Game 24

Sox Lineup

Podsednik - LF
Cintron - 2B
Thome - DH
Konerko - 1B
Dye - RF
Crede - 3B
Mackowiak - CF
Uribe - SS
Widger - C


Santana pitched a perfect first for the Angels.
Figgins led off with a single off of Garland. Cabrera doubled, scoring Figgins 1-0 Angels. Guerrero flied out, Cabrera tagged up to third. Anderson safe on a failed fielder's choice, Cabrera scores. 2-0 Angels.

The Sox failed to score in the second.
Garland pitched a perfect inning.

In the third Podsednik singled. Cintron singled, Pods to second. Thome singled, scoring Pods and Cintron advancing to third. 2-1 Angels. Konerko hit a sac fly, scoring Cintron. 2-2 Tie.
The Angels were held scoreless.

Crede led off the fourth with a double. Mackowiak walked. Widger singled, scoring Crede. 3-2 Sox.
The Angels were retired in order.

Santana pitched a perfect fifth.
Kotchman led off with a double. Mathis grounded out, Kotchman advances. Kennedy walks. Figgins hits a sac fly, scoring Kotchman. 3-3 Tie. Cabrera homered, scoring behing Kennedy. 5-3 Angels.

Crede led off the sixth with a double. Mackowiak doubled, scoring Crede. 5-4 Angels. Uribe bunted Mackowiak to third. Widger hit a sac fly, scoring Mackowiak. 5-5 Tie.
The Angels were held scoreless.

Santana pitched a perfect seventh.
The Angels failed to score.

Shield came on in relief in the eighth and pitched a scoreless inning.
Thornton retired the first batter. Politte then came on in relief and finished the inning.

Widger led the ninth off with a single. Ozuna pinch ran and stole second. Pods bunted him over to third. Ozuna scored on a wild pitch. 6-5 Sox.
Cotts pitched a perfect inning to earn the save.

Sox win 6-5.

Sox Record: 17-7

1000th Page View

The counter on the bottom is off because I added that one later on, but we reached out 1000th page view at Chisoxblog! This shortly after the 500th visitor. Thanks to everyone for checking in, and thanks to those that write back.

Game 24 Preview

Jon Garland 2-1, 7.30 for the Good Guys

vs

Ervin Santana 2-0, 2.96 for the Halos

The Sox go for the sweep.
Expect the "Sunday Lineup" tomorrow.
Poor Garland if he sees another botched play in LF by Ozuna I think he may flip.
Santana has been pitching real well this season.

My Pick to Click - Joe Crede

(If he's not playing I will change it)
Visitors feel free to chime in your pick to click in the comments section!

Game 23 Thoughts

-Alright! That's a series win out west. Good job boys. Way to wrap it up early.

-This was a pitcher's duel, the whole game. I don't think I took one breath during the ninth inning.

-Contreras pitched an absolute gem. 12 straight wins for our man.

-I think we lucked out when Escobar got a blood blister and had to leave early. He was cruising just like Contreras. Also we got to tire out the bullpen for tomorrow.

-Why was Thornton out there? Two weeks since he last pitched, because of back spasms. It didn't back fire, so oh well, but it did probably take a couple days off the back end of my life.

-Pods hit again today, but he had some boneheaded plays. He misplayed a ball in the field, badly. And was thrown out pretty easily trying to steal. He's now 50% this year on SB's. Figgins is 7 for 7, just for comparison's sake.

-My pick to click didn't really click, but then again no one really did. No one for either team had a multi-hit game, so no, I didn't jinx Iguchi.

-I'm not going to comment on the ineptitude or eptitude (I'm aware that's not a word) of the hitting, because the pitchers were just dealing today.

-Thome is the quickest Pale Hose ever to 10 HR.

-K-Rod is filthy. He has electric stuff. His curve is DISGUSTING. Boy, do I wish he was on the Sox.

-Expect the "Sunday Lineup" tomorrow for the Sox. I don't know how, but the Garland always seems to get landed with the crummy lineup.

-I nearly forgot. Escobar hitting AJ was crap. That was dumb and uncalled for. I honestly expected it in game one, but it wasn't necessary. I was watching the game while logged into the Angel's blog I referenced earlier, and they weren't all that thrilled about it either.

-I'm surprised Crede doesn't get a round of boos like AJ does. After all, it was Crede's bomb that sunk the Angels' ship.

Sox Player of the Game





Jose Contreras (3)

Game 23

Sox Lineup

Podsednik - LF
Iguchi - 2b
Thome - DH
Konerko - 1B
Dye - RF
Pierzynski - C
Crede - 3B
Uribe - SS
Anderson - CF



Escobar pitched a perfect first for the Angels.
Contreras sat down the side in order.

Escobar plunked AJ in the second, as revenge for last year. Both team get a warning.
The Angels were held scoreless.

The Sox failed to score in the third.
Contreras held the Angels scoreless.

Iguchi led off the fourth with a single. Konerko walked. Dye singled, scoring Tadahito. 1-0 Sox.
The Angels were retired in order.

The Sox went out in order in the fifth.
The Angels failed to score.

In the sixth, Donnelly came on in relief. Thome hit a solo shot. 2-0 Sox.
Figgins led off with a walk. He stole second, and scored on Cabrera's double. 2-1 Sox.

The Sox go down in order in the seventh.
The Angels went down in order.

Romero came on to pitch in the eighth. The Sox failed to score.
Contreras sat the Angels down in order.

Rodriguez came on in relief in the ninth and pitched a perfect inning.
Contreras recorded one out, then Thornton came on and recorded one out. Jenks came on and closed out the game.
Sox win 2-1.

Sox Record: 16-7

Pick To Click

My Pick to Click is...

Tadahito Iguchi

(From now on, I'm going to include this under my game preview posts.)

Game 23 Preview

Jose Contreras 3-0, 1.55 for the Good Guys

vs

Kelvim Escobar 3-1, 3.75 for the Angels


A win tonight locks up a series win for us, and would be a nice rebound after we laid an egg in Seattle.

A win tonight gives us our third series win out west in the last five years.

My Aren't We Bitter

I stumbled upon an Angel's blog, and they are mighty sore about last October. Granted, I'd probably still be a bit pissed, but some of the stuff is pretty funny.


Here are some snippets...

It is time to see the Windy City Whiffers face a good pitcher for at least once on this dog and pony West Coast show of theirs.

After years of going to Angel games where there was not a single White Sox fan in the stadium (not at all like the opposing-fan-packed Boston and Yankee affairs), I must report that not only is the Reinsdorff Bandwagon full, but that these are the fattest fans in the major leagues. Record beer and weiner sales in Anaheim tonight.

They better be marketing to the young Chicagoans, as there isn't a set of arteries among the Pale Hose fanatics likely to be operating the day Bobby Jenks turn 40.

No excuses, kids, these are the World Cheating Champions and we either beat them without their trusted umpiring scam or we tip our caps to the superiority of a has-been town that everyone leaves.

predictions
halos - 5, 8white cocks - 1, 3

Cheaters v Halos
My picks:Halos: 5/12Cheaters: 4/14

(this one doesn't relate to the Sox, but I thought it was funny)

The Angels have now gotten 18 straight scoreless innings out of guys whose names don't rhyme with "Chef Beaver."

Off to the Playboy Mansion

On their day off the Sox took a quick visit over to the Playboy Mansion.

Check out the article, here, there's some good stuff about Brian Anderson.

Game 22 Thoughts

I didn't get to see any of the game, so these are just based on what I read and what I saw in the box score.

-Pods had another two hit game. He's all the way up to .232. He's not quite the catalyst he was last year, but at least he's not an instant out anymore.

-Most of the attention has been paid to Konerko and Thome, but Tadahito is quietly putting together a very solid April. He added three hits to bring his average up to .325. Now what I want to know is, was he just slumping in Spring Training or was hitting lower in the order such a big difference?

-Wow, Juan Uribe tripled and didn't score. Where's small ball when you need it?

-Joe Crede is all of a sudden under .300. I could have sworn he was just at .330.

-JD is still ripping the cover off the ball. We have a real legit 3-4-5 hitters.

-Speaking of our 3 hitter, Thome got the golden sombrero plus some extra on the side. 4 K's, I'm shocked.

-Freddy pitched a very average ball game. He walked four Angels, which is tough considering they are a free swinging team. I heard that his velocity was in the mid to low 80's to begin the game. And didn't get toward the 90's until around the fourth inning. That's real troubling.

-McCarthy had his second straight poor outing. Cotts did well though.

-Getting the win tonight would be a real luxury for us. It'll take the pressure off for game 3.

-Check out DickdaStick's post for more, especially the bit about Anderson.


Sox Record: 15-7

Sox Player of the Game:



Jermaine Dye (4)

Congrats Freddy

With his 103 career victory, yesterday, Freddy Garcia is now the winningest Venezuelan born pitcher of all time. Former Sox pitcher, Wilson Alvarez, held the record at 102.

Game 22 and Game 23 Preview

Two for one. I'll be gone until Saturday evening, so I won't be able to post until then.

DICKDASTICK: If you want, would you take over the recapping and game thoughts for Friday's game? If not, I'll do it when I get back Saturday.

Game 22

For the Chi Sox
Freddy Garcia 3-1, 6.23

vs

Jeff Weaver 1-2, 5.33 for the Angels


Game 23

Jose Contreras 3-0, 1.55 for the Good Guys

vs

Kelvim Escobar 3-1, 3.75 for the Angels.


I'm looking forward to the second game. Both pitchers are pitching well, it should be a good game.

Next Up

Next up we've got a three game set against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. I still think that that is the stupidest name ever for a team.

My original goal for the Sox was to take 6 out of 8 games from this road trip. I allowed them to drop a game a piece to the Mariners and the Angels. To keep pace with that, they would have to sweep the next five games. It's do able but I don't think that will happen, so my new goal for them is to take 4 out of 5. I think it's essential that they sweep the two game set. So i'm still allowing for that one loss against the Angels.

