2007 State of the Sox

June 17: Pirates 8, White Sox 7

This game had its share of questionable decisions, and none of them had anything to do with the bullpen.  Sure, Nick Masset, Boone Logan and Mike MacDougal let the Pirates reclaim a healthy lead in the blink of an eye, but if it's not Bobby Jenks out there, chances are the results will be unsavory.  Ozzie Guillen can't win as far as that's concerned.

However, Guillen did make a very questionable decision in the seventh inning, when the Sox had runners on first and second and were down 7-5.  Luis Terrero came up to the plate with Shawn Chacon on the mound and Damaso Marte in the pen.  Ozzie pulled Terrero for Rob Mackowiak, prompting Jim Lett to pull Chacon for Marte.  As could be expected, Mack flew out harmlessly against the lefty to end the inning.

There was only one reason why Guillen made that move, and he was lucky that he actually got a chance to execute the second half of it.  My guess is that he wanted to lure Pittsburgh's only lefty so that Jim Thome would have a better shot to make something happen in the ninth, and Thome almost did just that.  Jason Bay pulled back what looked to be a homer for the second out of the inning -- had Bay's pesky mitt not interfered, the ball would've barely cleared the wall and given the Sox a 9-8 lead.

Instead, Thome's deep drive was just a sac fly, narrowing the gap to 8-7, and Tadahito Iguchi flew out just short of the right-field corner to end the game.

The move did work out, I guess, but had Jose Castillo not botched an easy double play ball, Thome would've never came to the plate.  And if Bay didn't bring the homer back, I'm guessing the defensive alignment would've had Alex Cintron at third, Josh Fields in left, Rob Mackowiak in center and A.J. Pierzynski catching after numerous pinch hitting appearances.

Ozzie's odd strategy paled in comparison to some disastrous defensive decisions, beginning with Jermaine Dye's what-the-hell throw behind Jack Wilson at first base.  Dye evidently thought Wilson rounded the bag too much, and thought he had a chance to get him going back.  Replays showed it was a run-of-the-mill turn, and Wilson made it back just before the ball skipped by Paul Konerko, allowing Wilson to advance to second.  He'd eventually score.

Three innings later, with Ronny Paulino on second and nobody out, Uribe tried to throw out Paulino at third on a grounder to short.  He didn't have a chance, and instead of taking the out, Javier Vazquez had runners on the corners and nobody out.  That extra out ended up mattering, because Nate McLouth hit a two-run double with two outs to tie the game.

Of course, the offense failed to execute as well, outside of a beautiful five-run fifth in which the Sox sent nine to the plate and received key run-scoring hits by Jermaine Dye, Josh Fields and Juan Uribe.  The Sox strung together hit and hit, line drives all over the field.  It was amazing.

What was more Sox-like was the bunting -- they went 0-for-3 on the day.  Luis Terrero bunted into a fielder's choice at third, and Javier Vazquez and Toby Hall shot bunts right back to the pitcher for 1-6-4 double plays.

Record: 28-37 | Box score | Play-by-play