White Sox faithful are much to savvy to buy into such BS and to resort to such pettiness. Sox fans blame their team for their failures and not a ridiculous "curse". We know, especially after witnessing Boston last fall, that the only thing that keeps any team from winning is the players that they send out onto the field, and most importantly the pitchers they send out to the hill. So to all the morons out there preaching about "curses", please just shut up about it and let it go.
(disclaimer: This does not implicate ALL Cubs fans, just MOST of them. Some do live in reality. To those who do and freely admit that the Cubs just suck, to you I say, "I know they do."

Orioles 3 Sox 5

The Sox overcame a 3 run deficit to come back and win last nights ballgame 5-3. Konerko had a huge 2RBI single with the bases loaded in the 7th to give the Sox the lead. The Sox did not rely on power to score last night, as they scored all thier runs without a homer. They scrapped their way to the win in this one by stringing a couple hits together in the 5th and 6th, scoring a run in each before rallying in the 7th for 3 more, with a little help from the Oriole defense. Buehrle had only one bad inning, the 4th, when with 2 out the Orioles strung a few hits together to score all 3 of their runs. Aside from that inning, Buehrle was great, retiring his last 13 batters in a row. Hermy came on to record the save with a 1-2-3 9th, throwing I believe 8 pitches, and 6 were for strikes. He still has yet to allow a run.

Saturday's matchup: Cabrera 2-2 4.50 vs. Garcia 3-2 3.21
Garcia will try and prevent himself from becoming the first Sox starter to lose in consecutive starts this season.

Elsewhere in MLB: Minnesota lost 9-6 to Texas in 11 innings last night, falling 6 games behind the SouthSiders.

Sox Win 3-2

The White Sox improved to 26-9 tonight and extended their lead in the AL central to 5 games over Minnesota. Jon Garland returned to his new stingy self this evening, giving up only 2 runs on 8 hits apparently leaving his ugly win in Toronto behind him. He got himself into a jam in the 8th inning, giving up a few singles and allowing one run before striking out Tehada on a 3-2 pitch with runners on 1st and 3rd to end the inning. Tehada battled back after falling behind in the count, fouling off numerous pitches before Jon was able to get him swinging on a change up in the dirt. Garlands one mistake was to Palmero, who ripped one into the bullpen in right. Hermanson, who is the only reliever in the AL with at least 16 IP that hasn't given up a run, came on in the 9th to record the save and earn Garland his 7th victory of the season..
The offense again managed to score just enough to win with AJ and Uribe hitting solo homer's and Rowand accounting for the difference with an RBI double. Pod was picked off/caught stealing two times this evening, both times leaving on the first move of Chen, who would have none of it. Chen threw to 1st on both attempts, and Palmero got the ball to 2nd in time to catch the Sox speedster. Pod odviously had a tough time getting a read on the soft-tossing Oriole lefty.
Hawk was back in the booth tonight, which was a sweet sound for sore ears after hearing Don Pope last week. He and DJ were joined by Robin Ventura tonight, who stayed on after calling the series in TB with DJ, and to tell you the truth, I liked having the 3 of them call the game. Robin's got a much better voice for announcing than Don Pope did, and his analysis and comparisons seem to make sense more often than DJ's.

Somebody pinch me. Does anybody else feel like this is just too good to be true? I mean, we're 26-9, Garland is 7-0, that's the same Jon Garland who has never won more than 12 games in his career and a month and a half into the season he's already won 7...I'm in disbelief. If there was ever a time for a Harry Careyism, it couldn't be better than right now: "Holy Cow!"

Fridays matchup: Lopez 2-1 4.46 vs. Buehrle 5-1 3.78

The Hawk Returns To Booth

No Hawk, We Want You!! Welcome Back!