If they do meet this goal, then they'd only fall one game short of my original goal, which isn't half bad. Last time they did that (see my goal before the Royals series) they went on to run off a streak of 8 straight. Let's see if history repeats itself.

Yep, It's an Off Day

I think when Buehrle starts negotiating his new contract with the Sox, he should have a clause put in allowing him to tarp dive in games where he isn't pitching.

Game 21 Thoughts

-This was a discrougaing loss. It's not the fact that we lost to a lousy team, it's the fact that we didn't seem to show up in two of the three games. We were absolutely lousy in the last game.

-Buehrle clearly didn't have his best stuff, but he still produced a pretty good outing. He had one bad inning, and one mistake in the sixth to Ibanez.

-I'm glad Ozzie did put out a strong lineup for the rubber match, but unfortunately we didnt' come through with the win.

-Juan Uribe went 0-13 over the course of the series. That's awful.

-Speaking of hitless, Anderson went hitless again yesterday, but he didn't look awful at the plate. He seemed to be more aggressive than he normally is. He looked to attack rather than just defend. (cliche, I know)

-The catch by Bloomquist killed the Sox rally. Had that gotten through, we would have had Crede standing on second with two runs in. If that hit drops in, I think the Sox win the game.

-Another game changing play was when Buehrle plunked Johjima. He had him 0-2 I believe, and hit him.

-We lost yet another series out west. I think we've won just 2 series out west the past five years.

-Pods hit streak ends at 9 games. You're safe Joe D.

Sox Player of the Game





Paul Konerko (2)

Game 21

Lineup

Podsednik - LF
Iguchi - 2B
Thome - DH
Konerko - 1B
Dye - RF
Crede - 3B
Uribe - SS
Widger - C
Anderson - CF



Washburn pitched a perfect first for the Mariners.
Buehrle retired the side in order.

The Sox went down in order again in the second.
Sexson led off with a single. Everett singled, Sexson to second. Johjima was hit by a pitch, loading the bases. Beltre grounded out, scoring Sexson. 1-0 Mariners. Lopez doubled, scoring Everett and Johjima. 3-0 Mariners.

Widger broke the no-hitter, but the Sox failed to score in the third.
The Mariners were held scoreless.

In the fourth, both teams didn't score.

In the fifth, both sides sat down in order.

Washburn pitched a perfect sixth.
Ibanez led off with a homer. 4-0 Mariners.

In the seventh, Konerko led off with a single. Dye followed with a single. Crede lined out, Konerko tagged to third. Uribe hit a sac fly, scoring Paulie. 4-1 Mariners. Soriano came on in relief and closed out the inning.
Buehrle pitched a perfect inning.

The Sox sat down in order in the eighth.
Jenks came out to pitch for the Sox. Ibanez singled. Sexson singled, Ibanez to third. Everett hit a sac fly, scoring Ibanez. 5-1 Mariners.

Putz came on in the ninth to close out the game.
Mariners win 5-1.

Sox Record: 14-7

Welcome

A warm welcome to DickdaStick who is officially part of the team now, after loyally posting comments.

Game 21 Preview

In the rubber match tonight...

Mark Buehrle 3-0, 1.93 for the ChiSox

vs

Jarrod Washburn 1-3, 4.05 for the Mariners

Happy Birthday

Happy 28th Birthday, Joe Crede!

Save Rule

Here is the rule
Saves:Rule 10.20 in the Official Rule Book states:Credit a pitcher with a save when he meets all three of the following conditions:(1) He is the finishing pitcher in a game won by his club; and(2) He is not the winning pitcher; and(3) He qualifies under one of the following conditions:
(a) He enters the game with a lead of no more than three runs and pitches for at least one inning; or
(b) He enters the game, regardless of the count, with the potential tying run either on base, or at bat, or on deck (that is, the potential tying run is either already on base or is one of the first two batsmen he faces; or
(c) He pitches effectively for at least three innings. No more than one save may be credited in each game


That's how Boone Logan got his save


Blog News- We received our 500th visitor today.

Game 20 Thoughts

-As anonymous said, (which I misread, at first) the players that were on the bench in game one, played real well. I don't know if that's a result of the rest, or just a continuation of how they were playing before hand.

-The offense absolutely exploded. Too bad we didn't score some of those runs yesterday.

-Gload played! He hit a triple, which was almost as shocking as the fact that he was put in.

-The 1-7 hitters all got a hit. Uribe was 0-fer, as was Anderson, but Brian got on base twice via walk. I thought Uribe was starting to come around but, maybe I was wrong.

-Anderson made another nice grab in the outfield.

-When Anderson and Pods stole, was that supposed to be a hit and run?

-Pods is in the midst of a 9 game hit streak.

-Dye had two jacks.

-Javier pitched real well at the beginning of the game, but it looked like he ran out of gas in the seventh. Every time he pitches, Kenny looks smarter and smarter.

-I don't understand how Logan got the save. If someone could explain that to me, that would be awesome.

-Don't fool yourself, Everett was plunked on purpose. He fully deserved it.

-I expect to see Widger in at catcher today.

Sox Player of the Game





Jermaine Dye(3)

Game 20

Lineup

Podsednik - LF
Iguchi - 2b
Thome - DH
Konerko - 1B
Dye - RF
Pierzynski - C
Crede - 3B
Uribe - SS
Anderson - CF


Vazquez held the Mariners scoreless in the first.
Pineiro didn't let up a run.

The Sox and Mariners sat down in order in the second.

In the third, Anderson led off with a walk. Pods followed with a single. Anderson and stole third and Pods stole second. Iguchi doubled, scoring Anderson and Pods. 2-0 Sox. Thome grounded out, Iguchi to third. Konerko homered, scoring behind Tadahito. 4-0 Sox.
Vazquez pitched a perfect inning.

Crede led off the fourth with a homer. 5-0 Sox.
Vazquez sat the Mariners down in order.

In the fifth, Dye hit a solo homer off of Livingston. 6-0 Sox.
The Mariners were held scoreless.

In the sixth, Anderson walked. Pods grounded out, advancing Anderson. Iguchi walked. Thome singeld, scoring Anderson and advancing Iguchi to third. 7-0 Sox. Paulie doubled, scoring Iguchi and advancing Thome to third. 8-0 Sox. Dye was given an intentional walk. AJ singled, scoring Thome. 9-0 Sox. Woods came on to close the inning.
The Mariners were held scoreless.

Podsednik singled in the seventh and scored on Iguchi's homer. 11-0 Sox.
Ibanez walked. Lawton singled, Ibanez to third. Logan came on in relief. Everett was hit by a pitch. Beltre walked, scoring Ibanez. 11-1 Sox. Johjima hit a sac fly, scoring Lawton. 11-2 Sox.

Gload led off the eighth with a triple. Dye homered, scoring behind Gload. 13-2 Sox.
Petagine was hit by a pitch. Lopez doubled, Petagine to third. Lawton singled, socring Petagine. 13-3 Sox.

The ninth was scoreless, and Logan earned the save.

Sox Record: 14-6

Hawk Agrees

Bottom of the fourth, if you were watching the game, Hawk just asked why there were so many Sox starters on the bench yesterday. I'm shocked Hawk brought that up, I thought he would try to be more supportive of Oz.

Oh well, just further iterates what I was saying.

Under the Radar

As weird as it may seem to say, it kind of seems like the Sox are flying under the radar again. Granted it wasn't like last year where it took halfway to the all-star break for people to notice, but still there hasn't been all that much fanfare about the Sox other than their 1-4 start.

I think people (outside of Chicago and the Midwes) are beginning to take notice.

Here's an article from the ESPN site.

It's nothing groundbreaking, it basically tells us what we (Sox fans know) but it's worth a glance.

Game 20 Preview

Javier Vazquez 1-1, 3.86 for the Good Guys

vs.

Joel Piniero 2-1, 3.96 for the Mariners

Game 19 Thoughts

-It seems Ozzie doesn't want to be the first Sox manager to win 9 straight games (see next dash below). The last time that happened was July 1-9, 1977. (That's within one season. The Sox won the final 8 games of the playoffs and the first one of this season, but that doesn't count)

-First and foremost, I am disgusted with the excuse of a lineup that Ozzie trotted out for the game. Ozzie says that he wanted to sit some guys that played poorly against Moyer in the past, but that's a crock. Podsednik, has faced him a grand total of 4 times. Mackowiak who he put in for Dye, is a lefty. Since when do you put a take out a righty to put a lefty in vs a lefty pitcher? Crede is one of our hottest hitters. Any struggles he has had in the past vs Moyer are trumped by his current form, and plus he's yet to face Moyer with his new and improved swing. I'mall for giving guys days off. Keep them fresh for the playoffs. Great idea, but not ALL of them at the same time. Why not stagger them by a game? So Crede gets yesterday off, and then Dye gets today off, and then Pods gets the next day off. Why cripple your team before the game even begins?

-I'm waiting for Ross Gload to freak out. Honestly. He gets NO love on this team. He played 110 games in 2004 and batted .321, but apparently that doesn't count for anything, because he is getting no playing time.

-If I see Ozuna misplay another ball in the outfield, I will jump off a cliff. Or inappropriately try and steal a base like he did in the ninth.

-Boy, did Garland look shaky early. To his credit though, he really turned it around and pitched well. He did let up those two runs at the end, but what are you going to do? I'll take three runs over the course of the game. Our depleted offense just didn't come through.

-Today was supposed to be the day people celebrated Brian Anderson, but his home run ultimately just ended up meaning less sleep for Sox fans. Way to come through in the clutch, though, kid. He also made a good play in the field in 10th.

-I will not blame McCarthy for the loss. We shouldn't have been in that situation, and I still have the upmost faith in him.

