2008 State of the Sox

August 20: White Sox 15, Mariners 3

It didn't take long for the Sox to bury the Mariners. Alexei Ramirez's three-run homer capped off a six-run outburst, giving Gavin Floyd a 6-0 lead he would protect to seal the sweep.

The Sox scored more than six, though.  For good measure, they scored in each of the first six innings -- many times with two outs:

Second inning:  Carlos Quentin's two-out walk preceded Ken Griffey Jr.'s first homer with the White Sox off R.A. Dickey.

Fourth inning:  Griffey walked, took second when Jake Woods fell off the mound (balked).  Paul Konerko drove him in with a single.

Fifth inning:  Brian Anderson, who entered the game for Dewayne Wise after Wise injured himself making a diving catch, revived the inning with a two-out double down the left-field line.  Juan Uribe doubled him home just out of the reach of Wladimir Balentien, and after Orlando Cabrera walked, A.J. Pierzynski blasted a homer in the Mariners bullpen, capping off a three-hit day.

Sixth inning:  With two outs, Nick Swisher slashed a homer the opposite way into the Sox bullpen to balance things out.

It must've been demoralizing for the Mariners, but Floyd was happy to work with the cushion after escaping the first.  Ichiro Suzuki and Jeremy Reed started the game with back-to-back singles, but Raul Ibanez hit a dribbler up the middle that led Cabrera right to the bag.  He stepped on second, threw to first for two outs, and Floyd struck out Adrian Beltre to end the thread.

The double play was more amazing in hindsight, considering Ibanez had both of the Mariners' run-scoring hits -- a single through the right side in the third, and then a two-run homer in the right-field seats on the fifth. 

Floyd was solid, as his good curve returned to help him rack up seven strikeouts.

Record: 73-53 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 19: White Sox 5, Mariners 0

Tonight ... Clayton Richard considers himself... the luckiest man ... on the face of the Earth.

After getting "hit hard" to "slaughtered" before the fifth inning in each of his first three outings, the Michigan lefty somehow managed to hold the Mariners scoreless over six innings for his first major-league win. 

He didn't exactly make it look easy, but Lady Luck was with him from the first inning on.  He put himself in an early jam when he knocked down an Ichiro Suzuki comebacker, then rushed it and threw it away, giving Ichiro a two-base error.

Miguel Cairo got him to third with a grounder to the right side, but Nick Swisher prevented him from scoring.  Raul Ibanez hit a chopper to first near the bag, and Swisher gloved it, stpeped on the base before throwing home in time for A.J. Pierzynski to apply the tag on Ichiro for a rare 3-2 double play.

Richard calmed down after that, and against all odds, ended up having a much easier night than Felix Hernandez.  He allowed five hits and a walk, although numerous hard-hit balls were turned into outs.  Nevertheless, he avoided hitting the wall and nobody can take that away from him.

On the other hand, the Sox worked over King Felix.  He threw 81 pitches over the first four innings, and the only thing that stopped his outing from being a complete disaster were two double play balls.  The Sox countered the DPs with two homers, with Nick Swisher and Jim Thome leading off the fourth and fifth innings with solo shots.

Among the other fine performances:

• A.J. Pierzynski: A three-hit game, with his line-drive swing working.
• Carlos Quentin:  Went 2-for-3 with a walk and stole third on Hernandez with a big jump, leading to a run.
• Alexei Ramirez:  Two singles with runners in scoring position, one of them scoring a run.

Record: 72-53 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 18: White Sox 13, Mariners 5

Mark Buehrle found himself in an early hole after a strange defensive gaffe, even by Sox-defense-behind-Buehrle standards.  Buehrle should've been out of the inning after Adrian Beltre hit a comebacker with runners on first and second and one out.

Buehrle spun, fired to second where Alexei Ramirez caught it ... 10 feet behind the bag.  Ramirez and Orlando Cabrera confused each other, and nobody ended up covering the bag.  The throw sailed over second base and into Ramirez's mitt, where he was able to throw to first to get Beltre by a step for two outs.

