2007 State of the Sox

August 15: Athletics 3, White Sox 2

Another day, another one-run loss to the A's, with a few recurring themes:

Misplaying a double into a triple:  Scott Podsednik and Jerry Owens didn't know if the other was going to pick up Travis Buck's double to the left-center gap.  Pods made an awkward last-moment stab, booted it, and Buck ended up at third.  At least they called it an error this time.

Another good start and bullpen effort wasted:  Mark Buehrle made few mistakes; unfortunately, Kurt Suzuki turned one of them into a two-run homer.  The other run Buehrle allowed was on a Mike Piazza inside-outer that barely went over Danny Richar's head.

Ehren Wassermann worked a quiet 1-2-3.

A good game for Josh Fields:  Fields had another two-hit night, with a pair of singles off Joe Blanton.  That'll raise his average against righties over the Mendoza Line, and also shook off a terrible strike call to hit a big sacrifice fly in the eighth inning that put the Sox on the board.

He also made a couple nice plays with the glove, smothering a rocket shot in time for the out at first, and barehanding a weak grounder.

The offense didn't show up:  Unlike yesterday, they didn't even have scoring opportunities.

The only thing that really sticks out in this game is the turn of events in the fifth inning.  With Jack Hannahan on second, Buehrle broke Travis Buck's bat on a grounder to second.  The problem was that the bat beat the ball to Richar, and the time Richar needed to get around the shard allowed Buck to beat it out.

Luck turned the other way, however, when Buehrle knocked down Shannon Stewart's comebacker towards the plate.  Hannahan was running on contact, but Buehrle recovered in time to flip the ball to Toby Hall, who blocked the plate beautifully and prevented another cheap run from crossing the plate.

Record: 54-65 | Box score | Play-by-play