Breathe a Little Easier, Sox Fans: Game 126

Sox (breath in, pause, breath out) Win: 7-5!

Freddy finally got the runs he wanted. And it's a good thing too, because he gave up 5 runs in 5.1 innings. A little piece of me wished that someone like AJ or maybe BA had walked over to Freddy after the early 6 runs and said, "There's SIX runs, Freddy. Think you can hold them under that?" Another little piece of me wished I could see his reaction after Thornton allowed his two inherited runners to score; I wanted to see if he would act out again. No such luck though. Maybe the mandate came down from the powers-that-be to Comcast not to rock the boat. (Of course, that could just be a tactic the Tribune Company uses on it's writers who rip the Cubs.)

Many, many other things to discuss, so I'm think I'm gonna go bullet-style here. Hmmm, where do I start? Maybe with this...

• The frightening news: the Thominator had a great, great at bat against lefty Will Ledezma only to pull up lame running into 2nd base with a strained left hamstring. It was a blistering shot to deep left-center that went for an RBI ground-rule double, a little unlucky in that regard since Cintron would have scored easily from 1st base. But the limping-Thome screeched to a halt and Herm and Ozzie were out there in an instant. (Gooch replaced Thome in the lineup.) It was like a children's story. See Jim hit. See Jim run. See Jim limp. See James cry.
• Jermaine Dye made me wet like a '80s schoolgirl at a New Kids on the Block concert when he hit a two-out, 3-run HR in the top of the 1st inning.
  
• Despite the misplay on a blooper between Uribe, Pods and Mack, I've decided to stop ripping on Mack and his play in CF cuz Ozzie is setting him up for failure by playing him there so much. Clearly he would be better suited starting in LF for a sloppy, slumping Scott Pods-crap-nik. There is no doubt Mack can hit (2-4, R, BB), and Pods is only wasting at bats for the team.
• Speaking of Pods, he made his 8th error on the season, a throwing error, in the 6th inning. And I'm about to pile on some more. He has twice as many GIDPs as Thome and has an OPS under .700. This is not a knee-jerk reaction. This is hard factual evidence. It's time for a change in LF be it Roblo Mackozuna or Ryan Sweeney or whomever. Someone send KW and Ozzie the memo.
• Jim Leyland is God. At least Hawk Harrelson thinks so. In the top of the 7th, with runners on 1st and 2nd, Pods is called on to sac-bunt the runners over. His first attempt is a foul ball and after taking a pitch for a ball, he take another pitch for a very border-line strike from right-hander Coby Lewis. Immediately Leyland pops outta the dugout and replaces the righty for lefty Jamie Walker knowing Pods is gonna be swinging away with two strikes. Leyland is playing the percentages albeit in an unorthodox way. Ozzie counters (some would say reacts in the negative connotation) by pinch hitting BA for Pods in the middle of the at bat. On one pitch, BA swings and misses, and Pods is creditted with a strikeout, the best swing and miss BA's had all year. Back to Hawk. He called it the best move of the year. What?!? Is he drinking the Jim Leyland Kool Aide? When Hawk was the White Sox GM did Leyland secretly pay him off to fire Tony LaRussa? Sure it was a good move -- the Sox didn't score -- but best move of the season? Hawk's exaggeration was like a teenage boy lying about his sexual conquests with a cheerleader who did nothing but wink at him.
• JD may be the MVP, but Joe Crede is the Second Coming of the Saviour. With two solo homers in clutch spots of the game, he broke out of the mini-slump he was in. One of the homers was reminiscent of Vlad. He hit a low (and I mean very low) and away curve ball that looked like it was no more than an inch or two off the left side of the batter's box. Did you get that? The LEFT side of the batter's box. If anyone is God, Hawk Harrelson, it's Joe Crede.
• Can a group of guys be more overlooked for their yeoman's work than the bullpen? 3.2 innings of scoreless pitching. They're like a band-aid on a sore. You use them up, throw them away, and don't think about them again until you get hurt. They're the aspirin taken to sedate a headache. They're the M*A*S*H unit of a baseball team.

Awards time---------------------------------

Bad Ozzie Move of the Game: This is redundant, but starting Pods at all anymore is a mistake, lefty/ righty matchup be damned.

Good Ozzie Move of the Game: Pulling Freddy before he could choke away the lead for a second time in the game.

Play of the Game: JD's 3-run homer set the tone for the game.

Big Ups to the bullpen and JD

And my White Sox Player of the Game is.................





Joe Crede (12) Yes, he may have just saved the season again.



Sox Record: 74-52.....but the Twinkies win, too.