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.