2007 State of the Sox

April 20: White Sox 5, Tigers 4

Take note, Ozzie Guillen: This is what your offense looks like when your leadoff man actually reaches base.

Now, to qualify that note: Don't count on your leadoff man routinely getting on base the way he did.

Darin Erstad's two singles took 648 bounces (I counted) to get through the infield, and they ended up being among the two most important hits of the game.  The first of them, which took forever to get through the hole between first and second, eventually led to a bases-loaded Paul Konerko single that erased a two-run Tiger lead.

The second, a seeing-eye single up the middle that exploited every inch of Carlos Guillen's range issues, drove in Rob Mackowiak for the decisive run after Mack singled and advanced to second on Juan Uribe's sacrifice bunt that almost fell into Sean Casey's mitt.

Of course, the Sox had to make it closer than it had to be from beginning to end, missing some golden opportunities on offense and having some issues on defense.

The Tigers were able to take the lead when some confusion between short, left and center gave Ivan Rodriguez a double and the Tigers an extra out.  That would prove to be crucial, as Detroit did all their damage against John Danks with two outs.   Juan Uribe appeared to have a bead on it, but either lost the ball in the lights or felt he was called off by either Mackowiak or Erstad, both of whom arrived late.  After a four-pitch Gary Sheffield walk, Magglio Ordonez doubled and Carlos Guillen singled for a 4-2 Detroit lead.  Up until that point, all scoring had been accomplished the traditional Sox way -- solo homers by Uribe and Tadahito Iguchi, and one by Brandon Inge.

The Sox never blew the game open, and some of that was their own doing.  They had the bases loaded an one out after that Konerko single, but Jim Thome unwisely tried scoring on Joe Crede's pop-out to Placido Polanco.  He was out by plenty, and if that was Razor Shines' call, that's two Joey Cora-like decisions in two days.  Additionally, the Sox couldn't bring home Mackowiak after a one-out triple.

Fortuantely, the Tigers also ended the game with a runner on third.  Bobby Jenks retired the first two batters with four pitches, but Polanco doubled on the first pitch he saw and advanced to third on a wild pitch.  Jenks racked up a backwards K on Sheffield though, who couldn't figure out Jenks' assortment of knee-high cutters on the outside part of the plate.

Nick Masset, David Aardsma, Matt Thornton, Mike MacDougal and Jenks combined to throw 4 1/3 scoreless innings in relief of Danks, who is still in search of his first major-league win after a taxing 94-pitch outing.  Tonight, it's Masset who will go home with his first 'W'.

Record: 8-7 | Box score | Play-by-play