Game 52 Thoughts

-Today was frustrating, I'll leave it at that.

-Garcia didn't pitch that poorly. His line got skewed by Mackowiak and Politte.

-It seems like I say this a lot, but had Anderson been playing, he would have made that catch. But he wasn't in, so instead it was scored as a triple.

-Politte, of course, let Sizemore score. He hasn't pitched a 1-2-3 inning since May 15. Politte is becoming less and less reliable.

-The Sox were bound to be shut out, but I figured it would be against a decent pitcher, like a Santana or a Sabathia. We should be able to rock the Jake Westbrook's of the world.

-Cintron should rarely have to bat lefty. He is so much better from the right side.

-The whole vibe of the game yesterday was off. It never felt like we were going to win that game.

- Tiger Watch - Luckily for us, the Tigers have lost their past two games, so we have remained 1.5 games back.

Sox Player of the Game





AJ Pierzynski (3)

Game 52

Sox Lineup

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

Scoring Summary

Westbrook pitched a scoreless first.
Garcia pitched a perfect inning.

The Sox failed to score in the second.
Broussard hit a solo shot. Indians 1-0.

The Sox were held scoreless in the third.
Sizemore singled with one out. Michaels doubled, scoring Sizemore. Indians 2-0.

Both teams failed to put up any runs in the fourth.

Westbrook pitched a perfect fifth.
Boone led off with a single. Merloni sacrificed him over. Sizemore singled, scoring Boone. Indians 3-0.

The Sox were held scoreless in the sixth.
Garcia tossed a 1-2-3 inning.

The Sox sat down in order in the seventh.
Merloni singled with one out. Sizemore tripled, scoring pinch runner Belliard. 4-0 Indians. Politte came on in relief and surrendered an infield single to Michaels which scored Sizemore. 5-0 Indians.

Betancourt came on in relief in the eighth and pitched a perfect inning.
The Indians failed to pad their lead.

Carmona closed out the game with a scoreless ninth.

Indians win 5-0.

Sox Record: 33-19

Game 52 Preview

Freddy Garcia 7-2, 4.31 for The ChiSox

vs.

Jake Westbrook 4-3, 5.58 for the Tribe

This is NOT the rubber match. This is just game 3 of a four game set. With a win, the Sox will earn no worse than a split in this series.

Game 51 Thoughts

-As I figured, this was a low scoring affair. The Sox offense did what should have been enough for the win.

-Beuhrle melted down again after an error. He's turning into pre-2005 Jon Garland. Dye misplayed a ball, and Buehrle absolutely blew up. Maybe he should slow down and take a deep breath after an error, instead of plowing on.

-Ozzie went with an interesting lineup today. I'm not complaining, I'm just saying.

-I meant to pick BA as my pick to click as James suggested, but I wasn't home in time to do it, but he had a so-so game. He reached base once in three plate appearances (2 AB).

-In the hierarchy of who I trust in the bullpen...It now goes, Bobby Jenks, then Matt Thornton, and then Neal Cotts. Thornton put out the fire that Politte tried to start. He pitched two solid innings and gave us a chance to tie/win the game.

-As my faith in Thornton grows, it's the exact opposite for Politte. I'm trusting him less and less.

-I thought we might have gotten something going in the ninth, but Cintron mysteriously swung at the first pitch, rather than let Pods steal second. Cintron is becoming an automatic groundout. At least BA will mix up how he gets out...K...flyout...foulout, but Cintron is a weak grounder to the left side, every time.

-Pabloe gets PotG, almost by default. His double and 2 RBI's basically win it for him.

Sox Player of the Game




Pablo Ozuna (2)

Game 51

Sox Lineup

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

Scoring Summary

Sabathia pitched a perfect first.
Buehrle held the Indians scoreless.

Dye hit a solo shot in the second. Sox 1-0.
The Indians failed to score.

Uribe led off the third with an infield single. Anderson sacrificed Uribe over, and reached first on a throwing error by Martinez. Ozuna doubled, scoring Uribe and Anderson. 3-0 Sox.
Boone kicked off the inning with a single and reached third on an error by Dye. Sizemore was hit by a pitch. Michaels hit a sac fly, scoring Boone. 3-1 Sox. Peralta hit a homer, scoring behind Sizemore. 3-3 Sox. Hafner doubled. Martinez doubled, scoring Hafner. 4-3 Indians.

Both teams failed to score in the fourth.

Neither team scored in the fifth.

Both teams were held scoreless in the sixth.

Cabrera came on in relief in the seventh and pitched a perfect inning.
Politte came on in relief and allowed two baserunners. Thornton came on in relief and closed out the inning.

Retancourt pitched a perfect eighth.
The Indians failed to score.

Wickman closed out the ninth for the save.

Indians win 4-3.

Sox Record: 33-18

Game 51 Preview

Mark Buehrle (L) 6-2, 2.62

vs.

C.C. Sabathia (L) 4-1, 1.52

This is a battle of the lefties. The Sox normally struggle against lefties not named Cliff Lee, and Sabathia has been hot since coming back from injury. It looks like we'll need a good effort from Buehrle.

The Sox Worst Nightmare

The one team I would NOT like to see in the World Series against the Sox...

The Milwuakee Brewers. That's right the Brew Crew.

It's well known how we have struggled against lefties not named Cliff Lee this season, and the Brewers at the moment have four lefties in the their rotation: Jorge de la Rosa, Chris Capuano, Doug Davis, and Dana Eveland.

So in the unlikely event that both the Sox and the Brewers made the World Series, I would be very worried.

Congrats Jimbo

With his two homers today, Jim Thome tied and passed Jeff Bagwell for 30th place on the all-time home run list. He is now two HR back of Carl Yastrzemski.

*Note* Next up after Yaz are Gary Sheffield with 453 and Frank Thomas with 457. Hopefully Thome hits a bunch so he can pass them up. It'll be tough to keep the tracker going with those guys being active, but I'll do my best.

Game 50 Thoughts

-Great overall game by the Sox. The pitchers were dealing and the hitters were belting the ball out.

-Javy pitched well today. His FB had good motion and he had a nasty curve today. He did seem at times on the edge of collapse, but managed to avoid a blow up inning this time around. Hopefully he can build off this performance and continue to pitch well.

-The bullpen did well to hold down the shutout. It would have been easy to just relax and groove the ball in, but Cotts and Nelson pitched effectively.

-The Sox racked up 14 hits and cut their LOB in half from the last game. Bringing their total down from 8 to 4. Only Anderson and AJ failed to get a hit.

-Thome (2x), Konerko, and Uribe all hit bombs, with Dye missing one by about an inch.

-Dye hit for the cycle over the span of the last two days. (game 49 and 50).

-Anderson may have gone hitless but his approach at the plate looks much better. He drew a walk, and worked most of the counts.

-Cliff Lee seems like the only lefty we can hit. We've shelled him both times we've faced him this season.

-Tiger Watch - Los Tigres lost 4-0 to the Yanks. So we're now only 1.5 games back.

Sox Player of the Game





Jim Thome (7)

Game 50

Sox Lineup

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

Scoring Summary

Iguchi doubled off of Lee in the first. Thome followed with a homer. Sox 2-0. Konerko hit an infield single, and Dye walked. Crede singled scoring Konerko. 3-0 Sox. Uribe hit an infield single, scoring Dye. 4-0 Sox.
Vazquez pitched a hitless inning.

