It's The Juan Uribe Show: Game 79 Thoughts

Sox Win! 6-2

-Juan had a great game today, to say the least. This hot streak of his is ridiculous. He carried the team today with his 2-run single, 1-run double, and his 2 run jack. He also threw in a nice play in the field on the last play of the game; not bad for a day's work.

-Garland wasn't spectacular, but he was effective. His problem today was mainly with his control, but he overcame that by throwing a lot of 2-seamers. He ended up giving 2 runs in 6 innings. I thought we were in for a long game after he gave up those runs in the first, but he hunkered down and didn't give up anything after that.

-Cotts, Garland, and Thornton pitched well coming out of the pen; collectively they only allowed three baserunners.

-Pods had a spectacularly awful day in the field today. He handed Pierre a double and triple. It makes the talk about acquiring Chone Figgons seem like a good idea.

-Pods had another CS today. He's regressed to his base stealing form from the beginning of the year.

-AJ got plunked, but didn't make a big deal about it. He just turned around and went 2-3 on the day.

-Big Ups of the Day to Garland for not letting the game get out of hand.

Sox Player of the Game





Juan Uribe (5)








Sox Record: 52-27

Game 79 Preview

Jon Garland 6-3, 5.76 for the South Siders

vs.

Sean Marshall 4-6, 5.13 for the North Siders

Yet another cross town rivalry. The only thing that interests me is wheter or not there will be any bad blood due to the Barrett incident. Will Ozzie throw at Barrett? Will Dusty throw at AJ or Anderson?
Other than that the series doesn't pique my interest all that much more than a normal series. After winning the 'ship, the cross-town classics have lost some luster and meaning to me.

Give Me Back Montero: Game 78

Sox Lose 6-7

-Cliffy is the goat. A tough burden to bear for a middle reliever in his first game back from injury.

-I don't think Ozzie really cared about that game too much, and obviously the Pirates really really cared. They played tough, from what it seems, so give them credit.

-Big ups of the Night to Thome. He put us in position to win the game. It must be very hard for him to come off the bench as a pinch hitter, but he was still able to produce.

-Also big ups to the entire Pirates team, for beating the World Champions and team with the second best record in the majors after being down twice and giving up that 8th inning shot.

-So now it's back to Chicago. I'm guessing we get more support than we've ever gotten in Wrigley. Maybe Ozzie threw the game so that we'd be that much hungrier on the North Side. You know he wants a sweep this time around. Let's go Garland, Vasquez, & Buehrle. Need some serious quality starts.

Thanks to Jonathon Kelley for the top part of the wrap-up. I adapted his comment.

-I just want to touch upon Contreras' performance today. He gave up 6 runs in 5.1, which has raised his ERA to a whopping 3.54. At one point, there were people wondering if he'd be able to remain below 3.00 for the season; it seems like whether or not he'll remain below 4.00 is a more legitimate question at this point. I know that the last sentence was a bit of a exaggeration, but the results just aren't there right now. In today's game, he wasn't wild like in the old days. he only had two walks, but he gave up a dozen hits. I'm fully confident that if Jose puts some time in with Coop, he'll return to his dominating self.

-Riske and Cotts got the job done in relief, too bad Politte didn't. At this point, I can confidently say, we would have a dominant 'pen if we can find a reliable reliever to take Politte's spot.

Sox Player of the Game

Alex Cintron (3)

Sox Record: 51-27

Game 78 Preview

Jose Contreras 8-0, 3.15 for the ChiSox

vs.

Zach Duke 5-7, 4.86 for the Pirates

Sox go for the sweep!

Sorry I didn't get this up earlier. I used my break yesterday to watch the game, so I didn't get time until now to post.

Well, That's the Pirates For You: Game 77 Thoughts

Sox Win! 4-3

-The Sox really sleep walked through this game. While watching, I thought for sure they were going to let this one get away from them, but then I remembered we were playing the Pirates. The Sox finally pulled their heads out of their asses and started playing in the seventh after going down 3-0.

-With the win the Sox have won their 8th straight series after dropping a three game set against the Rangers to begin June.

-The offense was in a slumber until the seventh. Prior to that point, they only managed 3 hits. Even with the 4 spot in the seventh, they were outhit 8-13 during the game.

-If you check out his stat line, 6 innings and 3 ER, but he didn't looke nearly as good. He gave up 10 hits during his outing, and he looked destined for a big inning, but Oz got him out of there early which was a great move.

-I'm a bit shocked that Ozzie made the call for Monetero. Actually, I'm really shocked that he was brought in. It's possible that Ozzie was trying to show faith in him, because he was sent down after the game to make room for Politte.

-Uribe's triple was huge. Juan is very dangerous during his hot streaks. I don't understand why he runs so hot and cold.

-James brought up Pods knack for driving in runs as of late, and he struck again. He srove in Juan after he tripled and Thome struck out.

-Big Ups of the Night go to the 'pen. Monetero pitched well. Thornton was dominant with 3 k's in his inning of work. Big Bad Bobby made me sweat it a bit, but he got the job done in the ninth. They really held the game down on a night where the team as a whole looked pretty lousy.

Sox Player of the Game




Juan Uribe (4)









Sox Record: 51-26

Game 77 Preview

Freddy "Smokes" Garcia (R) 9-4, 4.66 for the Sox

vs.

Paul Maholm (L) 2-6, 4.90 for the Bucs

Can the Sox keep a bad team down? Losing 12 in the a row, the law of averages says the Pirates will win one of these days. With a lefty pitching for the Pirates tonight maybe we'll have a Brian Anderson sighting tonight too. I hope so, six games is alot to sit.

My Pick to Click: Jermaine Dye...he's gonna keep it going after last night. If anyone else has a PtC, let's see it in the comments section. Maybe Jeeves will start another sidebar with a running total of who wins PtC each night like the networks do for Hawk, DJ and the crew.

Ho-Hum, and a Win That Was Supposed to Happen: Game 76 Thoughts

Sox Win! 4-2

• Okay, two days off for the White Sox is not a good thing. Thank God they were playing the woeful Pirates who have now lost 12 games in a row. After the "moral victory" loss in 13 innings, I'm betting that the Sox were chomping at the bit to get back on the field and get back to winning.
• Case in point...baserunning blunders nearly lost this game for the Sox. I'm not so upset about the Pods CS cuz he gets paid to steal and his number stealing third are really good, but Pierzinski's blunder leading to Thome getting run down was stupid and JD getting doubled off second was just boneheaded.
• Fifteen hits lead to 4, count 'em, 4 runs. The Sox have to get better run production than that. Against a good team, we might lose this game.
• Praise goes to Pods who is driving in runs when we need them. He had one tonight to give him 30 this year. He had 25 all of last year. When Mack and Juan (Buehrle doesn't count, he's a pitcher) get four hits, Pods is gonna have to drive them in.
• Jermaine "MVP" Dye broke out of his slump with three hits including 2 doubles, and Jim Thome continues to drive in runs with two more tonight.
• I gotta take Ozzie to task a little tonight though. In the ninth inning after Thome singles in a run, why not use a pinch runner like Pablo? We all know he's gonna be replaced by Ross Gload at first for defensive reasons (and I'm glad he did cuz Ross saved a few errors in the ninth), so why risk injury to Thome on a potential slide and it clearly cost the Sox a run on Dye's double.
• Brian Anderson returned from his suspension, but Ozzie gave mack the start most likely cuz it was his first game back to Pittsburgh, the home of his great Cub-destroying days.
  
• As for the pitching, it was an effecient outing by Buerhle (and may have earned him an all-star nod), and the relievers, Jenks and McCarthy, were strong. But remember it was the Pirates. I had a softball game tonight and I missed the first few innings, so I expected the score to be something around 7-1 but it was 3-0 and I was a little down. After the Wilson HR in the seventh, Ozzie made the correct move in pulling Mark.
• My player of the game is Jim Thome cuz he drove in two meaningful runs including a huge insurance run in the ninth.
• My Big Ups goes to the Pirates for being a sorry ass team. Just kidding. Big Ups to the pitching staff for beating a team they were supposed to beat.
• (Note to Jeeves: I hope this is okay. I didn't update the PotG stats on the sidebar cuz, honestly, I'm not sure how to. Let me know if there's anything you'd like me to change.)
  

Sox Player of the Game



Jim Thome (9)

Sox Record 50-26

Game 76 Preview

Mark Buehrle 8-4, 3.27 for the ChiSox

vs.

Ian Snell 7-4, 4.84 for the Bucs

The Sox open up in a NL park, so kiss Thome goodbye.

Close But No Cigar: Game 75 Thoughts

Sox lose 10-9

-This is what a nine game winning streak will to do you. It gives you a never say die attitude. I know the Sox normally are one of the best at coming back from a large margin, but I think they used every bit of momentum they had coming into the game to force this one to extras.