-I know, some people will be begging me to give Ozzie a break, considering we won the World Series last year. I can see where you're coming from, but it doesn't give him a free pass to do whatever he wants. I just strongly disagree with throwing a JV squad out there. Now had he pulled this against the Royals, it could be argued it would be JV squad vs JV squad.

-That's all my negative raving for now. I know we won't win every game, but yesterday's game just rubbed me the wrong way.

-Ozuna is doing surprisingly well at the plate; he's batting .500.

-AJ may be our hottest hitter though. 3-5 yesterday, .355 average. I'm still waiting for his first homer of the year though.

-I love that the Mariner's reliever is named Putz.

-I'm still in shock from Anderson's homer. That was unreal.

Sox Player of the Game



AJ Pierzynski (1)

Game 19

Lineup

Ozuna - LF
Iguchi - 2b
Konerko - 1B
Thome - DH
Pierzynksi - C
Uribe - SS
Cintron - 3b
Mackowiak - RF
Anderson - CF



Ozuna led off the first with a double off of Moyer. Thome singled to center, scoring Ozuna. 1-0 Sox.
Lopez homered off of Garland. 1-1.

In the second, Mackowiak reached on an Beltre's error. Moyer threw a wild pitch, Mackowiak advanced to second. Anderson grounded out, advancing Mackowiak to third. He scored on a Rivera's past ball. 2-1 Sox.
The Mariners were held scoreless.

Both the Sox and Mariners were held scoreless in the third.

Both pitchers pitched a perfect fourth.

The fifth was scoreless.

Both squads sat down in order in the sixth.

The Sox were retired in order again, in the seventh.
Betancourt led off with a single. Rivera sacrificed him over. Ichiro singled, scoring Betancourt. 2-2.

Sherill pitched a scoreless eighth for the Mariners.
Ibanez led off with a homer. 3-2 Mariners.

Guardado came on in relief in the ninth. Anderson hit a two out, two stike homer to tie the game. 3-3.
Politte came on in relief and pitched a perfect ninth.

Putz pitched a scoreless tenth.
Cotts retired the side in order.

Mateo pitched a perfect eleventh.
McCarthy surrendered a single to Everett. Bloomquist came on as a pinch runner, and stole second. Betancourt singled, scoring Bloomquist. Mariners win 4-3.

Sox Record: 13-6

Gross Lineup

I can't say I like the line up Ozzie trotted out for this game.

It's good to get your bench some work and your starters an occasional rest, but I don't like EVERYONE at once.

Now that I think about it, where the hell is Gload? Why does this man get no love? Of all the bench players he has the most power and has proven himself over the longest span (see 2004, .321 avg over 110 games)

I have the most faith in him, yet he's firmly entrenched at the bottom of the pecking order. What gives?

1/9 Point of the Season

This is courtesy of JoeCoolMand24 over at www.southsidesox.com

Since we are 1/9th through the year, here are the crazy stats our players on "on pace for". Its pretty ridiculous.

Scott Podsednik:.206 AVG, 0 HR, 27 RBI, 45 2B, 27 SB

Tadahito Iguchi:.344 AVG, 9 HR, 63 RBI, 27 2B, 63 BB

Jim Thome:.327 AVG, 81 HR, 171 RBI, 198 R, 180 BB

Paul Konerko:.343 AVG, 45 HR, 144 RBI, 54 2B, 153 R

Jermaine Dye:.333 AVG, 27 HR, 126 RBI, 99 BB

AJ Pierzynski:.333 AVG, 0 HR, 36 RBI, 27 2B

Joe Crede:.339 AVG, 27 HR, 135 RBI, 45 2B, 27 K's

Juan Uribe:.233 AVG, 27 HR, 81 RBI, 18 2B

Brian Anderson:.178 AVG, 9 HR, 36 RBI, 18 2B, 171 K's

Game 19 Preview

Jon Garland 2-1, 9.18, for the Good Guys

vs

The ageless Jamie Moyer 0-2, 4.07

This is a tricky road trip we have on our hands. Historically the Sox have played poorly on the West Coast, namely in Oakland and Anaheim.

After the three game set against the Mariners, we have three games in Anaheim followed by two in Cleveland.

Ultimately I'd like to see the Sox win all the games, but even with their current form, that's a bit ambitious. So out of their 8 games, I want the Sox to take 6 of them. If they drop one against the Mariners, one against the Angels, and sweep the short set against Cleveland I'll be a happy camper.

The Captaincy

We all know that Paulie was chosen to be the Sox captain by Ozzie before the season began, but the letter "C" has been mysteriously missing from Paulie's jersey.

This is why.

Apparently, when Ozzie was a co-captain with Carlton Fisk, they decided not to wear a "C", because they thought it was unnecessary. Ozzie decided to make that a traditional thing while he manages, and Konerko fully agrees.

Hello Anonymous

Hello out there to the Anonymous person that consistently has been posting comments on the site. Leave me a comment on this post, if you would like to be a writer for the site. Just leave your e-mail address, and I'll send you what you need.

Game 18 Thoughts

Bring out the brooooooms. Back to back sweeps, BABY!





















-Big ups to the bottom of the order. The 7-9 guys tore it up, which was a pleasant surprise to say the least. We were getting next to nothing out of Juanny and Anderson, and they came through today. Altogether they were 8-12 with 4 HR, 6 RBI, and 5 R. Seeing this must be real discouraging for other teams. The top and the bottom of the order can mash, and 1-8 it's hard to pitch around someone.

-Juan's average jumped all the way up to .233, and Anderson is slowly creeping toward the Mendoza line. He's at .178. Pods is in the midst of a 8 game hitting streak.

-It's a shame that Thome's scoring streak came to an end. I thought for sure he'd get the record, but I will take this win with the output we got from the bottom of the order.

-The Sox have won 8 straight, and amazingly, their starters have gotten all eight of those wins. They were 5-0 through the last turn through the rotation and are off to a solid 3-0 start on this turn.

-Contreras was awesome again. He made a minor mistake in the first, but no biggie. He pitched another great game. All the concerns I had coming into the season about him regressing have been fully put to rest. I have just about as much confidence in him as I do in Buehrle.

-Hunter made a nice play on Konerko's near homer. As soon as I saw it was headed to center, I actually expected to Hunter to make the play. That's how good he is out there, I just expected him to rob Paulie of a homer.

-There are only two small negatives, and they're pretty minor. First, I think Contreras shouldn't have come back out for the eighth. I know his pitch count was low and he was rolling, but I think Oz should have given the bullpen some work. I think Thornton should have taken the eighth. The other thing that bugged me was the unnecessary steal attempt by Tadahito. I like the Sox intent as a team, to be aggressive on the basepaths, but I think they need to be a bit more selective and careful.

-I nearly forgot again, Thome's homer yesterday gave him 438 for his career, tying him with Andre Dawson.

-Not the most important fact, but interesting nonetheless. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Sox pitching staff has allowed just two runs in the last four games, which is the fewest amount given up in such a stretch since 1973.

Sox Player of the Game




Juan Uribe (1)

Game 18

In the first, Contreras walked Punto. He advanced to third on Mauer's single. Sierra hit a sac fly, scoring Punto. 1-0 Twins.
Silva held the Sox scoreless.

Contreras retired the side in order in the second.
The Sox failed to score again.

The Twins were held without a run in the third.
Podsednik doubled. He advanced to third on Iguchi's single. Thome hit a sac fly, scoring Pods. 1-1.

The Twins sat down in order in the fourth.
With two outs, Crede hit a solo blast. 2-1 Sox. Uribe followed with another homer. 3-1 Sox.

Contreras held the Twins scoreless in the fifth.
The Sox sat down in order.

Mauer led off the sixth with a solo homer. 3-2 Sox.
Pierzynski singled. Crede followed with another single. Uribe homered, scoring behind AJ and Joe. 6-2 Sox. Anderson followed with a solo shot. 7-2 Sox. Rincon came on in relief and closed out the inning.

The Twins and the Sox both were held scoreless in the seventh.

Contreras pitched a perfect eighth.
Nathan came on for the Twins and retired the side.

Politte came on in the ninth. Batista led off with a double. White singled, Batista to third. Cudyer grounded into a double-play, scoring Batista. 7-3 Sox. Politte closed out the game for another Sox win.

Sox Record: 13-5

Game 18 Preview

I know this is late, but just in case...

Carlos Silva 1-2, 7.59 for the Twins

vs.

Jose Contreras 2-0, 1.29 for the Sox

Game 17 Thoughts

Here are some comments from a fan that was at the game.

Couple thoughts from being at Sat night's game at Comisky:

Freddie works so slow, it is painful...has to have an effect on the fielders. He was very lucky that so many hard hit balls found the fielders mitts. He's not fully "there" yet...something is off with him.

Boone Logan did not look good at all - no feel for it.

That's the only neg-vibes I have - rest is pos

Podsednik looks like his old self at the plate

Paulie is locked and loaded

Dye is just a stud

Thome swings for the fences, but also knows when to take the walk

McCarthy looks very confident and relaxed

Jenks throw some very good "dueces" last night
the post-game fireworks were set to the opening music of the Sox intros ( AC/DC etc.) and the crowd loved it.

All in all, I feel we are a better than last years team and just need to keep playing hungry for another trip to the Series - I think that's where Thome may make his greatest contribution - keeping us focused on a ring !

Jeeves' Thoughts

-Dye claims he is usually a slow starter, so it's real nice to see him get off to such a blistering pace. Last year he started April with a .175 Avg, this year he's at .340.

-Thome's homer (number 9) tied him with Frank Thomas for the most homers in April, in Sox history. This has been a record setting month for Thome. He already has the record for most conescutive games with a run, to start a season under his belt, and with a run today will tie Kenny Lofton for most consecutive games with a run (overall).