But Buehrle, as he is wont to do, allowed both runs to score and then some.  The single came on a decent pitch that Jose Lopez muscled out to left, but Wladimir Balentien doubled was belted, and the Mariners held a 3-0 lead before the Sox came to the plate.

The game looked much brighter from that point on.  After Paul Konerko scored Jermaine Dye with a single that barely got past Yuniesky Betancourt, Nick Swisher followed with a two-run shot to tie the game after two.

The Mariners grabbed the lead when three cheap singles pushed one run across, but Buehrle worked out of a first-and-third situation with nobody out with a strikout,a lineout an a weak popout to keep it a one-run game.

The Sox pushed it out of reach thereafter.  Orlando Cabrera started it with a two-run homer after Juan Uribe's first walk of the game (that's correct), and the next seven Sox reached, capped by a Ramirez RBI single that extended the lead to 9-4.

Ramirez then gave the Sox double-figures in runs for the second straight game with a three-run shot.

Record: 71-53 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 17: White Sox 13, Athletics 1

When Orlando Cabrera took three balls out of the strike zone, then took two strikes down the pipe before going down swinging in the game's first at-bat, it became clear that the Sox had every intention of letting Gio Gonzalez dig his own grave.

The plan apparently worked, as the former Sox farmhand's inability to find a strike zone spelled a short outing, as he hit the showers after only 3 1/3 innings.

He began the second by walking Jim Thome and Paul Konerko.  Thome would advance on a deep flyball by Ken Griffey Jr., and score on a Gonzalez wild pitch for the game's first run.  He nearly got out of the inning when Alexei Ramirez chopped out to short (on a nice play by Bobby Crosby), but Juan Uribe flexed his muscles and showed the homer hands for a 3-0 lead.

That was only the beginning of Gio's troubles.  A.J. Pierzynski shot one through the box leading off the third, and Carlos Quentin and Jermaine Dye would follow up with back-to-back jacks to double the Sox's lead.

Quentin spelled the end of his day in the fourth, lining a single to center for a 8-0 lead, four of those coming via CQ's bat, and that would be plenty for Javier Vazquez.

Vazquez followed up his best start of the season against Kansas City with an outing to rival it.  He retired 21 of the first 23 batters he faced, allowing just a pair of harmless singles over the first six innings.  The only A's run came thanks in part to a misplay by Dewayne Wise, who got a late break on Cliff Pennington's shallow fly to right, missed on the dive and played it into a double.  Daric Barton's two-out single spoiled the shutout.

Fortunately, it only cut the lead to a dozen, as an Alexei Ramirez grand slam in the seventh put the game out of reach if it wasn't already.

Record: 70-53 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 16: White Sox 2, Athletics 1

This had all the makings of another Oakland heartbreaker -- early lead, John Danks throwing a ton of pitches, blown offensive opportunities, shoddy defense, blah blah blah...

...but this time, they held on.

The key was the sixth inning for John Danks, who had thrown 101 pitches after five arduous innings.  The A's had stranded eight runners in the first four innings alone, including a fourth inning in which he walked two consecutive batters on four pitches to load the bases for Frank Thomas.  Two great plays by Juan Uribe -- a 5-unassisted double play, and a 5-3 one -- thwarted threats, and he appeared lucky to get through five after another DP ended the fifth.

Ozzie Guillen sent him out there with the apparent mission of facing Daric Barton before going to to the bullpen.  But a funny thing happened -- he retired Barton on the first pitch, the first time all day the A's recorded a first-pitch out.

So Guillen let him work the rest of the inning, and Danks made it pay off.  He recorded his first 1-2-3 inning of the day, and only on seven pitches.

The bullpen seized that momentum and carried it with them the rest of the way, with a two-out D.J. Carrasco walk the only baserunner the relief corps allowed in three innings of work.  Matt Thornton was particularly impressive, striking out the side on just 11 pitches.

Sox relievers had some making up to do for Friday, and they needed it thanks to a sputtering offense.  They struck for two runs in the second when Paul Konerko led off with a double, Juan Uribe doubled him home, and Toby Hall made it a two-run lead by lining a single over Mark Ellis' head.

The Sox wouldn't score again, but not for a lack of opportunties.  They outhit Oakland 11-6, but stranded 13 runners with a lack of situational hitting all day long.

