2007 State of the Sox

September 27: White Sox 10, Royals 0

In a couple ways, Lance Broadway looked like a guy making his first major-league start.  He showed some jitters when he walked the leadoff batter in his first two innings, but he also showed the adrenaline with fist pumps and various indecipherable exclamations after many of his eight strikeouts.

When he had baserunners, though, he pitched like a veteran.  Broadway threw six shutout innings, as the Sox blanked the Royals for the second day in a row.

It seems like all a pitcher needs to keep Kansas City in check is movement on the fastball.  Jon Garland had it yesterday, and Broadway had it today.  At times, it was easy to see how he walked so many batters in Triple-A, because he struggled to locate it early in the game.  Eventually, he settled in and threw the ball well -- he didn't walk anybody after the second inning, and only allowed two hits on the evening.

He showed quite a bit of poise in the second inning when he faced two on and nobody out after a walk and a single, but he struck out the side.  He also pitched around Juan Uribe's throwing error in the second, although Uribe himself made up for it when he snagged a soft liner up the middle and beat David DeJesus back to the bag for the double play.

Sox pitchers received great defense all night, Uribe's high throw notwithstanding.  Danny Richar made a nice diving stop in the first for a forceout, then later started a beautiful 4-6-3 double play by ranging to his left and picking a hard DeJesus grounder cleanly.  Josh Fields made a leaping grab to steal a hit away from Ross Gload, and Paul Konerko showed uncanny athleticism by fielding a grounder down the line and flipping the ball to Matt Thornton while running away from the bag.  Thornton was a little late getting there, but placed the tag on in time.

Konerko also provided all the runs the Sox needed in the first inning with a three-run homer, his 30th of the year.  It's the fourth straight year he's topped that mark.

It was also nice to see some speed on the bases, mainly in the form of Scott Podsednik.  He scored twice, including from first on a Uribe double.  Richar's speed also forced a high throw on an infield single that allowed Uribe to score.

Record: 70-89 | Box score | Play-by-play