-Vazquez seemed real hot and cold. He'd cruise through some innings, but then in others he would get torched. I hope he can bounce back and start to pitch better. He's really starting to worry me.

-I love how the Sox always seem to hit Qualls and Lidge hard. It must have been electric in the park after Gooch hit that slam. And by the way, that's the third straight game with a slam by a Sox player.

-Montero shockingly turned in three scoreless innings, granted they were garbage time innings at the time.

-It's hard to find too much fault with McCarthy. It's real hard hold a team scoreless after giving up a leadoff triple. (Although the Sox came up empty handed twice, in the same situation.)

-Outside of Gooch, no one was that spectacular for the Sox, unless you count Thome for having a spectacularly bad game. 0-6 with 4 k's.

-The win streak was bound to end, but it's a shame it ended in such a heartbreaking fashion.

-Big ups to the ninth inning batters that sparked the 4-run comeback.

Sox Player of the Game





Tadahito Iguchi (5)








Sox Record: 49-26

Game 75 Preview

Roy Oswalt 6-3, 3.32 for the 'Stros

vs.

Javier Vazquez 8-4, 4.43 for the ChiSox

The Sox go for a third straight sweep and a double digit winning streak.

Let's Party Like It's 1982: Game 74 Thoughts

Sox win 6-5 in 10 innings.

-Phew! I didn't jinx them. The Sox have their first nine game winning streak since 1982. (I know they won 8 straight in the playoffs plus opening day this year, but I'm not counting that).

-For a while, it looked I had jinxed the Sox again. See AJ Pierzynski errorless streak. Garland struggled terribly with his control. He gave up five walks (and one intentional walk) in five innings of work, as well as five runs.

-Joe Clutch came through today. He blasted a grand slam off of Chad Qualls to tie up the game at 5 on a day that our offense wasn't exactly clicking. That's our second straight day with a slam, and the second straight appearance against us that Qualls has surrendered a slam.

-The bullpen held it down for the rest of the game. McCarthy, Riske, and Thornton pitched five solid innings of relief. I've said it before, but I'll say it again; the bullpen is slowly but surely turning into a solid unit. Dare I say it? I actually have some confidence in the 'pen now.

-Alex "Pass the Bacardi Citron" Cintron knocked in Mackowiak to win the game. This masks an otherwise lowsy game by the pair of them. Cintron had 2 k's while Mackowiak had a golden sombrero. Mack also looked lost and lousy in the field again. Who thought Sox fans would be awaiting the day that Brian Anderson would return?

-Uribe laid down an absolutely beautiful bunt in the 10th inning, which got Mack over to third after he doubled.

-This is newsworthy only because it's happening rather infrequently now. Pods stole base #23 on the season.

-Big Ups of the Day goes to the 'pen for shutting down the Astros after Garland was taken out.

-Tiger Watch - As I'm writing this the Motor City Kitties are down 2-0 against the Cardinals in the first inning.

Sox Player of the Game




Joe Crede (8)






Sox Record: 49-25

Game 74 Preview

Taylor Buccholz 4-6, 5.82 for the 'Stros

vs.

Jon Garland 6-3, 5.58 for the ChiSox

The Sox go for that elusive 9th straight victory and another series win.

Chicks Dig the Long Ball: Game 73 Thoughts

Sox win 7-4!

-I'm sure Lisa Dergan must be quite pleased with her hubby, Pods, after he hit his first career grand slam. There's something about Pods and the Astros; I couldn't help but think back to his game 2 blast from the World Series. Pods also threw in a very nice triple. He got the harder two legs of the cycle, but alas he didn't get anymore hits.

-I'm a little worried that we didn't bring Pods in from third after his lead off three-bagger. That's the second time in two nights that we've had a man hit a triple (Dye's was on an error) with less than 2 outs and, and neither of them scored.

-Contreras pitched well by normal stnadards, but kinda crummy by his standards. He didn't have his best stuff, and I think he took his foot off the gas after we jumped to a 6-0 lead. He won his franchise record 16 consecutive decision. The Count, unfortuntaley, didn't set a new personal strikeout record this time out. His last two outings, he bested his previous high. He reached 11 two outings ago, and 13 last time out.

-The Sox have won 8 straight. [knock on wood] Can they reach that elusive nine win plateau?

-The bullpen was great today. They pitched 2 2/3 of perfect relief. Riske was great. I love his stat line...He pitched a 5 pitch inning, and 4 of those 5 pitches were strikes. I feel really confident with him in the 'pen. Jenks came on for the third straight night and again pitched great. I guess beginning his career as a starter pays off in the sense that he has a stronger arm than most relievers.

-I just looked at the box score, and reading our pitcher's ERA just makes me smile. Contreras 3.15, Cotts 3.10, Riske 2.92, and Jenks 2.76. That's some dominating pitching.

-We roughed up another lefty. We chased Pettitte out in the fifth after he gave up six runs. To be honest, I think we just wore him down. He was constantly in high pressure situations and he couldn't pitch out of them all.

-A couple statistical things I noticed...The Sox scored all 7 runs with 2 outs. Iguchi had a golden sombrero tonight.

-Big Ups of the Night to the 'pen for continuing to restore my confidence in them. It's a far cry from a few weeks ago when I was screaming for a trade. Technically, I got my trade, now that I think about it.

Sox Player of the Game




Scott Podsednik (6)








Sox Record: 48-25

Game 73 Preview

Andy Pettitte (L) 6-7, 5.44 for the 'Stros

vs.

Jose Contreras 7-0, 2.96 for the ChiSox

This is a rematch of last season's World Series. Let's see how we do against this lefty. Are we going to hold to recent form and rock him or our form for most of the season and make him look like Sandy Koufax?

Get Your Foot Out of Your Mouth Ozzie

So it's about time that I commented on Ozzie's usage of the word "fag" in reference to Jay Mariotti. I honestly wouldn't have a problem with Oz saying that behind closed doors or to his players, but he needs to excersize a little more caution when speaking with the media. We live in such a PC society; Ozzie has to realize this is just going to cause problems. Unless of course, this is what Ozzie wanted. Perhaps he was trying to either draw more attention to the White Sox.
I fully agree that Mariotti is a hack, but Oz can't be so blunt with the media.

With regards to his punishment, I think it's a bit of a joke. What the hell is sensitivity training?

Here's some advice Ozzie...

Use your mouth for stuff like this...















not so much for stuff like this...

All We Really Need Is One Hit: Game 72 Thoughts

Sox win 1-0!


-That's another sweeeeeeep! It always feels good to sweep a team, let alone a division leader.

-It was bound to happen sooner or later. No, I'm not talking about the Sox losing; I'm talking about their franchise record 6 game streak with at least 8 runs. It came to a resounding end on a night when the Sox could only muster one hit and two baserunners.

-I'm jealous of all the people at the game today. It was an absolute pitcher's duel. Reyes was filthy. He absolutely shut down our offense, which is no small feat considering the roll we were on.

-Freddy was up to the task. He was absolutely dealing. He got some help from JD with a huge diving catch, but he shut down Fat Albert and the Cards. He only gave up 4 hits in 8 innings.

-Jenks came on for the second straight night and threw heat. He reached triple digits, and mowed through the heart of the Cards' lineup.

-James called it with his pick to click! Thome saved us with his homer. If it wasn't for that hit, we would be bitching about the fact that we left Dye on third with one out. Dye reached third after So Taguchi dropped a fly ball. Pierzynski and Crede failed to bring him home.

-Ozzie had to sit this one out after the "Riske Business" the other night. (Yes, I'm aware that that is the most abused phrase concerning White Sox baseball these days, but it's the first time I've used it). Riske got a three game ban. Cora called a good game in Ozzie's stead. I'm glad he went to Jenks in the ninth. I still can't decide if Ozzie would have gone to the 'pen or let Garcia finish off the game.

-Big Ups of the Night goes to Jermaine Dye. He went all out for that grab. At that point if he doesn't come up with it; it's a triple. I don't know if we would have been able to muster up a second run for the win tonight.

Sox Player of the Game




Freddy Garcia (1)






Sox Record: 47-25

Game 72 Preview

Anthony Reyes 1-0, 2.25 for the RedBirds

vs.

Freddy Garcia 8-4, 5.08 for the ChiSox

Sox go for the sweep against the NL Central leading Cardinals.
We all know about the Sox hitting prowess of late, but I just noticed that Dye and Thome are numbers 1 and 2 in the AL for slugging pct. (Paulie clocks in at number 6)

And We Eat Righties for Lunch: Game 71 Thoughts

-6 straight wins, 6 straight games with at least 8 runs, 6 straight games where at least 8 players got a hit. Teams must be terrified of the Sox right now. They are killing the ball and still pitching well. We all know that if the offense shuts down for a day, the pitching is more than capable of picking up the slack.