The A's scored their only run in the third thanks to some inexplicable defense.  After Kurt Suzuki led off with a double, Frank Thomas poked a lazy fly to right-center that Nick Swisher dropped.  He tried to catch it chest-high and just clanked off the tip to put runners on the corners with no outs.

Emil Brown ripped the second pitch to center to cut the lead in half, and the situation would get hairier when Jack Cust would single off Alexei Ramirez's mitt as he ranged to his left, a play that probably should've been made.  But Uribe made up for it by snagging Mark Ellis' broken-bat line drive behind the bag and beating Frank Thomas to third for the double play.

Ramirez recorded the final out, but not without drama.  He ranged to his left and bobbled it, but recovered quickly and fired a bullet to Konerko to get Barton for the final out.

Record: 69-53 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 15: Athletics 6, White Sox 4

At the top of the seventh inning in the South Side Sox game thread, as the Sox clung to a 3-2 lead, I said:

This game has all the makings of an Oakland heartreaker.

Not like that was hard to predict in the House of Horrors.

What were the ingredients?

No. 1:  Early lead, with nothing much afterward! The Sox jumped on Dallas Braden's first and second pitches for three runs in the first, alternating blasts (A.J. Pierzynski's solo homer, Jermaine Dye's double off the top of the wall) with bloops (weak singles by Carlos Quentin and Jim Thome) for a quick 3-0 lead.  Then Braden figured he should throw more changeups on fastball counts, and the Sox were pretty quiet after that.

Quentin did hit a majestic solo shot off Jerry Blevins in the eighth, but unfortunately the Sox couldn't capitalize.

No. 2:  Baserunning outs!  Alexei Ramirez was both caught stealing and picked off (the latter, in the ninth by Huston Street with one out, was eminently predictable).  Brian Anderson's one ending the eighth hurt the most.  With two outs, Blevins picked off Anderson, but his throw sailed into the vast right-field foul territory at McAfee Coliseum.  Anderson hesitated around second, then went for third and home and was thrown out at the plate by Daric Barton.

You could pin this one on Jeff Cox, but I don't know how well first baseman's outfield arms are scouted.  Paul Konerko and Nick Swisher wouldn't have made that throw.

No. 3:  Bad defense!  Quentin let Frank Thomas' liner skip through the wickets in the first, but it didn't do any damage.  But when Thomas skied a pop-up in foul territory and Juan Uribe couldn't catch it, that one hurt.

It was hard to tell who was at fault.  Uribe couldn't even get his glove on it, but he was charging all the way from a deep third base.  A.J. Pierzynski, since it was only about 20 feet away from home plate, should've taken responsibility.  Alas, Thomas singled and Jack Cust homered to cut the lead to 3-2.

No. 4:  Bad pitches!  Gavin Floyd had one foot on the brink of disaster all night.  His good curve wasn't with him, and he used a ton of pitches even after getting ahead a lot of the night.  He was pulled after 110 with two outs in the fifth.

But Octavio Dotel's fastballs posed a bigger problem.  Mark Ellis hammered one out to cut the lead to one again, and then he made the mistake of throwing Cust an 0-2 fastball that was far too strikey.  Cust deposited it over the left-field wall for homer No. 2 and a tie game.

No. 5:  Bad managing!  Horacio Ramirez in the ninth?  Ozzie Guillen felt he was necessary, and thus Bob Geren summoned Sox-killer Emil Brown off the bench.  He'd double, and his pinch runner would advance to third on a bunt before scoring on...

No. 6:  Kurt Suzuki's walk-off!  Suzuki ended the game by homering off D.J. Carrasco when a sac fly would do.  He did the same off Matt Thornton almost exactly one year to this date.

Record: 68-53 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 14: White Sox 9, Royals 2

A Paul Konerko non-error error could very well have prevented the Sox from racking up a third straight shutout, but they found other ways to make their mark -- or, in Carlos Quentin's case, have a mark left on him.

