Lets start on Wednesday in the series finale in Anaheim. For the first 7 innings, I was deathly afraid that I had jinxed the offense with my "West Coast Offense" post. The offense struggled with timely hitting again, stranding a small village on the base-paths. Well, I'll be honest here Sox fans, I did not think they were going to pull that one off on Wednesday, especially after the blown call in the 7th on a stolen base at second which would have ended the inning, came around to score. BUT, the Palehosers proved me wrong. Putting up one run and a mild offensive threat in the 8th and a stellar display of heart to add 2 more in the 9th. Omar Visquel AGAIN, proving age is just a number at 44 drove in the tying run, capping off a 2 hit, 2 walk 9th inning where the Sox sent 7 men to the plate. It was truly awesome to see this team come out and battle back in the 9th. Not only that, but to come back and put 2 more on the board in the 10th, highlighted by a Dunn double and an intentional walk wild pitch.
Let me just say here people, that wild pitch on the intentional walk is HUGE for us. Not only did it give us the winning run, but Sox fans, we're starting to catch breaks. In baseball sometimes its better to be lucky than to be good. There is an invisible force in baseball, it controls momentum and flow. For the better of 3 weeks the White Sox could not catch a break to save their lives, these little corky things that are starting to go our way just goes to show that the baseball gods are shifting this force in our favor and with that comes wins. Call me crazy, but thats just how it goes.
Big story for this game as well, was the return of Jake Peavy. Jake looked pretty decent, scattering 7 hits and 4 runs over 6 innings, not great, but not horrible considering. In all fairness he didn't get much help from his left fielder on a ball that was ruled a hit but should have been caught (costed him a run) and a blown call at second base on what should have been an assist for AJ as he gunned him down, the runner was called safe, next pitch, came around to score (another run charged to Jake). Really could have been 5 hits and 2 runs over 6 innings. Again, not bad, but most importantly, he looked healthy. With this 6 man rotation, Peavy is going to need to step it up and pitch like he's capable, he does that, expect big things out of this team.
Offensively, the Sox hit the ball, they put guys on base, the only problem was, we stranded A LOT of men on base. But we racked up 15 hits (A great sign) Adam Dunn is starting to heat up (Another great sign) He hit a homerun that as Hawk Harrelson said "The Grand Canyon wouldn't have held." It was an absolute bomb. Quick line on the notable offensive performances: Dunn was 4 for 5 with 3 runs scored, a walk, a dinger and a double (just a monster day). AJ was 4 for 6 with a huge RBI in the 9th and a double. The rest of the guys scattered 7 hits, just needed some better timing on some of those hits and the game wouldn't have even have needed extra frames. But it shows that the offense is coming around, which is HUGE for this club right now. With the pitching we've been getting, the offense coming around is great news.
Anyway, after the wild pitch we tack on an insurance run and head to the bottom of the 10th with a 6-4 lead. Cue Matt Thornton. Thornton came out looking like his old self again (minus the beard). He went 3 up 3 down to earn his first save of the year. BUT, in case you still haven't seen it, Paulie, the Captain, made 2 PHENOMENAL plays at first in the 10th. One on a line-drive over his head that he jumped and snow-coned, robbing Izturis of extra bases. And then one of the plays of the year (to end the game)
Tori Hunter is up and he shows bunt (for some reason).
Just a nasty play and what I loved about it was the celebration/relief you could see coming from the Sox dugout. Finally, a come from behind win, the bullpen shuts it down, the defense shows up. You could just see this collective sigh as if to say "The losing streak from hell is over." Just a great win for the Sox, just what they needed going into Oakland.....
Ok, now onto Friday night in Oak town. The Sox had one big inning in the 2nd, sending 8 men to the plate an plating 4 runs. Again, we caught another big break, as Brandon McCarthy attempted to pick Pierre off of first and threw the ball down the right field line. Just another example of the baseball balance shifting back towards favoring the Sox. This inning was highlighted by a 2 run double by Omar Vizquel, again showing age isn't worth a damn. Humber has one bad inning (the 7th) giving up a parade of jam shot singles, he's pulled after 6 innings pitched to make way for Jesse Crain who nails it down and pitches out of it, minimizing the damage. The Sox give up 3 that inning. Making it a 4-3 game. The defining moment in this one, Thornton comes on in the 8th and walks Coco Crisp, who ends up at third base with 2 outs. What happened next boggled my mind. Crisp, apparently channeling his inner Jackie Robinson, tries to steal home outright. Fast ball comes in from Thornton, AJ catches it and dives forward, tagging Crisp as he slides into home trying to tie the game. The Home-plate ump rings him up, we'll go to the 9th, still leading by one. Santos comes on in the 9th, 1-2-3 nails it down. White Sox winner.
Big story again for me on Friday night was Phil Humber, he pitched a Whale of a ball game, only had trouble in one inning, which really was unlucky. He gave up 3 soft, jam shot singles. Nothing you can do about those. But what was big for me, was after we scored our runs in the 4th, he came out and just shut it down, that has been a problem for this pitching staff, preserving runs. Especially since the offense has struggled to put runs on the board, its totally detrimental to the offense for our pitcher to come out right after the bats put a couple tallies on the board and give the runs right back. Humber came out and shut the A's down completely. He preserved that lead, thus preserving the offense's confidence. He was huge in this win. He has earned his spot in the rotation.
This was a huge win for our Sox people, we never win in Oakland (or on the West Coast for that matter) But coming off of a huge comeback win on Wednesday and sitting through an off day, to come out and find a way to win again on Friday has got to be big for the psyche of this team. As I have been saying all along, when this offense starts hitting, this team is going to stack up the Wins.
I am making this proclamation/prediction right now. You mark my words, on the 4th of July your Chicago White Sox will be in first place in the AL Central. Bold? Maybe, but look at their schedule in June..... This team will explode. Just remember you heard it here first.
Alright, we got the 2nd game of the Oakland series tomorrow at 3:05 and thats over on Comcast Sportsnet.
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