-The 6 straight games with at least 8 runs is a franchise record.

-Buehrle pitched decently. It wasn't his best performance, but seeing how large his lead was, he did well enough. I thought Buehrle would raise his play against the Cards, but he looked more like Dwyane (no that's not a typo) Wade against the Bulls...not so hot. I will give credit where credit is due. Buehrle didn't have his best stuff, but he didn't let this one get away. After giving up three runs in the first two innings, he hunkered down and didn't let a run across until the sixth.

-Marquis had been a hot pitcher coming into this game. He had won his last six decisions, but we still rocked him.

-I'm glad Jenks pitched today; it has been quite a while since he's seen some action. He looked real sharp. He pitched a perfect inning, throwing 11 pitches and striking out two batters.

-Crede and Uribe are probably the Sox two hottest hitters at the moment. They both homered again today, and Juanny had another two hit game.

-Thome was a triple short of the cycle. He hit Thomer number 453, breaking his tie with Yaz and tying Sheff and Manny for 28th all time. His double just missed leaving the park; one more foot and it would be gone.

-Even though this was a blowout, LaRussa felt the need to use as much of his bullpen as possible. Marquis suffered through 5 innings, giving up 13 runs in the process; after finally gettiny yanked, LaRussa had a different reliever pitcher every inning thereafter. You would think that after using the bullpen heavily the night before, he would try and minimize their workload today, but apparently not.

-BA withdrew his appeal today, and served game 1 of his 5 game suspension today. I don't know why he decided to do this now, maybe he was waiting to see if Barrett had his suspension reduced.

-Speaking of suspensions, I'm expecting Ozzie and Riske to get the boot for a couple games after the beaning yesterday, and I will comment on Ozzie and his colorful mouth once consequences are handed out for what he said.

-Tiger Watch: The Tigers blew at late 3-1 lead against the Brew Crew, losing 4-3.

Sox Player of the Game





Jim Thome (8)

Game 71 Preview

Jason Marquis 9-4, 4.55 for the RedBirds

vs.

Mark Buehrle 7-4, 3.13 for the ChiSox

Yes, yes, Buehrle is from St. Louis and there has been talk that he will sign with them later, but all that matters now is that we win today.

We Eat Lefties for Breakfast: Game 70 Thoughts

-''They kicked our butt,'' La Russa said. ''I'm probably going to have to sleep standing up.'' That pretty much sums up what we did to the RedBirds.

-Our offense is ridiculous. They are really in a groove; I guess that's what happens when the bottom of the order actually gets a hit or two.

-Not only did Anderson and Uribe keep up their hit streaks, but AJ actually hit with runners on base, cashing in with a three run jack. The also rocked ANOTHER lefty; Like Jonathon said, we hit lefties for breakfast. The Sox are going against all the bad trends they had set earlier in the season.

-The Sox won their fifth straight game, by scoring at least 8 runs for the fifth straight game. In four of those five games, every positional player got at least one hit.

-Iguchi, Pierzynski, and Uribe each got three hits, and Dye and Crede each had four. Konerko, Pierzynski, Crede, and Uribe weer all part of the 3 RBI club.

-Vazquez did well to avoid a blow up inning. I thought for sure after sitting through the 11 run third he would come out and groove in some gopher balls, but he pitched pretty well until getting pulled.

-Montero was awful, just awful. It makes me want to take back the post I made about Politte. Hopefully Cliff comes back and pitches okay, so we can ditch Montero.

-I don't know what's up with Crede in the 8-hole. It worked today, because Uribe hit. Over the long haul, I don't like it though. Crede had 2 jacks and just missed having 3. His first at bat was a double, but he just missed homering.

-Big Ups of the Day to Riske for hitting Duncan. I think he really endeared himself to his new teammates by doing that, regardless of whether or not Ozzie ordered it. It's a shame that we'll be without one of our better bullpen arms for a few games, but if the offense stays hot, we should be fine.

Sox Player of the Game




Joe Crede (7)

Game 70

Sox Lineup

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

Scoring Summary

Taguchi singled off Vazquez in the first with one out. Edmonds reached on an infield single. Encarnacion singled, scoring Taguchi. 1-0 Cards.
The Sox failed to score.

Vazquez pitched a perfect second.
The Sox were retired in order.

The Cards were blanked in the third.
Crede led off with a double. Anderson doubled, scoring Crede. 1-1 Tied. Iguchi singled, scoring Anderson. 2-1 Sox. Thome singled. Konerko singled, scoring Iguchi. 3-1 Sox. Dye singled, scoring Thome. 4-1 Sox. Pierzynski hit a three run bomb, scoring behind Konerko and Dye. 7-1 Sox. Uribe singled, and Crede followed with a homer. 9-1 Sox. Thompson came on in relief. Ozuna singled. Iguchi singled and Thome followed with a walk to to load the bases. Konerko singled, scoring Ozuna and Iguchi. 11-1 Sox.

The Cards were held scoreless in the fourth.
Pierzynski led off with a single and Uribe brought him home with a homer. 13-1 Sox.

The Cards failed to score in the fifth.
Ponson came on in relief and pitched a perfect inning.

Edmonds led off the sixth with a double. Encarnacion singled, Edmonds to third. Spezio grounded into a fielder's choice. 13-2 Sox.
Dye led off with a double. Pierzynski singled, Dye to third. Uribe reached on an infield single, scoring Dye. 14-2 Sox. Crede singled, loading the bases. Anderson was plunked, forcing home Pierzynski. 15-2 Sox. Ozuna was hit as well, forcing home Uribe. 16-2 Sox. Johson came on in relief. On Johnson's wild pitch, Crede scored. 17-2 Sox. Gload singled, scoring Anderson and Ozuna. 19-2 Sox.

Riske came on in relief in the seventh. He hit Duncan with two outs and was tossed. Cotts came in to close out the inning.
Crede hit a solo shot with one out. 20-2 Sox. Hancock came on in relief and closed out the inning.

The Cards failed to score in the eighth.
Flores pitched a scoreless inning of relief.

Montero came on in relief in the ninth. Taguchi singled with one out. Duncan homered. 20-4 Sox. Luna reached on an infield single. Perez singled. Spezio singled, scoring Luna. 20-5 Sox. Rodriguez singled, loading the bases. Bennet grounded into a fielder's choice, scoring Perez. 20-6 Sox.

Sox win 20-6!

Sox Record: 45-25

Game 69 Thoughts

Sox win 8-1


-The Sox finally closed the deal on a sweeeeeep!

-The Sox kept their winning streak and their streak of scoring at least 8 runs in tact. They couldn't keep their run of having every positional player get a hit going, damn you Thome! Not that that streak really mattered.

-Garland pitched 8 strong innings, giving up only one run and it WASN'T on a homer. My how things have changed. Garland only allowed 4 hits and 1 walk throughout his outing. The Sox pitchers are on a good run at the moment.

-Pods finally stole a base. I was wondering when he would.

-Jon Garland hit a two-run jack in this game. It was the first by a Sox pitcher since Steve Kealey on September 6, 1971. That's 35 years ago. Garland's swing wasn't the prettiest looking thing, but it got the job done. Had the Sox failed to score any other runs, Garland's blast would have been enough to win the game.

-The Sox bunted 5 times, putting down 4 of them. Juan Uribe botched a suicide squeeze, popping it up and turning it into a double play. That's fine by me; I like the aggressive play in what was a tight ball game at the time.

-Uribe got another hit today, but actually lowered his average, going 1-5.

-Anderson didn't play, but Mackowiak broke out of his slump with 4 singles on the day.

-Big Ups of the Day goes to Mackowiak. He hasn't played in a little while, but he came off the bench and went 4-4.

Sox Record: 44-25

Sox Player of the Game




Jon Garland (1)

Potentially Unwelcomed Good News

Cliff Politte threw a bit in the bullpen before the game. He is going to make a minor league rehab start pretty soon. It's good news for Politte that he recovered so fast, but for the Sox it may be bad news. The bullpen has fared just fine without him, and if he comes back and his injury isn't the reason for his suckiness, we'll have to sit through a few rough outings.

Game 68 Thoughts

Sox win 8-6

-For the third straight game...

• The Sox won.
• The Sox scored at least 8 runs.
• The Sox positional starters all had at least one hit, yes including Juan and BA.
• The faced a lefty.

-Contreras wasn't up to his form during his insanely long win streak, but he wasn't terrible. He gave up five runs. Most pitchers would be somewhat pleased with an outing like this against the high powered Reds, but Jose in not your ordinary pitcher. He was visibly disgusted, slamming his hand on a water cooler after getting pulled. Good news is that he didn't hurt himself doing this. Better news, he fanned 13 batters, his highest ever. In fact that's the highest total by a Sox player since Alex Fernandez in'96.