Sox Avoid 1st Sweep

El Duque was the stopper for the Sox this afternoon as he prevented them from being swept for the first time of the season. He pitched 6 strong innings giving up only one run before walking two in the 6th and being pulled. Marte came on only to load the bases, and was pulled himself. Hernandez was charged with one more run when one of those walks scored after Politte gave up a sac fly. All in all, it was a well pitched ballgame, especially for the bullpen. Hermanson came on in the 8th with two men on and only one out, and got a linedrive to Paulie who made it to first in time to double up the runner. He stayed on to close out the game and still has yet to surrender a run.
The offense didn't look great against the struggling Tampa starter, Brazelton, but they scrapped together 5 runs and did draw 6 walks from the league leader in issuing BB's, and scored 4 of them. The 5th inning proved to be the decisive one, with a big two out rally putting the Sox ahead. Brazelton couldn't end the inning, and was relieved by Casey Fossum, who shut the Sox down from there on out finishing the game with 4 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.
Next up for the Sox is a four game set at the Cell against the AL east leading Orioles, who this week put the newly aquired Sammy Sosa onto the DL with some kind of foot infection. The Sox have sold over 20K tickets for each game of the series and reportedly had a large amount of early buyer requests for tickets down the right field line, near Sosa's pasture. It figures on his team's one trip to Chi Town he's not going to be playing.
The Sox pitching will be put to the test over the next few weeks facing some of the better offensive clubs in baseball. Now is when we'll see what they're truly made of. I predict a slight regression in ERA, but that should be offset by some of the staffs we will be facing, in terms of W's. This team is fierce, and if they do well in the remainder of this month, every team in the league will fear facing us, if they don't already.

Elsewhere in baseball: Minnestoa went down to Baltimore today even though they started Santana, and fell back to 4 1/2 games behind the Pale Hose...Seattle sent Jamie Moyer to the hill today against the Yanks, even though 7 out of the 9 hitters in the Yankee lineup were hitting over .300 career against him. After the Mariners spotted him 5 runs in the 1st inning, Moyer let the Yankee's right back in it giving up 5 runs himself in the bottom of the 1st. He was pulled in the 3rd inning down 6-5...The ScRubs new closer, Dempster, blew another save for the northsiders, but unfortunately Derek Lee bailed them out with a walk off homer. They continue to hang on the fringes of the cellar of the NL central.

Sox Lose Again

The Sox squandered two leads last night to fall to the D Rays 7-6. Contreras looked as if he might have turned the corner early in the game, when after giving up an RBI double to Singleton with no outs, he stranded runners at second and third. I was proved wrong when in the 4th with the Sox ahead 4-1, Jose walked the first two batters, and then on the first pitch to Hall gave up a 3 run homer to left.
The Sox would grab another lead to blow though, with one run coming on a beautiful squeeze bunt by Iguchi scoring Crede. With the Sox leading 6-4, Vizciano left a few to many hanging sliders over the plate and surrendered 2 more runs, tying the game once again. Then, in the bottom of the ninth, Shingo was called in to try and force extra innings. Instead, he gave up a walk off homer to Cantu. Takatsu did a solid job for us last season....if it weren't for him we would have had to live with Koch the whole year. This year is not last year however, and I'm tired of watching him give away games. His location is way off, and opponents have not been chasing his junk and are sitting on his BP fastball, and hitting it hard. With the depth we have in the pen, Shingo should not be used in any pressure situations until he regains his command, if ever. Last nights game reminded me of a July 4th game we played in Tampa a couple years ago, where Koch blew the save by surrendering a walk off 2 or 3 run homer.
Sox pitching walked 9, that's right, 9 batters and allowed 19 baserunners in this contest, yet still had an opportunity to win this game. Losing games like this will lead the Sox straight to another second place finish and .500 record.
We look to rebound tonight, sending El Duque and his sub 2.00 career ERA vs. the Rays and at Tropicana Field. This would seem to bode well for the Sox, but Jose's best career numbers were also against the D Rays and at Tropicana Field, and that didn't turn out all that well for the Sox.
The Sox desperately need to win this game to avoid a sweep heading into a tough stretch of upcoming series against the 1st place Orioles, Texas, the sCrUBS, and the Angels. The rest of May will be pretty ugly for the Sox if they don't get their act back together.

Streak Snapped

The Sox lost last night to the Devil Rays 4-2 ending an 8 game winning streak. The Twins also lost, keeping the Sox lead at 4 1/2 games, if there's anyone that cares this early in the season. The Sox came out strong, scoring 2 in the first inning, extending their lead streak by another game, but were shut down after that. Garcia gave up 4 runs on eight hits, and pitched a somewhat solid game until he got into trouble in the 6th and was not able to get out of the inning. Dye commited another error, his fourth of the season, letting a ball slip through the wickets turning a single into a triple for ex-Sock Chris Singleton who was 2-4 with 2 RBI. Tampa was fresh off of suffering a sweep by the Twins, and the Sox came in after completing two sweeps in a row and on an eight game streak, so both teams were due and I won't complain about being beat by the lowly D Rays.
Tonight Contreras (1-0 2.60 ERA) goes up against Hendrickson (1-1 3.55 ERA). Let's see the Sox bat's come back alive tonight, as they were north of the border, and get Jose to have a repeat of his last outing so we can get a new streak started this evening. Losing series to teams we should sweep is not what I want to start seeing out of this club. Hopefully, I won't.