Both pitchers pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the second.

Konerko led off the third with a solo homer. 5-0 Sox. Crede singled. Uribe homered, scoring behind Crede. 7-0 Sox. Davis came on in relief and closed out the inning.
The Indians were held scoreless.

Davis and Vazquez pitched a perfect fourth.

Dye led off with a triple in the fifth. Crede hit a sac fly, scoring Dye. 8-0 Sox.
The Indians failed to score.

Mota came on in relief in the sixth. Podsednik singled and scored on Thome's homer. 10-0 Sox.
The Indians were held scoreless.

The Sox failed to score in the seventh.
Cotts came on in relief and pitched a scoreless inning.

The Sox and Indians were retired in order in the eighth.

Sauerbeck relieved Mota in the ninth. Widger hit a double, pinch-hitting for Thome. Gload, in for Konerko, doubled, scoring Widger. 11-0 Sox.
Nelson pitched a scoreless inning to close out the game.

Sox win 11-0!!

Sox Record: 33-17

Game 50 Pick to Click

I like picking guys who are slumping. Hopefully Juan can reward my trust.

Juan had a good game today. He was a stud in the field, and raised his average to above the Mendoza line. He's at .209 now. Juan singled and hit a two run homer, driving in three runs total.

Game 50 Preview

Javier Vazquez 5-3, 4.25 for the Good Guys

vs.

Cliff Lee (L) 3-4, 4.65 for the Bad Guys

We're facing another lefty, but hopefully we can overcome that and win. A win would do wonders for out confidence.

715 and I Hope All I Need to Say About Bonds

I'm glad Barry Bonds hit home run 715. Not because I hope he breaks Aaron's record, or because I like him. I'm glad he hit it so that people can finally start concentrating on important things in baseball. ESPN no longer has to go live to each and every Bonds AB. Maybe now, people will start to pay attention to the Tigers or to the suddenly competitive NL West.

Game 49 Thoughts

-Why am I not surprised? A win by the Sox and another poor start by Garland. He's got to be near the top of the league when it comes to run support.

-We avoided the sweep. I still haven't decided if I should bring out the broom pic if we get swept, but hopefully I'll never have to decide.

-We started the game off the right way. Pods with the leadoff triple, and Garland looking solid at first. But the hits and the pitching started to evaporate as the game wore on. Garland blew up in the 6th.

-It was Paulie's turn to have a crummy game. He went 0-5 with a golden sombrero. Does that mean Dye is next?

-Pods had his 5th error of the season. Gross.

-McCarthy looked a bit better out of the pen. Not spectaclar but better than his recent form.

-Only 8 LOB today. Much better than yesterday.

-Dye was a triple short of the cycle. Great game for him today.

-Tiger Watch- Los Tigres finally lost. Receiving a 9-0 beat down at the hands of the Indians.

Sox Player of the Game




Jermaine Dye (6)

Game 49

Sox Lineup

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

Scoring Summary

Podsednik led off the first with a triple off of Taubenheim. Cintron hit a sac fly, scoring Pods. 1-0 Sox.
Garland pitched a scoreless inning.

Crede led off the second with a walk. Mackowiak followed with a walk. Uribe hit into a fielder's choice, Crede out at third. Pods walked, loading the bases. Cintron singled, scoring Mackwiak. 2-0 Sox. Thome walked, scoring Uribe. 3-0 Sox. On Zaun's error, Podsednik scored. 4-0 Sox.
Overbay hit a solo shot. 4-1 Sox.

Dye doubled in the third. Crede singled, scoring Dye. 5-1 Sox.
Garland pitched a 1-2-3 inning.

Both teams failed to score in the fourth.

Dye led off with a homer in the fifth. 6-1 Sox.
Garland pitched a perfect inning.

The Sox failed to score in the sixth.
Catalanotto hit an infield single. Glaus homered. 6-3 Sox. Overbay followed with a solo shot. 6-4 Sox.

Rosario came on in relief in the seventh and held the Sox scoreless.
Figueroa doubled. McCarthy came on in relief. Figueroa advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Catalanotto's ground out. 6-5 Sox.

In the eighth, Mackowiak hit a solo shot. 7-5 Sox.
McCarthy pitched a perfect inning.

The Sox were held scoreless in the ninth.
Jenks pitched a perfect ninth for the save.

Sox win 7-5!

Sox Record: 32-17

Game 49 Preview

Jon Garland 3-2, 6.12 for the Pale Hose

vs.

Ty Taubenheim 0-1, 4.50 for the J-Birds

We need Jon to pitch well, otherwise, for the first time all season, we're gonna be on the receiving end of a clean sweep.

Game 48 Thoughts

-Absolute gem by Contreras. 7 innings strong, and he only gave up 5 hits and 1 run. You could argue that that 1 run could have been scored as an unearned run. Juan botched a double play ball, like he did against the Cubs, which allowed the run to score instead of ending the movie.

-(I'll stick with the pitching) McCarthy continues to scare me. It seems like he's getting progressively less reliable.

-Thornton got the job done. I think I now rank him higher than McCarthy on the "who I trust coming out of the 'pen" list.

-Damnit Nelson!

-Our offense was piss-poor today. Actually, let me re-phrase. Our offense was piss-poor when there were men on base. 13 LOB. 13, that's far too many. We had the bases loaded twice, and got one run out of it. We failed to score with the bases loaded and 1 out. We made Scott Downs look like K-Rod. He struck out 3 of 5 batters.

-I must give some brownie points to Pablo and BA. Pablo reached base on pure hustle. He laid down a sac bunt, and reached when Zaun hesitated. He also hustled to second and reached base, when most people would have been out. Anderson is taking his recent benchings in stride, and came through with a lead-off single toward the end of the game.

-Thome had a real poor game today. I don't know how many times in his career, he's gone 0-6 with a golden sombrero.

-Tiger Watch- We're now 3.5 games back in the division. Don't freak yet; I'll let you know when it's time to panic.

Sox Player of the Game




Jose Contreras (4)

Game 48

Sox Lineup

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

Scoring Summary

Jannsen pitched a scoreless first inning.
Contreras held the J-Birds scoreless.

Pierzynski singled with one out in the second. Mackowiak walked. Uribe hit an infield single, loading the bases. Pods walked, scoring AJ. 1-0 Sox.
Glaus led off with a single. Overbay grounded out, Glaus to second. Hillenbrand singled, Glaus to third. Zaun hit into a fielder's choice, scoring Glaus. 1-1 Tied.

Both pitchers pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the third.

Neither team scored in the fourth.

Both teams were held scoreless in the fifth.

Downs came on in relief and retired the last two batters in the sixth.
Contreras pitched a perfect inning.

Both teams were retired in order in teh seventh.

Speier came on in relief and pitched a scoreless inning in the eighth.
McCarthy came on in relief. Hill led off with a single. McDonald sacrificed Hill over. Catalanotto doubled, scoring Hill. 2-1 Blue Jays.

Ryan came on in relief in the ninth. Crede led off with a double. Ozuna reached on a throwing error by Zaun, Crede to third. Uribe hit an infield single, scoring Crede. 2-2 Tied.
Thornton pitched a scoreless inning.

The Sox were held scoreless in the tenth.
Nelson came on in relief with one out and closed out the inning.

Frasor recorded the first two outs of the eleventh and Schoenweis recorded the third.
Hillenbrand hit a walk off homer. 3-2 Blue Jays.