-I must say though, Thome looked silly striking out his first two trips to the plate. This following up two K's to kick off the previous game. I'm not worried AT ALL, the first game was against Santana, and so what he struck out. Thome is still an absolute monster for us, I just thought it looked weird seeing him flail away against Radke.

-My heart stopped when Hunter flew out deep to Dye with the bases loaded.

-Props to Cheat over at www.southsidesox.com, who talked about the best way to beat Radke and the Twins was to get an early lead.

-The Royals took one from the Indians. It was nice to see the Royals finally beat somebody else. If the Royals win again today, it could potentially be a HUGE help in the long run.

-The big race isn't who's going to win the Central, but which Sox pitcher is pulled first in favor of McCarthy. I'd say Garcia is the leader at the clubhouse, followed closely by Garland. Garcia's stat line looked okay yesterday, but he was a hit away from disaster.

-Boone looked ugly. You can't blame Oz for trying to get him some work. It's like the playoff run last year, people were worried the bullpen would be rusty, so Oz is trying to pick spots for his 'pen guys.

-Crede's is a totally new player with his new swing. He worked on shortening his swing last season, which resulted in his hot streak to close out last year and begin this year. In years past, pitchers would bite Crede on the inside, and since his swing was so long he would be terribly late and therefore strike out a lot. This year with his more compact swing, he can foul off the tough strikes until he can get something to drive. If you saw the game against Santana, you know what I'm talking about. Crede went down 0-2 and fought his way to a walk.

Sox Player of the Game:




Jermaine Dye (2)

Game 17

Garcia gave up one hit in a scoreless first for the Sox.
Iguchi singled off of Radke, and advanced to second on Konerko's single. Dye hit a three run jack. 3-0 Sox.

The Twins were held scoreless in the second.
Mackowiak doubled. He advanced to third on Podsednik's ground-out. Iguchi doubled home Mackowiak. 4-0 Sox.

Both the Twins and Sox failed to score in the third.

There was no scoring in the fourth.

In the fifth, Ford singled. He then stole second and third, and scored on Rodriguez's ground out. 4-1 Sox.
Thome walked and advanced to second on Paulie's single. Dye doubled, scoring Thome and advancing Konerko to third. 5-1 Sox. Crede grounded out, scoring Paulie. 6-1 Sox.

Hunter hit a solo shot in the sixth. 6-2 Sox.
Eyre came in relief of Radke and shut the Sox down.

McCarthy came on with two outs in the seventh, and finished out the scoreless inning.
Dye singled to right. Liriano came on in relief. Pierzynski singled, advancing Dye to third. Crede hit an infield single, scoring Dye. 7-1 Sox.

McCarthy pitched a scoreless eighth.
Crain came on in relief and walked Iguchi. Thome homered scoring behing Tadahito. 9-1 Sox.

Jenks closed out the ninth for the save.

Sox Record: 12-5

Top Spot

After a rather crummy start, the Sox are tied for the best record (11-5) in the bigs with the New York Mets and the Houston Astros.
Boston is the next best AL team at 11-7, one game back.

Thome Set His Sights on Lofton

As I said before, Thome has the record for most consecutive games with a run to start a season, but now he has his sights set on Kenny Lofton who has the record for most games with a run. Lofton streak is 18 games, so Thome is only two back.

Game 17 Preview

Radke 2-1, 6.63, for the Twinkies

vs

Garcia 2-1, 7.80, for the White Sox

Freddy's actually going for some history tonight. With a win he will match Wilson Alvarez's career mark for victories by a Venezuelan native. Alvarez finished with 102 wins; Garcia has 101 wins.

Game 16 Thoughts

-Old fashioned pitchers' duel. This matchup really lived up to its billing. Both pitchers cruised through the opposition. It took 62 minutes to reach the half way point of the game, that's swift even for a game pitched by Buehrle.
This trip through the rotation got off to a good start.

-It's amazing how the game changed once Santana was taken out. The Sox turned a tight game into a laugher against the Twins' bullpen; they reeled off four straight hits off of Rincon and had more hits in the eighth than the rest of the game combined. The eighth inning shows just how dominant Santana was today.

-Buehrle pitched a very efficient game. He had 102 pitches vs. 120 for Santana. The Sox hitters did a good job of staying patient and driving up Santana's pitch count. That paved the way for the big eighth inning.

-Thome hit another homer, and continued his scoring streak. According to Elias Sports Bureau, he now has the longest scoring streak to start off a season. Congrats, big guy!

-Dye's double/inside the park homer, was just bizarre. It took a long time for that play to fully register in my mind.

-Anderson just missed a homer, but still struggled through much of the game.

-Why did the Twins load up with a bunch of old foagies? I know they need some veteran leadership for their young squad, but I don't think I would have picked Rondell White, Tony Batista, nor Ruben Sierra.

-Santana was 4-0 with a .92 ERA last year vs the Sox.

Sox Player of the Game




Jermaine Dye (1)

Game 16

Both Buehrle and Santana were pitching shutouts into the fifth inning.

Buehrle pitched a perfect sixth.
Iguchi singled and scored on Thome's homer. 2-0 Sox.

Buehrle continued his shutout in the seventh.
The Sox failed to build upon their lead.

Ford hit a solo homer in the eighth. 2-1 Sox.
Rincon came on in relief for Santana. Thome led off with a single. Konerko followed with a single. Ozuna pinch ran for Thome, and scored on Dye's double. On Castro's throwing error, Konerko scored, as did Dye. 5-1 Sox. Crede singled. Guerrier came on in relief for Rincon. Pierzynski singled. Crede advanced to third Uribe's flyout and scored on Anderson's sac fly. 6-1 Sox. Pierzynski advanced to second, and then scored on Podsednik's double. 7-1 Sox.

Cotts pitched the ninth to end the game.


Sox Record: 11-5

Orton Sighting

If you're watching the game, Kyle Orton, the Bears' back-up QB is sitting along the third base line. When right handed batters are up, and they step out of the box, depending on the camera angle, you can get a good view of him. Look for the beard if you're trying to spot him

Ozzie Interviews

There are interviews of Ozzie in Sports Illustrated and Playboy; I'll for sure post the Sports Illustrated one, and I'll see what I can do for the Playboy one.

Game 16 Preview

Santana, 0-2, 5.71, is on the hill for the Twinkies

vs

Buehrle, 2.0, 2.25, for the Good Guys

This is going to be an awesome game. I've been looking forward to this matchup all season. Ace vs ace. If the Sox take this one, that's a HUGE win.

Forbes

Forbes released their rankings of each MLB club's worth.
The Yankees (surprise) came in first cracking the 1 Billion mark.
The Cubs are fifth, valued at $448 million.
The Sox are 18th, valued at $315 million.

The most suprising team is the Nationals, who are sixth at $440 million dollars.

I'm a little surprised the Sox are that low. I think it may have something to do with the stadium, because most of the teams ahead of the Sox have newer parks.

See the whole list here.

The Hot Ticket

As of yesterday, if you count up all the the gate reciepts, and the tickets that have already been sold for the rest of the season, the Sox have surpassed last year's tickets sales. This is already the fourth highest attendence in history.

Game 14 and 15 Thoughts

Game 14

-Garland pitched pretty well, but he's still not all the way back. He seemed to be tiring at then end of his outing, and Oz did a good job pulling him. His rought outings the past two times out, may have worn him down a bit.

-McCarthy makes like $300,000. What a deal! He had another good outing today, 1.2 innings. I like when Oz gives him a solid 2 inning chunk.

-It was nice seeing Jenks pitch a perfect ninth. I hate seeing him put guys on, which he has been doing pretty consistently.

-Podsednik had himself a nice little game. 2 hits, 2 sb, and a run. Not bad, not bad.

-Thome continued his scoring streak. He also walked two more times, bringing his season total to 16. I wonder if he'll end up with more BB's or RBI's once the season is done. (He has 14 RBI)

-Widger is batting a healthy .000, yep, .000!

-Anderson was 0-fer at the plate once again.

Game 15

-Pods is actually hitting real well at the plate now. He had another two hit game, with a double. He had some problems on the basepaths though; he was thrown out twice, trying to steal.

-Mackowiak was in today for Anderson. He put up Anderson like numbers though. 0-fer-2.

-Thome scored again. His scoring streak is at 15 games and counting.

-Juan got off the schneid, and hit his first jack of the season.

-Vazquez pitched a gem today. He went eight strong and only threw 108 pitches. He only allowed three baserunners, and looked well on his way for a no-hitter. That's five solid performances by the Sox rotation, in a row.

-Jenks got the save again today. He's 6-6. For all the worry over the spring, he's doing okay. But then again Shingo started out okay, and then got dumped half way through the season. I heard Jenks' stuff looked a little slow today, but it generally is a bit slower on the second day of a back to back.

-Oh yah, I nearly forgot...





















Sox Player of the Game (for game 14)




Brandon McCarthy (1)

No one was spectacular for the Pale Hose, so he gets the honor, for his solid performance.




Sox Player of the Game (for game 15)





Javier Vazquez (1)

Game 15

Vazquez pitched a perfect first.
Podsednik was walked by Elarton. Pods was thrown out at second, trying to steal. Cintron singled and advanced to second on Thome's walk. Dye walked. Cintron scored on Elarton's wild pitch. 1-0 Sox.

Vazquez pitched a perfect second.
The Sox were shut out as well.

Vazquez retired the side 1-2-3, in the third.
The Sox sat down in order.

The Royals went down in order in the fourth.
The Sox failed to score.

In the fifth, Stairs walked, breaking up the perfect game. The side was retired in order after that.
Urbie led off with a solo shot. 2-0 Sox. Podsednik doubled. Thome was intentionally walked. Konerko singled, loading up the bases. Dye was plunked by a pitch, forcing home Podsednik. 3-0 Sox. Hudson came on in relief. On a passed ball, Thome scored. 4-0 Sox.