-The Sox did awesome to battle back and keep Jose's streak alive. They scored 1 in the seventh, 1 in the eighth, and 3 in the ninth.

-When will Scott Podsednik start stealing bases again?

-Jenks gave us all a scare in the ninth, but he held on for his 20th save in 21 attempts.

-Juanny is tearing it up. He had another two hit game, and hit another homer. He supplied the tying run and what proved to be the winning run for us.

-Big Ups of the Day to the Sox offense for their late inning comeback.

Sox Record: 43-25

Sox Player of the Game




Juan Uribe (3)

Game 67 Thoughts

Sox win 12-4

-Another truckload of hits from the Sox. It was the second straight game with at least 15 hits; they had 16 today. Every starter, yes including the pitcher, got a hit, again. The offense is in a groove right now.

-Clausen is a lefty, and we roughed him up 9 runs in only two innings.

-Garcia made one mistake, giving up a three run shot to Aurilia in the first, but after that he only gave up one hit until the seventh when he gave up a gopher ball to Kearns. It was Freddy's first win since May 20 against the Cubs. Like Buehrle the day before, he was efficient in his eight inning of work; he only threw 108 pitches.

-The bottom of the order is starting to swing the stick a bit. Uribe and Anderson are no longer just a black hole, where hits go to die. BA and Uribe put up a single and a double.

-Crede was a triple shy of the cycle and hit his second grand slam of the season.

-For notes on how Riske did, see Riske Business.

-Big Ups of the day to the offense for not slumping after a big game the day before, especially the bottom of the order for starting to turn things around.

Sox Record: 42-25

After slumping a bit, the Sox have now reached a season high 17 games over .500.

Sox Player of the Game




Joltin' Joe Crede (6)

Game 66 Thoughts

Sox win 8-2.

-Buehrle continued his dominance over the Rangers, improving his record against them to 8-2 lifetime. He pitched 8 effective, efficient (103 pitches) innings, only giving up 2 runs. He was staked to an early lead, so he was able to relax and just throw the ball in there.

-Thornton had a perfect inning of relief. He may not be pitching as much as he had earlier, but he is really making Kenny look smart. At the beginning of the season Sox fans could safely say, "Coop is the best pitching coach not named Leo Mazzone," but after Jose proved last year was no fluke and after Coop helped turn Thornton into a legit reliever, he may be challenging Mazzone as the major's pitching guru.

-Every starter got a hit today. Very impressive. Among those starting, were Anderson, Uribe, Widger, and Ozuna. They all got hits. The Sunday lineup produced.

-Thomer number 452! Thome is now tied with Yaz for 29th place on the all time list.

-Ozuna had 3 hits today and is doing his best Ted Williams impression. I know he won't qualify for the batting title, and I know there's still a looooong time left in the season; but how nuts would it be if Pablo hit for .400?

-Uribe has a pulse! He cashed in today with a double, a solo jack, and three RBI's.

-It feels great to hit a lefty, especially one that was absolutely filthy when we faced him before.

Sox Record: 41-25

Sox Player of the Game




Juan Uribe (2)

Juan finally got his second PotG. He's the last starter to this.

Game 70 Preview

Mark Mulder (L) 6-4, 5.32 for the RedBirds

vs.

Javier Vazquez 7-4, 4.54 for the ChiSox

Can we solve this lefty? He hasn't been on form, and we have so I say yes!

Still working on what I missed. I'm just going to post my thoughts, at this point it's meaningless to see the scoring summaries.

Back in Action

Just got back in from Columbus. I'm on Eastern time, so I'm tried as hell. I'm planning on waking up early and updating the site.

Thanks to DickdaStick, Jonathon and James for holding down the fort.

In Columbus

Hey Everyone,

I'm currently in Columbus, I've been here since Wednesday. I've been busy all day with meetings, and at the rate I'm going it's going to be hard for me to update the blog. I will do my best to update, if I have any downtime, but it's doubtful. I get back Monday night, so I will make up for all I missed by Tuesday night.

Until then check out www.southsidesox.com or www.soxmachine.com

Any of my fellow contributors, feel free to fill the void while I'm gone
Sorry everyone, I thought I would be able to update consistently while I was here.

-Jeeves

David Riske

The Sox traded Javier Lopez to the Red Sox for David Riske. In eight appearances Riske is 0-1 with a 3.72 ERA. He's relatively young; he's 29 years old. Overall I like this trade. Riske has been pretty solid throughout his career, although his back has been balky at times. I know that Lopez was dominant in AAA, but he is a lefty and we already have two in the 'pen plus some others at AAA. My only regret is that we didn't get to see Lopez in action this season.

Game 66 Preview

Mark Buehrle 6-4, 3.21 for the ChiSox

vs.

John Rheinecker 2-0, 2.42 for the Rangers

The Sox need the win to win the series. Rheinecker mowed us down last time we faced him.

Game 65 Thoughts

-Vazquez had a trademark game. He got two outs and then blew up. I don't know why he continually does this. It's gotten to the point where even Hawk and DJ noticed. This one was especially perplexing, because he induced a DP to put escape a tough situation with runners on first and second with no outs.

-Apparently Sean Tracey was supposed to bean Blaclock, which is why he got yanked and why Ozzie freaked out. I can understand taking him out, but Ozzie shouldn't have laid into him like that in public; if anything he should have yelled at him behind closed doors. I hope that this doesn't affect the kid's confidence. He was visibly shaken afterwards. He kept his face in his hands or in his shirt afterwards. It's weird to think that Tracey got in so much trouble for getting out one of the Rangers' best hitters.

-I don't think Oz should have told Tracey to hit Blalock. He's just asking for a suspension, which wouldn't benefit us at all.

-It was clearly not our night after we failed to score in the third. The Sox had runners on second and third with no outs with Iguchi, Thome, and Konerko due up.

-The Padilla incident was bizarre. I've been researching and I haven't found any sort of past history between the two of them. For those of you that missed it, AJ was beaned his first time up on the first pitch. It was obviously on purpose. His second trip up, he was blatantly beaned again. The Ump then proceeded to issue a warning. Padilla should definitely have been tossed after the second beaning. I always hated the warning system. It's unfair that the Sox were unable to retaliate, and even if they didn't want to retaliate, it handcuffs the pitcher. He either has to run the risk of letting one slip on an inside pitch or just pitch exclusively on the outer half.

-Montero sucked in relief.

-Padilla pitched a ridiculous number of fastballs, which somehow baffled out hitters.

Sox Player of the Game

No one. Poor game, all around.

Game 65

Sox Lineup

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

Scoring Summary

Both teams were blanked in the first.

The Sox failed to score in the second.
Blalock led off with a solo shot. 1-0 Rangers.

The Sox were held scoreless in the third.
Hairston led off with a single. Matthews singled. Young grounded into a double play, Hairston to third. Teixeira doubled scoring Hairston. 2-0 Rangers. Blalock doubled, scoring Teixeira. 3-0 Rangers. DeRosa walked. Mench singled, scoring Blalock. 4-0 Rangers. Kinsler singled, scoring DeRosa. 5-0 Rangers.

Both teams failed to score in the fourth.

Neither team scored in the fifth.

The Sox were retired in order the sixth.
Matthews Jr. homered with one out and no one on. 6-0 Rangers.

Padilla pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the seventh.
Tracey came on in relief and retired one batter. Montero came on in relief and finished the inning.

The Sox were held scoreless in the eighth.
Kinsler doubled and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Barajas hit a sac fly, scoring Kinsler. 7-0 Rangers. Hairston singled. Matthews Jr. singled, Hairston to third. Young singled, scoring Hairston. 8-0 Rangers.

Cordero came on in relief and pitched a scoreless ninth.

Rangers win 8-0.

Sox Record: 40-25

Game 65 Preview

Javier Vazquez 7-3, 4.19

vs.

Vicente Padilla 5-4, 5.15

With a victory tonight, the Sox can clinch a series win for this four game set.

Game 64 Thoughts

-Garland pitched well. If Dye had read the ball properly and not botched the fly ball, Garland would have rolled into the seventh. I like how Ozzie got Jon out of the game before he could ruin his pithcing performance. Garland looked more like the guy we saw last year. He induced some nice double plays, and didn't strike anyone out. I wish Coop could teach Garland a nice strike out pitch. There's no way he should go a game with striking anyone out.

-Damn good job by the bullpen. They came into the game early and shut down the high powered Rangers' offense. This was one of their better performances of the season. Since I can't award the bullpen PotG honors, I'll give them my big-ups of the day, to make James happy. It's days like these when I feel comfortable with Jenks, Cotts, and McCarthy holding down the 'pen. Let's see how long that feelinf lasts though.