Sox Sweep Jays

The Sox completed their second consecutive sweep, taking the last game of the series with Toronto 5-4. It was the White Sox 5th sweep of the season if you count the two mini-series that they took from KC and Detroit. This was the Sox 8th consecutive victory, which equals the streak that the team was on before they dropped 3 in a row to the A's and Tigers at the end of April.
The offense once again broke out early, with Uribe hitting a solo shot in the 1st and Dye following with a 2 run shot in the 2nd. After putting up 2 more in the 4th, the Sox were kept of the board the remainder of the game.
Buehrle had to survive a pair of Uribe errors in the 4th, which cost the Sox 2 unearned runs. After allowing 2 singles and a walk to start the inning, Buehrle got Rios to ground to short, but Uribe short armed the backhand grab and the ball slipped just under his glove allowing one run to score. The next batter, Zaun, then hit an RBI single and kept the bases loaded for McDonald, who grounded to 2nd. Lopez's throw to Uribe at second base was short, and Juan lost his rythem after digging out the low feed and threw the ball away on the attempt at a DP. That allowed 2 more runs to score, making it a 5-4 ballgame.
The remainder of the game was without much action, save a scary play in the 9th. After a ground ball with one out and Gregg Zaun on 1st, Zaun went in hard at 2nd in an attempt to break up a double play, and in doing so made contact on the side of his head with Lopez's knee, knocking himself unconscious. Zaun was laid out on the field for nearly 15 minutes before being carted off on a stretcher. Hopefully it was just a stinger or a good shot to the head and is not a serious neck injury. I hope he has a speedy recovery and is able to get back out there sooner rather than later.

Streak update: The Sox extended their record of consecutive games with a lead to start a season to 31 games this afternoon.

Different Approach, Same Result

Today the Sox won their 7th game in a row, and it was not because their pitching carried them. The offense exploded for 10 runs on 11 hits today, with Rowand, Iguchi, Uribe each hitting home runs, and Konerko hitting two. All of the runs the Sox scored today were before the 5th inning.
Lilly lasted only 1 2/3 inning, giving up 6 runs on 6 hits, 3 of them being HR's. Whiteside, who relieved Lilly, was also roughed up for 4 runs on 3 hits, 2 of which were HR's. The Jays bullpen tightened up after that, allowing only 2 hits from the 5th inning on. Figure's as much, because I was working and didn't start watching until the 4th inning, and only saw Rowands homer in the 4th. I did make it in time to see Garland get some bad breaks and get a bit touched up himself though.
Garland notched his 6th win of the season this afternoon, and this time it was not due to him dominating the opponent as he has in his past two starts. His steak of scoreless innings was snapped early in this one, with the Jays scoring one in the first on an RBI single . He made it through the first 4 giving up only 2 runs, but in the 5th the Jays scored three after getting a few breaks on balls hit right back to the pitcher that Jon wasn't able to make any plays on. Most were hit pretty hard, so it can't be held against him, but he usually fields so his position so well that you get used to him coming up with some of those. It made no difference though, other than to his ERA, as the 10 runs in support were plenty to earn him the victory. This is the most entertaining Sox team that I've seen in a long time. They find a different way to win every day.
I have little doubt left in this team. I believe that with how solid our rotation is 1-5, it should be pretty tough to go into any long losing streaks like the one that turned our season around last year in late July. (After the infamous Hunter-Burke collision, the Sox went on to lose about 9 games in a row falling out of 1st place and after that they never came close to challenging the Twats for the rest of the season.) As other bloggers have pointed out, we could play .500 baseball the rest of the season and still finish with 90 wins. If we're not ahead in the central come September, we shouldn't be more than a couple games out of first, barring a complete collapse or a rash of injuries.