Another perfect inning for Vazquez in the sixth.
Podsednik singled and was caught stealing again.

Mientkiewicz hit a dribbler down the line in the seventh, ending the no-hit bid.
Dessens came on to pitch for the Royals and sat the Sox down in order.

Vazquez retired the side in order in the eighth.
Burgos pitched a scoreless inning for the Royals.

Cotts came on in relief in the ninth. He gave up a single and recorded an out. Jenks came on to finish the game.

Game 14

Garland pitched a perfect first for the Sox.
As did Affeldt, for the Royals.

The Royals and the Sox were held hitless in the second.

Teahan led off the third with a homer. 1-0 Royals.
The Sox were hitless again.

The Royals failed to score in the fourth.
Thome walked with one out. Dye reached first on an error. Crede singled, scoring Thome. Dye advanced to third and Crede advance to second during the play. 1-1. Uribe singled scoring Dye and Crede. 3-0 Sox.

Both teams were held scoreless in the fifth.

The sixth was scoreless.

McCarthy came on in relief with one out in the seventh.
Sisco came on in relief for the Royals. Podsednik singled and stole second. Iguchi flied out and Pods tagged up to third. Thome singled to center, scoring Podsednik. Burgos came on in relief for the Royals.

The eighth was scoreless.
Gobble came on in relief for the Royals.

Jenks pitched a perfect ninth for the save.

Game 13 Thoughts

-Pods is alive! Four hits in the past two games. He's up to a robust .152 (sarcasm folks). It was good to see him lead off with a double and not needlessly steal a base.

-Anderson got a hit today and had a nice grab in the field.

-Paulie is slowly catching/passing up Thome in terms of production, but I think pitched fear Thome more.

-Thome continued his scoring streak. I wonder what the record is for most consecutive games scoring a run and for most consecutive games scoring a run to start a season.

-Contreras pitched a gem. One hit in seven innings. He's our been our best pitcher this season.

-Logan and Politte pitched well in relief.

-AJ went 0-3 and JD went 0-4 lowering their averages to .286 and .294 respectively. This is significant because they are now our only to players with an avg in the .200's. Everyone else was in the .100's or .300's, quite the statistical anomaly.

-This is how game 1 against the Royals in KC should have gone. I'm glad we didn't cough up another huge lead to these guys.

-How embarassing is it to be the only team that has lost to the Royals?

Sox Player of the Game




Jose Contreras (2)









Sox Record: 8-5

Game 13

In the first Contreras retired the Royals in order.
Iguchi singled and advanced to second on Mays' wild pitch. Thome walked and Paulie hit a three-run jack. 3-0 Sox. Dye reached on an error. Pierzynski reached on a fielder's choice, Dye out at second. Crede homered to left, scoring AJ. 5-0 Sox.

Both teams were scoreless in the second.

Mays and Contreras both pitched a perfect third.

Grudzielanek doubled breaking up Contreras' no-hit bid in the fourth.
The Sox went down in order.

The Royals failed to score in the fifth.
Podsednik doubled and advanced to third on Iguchi's single. Thome singled, scoring Podsednik. 6-0 Sox. Konerko doubled, scoring Iguchi and advancing Thome to third. 7-0 Sox.

The Royals were hitless in the sixth.
Uribe led off with a double. Podsednik singled, scoring Uribe. 8-0 Sox. Peralta came on in relief.

Contreras pitched a perfect seventh.
Gload led off with a walk. AJ walked. Ozuna singled, scoring Gload. 9-0 Sox.

Logan came on in relief for Contreras in the eighth and retired the side.
Gobble came on in relief and retired the side order.

Politte finished off the ninth.

The Fun Police

Apparently we don't like fun on the South Side anymore.

First the tarp dive ban and now this.

It seems Reinsdorf doesn't like long hair and he wants Crede and AJ to get a trim. Check it here.
Ozzie says it's an old rule, but I dunno.

Game 13 Preview

To kick off the three game set we have...

Mays 0-1, 12.86 pitching for the Royals

and

Contreras 1-0, 1.93 pitching for the Sox

I expect to see Uribe and Anderson back in the starting line up

Sittin Pretty

I forgot to mention, the Sox are currently tied for first in the Central. They've already spent more days out of first this year than all of last year. (They were first the whole season, last year)

PS. If you look on the sidebar, the AL Central standings are posted.

No Encore Tarp Dive

Kiss this goodbye!

Apparently we no longer wish to have fun here on the South Side, because both Kenny Williams and Ozzie Guillen want Buehrle to quit tarp diving. Check out the article here. That's SO dumb. The one reward for the poor fans that sat through the rain delay was Buehrle sliding around out there. I honestly think he has a better chance of getting hurt walking up the dugout steps than he does sliding on the tarp.
This makes me real angry. This is such a petty thing, and there shouldn't be punishment for this (there's a rumor of Buehrle getting fined). I can understand Kenny disapproving, because he is all business, but I'm Shocked (with a capital S) that Ozzie doesn't like it.
This is just dumb! Let the man slide.

Game 12 Thoughts

-Pods had his best game of the season. 2 for 3 with a triple and a SB. He also forced a balk. With the way things are going for him this season, I thought for sure the game was going to be cancelled and his stats for the day wiped clean. Luckily, though, they played long enough for us to get the win. Pods needs to springboard off this performance and get rolling.

-Tadahito followed up yesterday's spectacular play in the field yesterday with a pretty big blunder. Granted the field was a mud pit and there was standing water on the field, but his error could have potentially cost us the game. I don't know if it's just me, but at times Tadahito has looked a bit shaky in the field. I'm still in awe of his play yesterday though.

-Another blast for Thome. This continues his scoring streak, which now stands at 12 straight games. I don't know if I like the fact that Thome got waved home on Paulie's double. It's good to challenge the outfielder, but we were basically taking a 50-50 risk. Either, the play is botched and Thome scores, or the throw is on line and Thome is out by 5 feet. We scored, so it worked out, but I still can't decide if I like the call or not.

-Who's better to have out there, Mackowiak or Anderson? I want to see Anderson back in there. He is the day-to-day starter at center, and I think if he can just continue taking some hacks he'll right his ship.

-Wow, Crede is batting .324, I don't know where that came from. I don't know how it got that high all of a sudden. Atta way Joe C.

-Prettty good outing by Freddy today. If you told me before the game he would pitch a complete game, I would have been thrilled. He did do that, but not quite in the traditional manner. Garcia had good stuff going for him before the first rain delay. I was glad to see that he was able to continue after the stoppage. His control suffered toward the end of his outing. I want to attribute that to fatigue after sitting through a rain delay, which is real hard to do; and to having to pitch in the rain. It couldn't have been easy to pitch in that rain. The one big minus for Freddy was when he stared down Tadahito after he botched the grounder. It was a big play, but all that stare down can do is build animosity and put extra pressure on Iguchi.

-Both homers today came with 2 outs, meaning we scored 4 of 6 runs with 2 outs. I don't have access to the proper stats, but I would venture to guess that the Sox are toward the top of the league in the 2-out RBI category.

-It's lucky that we jumped out to a big lead. Had it been a tie game or a closer game, I think the umps would have called the game earlier. The field was one giant slop fest. On the bright side, we did get to see the traditional Mark Buehrle tarp dive.

-We won the series against the Blue Jays, that's a good win for us. Now I want to see us take 3 out of 3 against the Royals, and redeem ourselves for the pitiful showing in KC.
Sox Player of the Game




Jim Thome (2)







Sox Record: 7-5

Game 12

In the first Garcia pitched a perfect inning for the Sox.
Podsednik led off with a triple off of towers and scored on Iguchi's single. 1-0 Sox. Iguchi stole second and scored on Dye's two-run homer. 3-0 Sox.

The Blue Jays were held scoreless in the second.
Podsednik singled and stole second. He advanced to third on Towers' balk, and scored on Thome's two-run homer. 5-0 Sox.

Garcia recorded one out in the third. The game was then interrupted by a rain delay. Once play resumed, Garcia finished out the inning.
Downs came in relieved Towers and pitched a scoreless inning.

Garcia pitched a perfect fourth.
Thome singled, and advanced to third on Konerko's double. Thome ran home, and scored on a misplay by Molina. 6-0 Sox.

In the fifth, Hinske led off with a walk. He advanced to third on McDonald's single. Adams singled scoring Hinske. 6-1 Sox. Catalanotto walked, loading the bases. Welss walked, scoring McDonald. 6-2 Sox. Overbay walked, scoring Adams. 6-3 Sox. Molina grounded to Iguchi, who misplayed the ball. Catalanotto scored on the error. 6-4 Sox. Hinske struck out to end the inning.

There was a 50 minute rain delay, before the game was finally called.
Sox win.

Game On

Alright, looks like we're starting up again.

Game 12 Preview

In the rubber match we got...

Towers 0-2, 6.75 pitching for the Blue Jays

and

Garcia 1-1, 9.00 pitching for the Sox

Happy Easter everyone!

Top Play

Tadahito's amazing play was number one on SportsCenter's top ten list tonight. I suggest you go watch it, cuz it's ridiculous.

(technically the play was number 2, because they gave the top spot to Jackie Robinson day, but of all acutal plays for today, Tadahito's was the top)

I'll see if I can post video of the play, but I've never tried that so I dunno if I can even do it.

Game 11 Thoughts

-Check out the comment on earlier posts, because I'm bouncing a lot off of what anonymous said. (I'm pretty sure Anonymous is Ozzie=God, who really should sign in when he does that, but oh well)

-Buehrle did come up big again for the Sox when they needed a win. The pitching has been bad, to say the least in the past two games. Buehrle pitched quickly and efficiently. He got the win and saved the bullpen from more work.