-Everyone's fav CF, Brian Anderson, had his hit streak snapped at two games, but he didn't have a terrible day at the plate. He made solid contact each time up, but was unlucky to not eek out a hit. He did draw a walk without striking out once. Maybe BA is finally finding his stroke.

-Was Pods this much of a defensive liability last year? I seriously don't remember him looking this bad in the field before. He pulled a Mackowiak and gave Wilkerson a triple. It's too bad Anderson doesn't quite have the range to play both Left and Center. While I'm bashing Pods, I might as well note that his AVG has dipped to .250. After recovering from an abysmal start and actually reaching .300, he's started to struggle again.

-Konerko's homer was huge. It provided the margin of victory in what started as a pitching duel. It puts him one behind Baines for second place on the White Sox all time home run list.

-Ever since the Detroit series the Sox have started to look better as a whole. Things seem to clicking more. I can't explain why this is. Maybe they just refocused with the Tigers coming to town, but after these past few games a lot of Sox fans have climbed down off the ledge.

Sox Player of the Game





Paul Konerko (7)







with my big ups of the day going to the 'pen.

Game 64

Sox Lineup

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

Scoring Summary

Loe pitced a perfect first inning.
The Rangers failed to score.

Both teams were retired in order in the second.

The Sox were held scoreless in the third.
Wilkerson led off with a triple. Barajas grounded out scoring Wilkerson. 1-0 Rangers.

Thome doubled with one out in the fourth. Konerko singled. Dye grounded out scoring Thome. 1-1 Tied.
Garland pitched a 1-2-3 inning.

Both teams were blanked in the fifth.

Iguchi led off the sixth with a single. Thome followed with a single. Konerko hit a three-run bomb scoring behind Iguchi and Thome. 4-1 Sox. Dye doubled. Corey came on in relief. Pierzynski grounded out, Dye to third. Crede hit a sac fly scoring Dye. 5-1 Sox.
Kinsler walked with one out. Matthews Jr. singled, Kinsler to third. Young doubled, scoring kinsler. 5-2 Sox. Cotts came on in relief and retired the next two batters.

The Sox were held scoreless in the seventh.
McCarthy came on in relief and pitched a perfect inning.

Feldman came on in relief in the eighth and retired one of the four batters he faced. Bauer came on and closed out the inning.
The Rangers went down in order.

The Sox failed to score in the ninth.
Jenks came on in relief and pitched a scoreless inning for the save.

Sox win 5-2!

Sox Record: 40-24

Game 64 Preview

Jon Garland 4-3, 6.19

vs.

Kameron "Roger Clemens would be proud of my name" Loe 3-5, 5.32

Although Jon's numbers look terrible, he has looked better in his past two starts. Not great, but better. If Jon throws in a steady diet of 2 seamers and sinkers and avoids the hanging change, he should be okay.

Game 63 Thoughts

-Contreras was absolutely dealing until the 5th inning. I don't know if this is part of the reason, but one of the announcers blamed the flair up on the fact that it he hadn't really pitched out of the stretch during the game. He had only allowed one baserunner before that inning. It's possible that this affected his pitching, but it's also possible he just didn't hit his spots that inning. I just thought it was an interesting observation.

-Yes, that's 15 straight decisions with W. Last L, was Aug 15 of last season.

-The Sox looked to be in control of this game the whole time. When I saw Juanny and Anderson get back to back hits, I knew there was no way we were going to lose this game.

-The black hole at the bottom of our lineup, known as Uribe and Anderson combined for 3 hits and 3 runs. BA also worked a nice walk after falling behind 1-2.

-Everyone but Joe Clutch got a hit today. Crede actually should have had a hit, but his screamer was knocked down by the pitcher and went straight to the SS. He hit it so hard that Koronka's glove came off.

-"In the next 6 games, I want at least 4 wins with at least two of them coming against the Tigers. I don't care if we win both series, or if we take all three from the Tigers and then just 1 from Cleveland. Give me 2 wins against the Tigers and 4 out of 6 overall, and I'll be happy (sort of)." This is what I said before, and we reached that goal. I would have been happier had we converted one of the sweeps, but the Sox met my goal.

-Just an interesting stat I saw...The Sox are 12-6 (.667) against teams that are over .500 and 26-18 (.591) against teams that are below .500. The Sox fattened up against weak teams, but are still taking care of business against the good teams. If we played better against the bad teams, we could be ahead of last year's pace. The Tigers on the other hand are 12-14 (.462) overall against +.500 teams (and 1-5 against the Sox) and 28-9 (.757) against sub.500 teams. I'm not saying to discount the Tigers as a threat, I just thought I'd throw this out there.
{EDIT} I know that the games against +.500 teams is a small sample size, but I just thought the stat was interesting because it seems like the Sox raise their level of their play against the good teams, which can be a good and bad thing. It's good as long as they can consistently hit that next gear, but if they cruise too much they could bounce out of the playoffs like the Pistons did.}

Sox Player of the Game

The Offense must be rewarded and Pods probably had the best game offensively speaking.





Scott Podsednik (5)







And thanks to Jonathon Kelley for knocking some sense into me. Thanks to him we've got co-PotG, only because of my stubborness and my desire to reward the offense for 8 runs.





Jose Contreras (5)

Game 63

Sox Lineup

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

Scoring Summary

Podsednik led the first off with a double. Pablo reached base on a bunt, Pods to third. Thome singled, scoring Podsednik. 1-0 Sox. Konerko singled, scoring Ozuna. 2-0 Sox. Dye singled, scoring Thome. 3-0 Sox.
Contreras pitched a perfect inning.

Uribe singled to kick off the second. Anderson doubled, Uribe to third. Pods hit a sacrifice fly, both runners tagged, Uribe scoring. 4-0 Sox. Ozuna singled, scoring Anderson. 5-0 Sox.
The Rangers were retired in order.

The Sox failed to score in the third.
Contreras struck out the side.

Both teams were blanked in the fourth.

Thome walked with one out in the fifth. Konerko singled, Thome to third. Dye walked, loading the bases. Pierzynski grounded into a double play, scoring Thome. 6-0 Sox. Benoit came on in relief and recorded the last out of the inning.
Wilkerson reached first on a bunt. Kinsler doubled. Botts hit a sac fly, scoring Wilkerson. 6-1 Sox. Barajas hit a two run jack, scoring behind Kinsler. 6-3 Sox.

Neither team scored in the sixth.

Both teams went down in order in the seventh.

AJ led off with a solo shot in the eighth. 7-3 Sox. Uribe singled. Anderson bunted Uribe over to second. Podsednik singled, scoring Uribe. 8-3 Sox. Bauer came on in relief and recorded the last out of the inning.
The Rangers failed to score.

The Sox went down in order in the ninth.
Cotts pitched a perfect inning of relief.

Sox win 8-3!

Sox Record: 39-24

Game 63 Preview

Again sorry for the tardiness of this. I'm having a lot of problems with Blogger.com right now. The site is often unavailable for me. I've been trying to post every hour since noon, but haven't been able to until now. I am currently looking into finding a new home for Chi-Sox Blog; Blogger has been really frustrating as of late, so hopefully I can find something more realiable. If any of y'all know of a site I could run my blog through instead, leave me a comment please!

Jose Contreras 6-0, 2.54

vs

John Koronka 4-3, 4.69

Game 62 Preview

Jake Westbrook 5-3, 5.04 for the Tribe

vs.

Freddy Garcia 7-3, 4.56 for the Chi-Sox

The Sox are in position for yet another sweep. That broom pic is getting awfully dusty.

Game 61 Thoughts

-Big time Sunday lineup today, but it's justifiable. Wet field out there, so it wasn't a good idea to have Crede out there with his balky back. It was a day game after a night game, so AJ was automatically going to get the day off.

-I think Buehrle would appreciate the chance to pitch to AJ just once. He seems to always pitch to Widger. Buehrle pitched well today. He got into trouble in the first, but escaped with minimal damage, only one run.

-The Sox got shut down by another lefty. We are absolutely abysmal against lefties.

-The Sox continue to squeak by. I would like to see an absolute blow out tomorrow. The offense hasn't broken out in a while.

-Anderson and Uribe had a pair of o-fer days. Oh joy!

-The Sox did real well to pull out the win. They easily could have laid down and given up on the game, but they fought back, twice. The comeback in the eleventh was especially impressive.

-Pablo is so clutch at the end of games. He scored the winning run again today, and very nearly drove in the winning run. One thing I didn't like though, was when he threw his hands up in the air after singling. It's fine to celebrate if/when Mackowiak scores, but Mack was thrown out so he just looks bush-league.

-I don't know why, but his premature celebration bothered me so much, but it did and Iguchi had an equally strong game, so Tadahito gets PotG honors.

Sox Player of the Game




Tadahito Iguchi (4)

Game 61

Pitching Match-Up

C.C. Sabathia 5-2, 2.75

vs.

