posted on Wednesday, April 11, 2007 10:44 PM by Jim

April 11: White Sox 6, Athletics 3

I could take the easy way out of this recap and just say to take a look at yesterday's game, but flip the teams.  Today, it was the Oakland bullpen giving up a game after a strong outing by a starter, with the White Sox employing some late-inning heroics at the plate.

Getty ImagesAfter a day off, Jermaine Dye came back with a vengeance, tying the game up with a two-run, two-out homer of Justin Duchsherer, his first of the year.  After adding three more in the ninth thanks to a Darin Erstad sac fly and a Paul Konerko two-run double, the Sox took a rare series win in Oakland and evened their record at .500 once again.

The offense snapping out of its mini-funk takes a backseat to Mark Buehrle's performance today.  After taking a season-jeopardizing line drive off his left forearm in his last start, Buehrle looked as good as he did in the first half of 2006.  Even in the first inning, when the A's jumped out to a 3-0 lead, Buehrle made good pitches.  Mike Piazza has power to all fields, and Eric Chavez stuck his bat out into a double.

Buehrle would be rewarded for hitting his spots, retiring 20 of the last 22 batters he faced.  Only one ball, a flyout to Scott Podsednik in left, was hit reasonably well.  The only hit off him after the first, a Nick Swisher single, happened thanks to a Jermaine Dye misread, coupled with an error.  Brian Anderson kept Swisher from scoring with an inning-ending diving catch, flashing that defense we never get to see enough of these days.

David Aardsma worked a quick 1-2-3 inning, and Bobby Jenks followed up in similar fashion, striking out the last two hitters he faced.

If there's one dour angle to this ballgame, it's that the Sox once again struggled against a mediocre lefty.  Joe Kennedy, coming off a spring in which he gave up 40 hits in 20 innings, held the Sox to one run over five innings.  Anderson didn't provide immediate results with his first start, going 0-for-3 with a strikeout and a GIDP.  With Joe Crede continuing to scuffle (0-for-4, dropping his batting average to .200), I'm not sure how this is going to be resolved.

In the meantime, the Sox should cross their fingers than Juan Uribe has figured something out.  He continued his hot hitting, going 2-for-4 with an RBI single for the only run off Kennedy.

Record: 4-4 | Box score | Play-by-play

Comments

# re: April 11: White Sox 6, Athletics 3

Thursday, April 12, 2007 12:12 AM by Gregory Pratt
Erstad has been stellar in the field, IMO. Great reads and jumps, always there. He's about equal to Anderson, I think, at this stage in their careers, on the field, but I'm not reluctant to say Erstad's better.

# re: April 11: White Sox 6, Athletics 3

Thursday, April 12, 2007 12:15 AM by Jim Margalus
Yup, Erstad's made every play so far. I'm perfectly comfortable with either one in center, but I wouldn't mind seeing Ozzie be more aggressive in late-inning situations. Put Anderson in center and Erstad in left, and that's a lot of ground taken care of.

# re: April 11: White Sox 6, Athletics 3

Thursday, April 12, 2007 12:30 AM by Gregory Pratt
That I can agree with, but I'd prefer Erstad in center and BA in left. Veteran presence.