2007 State of the Sox

September 25: Royals 9, White Sox 5

The White Sox knocked Brian Bannister out of the game in the first inning.  Then they called it a night.

The Royals, on the other hand, kept playing, and dragged the Sox back to the cellar with them by the night's end.

Jose Contreras actually threw pretty well (to home, at least -- his throwing error in the first inning was downright ugly), but his effort was undermined by a variety of weak singles and the White Sox bullpen.  Though after the first inning, nobody on the Sox can claim they played solid baseball.

Ehren Wassermann suffered one of the toughest losses a pitcher can take for his first career decision.  He came in to face Mark Grudzielanek with a runner on first and one out in a 5-4 game.  On his second pitched, Grudzielanek hit a weak bouncer down the third-base line.  Wassermann let it go, but Josh Fields picked it up before it rolled foul.  Two pitches, and Ozzie Guillen pulled him for Mike Myers.

You can guess what happened:  Myers was nearly decapitated by Mark Teahan's game-tying single, and then allowed a bloop single in front of Jermaine Dye which brought the go-ahead run to the plate.  Mike MacDougal threw some more gasoline on the fire, and Boone Logan allowed a run in his inning of work.  Just like old times.

Record: 68-89 | Box score | Play-by-play