Back-to-back-to-back-to-back homers -- the sixth time in history that's happened -- by Jim Thome, Konerko, Alexei Ramirez and Juan Uribe put a close game out of reach to complete the sweep and extend their lead in the AL Central to a full game.  And Quentin was plunked by another pitch in his first at-bat, making it the sixth straight game he's earned an HBP.

Oh, and Konerko stole second.

With the Sox leading 3-2 in the sixth, Ken Griffey Jr. and Quentin drew a pair of one-out walks.  Jermaine Dye popped up to put the pressure on Thome, and he delivered.  He took a 3-1 Joel Peralta fastball into the right field seats to stretch the lead to 6-2.

Konerko then pulled one just inside the left field foul pole, a towering shot to make it back-to-back.  Alexei Ramirez launched a no-doubter, which sent Peralta packing.  In came Robinson Tejeda, who appeared to overwhelm Juan Uribe with his fastball, getting ahead 1-2.  For some reason, he then threw a slider of the hanging variety, and Uribe roped it into the bullpen for the rare fourth consecutive home run, capping what suddenly became a laugher.

The game certainly didn't start off on such a thrilling note, as the Royals grabbed a quick 2-0 lead on Lance Broadway.  Mitch Maier greeted Broadway with a single, and Mike Aviles hit a hard grounder at Konerko.  It could've been a 3-6-3 double play, or at least a fielder's choice, but the ball instead ramped off his mitt and into right field.  Jose Guillen would single both of them in for a 2-0 lead.

Broadway was on the verge of letting the game get away from him after walking Billy Butler, but Guillen tried to steal third before Broadway delivered home.  He spun and fired to third, where Juan Uribe barely beat him with the tag, if he did so at all, for the second out.  Gordon would ground out after a 13-pitch at-bat to put Broadway in an early hole.

But he'd settle down to get through 5 1/3 innings, and the Sox would give him the lead after a three-run second.  Uribe shot a single through center, and Toby Hall got him to third by dumping a single to right.   Consecutive singles by Orlando Cabrera (RBI) and Griffey loaded the bases, and Dye brought home two with a double off the top of the left-field wall.

Record: 68-52 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 13: White Sox 4, Royals 0

This is the Mark Buehrle we like.  These are the Royals we love.

The Sox offense gave him an early lead, he worked out of some early trouble, and both sides went on cruise control after that for the Sox's second straight shutout.

Orlando Cabrera started it off with an infield single, but Tony Pena Jr. made an ill-advised throw that sailed on him, awarding Cabrera second in the process.  A.J. Pierzynski bunted him over, and Jermaine Dye shot a double to the right-center gap for a quick 1-0 lead.  Dye scored on a Ken Griffey Jr. single before the inning was over.

Buehrle put the lead in jeopardy twice, stranding runners on second and third in the second and third innings.  The latter had more ominous tones, as Tony Pena reached on a single off Buehrle's bare hand, and Mark Teahan doubled (or singled with Griffey taking forever to cut it off) with one out.

He beared down however, making several double pitches to David DeJesus before striking him out with an upstairs heater, then freezing Jose Guillen with an outside-corner fastball to end the threat.

The Royals would have another runner reach scoring position with two outs in the fourth, but Buehrle retired the last 11 he faced.  Octavio Dotel and Bobby Jenks each threw 1-2-3 innings to make it 17 consecutive.

The Sox added a couple insurance runs for good measure.  Juan Uribe singled through the left side to start off the fifth, and Chris Getz executed a hit-and-run to put runners on the corners (even though it appeared Guillen threw Uribe out at third).  An A.J. Pierzynski grounder that Luke Hochevar couldn't snag pushed another run across.  Paul Konerko made it 4-0 with an RBI single in the eighth.

Record: 67-52 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 12: White Sox 9, Royals 0

I haven't seen any of this game yet, but I'm going to want to.

Just the facts:

• Javier Vazquez carved up the Royals, striking out 10 over eight innings, and throwing 81 of 109 pitches for strikes.
• A.J. Pierzynski, Jermaine Dye and Nick Swisher all homered.
• Chris Getz had an RBI single in his first major league at-bat.
• Ken Griffey Jr. went 0-for-3, but Brian Anderson ripped an RBI double and scored in his only at-bat.
• Carlos Quentin sat out with left forearm soreness.