Blue Jays win 3-2.

Sox Record: 31-17

Game 48 Preview

Jose Contreras 5-0, 1.90

vs.

Casey Janssen 3-3, 3.46

A loss here and we lose the series, which isn't a good way to start this stretch against winning squads. I have full confidence that The Count will lead us to victory.

Game 47 Thoughts

Game 47

Sox Lineup

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

Scoring Summary

Lilly pitched a perfect first the Blue Jays.
Rios led off with a homer 1-0 Blue Jays.

Konerko led off with a solo shot in the second. 1-1 Tied
Garica pitched a 1-2-3 inning.

The Sox were held scoreless in the third.
Rios led off with a single and stole second. Catalanotto flied out, Rios tagged to third. Wells homered. 3-1 Blue Jays.

The Sox were retired in order in the fourth.
Garcia held the Blue Jays scoreless.

Lilly pitched a perfect fifth.
Glaus homered with one out. 4-1 Blue Jays. Overbay doubled, and stole third. Molina singled, scoring Overbay. 5-1 Blue Jays.

Konerko hit a sole shot in the sixth. 5-2 Blue Jays.
The Blue Jays failed to score. Cotts retired the last two batters of the inning.

Schoeneweis recorded the last out of a scoreless seventh.
Politte came on in relief. Glaus led off with a walk. Overbay singled. Hillenbrand doubled, scoring Glaus. 6-2 Blue Jays. Hill hit a sac fly, scoring Overbay. 7-2 Blue Jays.

Walker pitched a perfect eighth.
Johnson led off with a homer. 8-2 Blue Jays.

The Sox went down in order in the ninth.

The Blue Jays win 8-2

Sox Record: 31-16

They Did the Crime, and Here's the Time

Michael Barrett - 10 game suspension. This isn't surprising at all. He essentially was unprovoked, and started off the whole melee. Barrett will appeal the suspension, but that's just putting off the inevitable.

AJ Pierzynski - No suspension, they got that part right, BUT he is getting fined for 2 Grand!! What the hell? Why are they going half way on this. It seems like MLB wants to punish AJ just for being there. I don't understand. He couldn't have acted in a more proper or less confrontational manner. He got jacked in the face and then sidled away from the resulting mob. Giving him a fine is retarded, but at least he isn't suspended.

Suppsosedly AJ's fine is for inciting the crowd after getting tossed. This is what he said on the Dan Patrick Show.

Brian Anderson - BA is gone for 5 games, so we'll get to see a good amount of Mackowiak. I have no complaints with this; he wailed on Mabry for no real reason.

John Mabry - No suspension, no fine. If AJ gets fined for getting punched, Mabry should get fined for getting wailed on.

Joey Cora - Cora is suspended for 2 games. There's still no word on whether he did bite anyone or not.

Game 47 Preview

Freddy Garcia 7-1, 3.92

vs

Ted Lilly (L) 4-4, 4.15

The Sox are coming off of a nice sweep of the A's. Will they keep their momentum or will the struggle vs the lefty, Lilly?

Offense or Defense in CF?

The question facing Sox fans: is what do we want out of our centerfielder? Offense or defense?
Some are calling for Rob Mackowiak to take over the position, due to the fact that he is hitting a (relatively) robust .276.
The other main faction of Sox fans, want Ozzie to stick with Anderson, citing his vastly superior defense while praying for a turnaround at the plate.
A smaller group are calling for a trade. I've heard Jay Payton, Torii Hunter, among others thrown out there.

I've gotta go inbetween and say platoon the two of them. Yah, call me a wuss, it may be the easy answer, but it makes the most sense.
Right now, it is not killing us that Anderson is struggling to even get a whiff of the Mendoze line; we do after all have the second best record in the bigs. His defense is outstanding, and we all saw what can happen when Mack is in the field. I don't want to mention anything specific, but...ahem, diving and turning a hit (which BA could have made an out) into a triple or, ahem, nearly running into Jermaine Dye.
BUT
There's no sense throwing BA out there against all the tougher pitchers, just so he can strikeout and lose any confidence that he has. Mackowiak is a competent hitter, so I say put him out there against the lefties and the good right handers, and then BA for the other guys. When it comes to late game situations, put in BA for his defense; he really makes a difference.
I like Mack as a utility guy, but not as a starter. He is streaky, he's Juan Uribe streaky. So I don't like him as a long term solution. I also don't like trading for a CF. BA is our CF for the future, there's no sense selling off what little we have left in the minors for a rent a player.

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Game 46 Thoughts

-Sweeeeeeep! Finally get to whip this bad boy out! It's our first 3 game home sweep of the A's since '87. (They took a four game set at home in '97)

-Buehrle pitched a beaut of a game. No ER (1 unearned), which gives him a 21 inning streak without giving up an earned run.

-Mack came up big today, stating his case to take over as the starting CF.

-Mack also stated his case for keeping his utility role, by nearly running into Dye and causing him to drop a ball.

-Oz will probably platoon him with Anderson until either BA gets hot or Mack gets cold.

-Jenks was freaking huge today. Struck out 3 of 4 batters and absolutely dominated. The rest of the bullpen wasn't quite as good. You can't blame Thornton, he did what he needed to, but Dye dropped the ball (literally). Thornton is looking okay these days, maybe the bullpen is shaping up, maybe i'm unnaturally optimistic, we'll see how this develops.

-Juan is okay, from what I heard after getting hit in the head.

-Dye had a nice grab in the first. That's going under the radar, as much of his work does.

-PotG explanation... I would originally have gone with Mack, for being clutch today, but the bad play in the field lost it for him. That leaves is between Buehrle and Big Bad Bobby Jenks. Had Buehrle gone the distance I may have given it to him, but Bobby was filthy today so I'll have to give it to him.

Sox Player of the Game

Bobby Jenks (1)

Game 46

Sox Lineup

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

Scoring Summary

Buehrle pitched a perfect first.
Haren pitched a scoreless inning.

The A's failed to score in the second.
Uribe was hit by a pitch in the head and was replaced by Ozuna.

Kotsay singled in the third. On a passed ball, Kotsay moved to second. Chavez singled, scoring Kotsay. 1-0 A's.
Haren pitched a 1-2-3 inning.

Buehrle held the A's scoreless in the fourth.
The Sox went down in order.

Buehrle pitched a perfect fifth.
Mackowiak led off with a double. Podsednik hit a double, scoring Mackowiak. 1-1 Tied. Thome singled, scoring Pods. 2-1 Sox.

The A's failed to score in the sixth.
Dye led off with a walk. Dye advanced to second on a groundout by AJ. Mackowiak singled, scoring Dye. 3-1 Sox.

The A's were held scoreless in the seventh.
Keisler came on in relief and pitched a 1-2-3 inning.

Politte came on in relief in the eighth. Chavez singled. Nelson came on in relief. Thomas singled, Chavez to third. Thornton came on in relief. Swisher hit a sac fly, but reached on Dye's error. 3-2 Sox. Jenks came on in relief
Calero came on in relief and recorded the last two outs of the inning.

Jenks closed out the ninth for the save.

Sox win 3-2!

Sox Record: 31-15

Game 46 Pick to Click

Now I'm not expecting any homers from him, but a few trips on base and 2 or 3 SB with no CS, would be nice. Let's go Podzilla!