Mark Buehrle 6-4, 3.31

Sox 'Sunday' Lineup

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

Scoring Summary

Michaels walked with one out in the first. Hafner was hit by a pitch. Martinez singled, scoring Michaels. 1-0 Indians.
The Sox went down in order.

Both teams were held scoreless in the second.

Buehrle pitched a perfect third.
The Sox failed to score.

Neither team scored in the fourth.

Both teams were blanked in the fifth.

Martinez led off with a solo shot in the sixth. 2-0 Indians.
Ozuna led off with a single. Iguchi doubled. Thome was hit by a pitch, loading the bases. Konerko grounded into a double play, scoring Ozuna. 2-1 Indians.

The Indians were held scoreless in the seventh.
Carmona came in and pitched a scoreless inning of relief.

The Indians failed to score in the eighth.
Cabrera came on in relief and gave up a leadoff single to Konerko. Gload lined into a double play, clearing the bases. Cintron walked and stole second. AJ, pinch hitting for Widger, walked. Cintron advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Podsednik's single. 2-2 Tied.

Jenks pitched a perfect ninth.
Betancourt pitched a perfect inning of relief.

Thornton came on in relief with one out in the tenth.

Martinez hit a solo shot in the eleventh. 3-2 Indians.
Wickman came on for the save. AJ led off with a single and was sacrificed over by Pods. Mackowiak singled, scoring AJ. 3-3 Tied. Mackowiak advanced to second on the throw home. Ozuna singled, but Mackowiak was thrown out at home. Ozuna advanced to second on the throw. Iguchi singled, scoring Ozuna. 4-3 Sox.

Sox win 4-3!

Sox Record: 38-23

Game 60 Thoughts

-The Sox are playing just good enough to win right now. Each game is taking a few hours off the tail end of my life.

-Javy's performance today was sort of the inverse of what we've come to expect from him. In the past he would cruise and dominate, and then once he got into a jam he woulf fall apart. Today, however, he seemingly found himself in a jam every inning, yet he pitched out of them. He didn't fall to pitches, and he gave another glimpse of the type of pitcher he could be for us.

-I can't even blame Cotts for giving up the homer to Hafner. Pronk absolutely rapes us. He owns us. I guess it's time to just call him our daddy.

-BA performance was a microcosm of his season so far. He laid an egg at the plate, but made a game saving catch in the eighth. If he doesn't make the catch, the Indians put up at least 1 more run on that play alone, if not two. I'll tell you had Mack been in the game, that would have been a triple, if not an inside-the-parker.

-I mentioned this before, but it's officially time to start a city-wide mancrush on Jermaine Dye. As James commented, he IS getting recognition now, at least from Sox fans. Let's see if the national media picks up on this and if he'll receive the accolades he deserves.

-Our struggles against lefties is a very disturbing trend. We can't even hit against Cliff Lee, who we have hit pretty well in two previous meetings.

Sox Player of the Game





Jermaine Dye (8)

Game 60

Sox Lineup

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

Scoring Summary

Sizemore was hit by a pitch to lead off the first. Martinez singled, Sizemore to third. Broussard singled, scoring Sizemore. 1-0 Indians.
Podsednik led off with an infield single. Ozuna singled. Thome flied out, Pods and Ozuna tagging to third and second, respectively. Konerko hit an infield single, scoring Pods and advancing Ozuna; Ozuna scored on Peralta's error. 2-1 Sox.

Both teams were held scoreless in the second.

Neither team scored in the third.

The Indians failed to score in the fourth.
Lee pitched a 1-2-3 inning.

Both teams went down in order in the fifth.

Sizemore singled with one two outs in the sixth. Michaels reached on a failed fielder's choice. Cotts came on in relief and surrendered a three run jack to Hafner. 4-2 Indians.
Dye hit a solo shot. 4-3 Indians.

Both teams were held scoreless in the seventh.

McCarthy came on in relief and recorded one out in the eighth. Thornton came on and recorded the last two outs.
With two outs, Thome walked. Konerko doubled. Dye singled, scoring Thome and Konerko. 5-4 Sox.

Jenks came on in relief in the ninth and recorded the save.

Sox win 5-4!

Sox Record: 37-23

Game 60 Preview

Cliff "The only lefty the Sox can hit" Lee 4-5, 5.27 for the Tribe

vs.

Javier Vazquez 7-3, 4.15 for the ChiSox

The Sox did well to take two out of three from the Tigers, but they didn't play all that spectacularly. They'll probably need to play better to take this series as well.

Game 59 Thoughts

-I'm not terribly upset about the loss. Against a tough lefty like Kenny "the camera man mauler" Rogers, I didn't really expect the Sox to pull of the sweep.

-Garland didn't pitch nearly as bad as his stat line might suggest. He had the one bad inning, but other than that he pitched well. 6 runs though, isn't acceptable though. He needs to stop throwing meatballs with his secondary pitches and giving up so many homers.

-The Sox offense just stalled after the beginning of the game. The days when the offense was absolutey carrying the team seem a long time ago.

-Tracey looked real good. He was just eating a bunch of garbage innings, but he did pitch two solid innings. If he keeps this up, the bullpen will be in much better shape. That's a big if, though.

-Juan was back today after being on paternity leave (yes I feel weird typing that); he didn't start, but did two AB's. He of course didn't get a hit.

Sox Player of the Game

Today is another one of those days where no one player all that superbly. No one had a multi hit game. Paulie had a two run jack, but it was so meaningless in the final box score that I don't feel the need to award a PotG.

Game 59

Sox Lineup

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

Scoring Summary

Garland pitched a scoreless first.
With two outs, Thome singled. Konerko followed with a homer. 2-0 Sox.

Garland pitched a perfect second.
Rogers pitched a scoreless inning.

Shelton led off the third with a walk. Shelton advanced to second on Garland's wild pitch. Polanco homered, scoring behind Shelton. 2-2 Tied.
The Sox were retired in order.

Both pitchers threw a 1-2-3 inning in the fourth.

Both teams were blanked in the fifth.

With one out, Rodriguez singled in the sixth. Rodriguez tagged up on Ordonez's fly out. Guillen singled, scoring Rodriguez. 3-2 Tigers. Guillen advanced to second on the throw home. Infante hit an infield single, scoring Guillen. 4-2 Tigers. Thames homered, scoring behind Infante. 6-2 Tigers.
The Sox were retired in order.

Neither team scored in the seventh.

Tracey came on in relief in the eighth, and pitched a perfect inning.
Rodney relieved Rogers and pitched a perfect inning.

Both teams were held scoreless in the ninth.

Tigers win 6-2.

Sox Record: 36-23

Game 59 Preview

Kenny Rogers (L) 7-3, 3.54 for Los Tigres

vs.

Jon Garland 4-2, 6.04 for the Chi-Sox

The Sox go for the sweep. Rogers has pitched well this year, and he's a lefty to make matters worse. A win gives the Sox the division lead.

My pick to click is Jim Thome. I'm calling another Thomer.

Bullpen Update

Cliff Politte has been placed on the DL with shoulder soreness. White Sox fans have long wondered if there has been something wrong with him physically, and apparently there is. Sean Tracey was called up in his stead. Tracey had a 5-3 record with a 3.18 ERA in AAA, spending time as a starter and reliever.

Jeff Nelson looks to be done for the year. He is to have surgery on his elbow, and odds are not only will this end his season but his career as well. It was worth a shot to see if had anything left in the tank, but apparently he didn't. Auggie Montero was called up to take his place in the 'pen.

Game 58 Thoughts

Why did I ever doubt Jose Contreras? Every time he pitches, we are in great position to win the game, which is part of the reason why we hasn't lost since last season.

Bullpen looked solid yesterday. Ozzia putting Montero in made my heart stop for about five minutes, but he did a-okay. In the long run that outing will boost his confidence a lot, granted he did face the bottom of the order.

Jenks is lights out. I had doubts about him, but he's proving to be an elite closer. I still want to see him come on with a few runners on base to see if he's as effective then. That was when he would struggle last year, if he gave up a hit or a walk, but so far he has been doing just fine.

Dye and Thome hit another homer each. They are slugging at a crazy pace. Thome with 21 and Dye with 18. Thome seems to be streaky with his HR output, so look for him to go on a tear; this was his first homer since May 298.

The Sox clinched the series, which is a great confidence boost after last a rough stretch. A sweep would be sweet today, but I would be content with just the two wins.

I'm not saying this just because we won the series, but it was something I was tossing around with some friends, but this year's Tigers team reminds me of some of the Sox teams in the years past. Great hitting, good pitching, but missing that extra something to carry them when things aren't going great. I don't want to say the missing ingredient is small ball, but be able to change your style to suit the situation is something that the Tigers are missing. The Sox showed a great example of this yesterday. Crede led off with a single. Mack laid down a perfect bunt. Cintron singled and Crede came around from second to score the winning run. The Tigers don't look capable of raising or changing their game in situations like this.