Sox come back to win 5-3

Things were looking good for the Sox early, but the tides quickly turned in the 2nd when Koskie led the inning off with a homer. A couple singles, a double, and a sac fly later the Jays had scored 2 more runs and the Sox were down 3-1 after 2.
El Duque settled in and the score remained the same until the 7th when Dye led off the inning with a homer off of reliever Pete Walker. Then in the 8th, with Frasor on the mound, Everett drew a walk, and that was followed by a single to center by Paulie, breaking his 0 for 20 something slump and moving Carl to 3rd.
Batista, the Jays closer, was then brought in to face the left handed bat of Timo-why the hell is playing again-Perez. Timo for some reason thought bunting would be a good idea, you know, since it worked last time for him with RISP (when the bags were juiced last week), so why not try it with men on 1st and 3rd? Well, it won't work when you pop it up 25 feet into the air and right to the first baseman. Thankfully, Bautista walked the following hitter, Dye, to load the bases for AJ, who faught off an 0-2 pitch and blooped it into left scoring 2 runs and bailing out Timo for his bunting blunder. That clutch 2 run single put the Sox up 5-3, and Marte and Hermanson would come on to finish things off.
We did end up winning, so this is trivial, but Timo blew another play in the 9th on a line drive to center that Aaron would certainatly have gotten to. Another "Timoism" happened earlier in the game when with one out he took off on a blooper to RF that was caught, and by the time he realized it he was already approaching home plate with the ball on the way to second to double him off. I don't know what Ozzie's infatuation is with this guy, but with his speed he has no business playing in CF, not to mention playing at all. If Ozzie wants to get somebody some at-bats and sub them in the outfield, bring up Anderson and give him the at-bats. I don't know how I can complain about anything when we've lost only 7 games all year, but when faced with disappointment year after year after year, you can't help but to point out what went wrong as well as what went right. (The longest, loneliest walk I ever had walking down the ramps out of Sox park was after our game 6 loss to Toronto in the 93' ALCS. I was so young that I was naive enough to believe that we would come back to win, all the way down to the last out. That year was of course followed by the strike, which would leave a bitter taste in a lot of 10 year olds mouths. So please excuse me for not avoiding some negativity from time to time.)

Side Note: This was the Sox 6th consecutive victory, and it just so happens that that team on the other side of town LOST their 6th straight this afternoon, with their "closer" throwing the ball away with two out and the bases loaded in the 9th inning squandering a one run lead. There is nothing sweeter than a Sox win coupled with a sCrUB loss. Ah, the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat.
Due up: Garland 5-0 1.38 ERA vs. Lilly 1-2 7.77 ERA

Game Thread

It's only the first inning and I already can't take anymore of DJ and Pope calling the game. I try muting the tube and putting Farmer and Rooney on, and the delay is about 30 seconds behind the TV. Great.

Game update: Iguchi singled in the 1st, stole second, advanced to 3rd on a groundout by Everett, and scored on a wild pitch. The Sox extend their streak of holding a lead in every game by one more. El Duque had a 1-2-3 1st inning.

Sox at Jays

The White Sox are in Toronto for a weekend series vs. the Blue Jays. The Sox suffered their first sweep of the season last year at the hands of the Jays in the Skydome one year ago this week. I hope that their groundskeeper pays attention to the weather forecast this time around, as last year play had to be held up do to rain. (They've got a retractable roof, and during one of our games there last season it started to downpour and play was suspended for 15 minutes while they closed the roof. Just not something you see very often)

Dave Bush (0-3 4.97 ERA), tonights starting pitcher for the Blue Jays, has yet to earn a W this season, odviously, and the Jays have not won a game that he has started. Hopefully that trend continues this evening. The Sox will be sending El Duque (3-1 2.70 ERA) to the hill tonight.

Sox Sweep KC

The White Sox got another quality start from Contreras, who earned his first victory of the season this afternoon. I mentioned in my last post that this could be a pitchers duel if the starters history vs. their opponent continued to hold true today, and that's exactly what happened.

Jose pitched his best game of the season, his only run surrendered being a solo homer by Graffanino in the 7th to put the Sox down 1-0. Other than that one mistake, he looked great today. He was throwing his fastball early in counts again, and most importantly was getting ahead of hitters all day. He also worked very quickly, and I wouldn't be surprised if this was the fastest game he's pitched in his ML career.