Game 46 Preview

Danny Haren 4-3, 3.86 for the A's

vs

Mark Buerhle 5-2, 2.92 for the Pale Hose

The Sox are in position again for the sweep. Let's see if they pull it out this time. I've been itching to pull out the broom pic.
It's important that we get this win, because the next 32 days will be spent playing winning ball clubs.

Game 45 Thoughts

-A series win against the A's who always play us tough, all right!

-Vazquez had his good fastball today, with a ton of movement, but he didn't have his best stuff today. He alternately struggled and dominated. He pitched well enough to keep us in the game, as we slowly built a lead. I must give him credit though for reigning in the game before it got out of control. It looked like the type of night where he would give up 7 runs.

-Nelson made his first appearance, and then disappeared, and then reappeared. He came on with the wrong undershirt and had to go change. He did okay. He walked Thomas and then forced a pop out to end the inning. Grade: inconclusive.

-Gotta love the back to back jacks, by the Cap'n and Mr. Anonymous, Jermaine Dye.

-Paulie's homer moved him past Carlton Fisk into 3 place on the all time White Sox home run list. He sits with 215, with only Harold Baines and Frank Thomas ahead of him.

-Tadahito was a late scratch with a bruised foot. No one on what his deal is yet.

-Everyone had a hit today except Pods, but that's okay, he had one official AB with 3 BB's, and 2 SB's bringing his total to an AL leading 18.

-Pods is starting to regain his old form.

-Thome hit homer number 448, putting him 1 behind Jeff Bagwell for 30th on the all time list.

Sox Player of the Game




Jim Thome (6)

Game 45

Sox Lineup

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

Scoring Summary

Vazquez pitched a perfect first.
Pods led off with a walk. Pods advanced on Cintron's ground out and then stole third. On the steal, Kendall threw the ball away, allowing Pods to score. 1-0 Sox. Thome walked. Paulie followed with a homer. 3-0 Sox. Dye hit a solo shot. 4-0 Sox.

The A's were held scoreless in the second.
Thome hit solo shot. 5-0 Sox.

Ellis led off the third with a single. Swisher singled Chavez hit a three-run shot, scoring behind Ellis and Swisher. 5-3 Sox.
The Sox were retired in order.

Vazquez pitched a scoreless fourth.
Uribe led off with a double. Pods sacrificed him over. Cintron singled, scoring Uribe. 6-3 Sox.

Vazquez pitched a perfect fifth
The Sox failed to score.

The A's were held scoreless in the sixth.
Pods walked. Pods stole second, and was out on Cintron's bunt. Cintron advanced to second on a botched pickoff attempt. Thome doubled, scoring Cintron. 7-3 Sox. Konerko walked. Keisler came on in relief. Pierzynski singled, scoring Thome. 8-3 Sox. Crede singled, scoring Paulie. 9-3 Sox.

Cotts and Nelson came on in relief and pitched a scoreless seventh
Flores came on in relief and pitched a 1-2-3 inning.

McCarthy pitched a scoreless eighth.
Karsay pitched a perfect inning.

McCarthy closed out the ninth.

Sox win 9-3!

Sox Record: 30-15

Game 45 Pick to Click

I've somehow forgotten the past two games to make a pick to click, so here's hoping JD makes a splash tonight.

He made a splash all right. He was the tail end of back-to-back HR's in the first. He had 3 BB's and a SB.

Say Hello to Jeff Nelson

Looks like Jeff Nelson is just about ready to join the Sox big league roster.

"He threw the ball great [Sunday]," said Williams of Nelson, who he observed in person during his weekend trip to watch Triple-A Charlotte. "He's coming."

I'm unsure how Nelson will do with us. He's 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in 4 games and 5.1 innings. His control is shaky though, he has 4 BB's and 1 hit batter, which inflates his WHIP to 1.50. If he can avoid the walks he may be useful for us. He'll take Monetero's spot on the roster.

Game 45 Preview

Kirk Sarloos 2-1, 4.70 for the A's

vs.

Javier Vazquez 4-3, 4.22 for the Pale Hose

A good start by Javier could go a long way for us. It would A.) restore Chicago's faith in him after some sketchy starts, and B.) it would lock up a series win against a team that always plays us tough.

Game 44 Thoughts

-Crazy game today. See DickDaStick's post for some good stuff.

-I want to harp on Garland. He clearly didn't have his best stuff and suffered from Eddings (yes the ump from the infamous Angels Playoff game) ever changing strike zone, but to his credit he hung in there and pitched well enough to keep us in the ball game.

-Ozzie was justified by the output of the bench tonight. Mack and Pablo earned this victory.

-Pablo needs to put some serious work out there in the outfield. He lost a ball in the lights, which drove me crazy.

-2 out drag bunt...only the Sox. Pablo has some massive cojones.

-Frank must really miss the Cell.

-We were shut down by yet another lefty.

-What a time for Mack's first homer.

-Dye truly is silent and deadly. I forgot to give him mention, until James' comment. When we have the heart of our order intact, we are dangerous.

Sox Player of the Game




Rob Mackowiak (1)

Game 44

Sox Lineup

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

Scoring Summary

Garland pitched a perfect first.
Zito pitched a scoreless inning.

Thomas hit a solo shot in the second. 1-0 A's. Crosby followed with another homer. 2-0 A's.
The Sox failed to score.

Kotsay singled in the third. Thomas singled, Kotsay to third. Crosby singled, scoring Kotsay. 3-0 A's.
Zito pitched a perfect inning.

Both teams were held scoreless in the fourth.

Thomas hit a solo shot in the fifth. 4-0 A's.
Iguchi walked. Thome singled, Tadahito to third. Konerko hit a sac fly. 4-1 A's.

Neither team scored in the sixth.

Thornton came on in the seventh with one out, and closed out the inning.
Calero pitched a scoreless inning of relief.

Thornton pitched a perfect eighth
Karsay came on in relief. Dye led off with a solo shot. 4-2 A's. Keisler came on in relief and retired Pierzynski. Uribe doubled. Street came on in relief Mackowiak hit pinch hit two-run blast. 4-4 Tied.

Jenks pitched a scoreless ninth.
Street pitched a perfect inning.

The A's were held scoreless in the tenth.
Flores came on in relief. Pierzynski walked. Mackowiak singled, AJ to third. Ozuna dropped a drag bunt up the first base line, with two outs, scoring Pierzynski. 5-4 Sox.

Sox win 5-4!

Sox Record: 29-15

So appalled by the loss, I forgot...

To mention we wore replica 1906 jerseys, to commemorate our win over the Cubs in the World Series that year.

Boone Logan was optioned to AAA when Contreras was called up.

Welcome Back Frank

I'm relieved and happy that Frank received an appropriate reception when he came up to bat his first time. He received mostly cheers, with only a few jeers sprinkled in. It seemed like most fans even applauded his homer.

Way to stay classy, San Die- I mean Chicago.

Frank is raping us now, which resulted in a few boo-birds. I don't mind that; we already showed him how we feel about him.

Game 44

Barry Zito 3-3, 3.27 for the A's

vs.

Jon Garland 3-2, 6.18 for the Pale Hose

A Plea to Sox Fans

I said this before after the Jim Thome game in Cleveland, but I'm begging all Sox fans, please do NOT boo Frank Thomas when he comes back. Frank is the greatest player in White Sox history. He carried this franchise in the 90's; without him we easily could have been the Kansas City Royals. Frank is the all time leader in OBP, SLG, OPS, BB, HR, RBI, & XBH. Among active players, he ranks in the top five for OBP, BB, HR, OPS, RBI.