Feel free to fill in any of the gaps.

Record: 66-52 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 11: Red Sox 5, White Sox 1

Once again, John Danks pitched masterfully until the seventh inning.

Once again, John Danks did not receive enough run support to allow him such a slip-up.

Kevin Youkilis' broken-bat single with one out in the seventh ruined Danks' bid for a no-hitter, and after a walk and a strikeout, J.D. Drew's double to left center gave Danks the loss.

Of course, one wonders what might've been if Ken Griffey Jr. wasn't in center field.  He wouldn't have caught Drew's double, but if somebody got to the gap faster and made a stronger throw in, only one run may have crossed the plate.

Also, if somebody besides Griffey weren't in center, there would've been one out and a runner on first, instead of two on and nobody out when a single fell in front of Griffey in the ninth, leading to three runs scoring and the Red Sox pushing the game out of reach.

But then again, when only Josh Beckett and Jonathan Papelbon have to pitch, it doesn't spell good things for the pitching staff either way.  Nick Swisher scored the only run of the game when he singled, moved to second on Juan Uribe's single and scored on two flies to center.  Scratching across runs proved to be that arduous, and they didn't threaten again.

Record: 65-52 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 10: White Sox 6, Red Sox 5

The Sox twice failed to score a runner from third with fewer than two outs, and the one time they did score, it was because Jason Varitek couldn't hang on to a bad throw when a good one would've had Paul Konerko out easily.

But... they did hit three homers, and after Gavin Floyd shook off a cheap Mike Lowell homer in the first, that would be enough to snag the game and regain sole possession of first place.

Jermaine Dye struck the first blow with a second-inning solo shot, and they'd surge ahead with a pair of two-run homers.  The first was Carlos Quentin's 32nd of the year into the left field seats, and then Jim Thome blasted a hanging curve into the right field ones.

Those three homers -- plus the error-induced insurance run -- would be enough to win it, as Matt Thornton and Octavio Dotel would hang on.

Thornton had a strange outing, beginning by striking out Varitek with runners on the corners, which was all well and good except it got past A.J. Pierzynski for a run.  He rebounded by striking out Jed Lowrie, and started off the seventh by getting Jacoby Ellsbury to fly out to left.

Then he walked three guys in a row, and Dotel had to clean up the mess.  He did just that, getting Mike Lowell to ground his second pitch to third, and Juan Uribe started the 5-4-3 to get Thornton out of the jam.

Record: 65-51 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 9: Red Sox 6, White Sox 2

Tonight marked the nadir of Jose Contreras' career, but Boone Logan wasn't far behind.

Contreras, who looked good in the first inning-plus, ruptured his achilles after running to cover first on a grounder to Nick Swisher, bringing an end to his season and forcing the bullpen to cover all but 1 2/3 innings of the game.

But after D.J. Carrasco contributed 4 1/3 quality inning, it all went to pot on Logan's watch.

Ozzie Guillen sent Logan in to face the top of the Red Sox's order in the seventh inning, with two lefties (Jacoby Ellsbury and J.D. Drew) and one switch hitter (Jason Varitek).  He didn't retire any of them, allowing two singles and a walk.

Guillen came out, but didn't pull Logan, choosing to have him go against Dustin Pedroia with another lefty, David Ortiz on deck.

Pedroia singled, and then Ortiz cleared the bases with a shot off the wall to turn a 1-1 game into a 5-1 game.  Ellsbury and Jim Thome traded solo homers, and that was the ballgame.

It probably would've taken an impossible effort by the bullpen to pull this one out considering the Sox spoiled the chances they had against Daisuke Matsuzaka.  A.J. Pierzynski grounded into double plays in the Sox's two best scoring chances.

In the third inning, Juan Uribe walked and Dewayne Wise reached when Matsuzaka couldn't handle his popped up bunt.  Orlando Cabrera tried to remove the force, but he popped it up a little farther for one out, and Pierzynski grounded into double play No. 1, 6-4-3.