Jose's performance still didn't match that of the pitcher he opposed this afternoon though, Zach Greinke, who had faced the minimum through 7 innings. As his pitch count was still rather low, Pena sent him out for the 8th, when things began to unravel for the Royals. He led off the inning allowing a walk to Paulie, a sac bunt by Rowand moving Ozuna who was the pinch runner for Konerko to advance to 2nd, then followed that with a HBP to Dye, and was pulled. Andrew Sisco was called upon to relieve Greinke, and after getting Burke to ground out weakly to third, he fell apart. He walked the next two hitters to force in a run, and was relieved himself after starting sPod out with a first pitch ball. Burgos, the next Royal reliever, promptly threw 3 more straight balls to walk in the go ahead run. The next batter, Iguchi, struck out to end the inning.

So the Sox managed 2 runs on no hits to score the tying and winning runs in the 8th inning. Shingo came in for the save in the ninth, but not without his own struggles. He walked 2, and threw a wild pitch allowing those runners to advance to 2nd and 3rd before getting a fly out to earn his 8th save. This game was a gift to the Sox from the Royals. Even with how great Jose looked, he got out pitched today and was lucky to earn his first victory of the season. Lets hope that we are witnessing a rebirth of sorts for Contreras, because he hasn't looked this good in back to back outings since coming over from the Yankee's last summer.

KC at White Sox

It's Greinke vs. Conteras this afternoon as the White Sox look to extend their winning streak to 5 and polish off a second straight sweep of the Royals. The kid that KC is sending out to the mound today is one of my favorite young up and coming pitchers in the league. He reminds me of Buehrle in a way, in that he isn't overpowering, but he throws strikes and comes after the hitter. If Jose can hold up to his career averages vs. KC, this should be a decent pitchers duel.

Side note: After commenting a few days ago on Iguchi, I had said the only thing that disappointed me about him was his range on defense. Last night he shot me down on that one, making a couple plays on balls up the middle that I didn't think he could get to. On one of them, the ball bounced out of the palm of his glove and deflected to about 3 feet from Uribe, who was covering 2nd. Uribe was able to come off the bag and grab the ball, and sling it over to first just in time for the out. It wasn't pretty, but we got the out and avoided having men on 1st and 2nd with only one out. He could be the best pick-up that KW has made in the off-season since taking over the helm in 2000.

K.C. 2 Sox 4

Yet another quality start from the rotation, and another White Sox winner. I have started to become spoiled with the pitching performance's that the Sox have been getting this season. In past years the Sox starters struggled to put together back to back quality starts, and this year, they struggle to put together back to back games without a quality start. This almost doesn't seem real.
On the mound....
Freddy looked pretty good this evening, surrendering only one run on 7 hits through the first 6 innings. He came out to pitch the 7th and put runners on 1st and 2nd before being pulled for Neil Cotts. The runners advanced on a passed ball by AJ, and following that Cotts walked the batter. Politte came in to relieve Cotts with 1 out and the bases juiced, got to a 0-2 count on Sox Killer Sweeny, then gave up a blooper to center. Rowand came on to make the catch and nearly pegged the runner tagging on 3rd with a throw to the plate that was deflected by the mound, killing it's momentum. Cliff struck out the next batter to end the inning. That last run was charged to Garcia, giving him a line of 6.1 IP 8H 2R. Hermanson came on to record the save, he of the 0.00 ERA.
At the plate...
The Sox looked alright tonight at the dish, with Crede and AJ each hitting homers. Crede's was on a good pitcher's pitch, down and in, and he turned on it and ripped it into the seats in left. Its nice to see the long ball, but I'm still waiting for them to string a bunch of hits together, with the heart of the order chipping in, for a nice big inning, a la the Minnesota Twins.

Side note: A couple post's ago I brought up BBTN's ripping of Sox fans and their refusal to give the Sox credit, and apparently I'm not the only one to notice. Over at White Sox Interactive (link on the right) there's a nice piece regarding this same issue. It's the latest addition in the "Totally Biased News Watch" box. The other two new pieces by Vickery and Laffer are also very good reads worth checking out.

BTW: What a great night in baseball....The Twins lose by one run to Cleveland, ending the game with the bases loaded, and the sCrUBS walk in the winning run in the bottom of the 9th inning in Milwaukee. I love this game.