Who cares if he wasn't a media darling when he was with us? He produced at historical rates, and as fans that's all we can demand of him. If he wants to try and live his life privately, all the more power too him.



So when you see this giant figure looming once more at The Cell. Think back to those gargatuan homers, to the clutch hits, to his ridiculously sharp batting eye, think back to that World Series we would have had in '94. Forget the comments of a frustrated man from this summer, from a man that had been booted from the only home he's known, who has had to battle injuries the past few years.

When Frank comes up, please, give the man his due.

All those years of service and production deserve your cheers.

Game 43 Thoughts

-I'm going to (try and) keep this short. Dale covered some good points, and I missed the game.

-Sox blew their shot at the sweep. From what I heard Uribe should have made that throw for the DP and the end of the inning.

-I also heard that Mackowiak was took a terribly route to the ball and then inexplicably dove for it, which resulted in Barret's triple. Why wasn't Anderson in for defensive purposes?

-Now for those involved in yesterdays bruhaha...It kills me that Barrett had a back breaking hit, but it cracked me up seeing the replay of AJ's homer. For those that missed it, AJ started clapping to himself after hitting a homer off of Zambrano, aka Psycho McGee. I don't know if AJ was taunting or if he what happened there, but Zambrano began to yell at AJ, so when AJ crossed the plate he thumped his chest twice, and then kissed his hand and pointed to the sky, a la Mr. Crazypants that was on the mound. Zambrano took exception to AJ's mocking and looked ready to sock him a punch in the face.
The one downside to AJ's show is it may encourage Selig to suspend him for his part (or lack thereof) in the fight yesterday.

-Paulie had himself a ball game with two homers.

-AJ is batting a healthy .344, just thought everyone should take note.

-The Count looked good in his return. In my books, I'm only charging him with two runs, the homers by Ramirez. We should have gotten out of the eighth without any runs coming across.

Sox Player of the Game





Paul Konerko (5)

Game 43

Sox Lineup

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

Scoring Summary

Contreras pitched a scoreless first for the Sox.
Zambrano pitched a perfect inning.

Ramirez hit a solo shot in the second. 1-0 Cubs.
Konerko led off with a solo blast. 1-1 Tied.

Both teams were held scoreless in the third.

Ramirez hit a two out, solo shot in the fourth. 2-1 Cubs.
Pierzynskit hit a solo job. 2-2 Tied.

Both pitchers pitched a perfect fifth.

Contreras pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the sixth.
Konerko hit a solo homer. 3-2 Sox.

The Cubs were held scoreless in the seventh.
AJ led off with a walk. Mackowiak doubled, scoring Pierzynski. 4-2 Sox.

With one out in the eighth, Pierre bunted aboard. Cedeno singled, Pierre to third. Cotts came on in relief. Walker grounded into a fielder's choice. Cedeno out at second, Pierre scoring. 4-3 Sox. Barrett tripled, scoring Walker. 4-4 Tied. Jones homered to left, scoring behind Barrett. 6-4 Cubs. Politte came on in relief and closed out the inning.
Eyre came on in relief and pitched a perfect inning.

Murton singled in the ninth. Hairston was hit by a pitch. Pierre flied out, Murton tagging to third. Cedeno singled, scoring Murton. 7-4 Cubs.
Dempster closed out the ninth.

Cubs win 7-4

Sox Record: 28-15

Just a few random thoughts...

The game today was kind of painful, especially when the Sox forgot how to catch and throw. I think the biggest blow was Micheal Barrett hitting that triple. I was really glad we weren't letting him have anything, and that 0-fer ending made me really mad. Although I will say, as someone who normally hates it when people boo players, for whatever reason, I really enjoyed the reaction he got at the Cell today.

Speaking of the brawl, I would be crazy if I didn't mention it. Of course if there is a fight it's going to start with Barrett and Piersynski. I should have known. Barrett drives me crazy because he gets into a fight like once a week and yet when he's interviewed he sounds completely medicated or something. He literally looks like he is going to fall over and die. He just walks around like a zombie with no personality, and then randomly can just explode. With AJ, you know what your getting, he never shuts up and he can be obnoxious, and that's fine by me. With Barrett it's like a time bomb waiting to go off, which is kind of scary.

The best part of the brawl for me was watching the replay and watching Podsednik and then other Sox guys. When you watch what happens, it's crazy because the second Barrett starts reaching for AJ, Podsednik is already heading towards the scene, and right after AJ gets punched, Pods is on Michael. And he never even punches him or anything like that, he just takes him down to the ground and holds him there, so that he can't do anything else. To me that's huge. That just shows the whole team mentality there. It was like a instant reaction on Pods part and that says a lot. He didn't add to the fight at all, he just took Barrett down. Then you let the tape keep going and it just seems to me that there are a whole lot of Sox players there before the Cubs players. And all of them looked personally offended that anyone would take a punch at AJ. I think that is so important for a team, and watching everything that happened yesterday I can completely see why the Sox are doing so much better than the Cubs. Even if they had D-Lee and Prior, they don't seem to mesh like our guys, and I think that is really the most important thing.

On a final note, as I said earlier, I'm not a big fan of the booing, and I really hope there isn't much tomorrow when the A's come to town. I know there will be some, I expect it, but I hope its not like Clevland, because I honestly felt uncomfortable listening to all those people boo Jim Thome. I've never been a huge Thomas fan, and obviously he has said and done stupid things, but I hope Sox fans take the high road.

Game 43 Preview

Carlos "Certifiably Crazy" Zambrano 2-2, 3.34 for the North Siders

vs.

Jose "The Count" Contreras 5-0, 1.41 for the South Siders

A win gives us a sweep and I can finally drag out the broom pic again.
Expect to see everyone playing tomorrow, MLB won't hand out the suspensions yet.

Hopefully the umps give out warnings before the game. I don't want to see AJ get pegged and then the warnings come out, stopping the Sox from retaliating. I think Dusty will tell Z not to throw at AJ, but you can never tell with him, he's loco.

Hopefully the Count shows no ill effects of his stint on the DL and can continue his winning streak.

If AJ is suspended, I'm going to riot!

I just want to say it. If AJ is suspended or even fined, I will be pissed off. I will lose what little respect I have for Bud Selig. Pierzynski got socked in the face and just backed off from the play. He didn't do ANYTHING. He absorbed the punch and stepped back.

Game 42 Thoughts

-I guess I'll have to start with the brawl. AJ completely innocent. The more I see the replays, the more I"m convinced AJ was just trying to sidestep Barrett while trying to retrieve his helmet. Props to Pods and BA for getting involved and backing up AJ. Props to Oz and Joey Cora for getting in there immediately to protect their guys. I noticed Dusty Baker was no where to be seen.

-For a recap of the fight and what I think about suspensions go here.

-Lost in the madness of the fight was an absolute beat down of the Cubs (no pun intended). The Sox whooped the North Siders for the second straight game.

-Tadahito had an outstanding game going 3-3, with two jacks. His grand slam was the ultimate retaliation to Barrett's cheap shot. Tadahito ended up with 6 RBI's the most by a Sox player this year. This was Tadahito's first multi homer game of the year.

-The Sox actually didn't hit all that much outside of Iguchi. They put together some dangerous situations, but they came up mostly empty handed, which is a bit discouraging.

