Mother Nature Provides the Lightning and Quentin Provides the Thunder

The Sox went into Tuesday's game after a tough loss on Monday, needing a win. Thanks to Carlos Quentin, they were able to get that win. Quentin started the scoring off in the first inning with a solo home run to left field to put the Sox up 1-0. The Rangers answered right back with a run in the bottom half tying the game. Then it was Quentin again in the 3rd inning hitting an absolute bomb to right field displaying his power to all parts of the park with his second homer of the night. This put the Sox up 4-1. The Rangers answered back in the bottom half with a run, making the score 4-2 in favor of the White Sox where the score would stay for the next 3 hours.

Jake Peavy got the start and only lasted 3 innings.... not because he pitched poorly, but because mother nature had other plans. At the start of the 4th inning a nasty storm blew through Texas, forcing the Ranger's stadium personnel to evacuate all of the stands through the dugouts and into the clubhouses and tunnels underneath the ballpark. What followed was a doomsday type storm, showcasing huge hail, tornado type winds, thunder, lightning, and heavy rain. The rain delay lasted 2 hours and 58 minutes, finally allowing the Sox to continue to the game.

Out of the delay the Rangers would waste no time putting up 2 quick runs in the 5th only to be countered by a BOMB into the second deck by "The Grand Canyon" Adam Dunn. Which was then followed by a single by AJ, a sac bunt from Beckham and a RBI single by Brent Morel to make it a 6-4 Sox lead. Not to be out done the Rangers hit back in the bottom half again with an RBI single by Moreland to make it a 6-5 game. The Sox came out swinging in the top of the 7th putting another run on the board to make it 7-5, (seeing a pattern here)? Texas would put another one up in the 8th to make it 7-6 and with men on base, Ozzie would go to Sergio Santos for the 4 out save. He came in and shut it down in the 8th, just edging his way out of the jam he inherited (courtesy of Matt Thornton). The Sox tack on an insurance run in the 9th on Carlos Quentin's 3rd homer of the game to deep left field. Santos comes on in the bottom half and nails it down giving the Sox a huge victory.

This was a wild one in Texas on Tuesday, this game featured 3 home runs from one player, a 3 hour rain delay that cleared the stadium, and back and forth scoring right out of the rain delay for 2 straight innings. It was like watching a prize fight, two parties just exchanging blows back and forth until one came out on top, and lucky for us, it was our Sox. It was nice to see the team bounce back once again from a frustrating loss on Monday as well as keeping their focus through a 3 hour delay. The Sox need to come out of this road trip in the green, what I mean is, we need to have a winning road trip, its a tough one indeed, but we HAVE to take these series. If we can win each series on this trip (a tall order I know) we will come back to Chicago at the end of May at .500. That would be HUGE for this club

Ok, so real quick I just wanna break down each one of Quentin's homers, just because you'll be able to see just how dialed in he was, because he took 3 different pitches, adjusted to each, and went with each pitch, thats how you know a guy is dialed in.

Ok, so this is the first home run of the night. Now this is a breaking ball that hangs inside. Look at the balance he has here, he stayed back perfectly, he opens up his hips to get around because its inside, arms are extended to the ball (this is what you call "staying inside the ball) and my favorite thing, his head, perfectly down on the ball. He takes this one right down the left field line, keeping it fair all the way into the stands and rounds the bases.

Love this one, its his second home run on the night and this time its a fastball on the outside corner. But again, look at the balance. Stays back, gets his arms extended with his head down again and just goes with the pitch. What you gotta love about this one is notice how he didn't try pulling the ball, had he done that, it would have been an out to the left side, probably a ground out. Instead he takes what the pitcher gives him, keeps his weight back and just drills it, this time right down the right field line. Perfect.

This is his 3rd homer of the evening. Now this is just a hanging breaking ball, right over the plate. Again, picks up the spin, stays back on it and with his head down on the ball, shifts his weight and absolutely kills it to left center.

I really wanted to compare these 3 at bats because not only were they all homers, but each pitch was on a different part of the plate. You had the inside hanger, the outside fastball, and the slider right down broadway. And when you put them next to each other, you can really see 3 different adjustments to these 3 different pitches. When a guy can adjust like this and not miss on any of them, you know he's seeing the ball well.

The Sox need to keep this winning stuff alive. Im actually watching game 3 of this series as I write this and its not looking good. Our offense is stalling again. Lets hope we can get something going because we need to keep stacking up series victories. The Indians are on a losing streak, now is the time to start hacking away.

After this series wraps up in Texas we're headed north of the border for french fries and gravy..... We have the Blue Jays tomorrow, first pitch is at 6:07 (only in Canada) and thats over on Comcast Sportsnet. Look for a possible post after this game today in Texas, it'll depend on the outcome, I'm already a bit agitated with the way we've played today, so we'll see what happens.

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