I guess we should start calling him Alex "Clutch". He's had back to back game winning hits, following his 3-run jack with a run scoring single. He's taking over from Joe Clutch and Go Go Pablo as our hottest late inning hitter.

Sox Player of the Game




Alex Cintron (2)

Game 58

Sox Lineup

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

Scoring Summary

Contreras and Verlander both pitched a perfect first.

The Sox and Tigers were blanked in the second.

With two outs, Granderson hit a solo shot in the third. 1-0 Indians.
Cintron singled and stole second. Podsednik followed with a triple. 1-1 Tied.

In the fourth Ordonez walked with one out. Guillen singled, Mags to third. Thames hit a sac fly, scoring Ordonez. 2-1 Indians.
Dye hit a solo shot. 2-2 Tied.

Neither team scored in the fifth.

The Tigers were shut down in the sixth.
Thome hit a solo shot. 3-2 Sox.

Granderson walked with one out in the seventh. Polanco signled. Ordonez reached on Crede's fielding error; Granderson scored on the resulting throwing error by Crede. 3-3 Tied.
Crede led off with a single. Walker came on in relief. Mackowiak sacrificed Crede over to second. Cintron singled to left, scoring Crede. 4-3 Sox.

Monetero recorded the first two outs of the eighth. Cotts came on to close out the inning.
Zumaya recorded the last two outs of the inning.

Jenks came on and pitched a perfect ninth to earn the save.

Sox win 4-3!

Sox Record: 36-22

Game 58 Preview

Justin Verlander 7-3, 3.13 for Los Tigres

vs.

Jose Contreras 5-0, 2.53 for the Chi-Sox

Jose is coming off his worst start of the season, but his undefeated streak is still intact. A win now, gives us a series win.

Game 57 Thoughts

Freddy pitched pretty well against a potent offense. He got into trouble in the first, but he escaped without surrendering any runs. It’s a bit troubling that he gave up so many homers. All the runs he gave up were on solo shots.

BMac pitched well. He looked real good for the first time in a while.

I’m not impressed with the offense’s performance. In the first inning we had Pods on third with one out, and we didn’t score. In the seventh, Thome was up with the bases loaded with one out, and again the Sox came up empty handed. If it wasn’t for a flukey homer by Cintron we’re on the wrong end of a demoralizing loss.

Big ups to Cintron. Apparently he picked up on Rodney’s pitching pattern. He noticed that he followed a change with a fastball, so he sat on the fastball and knocked it out of the park. It was the perfect time for his first homer of the year. I know it’s early, but this could be one of the defining moments of the Sox season.

I’ve been a strong defender of Brian Anderson all season, but games like these, 0-4 with a golden sombrero, keep giving his detractors more and more ammo.

Dye has 17 home runs. Just thought you should know.
Jenks was lights out. He is pitching great for us.

Sox Player of the Game




Alex Cintron (1)

Game 57

(sorry for the delay, blogger.com has been down all day)

Sox Lineup

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

Scoring Summary

Garcia pitched a scoreless first.
Robertson blanked the Sox.

Thames led off the second with a solo shot. 1-0 Tigers. With one out, Inge hit a solo shot. 2-0 Tigers.
Dye led off with a solo shot. 2-1 Tigers.

Neither team scored in the third.

Shelton led off with a solo shot in the fourth. 3-1 Tigers.
The Sox failed to score.

Both teams were blanked in the fifth.

Both pitchers threw 1-2-3 innings in the sixth.

McCarthy came on in relief in the seventh and held the Tigers scoreles.
The Sox were held scoreless.

McCarthy pitched a perfect eighth.
Rodney came on in relief. Dye led off with walk. Crede walked. Cintron hit a three run shot, scoring behind Dye and Crede. 4-3 Sox.

Jenks came on in relief and pitched a perfect ninth for the save.

Sox win 4-3!

Sox Record: 35-22

Game 57 Preview

Nate Robertson 5-3, 3.42 for Los Tigres

vs.

Fredy Garcia 7-3, 4.57 for the Chi-Sox

I'm Back!

Sorry for the absence folks. The problem with my comp was apparently more serious than was first expected, but I've got my computer back and I've fully caught up on what I missed.

Today's an off day, so let's hope the Sox get their heads in the right place as they gear up for a big series against the Tigers.

This is DickdaStick's comment...I think this is exactly what the Sox need to be thinking coming into the game.

BIG SERIES with the Tigers. We can do A LOT of good or a lot of harm in these next 3 games. We need to "OWN" the Tigers right now and remond them we are the Champs. These games are on OUR turf. We should be FULLY FOCUSED- no excuses and no room for any pussy performances. 'Nuf said - let's see our boys do it on the field !

Game 56 Thoughts

-The Sox got rocked. They've now lost 7 of their last 10 games. It's not time to abandon ship yet. It's a rough patch; every team goes through a rough stretch or two. Just look at the Tigers, they've been slumping badly too. Now if we get swept by the Tigers and then lose the series against the Indians, we may have some legit concerns, but step off the ledge at least for another week.

-We've looked piss poor since the turn of the month, but we're still just 2.5 games back, the same as when the month started.

-Gerald Laird raped us. Absolutely brutal, 2 2b's and 2 HR's.

-Cliff Politte needs to go NOW. He isn't even a shadow of his former self. He is a completely different pitcher and he is getting rocked consistently and his ERA is now up to 7.40.

-The offense got us a lead early, but did squat after that. That 2-0 lead is the type of lead we would have held up last year, but with our bullpen and with our starters suddenly struggling the offense needs to do more than a two run homer.

-The good - Nelson was put on the DL. The bad - Montero was called back up. The ugly - The state of the Sox bullpen.

-I agree that we didn't get a good chance to fully evaluate Montero when he was up here during his first stint, but he's not the answer for us in the bullpen. It's looking more and more like we're going to need outside help to plug the holes in our leaky bullpen.

-Chris Widger needs to learn how to call a proper ball game. There's a reason why our pitcher do so poorly when he's behind the plate.

-In the next 6 games, I want at least 4 wins with at least two of them coming against the Tigers. I don't care if we win both series, or if we take all three from the Tigers and then just 1 from Cleveland. Give me 2 wins against the Tigers and 4 out of 6 overall, and I'll be happy (sort of).

Sox Player of the Game

Joe Crede (5)

Game 56

Pitching Match-Up

(Post-game stats)

John Rheinecker 2-0, 1.77 for the Rangers

vs.

Mark Buehrle 6-4, 3.31 for the Sox.

Sox Lineup

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

Scoring Summary

Buehrle pitched a perfect first.
The Sox went down in order.

The Rangers failed to score in the second.
Dye led off with a single. Crede followed with a homer. 2-0 Sox.

Laird doubled with one out in the third. On Widger's passed ball, Laird advanced to third. Young reached first with a walk. Teixeira doubled, scoring Laird and Young. 2-2 Tied.
The Sox were held scoreless.

Both teams were blanked in the fourth.

Matthews singled in the fifth with one out. Matthews reached second on Young's groundout. Teixeira hit an infield double, scoring Matthews. 3-2 Rangers.
The Sox failed to score.

DeRosa led off the sixth with a walk. Mench reached first on a fielder's choice. Hairston walked. Laird doubled, scoring Mench and Hairston. 5-2 Rangers. Matthew's Jr. singled, scoring Laird. 6-2 Rangers.
The Sox were retired in order.

Both teams failed to score in the seventh.

Politte came on in relief in the eighth. Laird hit a solo homer with one out. 7-2 Rangers. Young doubled. Teixeira followed with a single, scoring Young. 8-2 Rangers. Blalock walked. DeRosa singled, scoring Teixeira. 9-2 Rangers. Montero came on in relief and closed out the inning.
The Sox were held scoreless.

Laird hit a solo shot in the ninth with two outs. 10-2 Rangers.
Cordero pitched a scoreless inning to close out the game.

Rangers win 10-2.

Sox Record: 34-22

Game 55 Thoughts

-The Sox finally put up a win!

-Vazquez didn't pitch great, but his stat line is deceiving. He gave up an ass load of hits (11), so he's lucky he didn't give up a bunch of runs, but at the same time he had some factors working against him in the fifth. First, he was sitting for a long time, while the Sox batted around the order in the bottom of the fourth. Second, there were a few balls hit that Juan Uribe would have been able to get to.

-Bullpen=garbage

-Jenks though is good. He's 15/16 in save opportunities and is by far the most consistent reliever.

-Jeff Nelson is not the answer!

-I want to see Cintron face lefites. He bats .040 pts higher ve lefties than righties.

-Iguchi saved our asses with that grab. Like DickdaStick suggested, he's PotG.