-I'm positive this is what Kenny Williams envisioned when he traded for Thome. Thome carried us for the beginning of the season, and there was a small window where he and Paulie were both killing the ball. Now that Thome is starting to fall (a little bit) back to earth, Paulie is carrying the Sox. This begs the question, what happens if both guys slump? Does it fall onto JD's shoulders to carry the offensive burden?

-Pods did in fact get a hit. Slightly raising his avg to .079, still well below the Mendoza line.

-Cintron looks to be another steal for Kenny Williams. His big moves may not always pan out, but the small mundane looking moved play huge dividends for us. See, Juan Uribe for Aaron Miles, and the Bobby Jenks pick-up.

-Speaking of Jenks, he was pretty solid today. He was helped by a great play by Tadahito. I still would like to see him get a 1-2-3 inning for the save, but at least he didn't give up any runs.

-Thome's streak of scoring has continued. He's scored in every single game this season (11 games for thos of you keeping track at home.)

-Paulie had two, two-run jacks. Both with two outs. I guess two is a magic number after all.

-Jermiane Dye got his second SB of the season. He is now the team leader. You hear that Pods?

-I may sound bitter about Pods, but that's only because I like him. When he's on he's a force for us, but man is he looking ugly these days.

-Rubbermatch is tomorow. A win and it's been a successful series against a potential playoff team.

Sox Player of the Game




Paul Konerko (1)







Sox Record: 6-5

Game 11

In the first Johnson led off for the Blue Jays with an infield single off of Buehrle. Rios followed with a two run homer. 2-0 Blue Jays.
Burnett walked Thome and he scored on Konerko's two-run homer. 2-2 Tie.

Buehrle pitched a perfect second inning.
The Sox threatened but were held scoreless.

In the third, both teams were held scoreless.

In the fourth, both teams failed to score.

Buehrle pitched a perfect fifth inning.
Iguchi singled and Konerko hit another two-run homer. 4-2 Sox.

The sixth was scoreless.

Schoenweis came on in relief in the seventh for Burnett and pitched a perfect inning.
Buehrle pitched a scoreless inning.

Speier came on in relief for the Blue Jays in the eighth.
The Blue Jays failed to get a hit.

Jenks came on in relief in the ninth and notched the save, giving up one hit.

Just What the Doctor Ordered

The Sox really righted their ship against Detroit. After the KC series, they were reeling and people were pronouncing their downfall left and right (even though it was still the first week of the season). The Sox went out on the road against a hot team and swept the series. That is great. They salvaged this road trip with the sweep. I said at the get go that I wanted them to go 5-1 on the trip; they went 4-2, which isn't bad. The Sox need to keep thi momentum and take the series against Toronto. They're catching a break with Halladay out, so there's no reason why we shouldn't take 2 out of 3.

Game 9 Thoughts

-Bring out the brooms!

-Thome is unreal. Another homer and another double. That's four straight games with a homer. He's also scored in every single game this season; that's damn impressive. If you track back to spring training. He's hit a homer in 14 of 16 games. I'm in awe of this man. He's hitting for power to all parts of the field; his homer today was to left.

-Another poor performance by Garland. Again, he was staked to a big lead, and again he squandered it, making the Sox sweat what should have been an easy game. I'm not trying to make excuses for him, but maybe these big leads are changing his mind set. Maybe, with the big lead he's more concerned about just getting the ball in play to make outs. Also, this is rather coincidental, but both times he's pitched, he's had to battle heavy winds. It's possible that this effects his pitches, it may flatten his stuff out.

-Pods had another iffy day. Bad error in the field, and no hits (no surprise). He did, however, score two runs, which is at least something. We actually got something out of the leadoff spot today.

-You usually don't see too many triples, let alone two by the same guy. Cintron did well at the plate.

-McCarthy gave up two runs today. Oh well, he still pitched decently during his three inning outing. I still trust him and Cotts the most out of the bullpen.

-Geez, Thornton made me sweat after he loaded the bases up. He needs to get a nice out pitch. He won't get by for too long just throwing straight heat. If he had a big 12-6 curve, he'd be absolutely beastly.

Sox Player of the Game

Jim Thome (1)

Sox Record: 5-4

(Over .500!)

Game 9

In the first Iguchi and Thome hit back to back jacks off of Verlander. 2-0 Sox.
Granderson singled for Detroit off of Garland, and advanced to second on a wild pitch. He advanced to third and scored on successive ground outs by Polanco and Rodriguez. 2-1 Sox.

The Sox and the Tigers were held scoreless in the second.

In the third Thome walked with two outs. Konerko followed with a single, Thome advanced to third. On a wild pitch by Verlander, Konerko moved to second. Dye singled home Thome and Paulie. 4-1 Sox. Pierzynski doubled, scoring Dye. 5-1 Sox. Crede singled home AJ. 6-1 Sox. Grilli came on for Verlander, and gave up a triple to Cintron, scoring Crede. 7-1 Sox.
The Tigers failed to score.

Podsednik led the fourth with a walk and scored on Thome's double. 8-1 Sox. Dye singled, scoring Thome. 9-1 Sox.
Young singled and scored on Shelton's homer. 9-3 Sox.

In the fifth, Crede doubled and scored on Cintron's triple. 10-3 Sox.
Rodriguez singled and scored on Ordonez's homer. 10-5 Sox. Shelton doubled and scored on Guillen's double. 10-6 Sox. Guillen scored on Monroe's single. 10-7 Sox.

The Sox were held scorless in the sixth.
McCarthy came on in relief for Garland. Polanco doubled and scored on Rodriguez's single. 10-8 Sox.

In the seventh, Anderson walked and then Podsednik was beaned. Spurling came on in relief and gave up a double to Iguchi, scoring Anderson and Pods. 12-8 Sox. Thome was intentionally walked and Iguchi scored on Paulie's single. 13-8 Sox.
McCarthy pitched a perfect inning.

The Sox were held scoreless in eighth.
Infante doubled. He advanced to third and scored on groundouts by Granderson and Polanco. 13-9 Sox.

The ninth was scoreless.

Game 9 Preview

Sox go for the sweep.

Garland 0-1, 15.19
Vs.
Verlander 1-0, 0.00

Game 8 Thoughts

-A nice win for the Sox today. They've got a little three game streak going now. They get to go for the sweep tomorow.

-Thome is continuing on his tear. He hit homer number 5 and another double.

-Speaking of doubles, Scott Podsednik led the game off with a double, but made a bad baserunning mistake and got himself out. Maybe he's pressing too hard, trying to make something happen.

-Juan Uribe got an intentional walk with two outs. That's right, Juan Uribe, who is batting .167 was intentionally walked. That doesn't say much about what people think of Brian Anderson, huh?

-The bottom of the order, like I said before is just a black hole. It's where innings go to die. Crede's at .208, Juan is at .167 and Anderson is at .182. That run of terrible-ness wraps around to Pods who is at .067. Looking on the bright side, at least none of them are putting up a streak like Robin Ventura did when he started 0-20something.

-The middle of the order is hitting real well and carrying the team. 2-6 the lowest average is .290 by Paulie. That's damn impressive.

-Contreras had the best pitching performance of any pitcher for the Sox this season. He gave up one run and scattered six hits over 8 innings. As Cheat noted from http://southsidesox.com/, Contreras mixed in a slider today to go with his standard fastball and forkball/splitter. I'm surprised Ozzie left him out there that long. He ended up with 110 pitches, which is pretty high to begin with, not to mention it's still April.

-I don't know what to make of the homer that Jenks gave up to Shelton. I mean, first off it should have been a one run job, but Anderson misplayed Magglio's flyball. Also, it's freakin' Chris Shelton. If you've been living in a hole this season, Shelton is batting .500 (playing in every game) with 6 HR, 2 3b, a .587 OBP, a 1.321 SLG, and an obscene 1.888 OPS. So I don't know whether to peg that homer on Jenks or on Shelton tearing the cover off of the ball right now.

-Of all the batters that are struggling, I'm okay with Crede. He is still producing RBI-wise and with his glove. And I guess I can let Anderson slide; afterall, he is a rookie. No one should expect Torii Hunter like numbers yet.


(New feature)
Sox Player of the Game
(and how many times he's been PoG before)

Jose Contreras (1)

Game 8

In the first, Podsednik doubled off of Robertson, but was stranded.
Contreras pitched a 1-2-3 inning.

In the second inning, both teams were held scoreless

Robertson and Contreras both pitched perfect innings in the third.

In the fourth Thome hit a homer. 1-0 Sox.
Contreras pitched another perfect inning.

In the fifth, both teams failed to score.

In the sixth Iguchi walked with one out. Thome doubled, Tadahito to third. Konerko singled, scoring Tadahio and Thome. 3-0 Sox. Konerko advanced on an error and scored on Crede's sac fly. 4-0 Sox.
Monroe hit a solo homer for the Tigers. 4-1 Sox.

Both teams went down 1-2-3 in the seventh.

The Sox and the Tigers failed to score in the eighth.
Spurling pitched for the Tigers.

In the ninth Rodney pitched a perfect inning for the Tigers.
Jenks came on for the save for the Sox. Ordonez doubled and scored on Shelton's homer, 4-3 Sox, before Jenks recorded the save.


White Sox Record: 4-4

Baseball Tonight

I was just watching Baseball Tonight, and I must say Bronson Arroyo's homerun was ridiculous. A pitcher(!) hit one on to Waveland Ave.

Also, it looks like Roy Halladay is going to miss his scheduled start against the Sox. That's great news for us.

Comparison

It's still early in the season, but let's take a look at how at how these three slugger's match up.

(avg/OBP/SLG)
Paulie - .259/.344/.444 with 1 HR and 4 RBI

Thome - .318/.516/.909 with 4 HR and 7 RBI

Frank - .091/.200/.273 with 1 HR and 4 RBI
Thomas

Frank is one of the all time greats, but Kenny did a good job by upgrading the DH position with Thome.