Get Well Hawkaroo

Appreciating The Hawk

Ken "Hawk" Harrelson will be out of the broadcast booth for the next week or so due to surgery for a detached retina. Without him calling the game, watching White Sox baseball isn't the same. He has become to me what Harry Carey and Jack Brickhouse were to older generations. I'm only 21 years old, so all I've heard my entire life during Sox games was the Hawk. My earliest memories of watching baseball were with Hawk and Wimpy calling the game. So here's to hoping that the Hawk gets well soon, and lives to be 100 years old, because there is no replacing the voice of the White Sox. HE GONE!

Correction

As Mikeq pointed out to me, a fact I had posted earlier was incorrect. I had read a factoid on ESPN's bottom line, and thought it had said that the Sox were 3-86 in games where they scored 3 runs or less last season and were 3-3 this year in that situation. As the Sox didn't lose 86 ballgames last year, thats impossible. After checking myself, the Sox were 7-51 last year in games where they scored 3 runs or less. So I'm a bit bewildered on what exactly that stat I caught was....maybe it was in games where we scored 2 runs or less, and it was probably a record for the last 2 years or something. I don't know. Regardless, 7-51 is still horrendous, and 58 ballgames with 3 runs or less is a ton of weak offesive performances with the lineup we had last year.

Witnessing History

When the Sox managed to come back and pull ahead in the 8th inning of Tuesday nights ballgame, they broke a 50 year old record that had previously been accomplished by only one team since 1900. In the 26 ballgames the Sox have played in this season, they have at least held a lead during every game. That breaks the 55' Dodger record of 25 consecutive games to start a season with a lead in each game. Now the pessimist would say, "So if you've held a lead in every game, why aren't you 26-0?" (If they say that one more time on BBTN, I'm going on strike from watching the show. More on that later.) Well, as they say, you can't win'em all. 19-7 still sounds damn good to me. I have to say, I had my doubts all game about wheather we would pull this off. We were in a hole right off the bat in the 1st with Sox Killer Mike Sweeny hitting a 2 run homer to right. Iguchi tied the game back up with the first homer of his Major League career in the 3rd. Then in the 6th, Buehrle gives up two more solo shots, one of them being to Mike Sweeny. Again. Now, I am not an advocate of rooting for injuries, but why can't this guy have those spurts of back spasms he gets whenever we play KC. I'm tired of seeing him kill us. So we're back to where we started, down by two runs. Then in the 8th, Rowand had a flashback from last season, killing a pitch away and driving it into the seats in right center for his second bomb of the season. So out comes Pena to pull Anderson, and into the Royal bullpen we go. After a groundout to third by Uribe, sPod and Iguchi singe, and then Everett drives one to the right field wall for a 2 run double, and came a foot short of hitting a 3 run blast. But down 4-3 after Rowands homer, all we needed was two, and thats what we got. Shingo came in and got the save. The Sox just keep finding ways to win. This better not be a early season mirage, because I'm sick of seeing the Sox fade down the stretch. BTW, Iguchi not only hit his first ML HR, but went 4-4 on the evening. The more I watch this guy the more I like him, although I'd hoped he would have a little more range on defense.

BBTN: John Kruk is a moron. On tonights show he called out Sox fans for not showing up to games, as our attendence at tonights game was a mere 12K. Its a Tuesday night, its the Royals, and its 45 degrees outside. I'm glad I didn't freeze my ass off at the game tonight, even with it being a record setting night. On top of that, instead of crediting that we did set a record tonight, they point out the fact that if we've led in every game that we should have won every game, and that there must be something wrong for having lost 7. Now maybe I missed the sarcasim, but even if I did, is it necessary? Let them all say and think what they want, I'm kinda liking being the dark horse this season.
Due up:
Hernandez vs. Garcia
1-3, 5.06 2-1, 2.83

On an off day for the Sox

With the Sox having another day off today I found myself watching the only game on the tube, St. Louis vs. the Reds on ESPN. Before I go any further, I want to disclose the fact that growing up in my house I rooted for the Sox and whoever was playing the Cubs that day. While screwing around on the net I had the game on, and figured it was all but over with St. Louis down 9-3 going into the 9th. Low and behold, the Redbirds score 7 runs, 6 with two outs, to come back and win 10-9. In the process they added another 1/2 game between themselves and those loveable losers that every Sox fan loves to hate. Speaking of those Flubbies, Ferry Wood is out for at least 3 weeks with more trouble in that shoulder of his, adding more fuel to the inferno that is now the Cubs pitching staff. I'd love to know how much dough I could have won by betting on which teams starters would have more quality starts and wins in the first month, not to mention the best starters ERA in baseball.