Freddy pitched well. He had a nice run going in the middle of the game where he just absolutely mowed through the Cubs. He ended up giving up 8 hits, but it didn't seem like that many. This was the second straight gem by a starter, but again I must note it was against the hapless Cubs.

-I love how Neifi Perez became the cleanup hitter after Barrett was tossed, and how Henry Blanco with his .053 avg was the sixth hitter. Hell, Anderson looks like Ted Williams when compared to Blanco.

-I liked the Sox approach at the plate. They saw that Hill couldn't sniff the plate, so they didn't swing away, they forced him to throw a lot of pitches.

-I just saw the replay AGAIN, and I watched specifically for AJ's helmet and it did infact go over toward where he was headed. He was making a bee-line for his helmet, so he didn't try and instigate it.

Sox Player of the Game





Tadahito Iguchi (2)

Game 42

Sox Lineup

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

Scoring Summary

The Cubs were held scoreless by Garcia in the first.
Hill pitched a scoreless inning for the Cubs.

Freddy pitched a perfect second.
AJ walked. Crede followed with a walk. Uribe walked, loading the bases. Anderson hit a sac fly, scoring AJ and igniting a brawl. 1-0 Sox. AJ, Pierzynski, Barrett, and Mabry are tossed. Widger and Mackowiak came in to take their places. After the madness, Pods walked, loading the bases. Iguchi hit a grand slam. 5-0 Sox.

Freddy pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the third.
The Sox went down in order.

Both teams were retired in order in the fourth.

The Cubs were held scoreless in the fifth.
Pods led off with a single. Iguchi followed with a homer. 7-0 Sox. Novoa came on in relief and closed out the inning.

Freddy held the Cubs scoreless in the sixth.
The Sox failed to score.

Both teams were held scoreless in the seventh.
Williamson came on in relief for the Cubs.

Freddy pitched a perfect eighth.
Dempster came on in relief and pitched a scoreless inning.

Thornton came on in relief and closed out the ninth.

Sox win 7-0!

Sox Record: 28-14

Brawl photos

See helmet goes flying.



















Touching home












The punch heard round Chicago.
















BA winding up with a haymaker.

Recap of the Brawl

I will try and be as unbiased as I can, but I will throw in my view and thoughts (in italics) of what happened.

Bases loaded, Brian Anderson up at the plate. He hits a medium length fly ball, and AJ tags from third (somewhat surprisingly). Barrett completely blocks the plate; by the time AJ gets to the plate the ball is still a few feet away.
Barrett can easily just step aside here, because there's no way they can get AJ at this point.
AJ barrells into Barrett, knocking Barrett over.
It was a hard collision, but essentially clean. It was no Pete Rose collision, and I heard some Cubs fans compare it to the collision Albert Belle had with the second basemen. The Belle comparison is just wrong. Belle instigated the contact, and he collided with a player whom you're not allowed to collide with.
Barrett went flying, and AJ tumbled, with AJ ending up next to the plate. AJ sits up and slams the plate with his hand.
No problem here, he's pumped that he made it, he has the adrenaline going after the collision.
AJ gets up and inexplicably heads in the wrong direction closer to the Cubs' dugout than the Sox dugout. AJ and Barrett brush shoulders. Barrett grabs AJ, and then connects with a solid punch to the side of the head, close to the ear, but more on the jaw.
I don't know what happened with AJ. I originally thought he was just discombobulated and stumbled in the wrong direction, because he was stumbling, he looked like a drunk. After seeing the replay it looks like AJ was going over to get his helmet, although Cubs fans will undoubtedly say he was just trying to start shit. Regardless, Barrett's punch was stupid. It was a cheap shot. Barrett had his pride hurt, so he took his anger out on the man that whomped his ass at the plate.
Pods who was standing near the plate since he was the next batter jumps on Barrett. The ump sort of gets in between those two. Mabry comes flying in from first base, and meets Brian Anderson. Those two have their own scuffle.
I'm impressed with Pods. He took on Barrett who is twice his size. I'm doubly impressed with BA. He laid a smackdown on Mabry. He threw some haymakers, he didn't quite connect with any of them, but then he jsut threw Mabry to the ground, and started wailing on him. This could be something that ignites BA at the plate when he comes back.
Anderson, AJ, Mabry, and Barrett are tossed.
I'm fine with these ejections. AJ didn't really do anything, but he was in the middle of things so I'm not surprised he was thrown out. I expect to see Barrett get suspended for 6-10 games. He connected with a solid punch. You hardly ever see such a solid punch in a baseball brawl. Brian Anderson for 3-4. Mabry maybe for 1, it's kind of hard to suspend a guy for getting his ass beat. AJ may get suspended just for being AJ; if he does that's utter bullshit.

After seeing the replay for probably the 10th time. It doesn't look like AJ is lowering his shoulder for contact. It looked like he was dropped his shoulder to try and avoid contact with Barrett. I know that makes me sound like a big homer, but that's what it seriously looks like.

James: And the replay showed AJ's helmet did fly off toward the first base side and he was probably going after it.

During the post game interview, AJ said he was just going to get his helmet, and that he didn't say anything to Barrett.

Barrett in his interview was pretty legit. He said AJ made a good play. He said he jsut reacted to AJ walking toward him after the play. He said he didn't hear AJ say anything, and he says he isn't holding a grudge.

Rich Hill is retarded. He just said that AJ shouldn't have done that, that what he did was wrong. What he failed to note was that Barrett was completely blocking the plate.

Game 42 Pick to Click

C'mon BA find you swing.

He found his swing sort of. It just took John Mabry to bring the best out of him.
Although it was needless for him to fight Mabry, I still have an increased respect for BA for the support he showed AJ by fighting.

Although he missed with some of his haymakers, he did do some damage, putting Mabry on the shelf for a few days. This may end up lengthening his suspension, though.

Game 42 Preview

Rich Hill 0-3, 7.63 for the North Siders

vs.

Freddy Garcia 6-1, 4.56 for the South Siders

Let's see which Freddy we get today. Hopefully he keeps the momentum going after Buehrle's start.

Mad Dog (a non White Sox post, sorry)

323.

That's how many wins Greg Maddux has. That number absolutely blows me away. Due to the fact that he isn't a power pitcher, people tend to forget how good Maddux was and Maddux is. 300 wins is such an incomprehensible number in MLB now.
Think about it, in today's game 15 wins is a pretty good season for a pitcher. Now if someone did that for 20 straight seasons, they would reach 300 wins, but hardly any pitchers last that long. Say a pitcher only lasts 15, which is still a pretty long time; that pitcher would have to avergae 20 wins a season. 20 wins. If someone puts up 20 wins in a single season, that pitcher will instantly be thrown in for Cy Young talks.

Tom Glavine looks to be the only pitcher that has a shot to join the 300 club. After that I don't know if we'll see anyone else with those types of numbers for a long, long time.

Game 41 Thoughts

-What a relief! The Sox needed this win after the debacle in Tampa. I know they were supposed to win, but it was still a reassuring victory.

-Buehrle looked a lot better today. He only surrendered two hits as he went the distance. He gave up an unearned run, that's it. He dominated, but it should still be taken with a grain of salt considering it was against the Derrek Lee-less Cubs.

-The Sox had the right approach at the plate today. After seeing that Maddux didn't have his best stuff, we waited and forced up his pitch count. We stayed patient even after he was taken out. We were smart at the plate tonight.