Long Distance

For those of you who saw Thome's last home run, you can attest to the fact that it was a blast. It went 8-9 rows deep in the bleachers, and Comerica is widely acknowledged as a pitcher's park with a cavernous outfield. With that in mind, it's interesting that that home run was actually the shortest of his four so far this season. He "only" hit it 404 ft; that's a testament to how hard Thome is hitting the ball right now.

Congrats Freddie

Congrats to Freddie Garcia on career win number 100.

Santana

Johan Santana has started the season with 0-2 record and a 5.73 ERA.
That one of the more shocking storylines of the season for me.

Game 7 Thoughts

-This was a good win for the Sox. They've got some momentum going.
-Podsednik is letting his poor batting effect his play in the field. I think the best thing for him right now, would be to lean into a pitch and steal a base.
-Joe Crede= a wizard with the glove.
-Nice to finally see a Non-Thome Homer. I guess he won't have to hit 200 homers after all.
-It was even nicer seeing another Thome homer. I guess talk of his demise can't be thrown out.
-McCarthy is real solid for us in the bullpen. Since I'm not a pitcher, I don't know if this notion holds any water, but I'd like to think that since McCarthy has been a starter for most of his career, he has the arm strength to pitch often and to pitch long(er) outings. If McCarthy can continually give us solid 2-4 inning performances, we'll be in good shape.
-Jenks pitched well today. I think he may be getting his swagger back, as is the rest of the team.
-Garcia looked much better than last time out. He didn't solely rely on off-speed stuff. He did seem to be throwing harder too, but I don't think his velocity is quite up to last season's standard.
-Paulie is hitting the ball real well right now. Having him and Thome rolling is great news for the Sox, but their potential RBI numbers are going to be really hampered by the Pods slump. If all three get rolling, watch out!

Tomorow a big day for us. Let's see what happens.

White Sox Record: 2-4

Game 7

The first inning was scoreless for both teams. Podsednik did have an error though.

In the top of the second, the Sox wasted Paulie's leadoff double.
Monroe homered with Guillen on base, for the Tigers. 2-0 Tigers.

The Sox tied the score in the third with Thome's two run homer. He scored behind Tadahito. 2-2.
Detroit went down 1-2-3.

In the fourth inning neither team scored.

The Sox threatened in the fifth with men on 1st and 3rd, but came away empty-handed.
Tigers sat down 1-2-3.

In the sixth Konerko walked and scored on Crede's homer. 4-2 Sox.
Rodriguez singled and stole second. He scored on Shelton's double. 4-3 Sox.

The Sox went down 1-2-3 in the seventh.
McCarthy came on in relief and gave up just one hit.

Walker came on in relief for the Tigers in the eighth. He gave up a solo shot to Konerko.
McCarthy pitched another inning of one hit ball.

Both teams went out without a hit in the ninth. Jenks got the save for the Sox.

Games 5 and 6

I'm sorry that I wasn't able to put up the game recaps for the two games over the weekend. By the time I got home I realized it would have been pointless to post, since everyone would have already seen or read about the game. Instead I'll just give my general comments about the games.

Game 5 (Saturday)

-It was nice to see Pods finally get on base.
-Vazquez pitched a real nice ball game.
-Politte's stat line may look ugly after losing Saturday's game, but the pitch he made wasn't terrible. It was a decent pitch, but Sweeney still sent it for a ride.
-I thought for sure the Sox would win Saturday after getting their jocks handed to them on Friday, and I was doubly sure after they scored two in the eighth. Oh well, they did play well at least. (I was still pissed they lost, but at least they played decent)
-Every game that Thome plays, makes Kenny Williams look smarter and smarter.

Game 6 (Sunday)

-God bless Mark Buehrle. Whenever we need a win, he comes through.
-He breezed through the game. Inning 3-6 seemed to take on five minutes. If I hadn't been watching so intently, I probably would have assumed Sweeney battled Buehrle in a long ass AB, because it felt like only a couple of minutes between AB's for him.
-I'm still waiting for a non-Thome homer. At this rate, he'll single-handedly have to hit 200 homers for the Sox to keep up their streak.
-Speaking of Thome, he's tearing it up.
-It's good to see that JD has no lingering effects from his calf injury.
-I'm glad Ozzie decided to play all 9 of his starters for once, granted there were some injuries before, but still.
-The bottom of the order is hurting us bad right now. 8-9-1. That streak right is tough to swallow. Anderson is scuffling a bit, he needs to pick it up.
-Joe Crede is one damn good fielder. He better win a gold glove this year. He actually has a good shot at it. His post-season dramatics got his name in to the public's eye, so he may be able to snag the award.
-Jenks threw the ball hard...and it got hit hard. Still don't know what to make of him, especially considering he has had minimal work.

-Losing two games to the Royals is ridiculous. Hopefully they springboard off of Buehrle's performance and run off a nice streak of performances. I will not be happy if the Sox lost their series against the Tigers. I don't care how hot they are; 2 out of 3 is a must, and 3 out of 3 would actually salvage this road trip.

Sox Record: 2-4

P.S. Cubs fans, I don't want to hear it. It's still early in the season, and 1908 is, still, well 1908.

Quick News

I'm going to be out of town this weekend. I don't know if I have access to a computer, so I'll try my best to get my recaps of the game up, but if I can't, expect them Sunday night.

And welcome to our newest contributor Dale!

Dye Out

Looks like Jermaine Dye is out again today.

Thoughts on Game 4

-The game started off perfectly for the Sox. The first six batters reached base. To illustrate how things were going, Joe Crede tagged up from second. Slow Joe tagged up!

-Wow! That's what happens when you play an infielder in the outfield Ozzie, you get Pablo Ozuna looking like a fool. Ozuna awfully misplayed a ball hit to him. He ran way to deep and couldn't properly recover to make the catch.

-Garland was pitching well until the fourth. I don't know if he got rattled by Ozuna's drop or if the wind was affecting his pitches, but the wheels really fell of for him after that drop. He ended up with 9 ER, but I don't agree with that number. I can't believe they're not charging Ozuna with an error. The ball did hit his glove when he botched that play. Garland shouldn't be charged with all those runs.

-Another botched play by Ozuna. Ozuna stopped well short of the ball. I think he was worried about hitting the wall, but he wasn't even on the warning track. I can't believe I'm saying this, but where's Timo Perez when you need him?

-Why didn't Gload get the start?

-It was nice to see Paulie didn't hit into another double play. He's falling off his record pace. He played real well, but I would still like to see him get at least one hit to the opposite field. When he does that, I'll know he's really in a groove.

-Man our fielding absolutely killed us today! I know that that ball bounced up off the weird bump at the edge of the infield, but that still led to more runs.

-Thornton had some good velocity today. One pitch was clocked at 101. (Hawk thought it was more likely at 96). He pitched so-so. He's more of a spot guy, he isn't meant to stay out there that long; I think Ozzie just conceded today's game by keeping Thornton out there.

-The one bright spot after the fourth inning was that catch by Mackowiak. It's good to see that he didn't give up on the game. Good job Rob.

-Man, this game was such a waste. We were cruising; we were up 6-0 and had the game won. They better turn things around and win this series and go into Detroit with a head of steam.

Sox Record: 1-3

Game 4

In the first inning Ozuna kicked things off with a single, and stole second. Iguchi and Thome walked, loading the bases. Konerko doubled to left off the wall scoring two. 2-0 Sox. Crede singles, scoring Thome from third. 3-0 Sox. Uribe singled scoring Paulie. 4-0 Sox. Widger flied out, Crede tags to third. Mackowiak grounds out, scoring Crede. 5-0 Sox.
The Royals went out 1-2-3.

The second was scoreless.

Konerko singled to start the third. Uribe doubled, Paulie to third. Widger hit a sac fly, scoring Konerko. 6-0 Sox.
The Royals went out 1-2-3.

The Sox were held scoreless in the fourth.
The Grudzielanek singled to center. Sweeney walked. Sanders singled, scoring Grudzielanek. 5-1 Sox. Brown doubled scoring Sweeney. 5-2 Sox. Berroa doubled, scoring Sanders and Brown. 5-4 Sox. Buck doubled, scoring Berroa. 5-5.

Wood came on to pitch the fifth. Konerko singled. Crede doubled to left. Widger grounds out, scoring Konerko. 6-5 Sox.
Grudzielanek walked. Sweeney doubled. Grudzielanek scored on a wild pitch by Garland. 6-6. Mientkiewicz hit a sac fly, scoring Sweeney. 7-6 KC.

The Sox were held scoreless in the sixth inning.
Berroa singled to first, scoring on a double by Buck. 8-6 KC. Thornton came on in relief. DeJesus doubled, scoring Buck. 9-6 KC.

Dessens sat the Sox down in order in the seventh.
Brown walked, and got to second and third on a wild pick off by Thornton. Teahen singled scoring Brown. 10-6 KC.

The Sox were held scoreless again in the eighth.
Grudzielanek stated the inning with a triple. He scores on a fielder's choice hit by Mientkiewicz. 11-6 KC.

The Sox were held scoreless to close the game in the ninth.

PABLO

Get Pablo off the field! He's not an outfielder!

Full thoughts and recap on the game will follow; I just had to yell at Pablo real quickly.

Game 4 Lineup

Pablo Ozuna is playing left field for the slumping Podsednik. Also, we're facing a lefty today, which is definitely part of the reason chose to sit the lefty Podsednik.

As I'm typing this, we got our first hit out of the leadoff spot.

Rob Mackowiak is playing right-field for Jermaine Dye. Jermaine's calf still must be messed up.

Ozuna just stole second, barely. The cathcer make a helluva throw.

Chris Widger is in for AJ Pierzynski.

Non White Sox Baseball News

Eric Gagne is back on the shelf. He has to undergo elbow surgery. The extent of his injury is unknown, but it sounds like he's going to be out for sometime. I don't know if Gagne will be able to come back and close out games like he used to. Regardless of whether he regains his old form when he returns or not. Gagne had one of the greatest runs as a closer ever.

