Mike MacDougal is having the same issues as the White Sox offense -- every time it seems like he might start to put it together, he gives another reason to keep doubting.
As it turned out, both continued to disappoint, and it cost Mark Buehrle his 100th career win. And the frustrating thing is it started with a two-out walk to Henry Blanco.
Buehrle admitted in the post-game show it was wrong to walk Blanco, since even if he gets a hold of it, it's a 3-2 game. But MacDougal's paid to get one out when the Sox need it, and instead he gave up a game-tying triple to Angel Pagan. His problems were only starting.
Toby Hall, playing in his first game of the year, allowed a passed ball on a catchable low and away slider to give the Cubs a lead, and then the Cubs helped the Sox beat themselves to death the following inning. An array of choppers and flare singles forced the Sox to make bad throws -- including a throwing error by Hall -- and they bled the Sox for three more runs to make a comeback impossible.
MacDougal gave up five hits in two-thirds of an inning to take the loss, but two of the three runs he allowed were unearned.
Aside from a mistake fastball that Michael Barrett sent into the stands, Mark Buehrle didn't make many mistakes. He pitched around a leadoff Aramis Ramirez double in the fourth, and left runners on the corners in the sixth. In the latter situation, the Cubs should've made it a 2-2 game.
I was a little surprised Angel Pagan didn't try to score on a medium-range flyball to right when he was on third with one out. Yes, Jermaine Dye has an above-average arm, but I can't remember the last time a Sox outfielder threw out a runner at home. Either it's a bad throw, it hits the pitcher's mound, or the catcher can't snare it and apply the tag. Nevertheless, Pagan held up, and Buehrle got a grounder to get out of the inning.
He didn't get much help from the offense, this time stymied by Ted Lilly. Granted, he's not a Garden Variety Mediocre Lefty, but the Sox entered the game with a history of hitting him hard. These Sox can't do it -- they had only six hits, and walked twice as opposed to 10 strikeouts.
I suppose there were a couple bright points -- Juan Uribe stopped striking out long enough to hit a sacrifice fly, and Darin Erstad hit a two-run double punctuated by a Mackowiakian flailing attempt by Alfonso Soriano. Hall had two hits in his debut, already surpassing Gustavo Molina's season total, and Jermaine Dye also appears to be heating up. The rest, sadly, is the same old story.
Record: 20-18 |
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