Nick Swisher led the fifth off with a walk, and Juan Uribe's popped up bunt stuck in fair territory for a single.  Wise showed bunt twice, but pulled back and watched the ball go by for strikes.  He'd eventually nub one for a 6-4 fielder's choice.

Cabrera finally put the Sox on the board with a flare to right center for a 1-0 lead and Wise moved to third to keep the runners on the corners.  Pierzynski, though, would end the threat by grounding into a 4-6-3.

Record: 64-51 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 8: White Sox 5, Red Sox 3

Mark Buehrle's fine return to form appeared to give the White Sox a relatively easy victory in the opener of a key series against the Red Sox.

Then the bad bullpen showed up, and Sox fans had to chew their nails again.

The Sox extended their lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the seventh thanks to another well-executed forced rundown.  A.J. Pierzynski hung himself out to dry between first and second on his shot off the right-field wall, which allowed Orlando Cabrera to score all the way from first.

Unfortunately, they would end up needing that run.

After Buehrle exited following a leadoff single, Octavio Dotel got the first batter out... and it went downhill from there.  He walked J.D. Drew, and Dustin Pedroia followed by hitting a hanging curve over the left-field wall to cut the lead to 4-3.  Matt Thornton relieved Dotel and got the job done, getting David Ortiz to ground out to second (or short right), but Ozzie Guillen pulled him for D.J. Carrasco.

Carrasco, the inning's fourth pitcher, began his stint by walking Kevin Youkilis on four pitches (though two of them were close).  He also fell behind Mike Lowell 3-1, but Lowell swung at a high fastball and popped out to Pierzynski, with the ball barely staying in play.

Carlos Quentin's solo homer off Manny Delcarmen gave Bobby Jenks a bit of breathing room, but fortunately the game wouldn't get any closer.  The tying run came to the plate after Jenks plunked Jed Lowrie with a 1-2 curve on the foot, but Jenks would get a flyout and a check-swing groundout from Sean Casey to end the game.

The Sox built a big lead behind the pitching of Buehrle -- who struck out eight over seven innings thanks to a great changeup -- and the play of the left side of the infield.  Cabrera in particular played a part in the first four runs of the game.

He singled Juan Uribe to third, and Pierzynski brought him home with a sac fly for the game's first run.  He struck a big blow two innings later by slashing a double down the right field line to drive in two, then drew that key two-out walk in the seventh.

Uribe was 2-for-2 himself with a sac fly, although he was picked off preceding Cabrera's walk.

Record: 64-50 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 7: Tigers 8, White Sox 3

I missed this game for a New Pornographers concert, but South Side Sox has a pretty thorough recap.

Record: 63-50 | Box score | Play-by-play

August 6: White Sox 5, Tigers 1

The Sox grabbed an early lead, the starting pitching preserved it, the offense added insurance in the late innings, and the bullpen finished it off.

Either the Sox are righting the ship, or the Tigers are so dysfunctional that the Sox look normal by comparison.

Jim Thome hit a clutch first-inning homer (seriously -- they don't come much bigger when you see how Verlander dusted himself off and had his curve working) one batter after Carlos Quentin broke up a double play by making Placido Polanco run six steps around second base to get the throw off, and that was enough for John Danks.

What else was enough?  Three pitches.  He used the fastball, cutter and changeup exclusively, setting up hitters with the hard stuff inside, and finishing them off with the changeup just off the plate away.  He struck out six over 6 2/3, and really wasn't threatened until his final inning.

If there was one downer, it was the last pitch he threw.  With two outs, a runner on second and a 1-2 count on Gary Sheffield, Toby Hall wanted the ball up -- even standing up.  Danks, instead, grooved the fastball, and Sheffield ripped it into the gap for an RBI single.

D.J. Carrasco cleaned up the mess with two straight sinkers, and Octavio Dotel and Bobby Jenks retired six of the seven guys they faced.

The Sox wouldn't let Verlander get the complete game -- he threw 130 pitches, but failed on three attempts to get the 24th out.  Jermaine Dye doubled, Thome walked and Paul Konerko walked to end his evening, and after battling to a full count, Alexei Ramirez slashed a single to right for two welcome insurance runs.

Record: 63-49 | Box score | Play-by-play