Sox Win Another Series

Detroit 0 White Sox 8
On the mound...
Jon Garland was dominating once again, although as another blogger put it, the Tiger's played like a defeated team with a plane to catch. Still, 4 hits with just one walk in another complete game shutout against one of the better hitting teams in the division is worth writing home about. Garland has equaled last years total for wins out of the 5th starter spot with his AL leading 5th victory Sunday and dropped his ERA to 1.38. He was given AL pitcher of the month honors today.
At the plate
The bats showed some life once again, scoring 2 runs in the 4th, 5th, and 7th innings, and single runs in the 2nd and 3rd. The Sox also have been showing more patience at the plate and have been drawing more walks, which is promising after hearing Ozzie's comment on what advice he would give to his hitters. (Something like keep your head down, swing at the first pitch and hope to get lucky) Hopefully the Sox can carry it over to their upcoming series against KC, the cellar dwellers of the central division.
Media Bias
Being a Sox fan in Chicago, you get used to being slighted by the local media coverage. That has become expected and accepted. But when national outlets refuse to give credit where credit is due, it bugs the hell out of me. (I know, I know, its only April, but as they say, pennants can't be won in April but they can be lost) Aaron Gleeman over at Hardball Times is the latest to join my shit list. He completely missed the boat on the fact that the Sox reworked their offense for mainly 2 reasons...1)waiting on the 3 run homer and moving guys station to station hadn't gotten us anywhere 3 years in a row, so they wanted to become more balanced, to still have some power but add more speed and "grinders" as KW would say....and here is the main reason that very few in the mainstream media seem to grasp 2)To free up payroll to reallocate a more even split between pitching and the line up. In past seasons something like 75% of the Sox payroll went to position players. By getting rid of the $8M that was due to Carlos this season (who is hitting at a .220 clip with only 3 HR's for the Brewers) and not resigning Mags, they were able to reinvest that money into the pitching. Our problem in recent seasons has not been our run scoring ability, it was the amount of runs we were allowing. The Twins have scored less than us in each of the last three seasons I believe, yet they finished ahead of us each season. The reason being that they allowed less runs than they scored, which we have not done in any of the past three seasons. There are two ways to look at how to win a ballgame. You either have to score more than the opponent, or you don't allow them to score more than you. The Sox are finally trying to not allow the opponent to score more than them, rather than trying to slug their way to 8, 9, 10 runs every game. So all you Pale Hose fanatics out there, lets give KW some props for waking up and realizing that pitching wins, not the ability to go out and embarrass people once a week by scoring 10+ runs.

Sox tie Dodger's ancient record

The White Sox scored first in Sunday afternoon's ballgame, which tied the Major League record for holding a lead in consecutive games to start a season at 25. It's not the most prestigious record, but hey, any record that doesn't have to do with futility is a hell of a thing to witness in this town.

Sox snap three game skid...

The offense finally showed some life with men on base Saturday night, scoring three runs in the 7th off a HBP, 3 singles and a sac bunt to put the Sox ahead 4-3. After last nights victory the Sox upped their record in one run games to 10-3 for the season. El Duque, as always, battled the entire night, but kept us in the game surrendering only 3 runs, one of which came on a wild pitch in the first. He managed to stick around long enough to earn the victory. Ozzie's handling of the bullpen has pleased me for the most part thus far, with last nights sticking point coming after Marte gave up a walk with 2 out in the 8th. Ozzie wasted no time in getting Hermy in to end the inning, and the game. I think we might have found our new closer. 0ER in 11IP so far. That looks a whole lot better than Shingo's bloated snowman ERA of over 8 after blowing the hold in Friday nights game.

Side note: After a record of 3-86 in games where we scored less than 3 runs last year, the Sox are already 3-3 in that catagory this year. I find it pretty unbelievable that with all the runs we scored last year, we still had 89 ballgames where we barely scored at all.

Due up:
Ledezma 1-1 5.82 ERA 04' vs. Sox: 2-1 20 IP 4.05 ERA
Garland 4-0 1.80 ERA 04' vs. Tigers: 1-2 21.2 IP 6.23 ERA