2007 State of the Sox

July 19: White Sox 4, Red Sox 2

I heard the Red Sox were in a bit of a rut, but this is ridiculous.

They had Javier Vazquez on the ropes early, racking up six hits over the first two innings, but it amounted to only two runs.  Meanwhile, the Sox managed to score their first three runs on two hits thanks to wildness from Daisuke Matsuzaka, who walked the bases loaded with nobody out in the sixth.

A.J. Pierzynski, never known to be particularly clutch, came up with two big hits: A run-scoring duck-snort single in the first, and a two-run base hit in the sixth that knocked Matsuzaka out of the game.  Pierzynski probably should've been in the dugout, having been frozen on an outside-corner fastball that looked good to just about everybody but home plate umpire Tim McClelland, but the slow strike call never game.  A.J. roped a single through the hole on the right side to give the White Sox a lead.

Furthermore, the embattled White Sox bullpen made it stand up.  Matt Thornton put Ryan Bukvich in the uncomfortable situation of having to strand two runners after he failed to retire David Ortiz, his only batter on the night.  Bukvich almost duplicated his Baltimore feat -- he came within inches of drilling both Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis in the head with his first pitches, but after a deep flyball that landed into Jerry Owens' mitt on the warning track, Bukvich's outing was surprisingly calm.

Bobby Jenks even preserved a two-run lead for once, retiring the Red Sox 1-2-3 in the ninth -- although he did fall behind each batter, including the final one, Dustin Pedroia, 3-0.  It's kind of weird that Paul Konerko's insurance-run homer off Hideki Okajima in the eighth inning actually scared me, since that had been the pattern in each of Jenks' previous two blown saves.  Somehow, the White Sox made it stand up.

Record: 43-51 | Box score | Play-by-play