Jimmy Rollins' 38/2 (depending on how you look at things) game hit streak is over. He went Ofer today. Although I wanted him to continue, we can finally lay to rest the incessant arguing over whether or not his record would have been legit.

MLB Catalog

I thought this was interesting.
I got the MLB Spring Catalog today. On the front cover were four big pictures. One was David Ortiz, one was Mariano Rivera, one was Roy Oswalt, and last but not least, our very own Mark Buehrle.
It seems like the Chi-Sox are getting some major respect these days.

On the Road Again...

The Sox are on the road for the next six games. They play a set in KC and then three more in Detroit.
I want to see the Sox take 5 out of 6 on this short road trip.

Missing in Action

Joe Crede missed the rubber match against the Indians due to the flu. He is day to day.

Apparently Jermaine Dye had a knot in his calf. I don't know what this means; is that a cramp? Check the link here, from the White Sox website. Once more is known about his status I'll update.

Thoughts on Game 3

Contreras started out poorly, but recovered and pitched a great game. After letting up two runs in the first, he looked like the post All-Star break Contreras.

Scott Podsednik isn't looking so hot right now. His batting average is .000 as is OBP, which isn't up to scratch for a leadoff hitter. Maybe, he really is hurt.

Jermaine Dye left in the second inning with a strained calf. No word on how long he'll be hurt for. He was playing real well before getting hurt as is Tadhito Iguchi who went 3-4 today.

Paulie got his first hit today, but also had another GIDP. That's three in three games. He's really scuffling right now.

McCarthy pitched real well again. He had a wicked, knee buckling curve working for him today. Too bad he didn't get to pitch the eighth.

Ozzie had a poor game today.

• He should have left McCarthy in for the eighth. I don't know why he would put in a rookie like Boone Logan in such a pressure packed situation. You generally want to allow a guy like that to build his confidence in low pressure situations.
• The Sox had first and third with one out in back to back innings (the 8th and 9th) but didn't score either time. I was expecting to see the squeeze play on. The Sox should have scored in either situation and won the ball game in regulation.

Game 3

In the top of the first inning the Indians scored two runs. Michaels scored on a sac fly by Martinez. Contreras walked the bases loaded and then plunked Belliard, scoring Peralta. Indians up 2-0.
The second and third were scoreless.
In the fourth Tadahito hit a double and scored on Mackowiak's single. 2-1 Indians.
The fifth was scoreless.
The Sox scored twice in the second half of the sixth. With the bases loaded, Pierzynski was hit by a pitch, forcing home Thome from third. 2-2. Miller came in to pitch for Cliff Lee and gave up a sac fly to Uribe, scoring Konerko. 3-2 Sox.
McCarthy came in to pitch for Contreras in the top of the seventh and gave up a single. In the bottom of the seventh Sauerbeck came in to pitch for the Indians.
In the eighth Boone Logan came on in relief. He gave up a solo shot to Haffner. 3-3. In the bottom half Mota got the Indians out of a 1st and 3rd, one out jam.
Cotts came in the ninth to get the final out.
The tenth was scoreless.
In the eleventh Blake singled and scored on Michaels double. 4-3 Indians. Jenks came on to record the final out of the inning. Wickman pitched a perfect inning for the save.

Sox Record: 1-2

Freddy

I didn't get to see Tuesday's game live, so I taped it.
I watched it today and was shocked at the velocity of Garcia's pitches and the frequency that he threw off-speed stuff. According to the gun on Comcast, he didn't reach the 90's which is shocking for a power pitcher like Freddy. Hawk and DJ commented that the gun may be a bit off, but Freddy's pitches still seemed to lack heat. I don't know what the deal is with Freddy. He might be hurt, he might be tired after logging 228 innings in the regular season, plus pitching in the post-season and the WBC, or he may still be getting into a groove.
Hopefully it's the last of the three.

Nuts

We lost again, nuts! Re-cap coming.

Tie Game

I just got back home in time to see the Sox have 1st and 3rd, with one out in back to back innings, and we didn't score either time. DAMNIT! If we lose this game I'll be real mad.

The score is tied 3-3, by the way

Rings

I didn't mention that the Sox got their rings today.
They were designed by Reinsdorf's wife.

Aaron Rowand was there and received the biggest cheer from the crowd. Rowand got big hugs from his former teammates and then started to break down a bit.

According to the Trib

According to the Chicago Tribue, the Sox are looking at Texas' left-handed reliever Fabio Castro. Even though they already have three lefty relievers.
I don't know how serious these rumors are, but I Kenny is never one to stand pat with his team.

Thoughts on Game 2

Today was an ugly game. This must be what Indian fans felt like on Sunday.
Keep in mind Sox fans, that it is still early in the season; today's loss is nothing to worry about. One loss isn't anything to get worked up about; there's still 100+ games left. If we take tomorows game, that would make this series a success.
So we'll see what happens.
And as I've been asked by a good number of Cubs fans, yes, I am aware that the Cubs are now the only undefeated team left in Chicago. I just hope y'all are aware that the last time the Cubs won it all was 1908. 'Nuff said!

Game 2

Today was not nearly as pretty for the Sox.
They lost 8-2.
Alex Cintron got the start at Second and Rob Mackowiak got the start in CF.
Freddy Garcia was starting for the Sox.

The first inning was scoreless for both teams, with Cintron getting a single for the Sox.
In the top of the second the Martinez hit a solo shot for the Indians.
The third inning was scoreless for both teams, but the fourth was when the floodgates opened.
In the fourth inning posted three runs, putting them up 4-0. The Sox did get a run back in the bottom half; Thome blasted another homer.
In the fifth, Freddy let in a run, and left two men on before giving way to Boone Logan. Boone allowed those two guys to score making it 7-1 Indians.
The sixth was mostly uneventful.
In the seventh Aaron bleeping Boone hit a solo shot off of Cotts. Mackowiak grounded out, scoring Pierzynski in the second half of the inning.
The rest of the game was scoreless.

Freddy ended up giving up 7 runs on 9 hits. Boone Logan pitched two scoreless innings, but allowed two inherited runners to score. Cotts made one mistake, giving up the homer, and Jenks pitched a scoreless ninth.

Sox record: 1-1

ESPN Baseball

One thing I didn't like about Opening Day was the fact that it was on ESPN. I really hate the ESPN anouncers, namely Joe Morgan. They said some ridiculous and idiotic things yesterday. (If you feel the same way, go to www.firejoemorgan.blogspot.com, it's quite funny)
I missed Hawk and DJ yesterday.

For Future Reference

Just some notes for the future of the blog.

-I won't be giving such in depth breakdowns of each games, yesterday was special because it was Opening Day, but I will at least try to summarize the big moments and each time a team scores.

-I'll post the 2006 season stats, probably on Wednesday, after the completion of the first series, and then try and update them once a week. It's a big chore, but I'll do my best to keep them current.

Kenny Williams Interview

Here's a link to John Donovan's interview of Kenny Williams.
It's a pretty good read, and pretty interesting.

C.C. Sabathia

Good news for the Sox, it looks as though C.C. is going to be placed on the DL after pulling an oblique. He was sidelined with a similar injury last year, and ended up missing 6 weeks. Each start he misses, is a benefit for the Sox.

Opening Game: Post-Game

These are just my quick hit reflections on the game and the day as a whole.

-April 2, 2005 was a truly memorable day.
We saw a World Series banner raised for the first time in 88 years, and we had a White Sox win.
-I'm a little upset about the rain, but not because it stopped the game for three hours. I'm upset because I wanted to see how Buehrle would pitch when he didn't have his best stuff.
-We did get to see that ou bullpen can in fact carry the load when called upon.
Well, they did this time at least.
-Jim Thome's homer was awesome! It's nice to see him doing that for us, instead of against us.
-We scored 10 runs and Paulie went 0-4; that would have been quite the feat last year.
-I forgot to mention, Matt Thornton pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, that right there is just about as impressive as Thome's homer. I had a strong hunch that he would flame out. Hopefully I was wrong.
-Gotta love the Booooooooone chant for Boone Logan.
-It's quite a luxury having McCarthy in the 'pen.
-The Sox did a good job scoring runs yesterday. They manufactured runs and belted runs in. Their philosophy hasn't really changed from last year.
-The only thing that really bothered me about the game, was when Tadahito rushed his throw home and the ball bounced over AJ's glove. I don't know if it was such a bad bounce it made it impossible to catch, but to me it looked like AJ was worried about getting railroaded and short-armed it a bit.


Sox Record: 1-0

Opening Day: Ninth Inning

Top of the Ninth

Belliard singles, otherwise, a clean inning.

Bottom of the Ninth

SOX WIN!

Opening Day: Eighth Inning

Top of the Eighth

Politte is pitching now.
Blake doubles.
10-4 Sox, Blake scores eventually on a sac fly by Peralta.

Bottom of the Eighth

Betancourt is pitching for the Indians.
Cintron pinch hits for Thome and strikes out.
Gload pinch hits for Dye and lines out.

Opening Day: Seventh Inning

Top of the Seventh

Third straight 1, 2, 3 inning.

Bottom of the Seventh

Sauerbeck is pitching for the Indians.
Mackowiak is in for Podsednik, and gets plunked.

Opening Day: Sixth Inning

Top of the Sixth

Another 1, 2, 3 inning for McCarthy

Bottom of the Sixth

10-3 Sox, Iguchi scores on Dye's single.

Opening Day: Fifth Inning

Top of the Fifth

McCarty is pitching for the Sox.
1, 2, 3 inning

Bottom of the Fifth

Nice steal by Dye.
7-3 Sox, Dye scores on Pierzynski single.
9-3 Sox, Pierzynski and Crede score on Anderson's single.
Gross, double play from the outfield to end the inning.