-AJ errorless streak ended today. It's a real shame, I thought he would get the record for sure. The tracker on the sidebar only lasted a couple days. He may have fallen short in his quest for most consecutive games without an error, but he does have the record for most consecutive chances handled without an error, with 963.

-Pods did well today. It wasn't even his stolen base that I liked; I liked how he completey messed up Maddux. Maddux had a rep for not being concerned with baserunners, but he was clearly affected by Pods when he was on base.

-Thomer! He's only two behind Bagwell.

-Paulie had himself a nice ball game. 2-4 with 3 RBIs.

-Let's keep the momentum going with a win tomorrow, to set up the sweep!

-Better luck tomorrow Cubs fans. It's amazing how one year can change my focus. Last year winning the season series was one of my top goals for the Sox, but after winning we have bigger fish to fry. Right now, this series is the Cubs' season, so better luck tomorrow.

Sox Player of the Game




Mark Buehrle (1)

Game 41

Sox Lineup

Podsednik - LF
Iguchi - 2B
Thome - DH
Konerko - 1B
Dya - RF
Pierzynski - C
Crede - 3B
Mackowiak - CF
Cintron - SS

Scoring Summary

Pierre led off with an infield single off of Buehrle in the first. Hairston reached on a throwing error by Pierzynski, Pierre advanced to third. Walker hit a sac fly scoring Pierre. 1-0 Cubs.
Iguchi singled and stole second. Konerko singled, scoring Iguchi. 1-1 Tied.

Buehrle pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the second.
The Sox were held scoreless.

The Cubs were retired in order in the third.
Pods led off with a walk. Iguchi singled. Thome walked, loading the bases. Konerko doubled, scoring Pods and Iguchi. 3-1 Sox. Dye grounded out, scoring Thome. 4-1 Sox. Crede singled, scoring Konerko. 5-1 Sox.

Buehrle sat the side down in order in the fourth.
The Sox went down in order.

The Cubs were retired in order in the fifth.
Thome his a solo shot. 6-1 Sox.

Buehrle pitched a perfect sixth.
The Sox were held scoreless. Rusch recorded the final two outs of the inning.

Both teams went down in order in the seventh.

Buehrle pitched a perfect eighth.
The Sox were held scoreless.

Buehrle pitched a perfect ninth to close out the game.

Sox win 6-1!

Sox Record: 27-14

Game 41 Pick to Click

Let's see a nice Thomer today!

Thome went 1-3 with a walk and a THOMER, like I called for. Not bad, not bad at all.

Game 41

Greg Maddux 5-2, 3.10 for the bad guys

vs

Mark Buehrle 4-2, 3.52 for the good guys.

Let's go Sox. SHow them North siders how we play ball.

Game 40 Thoughts

-We let this one slip away. We should have taken the game and the series and the momentum.

-Tiger Watch - The Tigers won, which drops us into second place for the first time in a while.

-Vazquez is showing some bad tendencies. He seems to tire as the game progresses; in the later innings his breaking pitches look like they're losing some bite. It seems like he invariably has one inning where he blows up. I don't know if that's a mental thing or if he really does get tired toward the end of the game. It's something we'll have to keep an eye on.

-Tonight Javy didn't have his good fastball. It didn't have ANY movement, which contributed to his rocky first inning. He did well to recover and adjust, and he cruised for the most part until the 7th.

-The top of the order did okay today, collectively hitters 1-5 (only counting the starters) were 7-19. Hitters 6-9 were 1-14. Yah, big disparity there.

-The Sox, as of late, can only seem to hit relievers. We didn't hit any of the starters that hard in this past series.

-A lot of people are talking about how the Sox struggle in Tampa. Some people are blaming it on the stadium or the fact that it's indoors; I think that is BS. The Sox probably just underestimated the D-Rays and lost. We got outplayed, we can't blame it on the stadium; it's not as though Tropicana has weird dimensions, or a hill in centerfield that takes time to get used to.

-None of the Sox players played all that well today, so I guess PotG goes to Paulie who had 1 of 2 multi hit games for the Sox

-Gross game overall

-The Sox have matched their loss total from April.

-Goal for the weekend, sweep of the Cubs, and regain 1st place.

Sox Player of the Game




Paul Konerko (4)

Game 40

Sox Lineup

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

Scoring Summaray

Ozuna led off the first with a walk off of Hendrickson. Iguchi bunted him over. Thome singled, Ozuna to third. Paulie doubled, scoring Ozuna, Thome to third. 1-0 Sox. Dye hit a sac fly, scoring Thome. 2-0 Sox.
Lugo led off with a single off of Vazquez. Gomes walked. Wiggington singled, scoring Lugo. 2-1 Sox.

The Sox went down in order in the second.
Branyan led off with a solo shot. 2-2 Tied.

Both pitchers pitched 1-2-3 inning in the third.

Neither team scored in the fourth.

Iguchi hit a solo shot in the fifth. 3-2 Sox.
Vazquez retired the side in order.

The Sox went down in order in the sixth
Vazquez pitched a perfect inning.

The Sox were held scoreless in the seventh
Hall led off with a single. Branyan grounded into a fielder's choice. Hollins homered, scoring behind Branyan. 4-3 D-Rays. Lugo singled and scored on Crawford's triple. 5-3 D-Rays.

Dye led off the eighth with a solo shot. 5-4 D-Rays. Camp came on in relief and recorded two outs. Orvella came on and walked Mackowiak. Walker came on and closed out the inning.
Thornton pitched a perfect inning.

Walker pitched a perfect ninth.

D-Rays win 5-4

Sox Record: 26-14

Game 40 Pick to Click

Joltin' Joe comes out fresh from off the bench.

Crede went 0-fer at the plate. Yeaaaah, 'nuff said.

Coop, Cora, Walker

Good news folks, we're signing Coop, Cora, and Walker to contract extensions.

Game 40 Preview

Javier Vazquez 4-2, 3.88 for the Sox

vs.

Mark Hendrickson (L) 2-3, 3.24 for the D-Rays

We got Javy up in the rubber match. It's important that we win and head back home with a head of steam to face the Cubs. It will be a bit tough though, considering Hendrickson is a lefty, and we struggle against lefties.

Comments Section

Just a small heads up, I'm slightly changing how comments work on the site. I'm going to include a word verification thing, where there's a word in an odd font that you have to retype so that you can post. Yesterday, I received somewhere around 300 comments from an anonymous user, and I only now just realized it's a robot or something trying to promote some search engine, so to put a stop to stuff like that I'm using the word verification thing.

If there are any problems with it, let me know, because I know sometimes the picture doesn't always show up, and if that's the case with this I'll have to think of something else.

Oh and welcome James, I appreciate the comments.

-Jeeves

Game 39 Thoughts

-Props to Jon Garland. We needed a stop, and pitched a great game. He gave up two solo shots and that was it. He did a good job of attacking the insides of the plates, but he struggled when he fell behind in the count.

-I don't know why we couldn't hit McClung. He has two pitches, a fastball and a curve. He basically shut us down.

-We looked too aggressive on the basepaths. Everytime we ran, it looked the D-Rays knew it was coming. I do think Mackowiak's CS was a botched hit and run, because he was soooooooo out. Even when Pods ran, they were all over it, but he got in safe.

-Pods was ballsy running on that shallow fly by Dye, but boy am I glad he did.

-AJ's errorless streak has now reached 150 games. Rick Cerrone has the record for catchers at 159. I'm adding a countdown on the side, a la the Jim Thome tracker.