-It's been a little while since the Sox have hit a homer.

Sox Player of the Game

Tadahito Iguchi (3)

Game 55

Pitching Match-Up

(Post-game stats)
Vincente Padilla 5-4, 5.29 for the Rangers

vs.

Javier Vazquez 7-3, 4.14 for the Sox

Sox Lineup

Podsednik - LF
Iguchi - 2B
Konerko - DH
Dye - RF
Pierzynksi - C
Crede - 3B
Mackowiak - CF
Cintron - SS
Gload - 1B

Scoring Summary

Garland held the Rangers scoreless in the first.
Iguchi doubled off of Padilla. Konerko hit an infield single to second, scoring Iguchi. 1-0 Sox.

Garland struck out the side in the second.
The Sox were held scoreless.

Barajas led of the third with a single. Matthews Jr. singled. Young singled, loading the bases. Teixeira walked, forcing home Barajas. 1-1 Tied. Blalock singled, scoring Matthews Jr. 2-1 Rangers.
The Sox failed to score.

Garland pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the fourth.
Crede led off with a double. Mackowiak walked. Crede advanced to third on Padilla's wild pitch. Cintron reached on a failed fielder's choice, scoring Crede. 2-2 Sox. Gload bunted Cintron over to second. Podsednik doubled, scoring Mackowiak and Cintron. 4-2 Sox. Podsednik stole third. Iguchi singled, scoring Pods. 5-2 Sox. Konerko singled. Benoit came on in relief and walked Dye to load the bases. AJ singled scoring Iguchi. 6-2 Sox. Crede singled, scoring Konerko and Dye. 8-2 Sox.

Young led off the fifth with a single. Teixeira singled. Blalock singled, scoring Young. 8-3 Sox. DeRosa singled, scoring Teixeira and advancing Blalock to third. 8-4 Sox. Wilkerson hit a sac fly, scoring Blalock. 8-5 Sox.
Wasdin came on in relief and pitched a scoreless inning.

Both teams were blanked in the sixth.

Cotts pitched a scoreless seventh.
Mahay pitched an inning of scoreless relief.

Botts led off the eighth with a walk. Politte came on in relief and walked Barajas. Young singled, loading the bases. Thornton came on in relief. Blalock hit an infield single, scoring Botts. 8-6 Sox. Jenks came on to record the last out of the inning.
Feldman came on in relief and recorded the final out in a scoreless inning.

Jenks finished off the ninth for the save.

Sox win 8-6!

Sox Record: 34-21

Game 54 Thoughts

-Solid performance from Jon "I didn't need nearly all that much run support, today" Garland. He wasn't spectacular but he got the job done.

-If the bullpen could pitch, Jonnie boy would have gotten the win today.

-Nelson is oooold. His tanks is empty, which is why, I suppose, he was in retirement earlier this year. It was worth the gamble to give him a go, but now it's time for him to go.

-I'm not overly worried about Thome. He was bound to pick up a strain here or there. Hopefully it really isn't anything to worry about.

-I don't like AJ in the three hole; I would rather see Crede there. AJ just cannot hit with runners in scoring position.

-The Sox offense needs to wake up a bit. Their struggles on the road trip have carried over to the beginning of the homestand.

Sox Player of the Game

I refuse to award this to anyone. No one did anything extraordinary. Gload had two singles and a RBI, that's good enough to get him a mention here, but he's not going to be awarded PotG.

Game 54

Sox Lineup

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

Scoring Summary

Garland pitched a perfect first for the Sox.
Loe held the Sox scoreless.

Blalock led off the second with a walk. Wilkerson homered, scoring behind Blalock. 2-0 Rangers.
The Sox were retired in order.

Both teams failed to score in the third.

The Rangers were blanked in the fourth.
Konerko led off with a single. Dye and Crede followed with singles, loading the bases. Gload singled, scoring Paulie. 2-1 Rangers. Uribe grounded out, scoring Dye. 2-2 Tied. Anderson grounded out, scoring Crede. 3-2 Sox.

Garland pitched a perfect fifth.
The Sox failed to score.

Both teams were held scoreless in the sixth.

With two outs in the seventh Matthews Jr. walked. Nelson came on in relief and surrendered a double to Young, scoring Matthews Jr. 3-3 Tied. Cotts came on in relief and closed out the inning.
Bauer pitched a perfect inning of relief.

McCarthy pitched a perfect eighth.
Cordero came on in relief and pitched a scoreless inning.

Kinsler walked with one out in the ninth. Jenks came on in relief and gave up a double to Matthews Jr, scoring Kinsler. 4-3 Rangers.
Otsuka closed out the game for the save.

Rangers win 4-3.

Sox Record: 33-21

Hell is About to Freeze Over

Looks like Pablo Ozuna is gearing up to play center field.

Apparently Oz wants Pablo to face the lefties while BA is serving his suspension.

I think everyone is well aware of how piss poor Pablo is in the outfield. If Mackowiak was turning outs into triples, Pablo will turn them into inside the parkers.

Game 54 Preview

Kameron Loe 3-5, 4.48 for the Rangers

vs.

Jon "I get the most run support in the league" Garland 4-2, 6.25 for the Sox

C'mon Jon, stop the hurt!

Game 53 Thoughts

-Pitching was absolutely terrible today. I'm not going to sugarcoat it.

-Contreras didn't have his normal stuff today. He looked like the guy we got from the Yankees. He fell behind in the counts and his forkball was bouncing its way to the plate. Contreras gave up 6 runs; Thornton let two of his inherited runners score, which bounced Contreras' total up to six. In his defense, he didn't lose us the game, that was the bullpen's job.

-It seems eveytime I find faith in a reliever, he melts down. I thought I trusted McCarthy, and he lost the ability to throw his change. I thought I trusted Cotts and he lost the ability to get people out in tight games. Thornton is back on the hot seat in my mind. He looked awful yesterday. Hopefully it was just a one game blip and not a coming trend.

-At this point I trust Bobby Jenks and only Bobby Jenks in the bullpen. I trust the man that came in fat and out of shape.

-JD brought his A game today, unlike our pitchers. We only had 5 hits, but thanks to him, we still were in position to win the game.

-We walked 8 times, which is a tribute to the Sox new approach at the plate.

-Tiger Watch - The Tigers salvaed the last game of their four game set with the Yanks, saving themselves from a sweep.

-We went 2-5 on this 7 game roadie, which is very poor. We blew the opportunity to overtake the Tigers this week. as they struggled against the Yankees. That's what frustrates me the most. The Tigers finally lay an egg, and instead of seizing the divison we roll over and get whomped on.

Sox Player of the Game

Jermaine Dye (7)
Pictures aren't uploading at the moment!

Game 53

Sox Lineup

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

Scoring Summary

Podsednik led off with a walk in the first. Iguchi doubled, Pods to third. Thome hit a sac fly, scoring Podsednik. 1-0 Sox.
Sizemore led off with a walk, and stole second. Michaels grounded out, Sizemore to the third. Hafner walked. Martinez singled, scoring Sizemore. 1-1 Tied. Broussard singled, scoring Hafner. 2-1 Indians.

Byrd pitched a perfect second.
The Indians were held scoreless.

Pods led of the third with a walk and stole second. Iguchi walked. Thome doubled, scoring Podsednik and Iguchi. 3-2 Sox. Dye homered, scoring behind Thome. 5-2 Sox.
Hafner walked with one out. Broussard singled. Blake doubled, scoring Hafner. 5-3 Sox.

Both pitcher threw a 1-2-3 inning in the fourth.

Both teams sat down in order in the fifth.

Byrd retired the side in order in the sixth.
Blake led off with a double. Belliard singled. Both runners advanced on Contreras' wild pitch, Blake scoring. 5-4 Sox. Boone struck out, but reached base on a wild pitch, Belliard to third. Thornton came on in relief. Sizemore hit a sac fly. 5-5 Tied. Michales homered, scoring behind Boone. 7-5 Indians.

Sauerbeck came on in relief in the seventh. Iguchi walked with two out. Thome walked. Dye hit a three run jack. 8-7 Sox.
Martinez led off with a walk. Broussard singled. McCarthy came on in relief. Belliard homered, scoring behind Martinez and Broussard. 10-8 Tied. Boone tripled. Sizemore singled, scoring Boone. 11-8 Indians.

The Sox sat down in order in the eighth.
Cotts came on in relief. Broussard hit a solo shot. 12-8 Indians.

Wickman pitched a perfect ninth to close out the game.

Indians win 12-8.

Sox Record: 33-20

Game 53 Preview

Jose Countreras 5-0, 1.83 for the ChiSox

vs.

Paul Byrd 4-4, 5.22 for the Tribe

The Count goes for the series split. The offense better show some life, because The Count is good, but he's not good enough to overcome the Sox getting shutout again.