-Juan had another 0-fer performance.

-JD was solid, going 3-3 with three RBIs.

Sox Player of the Game





Jermaine Dye (5)

Game 39

Sox Lineup

Podsednik - LF
Iguchi - 2B
Thome - DH
Konerko - 1B
Dye - RF
Pierzynski - C
Ozuna - 3B
Mackowiak - CF
Uribe - SS

Scoring Summary

McClung pitched a scoreless first.
Garland held the D-Rays scoreless.

The Sox were held scoreless in the second.
Norton hit a solo shot. 1-0 D-Rays.

Both team failed to score in the third.

The Sox went down in order in the fourth.
Gomes hit a solo shot. 2-0 D-Rays.

Dye lef off the fifth with a homer. 2-1 D-Rays.
The D-Rays were kept off the board.

Pods led off the sixth with a single. Pods stole second. Thome walked. Paulie singled, loading the bases. Dye hit a sac fly, scoring Podzilla. 2-2 Tied.
Garland pitched a 1-2-3 inning.

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

Lugo came on in relief in the eighth. Iguchi and Paulie walked. Dye singled, scoring Iguchi. 3-2 Sox. Pierzynski doubled, scoring Paulie and Dye. 5-2 Sox.
Cotts pitched a scoreless inning.

The Sox failed to score in the ninth.
Jenks came on and recorded the save.

Sox win 5-2!

Sox Record: 26-13

Game 39 Pick to Click

Let's see Gooch break out of the funk he's in.

Gooch definitely didn't break out of the slump tonite. He looked pretty bad at the plate. He's dropped below .300 now. He did have a nice walk during our three run inning, but that was it, not the best thing to have as your highlight of the game.

Game 39 Preview

Jon Garland 2-2, 6.75 for the Pale Hose

vs.

Seth McClung 2-4, 5.91 for the D-Rays

Today would be an ideal day for Big Jon to break out and pitch a gem.
If the Sox lose today, they face a legit shot at getting swept. They face a lefty tomorrow, and we all know how bad we are against lefties.

ESPN Love

It's been widely noted that the Sox get no love on ESPN, but today AJ Pierzynski was on the hot seat. The interview wasn't particularly note worthy, but I thought I'd point it out.

Game 38 Thoughts

-Boone Logan. BOOOOOOOOOO! I hope the Sox realize that Logan isn't ready for the bigs. I'm not saying he's bad, but he just doesn't have enough experience. I mean he hasn't even played above rookie ball before. Anyone who saw this game today, saw a number of bone headed plays by Boone. He misplayed at least four balls. Send him down to the minors and bring him up next year, please, I'm begging you.

-McCarthy pitched okay. Not efficiently enough for his pitch count. He was out in four. If only he could have lasted longer, we wouldn't have had to sit through Boone.

-We can't hit lefties. Scott Kazmir is the latest example. I don't know why, but the Sox refuse to hit lefties. He pitched a great game by the way. Eat your heart out Mets fans.

-Thome hit Thomer number 446 of his career.

-The Sox did well to fight back, which only emphasizes the fact that if we had a half way decent reliever in, we would have won this game.

-Pods had a good game. He stole three bases, and was unlucky to get out at home, when the wild pitch took a hard bounce off the back wall.

-Uribe actually hit today. 3-4, not bad.

-AJ also had three hits. He gets the PotG over Uribe by virtue of not having an error.

-Today was a particularly painful game to watch.

-Tiger Watch - THe Tigers beat the Twins and they are now tied with us for the division lead!

Sox Player of the Game





AJ Pierzynski (2)

Game 38

Sox Lineup

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

Scoring Summary

Pods led off the first with a walk off of Kazmir. Pods stole second. Paulie walked. Dye singled, scoring Pods. 1-0 Sox.
McCarthy pitched a perfect inning.

The Sox went down in order in the second.
Wigginton homered. 1-1 Tied. Hall followed with another solo shot. 2-1 D-Rays.

Both teams were held scoreless in the third.

Neither team scored in the fourth.

The Sox went down in order in the fifth.
Logan came on in relief. Hollins singled. Gathright was safe on a throwing error by Logan. Lugo sacrificed and reached on a communication error by Logan. Crawford reached on an infield single, when Logan forgot to cover the bag, scoring Hollins. 3-1 D-Rays. Gomes doubled, clearing the bases. 6-1 D-Rays.

The Sox failed to score in the sixth.
Gathright hit an infield single. Lugo doubled. Crawford hit an infield single on a Logan misplay, scoring Gathright. 7-1 D-Rays. Huff hit into a fielder's choice, Lugo scoring. 8-1 D-Rays. Montero came on in relief to close out the inning

The Sox were held scoreless in the seventh.
Lee walked. Hollins reached on Crede's error. Gathright singled, scoring Lee. 9-1 D-Rays. Lugo safe on Uribe's error. Crawford hit a sac fly, scoring Hollins. 10-1 D-Rays.

Harper came on in relief in the eighth. Ozuna reached on an error. Thome hit a two run shot. 10-3 D-Rays. Konerko followed with a solo shot. 10-4 D-Rays. Lugo came on in relief. AJ doubled. Mackowiak singled. Uribe singled, scoring Pierzynski. 10-5 D-Rays. Anderson walked, loading the bases. Meadows came on in relief. Podsednik hit a sac fly, scoring Mackowiak. 10-6 D-Rays. Uribe scored on Meadows' wild pitch. 10-7 D-Rays. Walker came on in relief and closed out the inning.
Thornton pitched a perfect inning.

The Sox failed to score in the ninth.

D-Rays win 10-7.

Sox Record: 25-13

Looks Good

Jose Contreras threw a full-blown side session Monday morning. While he wasn't satisfied with his control, according to Guillen, Contreras took another major step in returning to the mound this Sunday against the Cubs at U.S. Cellular Field.
"So, obviously he felt good. Today, he threw all of his pitches from all his angles. If he feels good the rest of today and tomorrow, we are really looking like we are in a good spot."
Contreras will throw a final sideline Thursday in St. Petersburg, in preparation for his to-be-announced start, which would be in the series finale of the crosstown showdown. Cooper added a pitch count was not kept on Monday, although an unofficial total came in somewhere around 76.

excerpted from the White Sox Team page

Look out Cubs, The Count is coming.

Game 38 Pick to Click

I'm going with Brian Anderson as my pick to click.

Looks like I picked the wrong stuggling player; I should have gone with Uribe. BA was hitless at the plate (0-3) but he did have an important walk during the Sox rally, and made a number of good plays in the field and one great diving catch.

Turn 7

	W-L	IP	H	R	ER	K	BB	ERA
Turn 1	0-2	26.1	34	23	23	19	8	7.86
Turn 2	4-1	33	39	18	18	14	6	4.91
Turn 3	5-0	34.1	18	7	6	23	10	1.57
Turn 4	4-0	36.2	29	10	10	17	8	2.45
Turn 5	3-1	34.1	26	14	13	18	10	3.41
Turn 6	3-1	34.2	33	14	14	15	8	3.63
Turn 7	1-3	29.1	38	23	22	15	10	6.75

As you can see, turn 7 looks pretty ugly. Don't jump to conclusions and blame it all on Charlie Haeger, because Freddy had a good start so those towo starts pretty much cancel out. It was just an overall bad turn by the rotation this time.