White Sox Top Red Sox on Memorial Day

The White Sox went into Boston on Monday to face a Red Sox team that has been smashing the baseball lately and bounce back from a frustrating series in Toronto. This series in Boston is going to be an important one for the following reasons:
- We need to close out this road trip strong in order to minimize the damage done earlier in the road trip
- This is the last series of the road trip, we need momentum going into a 10 game home stand
- We're still flirting with .500 and we can't afford to drop games at this point in the season
- This team needs confidence, what better way to gain confidence than beat a tough Red Sox team in Boston?
- The Indians are starting to come back down to earth, nows the time for us to make our move as the schedule is about to get easier and we're on the cusp of a home stand

Well the White Sox got off to a promising start in this series. Everyone showed up folks, it was great to see. I actually have a smile on my face right now, recollecting all the good things I saw in this game. We still left a lot of guys on base, BUT we scored 7 runs, which is just fine, everyone is going to leave men on base, what is  important is getting enough men in to sustain a lead. Well South Siders, our pale hosers did just that for us on Monday.

The Sox got off to a promising start against a tough John Lester (coming into the game 7-1 with a 3.36 ERA), plating 2 runs right out of the gate in the first on 3 hits and a hit by pitch. Peavy looked pretty solid all day, only giving up a few runs on a few hits. He allowed a solo home run in the bottom of the first to Gonzalez, which quite frankly was a decent pitch by peavy, the ball caught a little too much of the plate, but it had a lot of movement on it and it was breaking hard, down and in... Gonzo just stayed right with it and smashed it, sometimes you just have to tip your cap to the other guy, Adrian Gonzalez displayed a great piece of hitting on that home run.

You can kind of see the ball, coming from a right hander and breaking down the way it was, just a great piece of hitting, this swing really stood out to me while I was watching the game, look at his hips open up, head down, balance, weight shifting perfectly. Rarely do I praise opposing players or teams (especially Red Sox...) But Gonzo, this buds for you.

The captain, Paul Konerko blasted a solo home run in the 3rd to make it a 3-1 ball game. Not to be out done, the Red Sox would answer back with a 2 run single by Dustin Pedroia to tie the game at 3. Ok, fast forward to the 6th inning for the play of the game, the White Sox load the bases with 2 outs and with a full count, Alexi Ramirez bloops a double over first base, just inside the foul line. He couldn't have thrown it out there any better. The Sox score 2 on that play and then, with runners on first and third, big hittin' Carlos Quentin singles to make it a 7-3 ball game, where the score would stay and eventually go final.

This was a huge win for the Sox for many reasons.
- Its always important to get the first game of the series, especially on the road and in a situation where you cannot afford to drop games.
- More confidence for Peavy as he continues to settle in
- The offense showed up on the same day as the pitching and defense!
- Bumped the Sox up to 3rd place... may not seem like much, but it shows progress (small victories add up to big ones)

If this team can play consistently like they did today and by that I mean, play to their potential, they WILL win this division. They showed today the kind of talent and potential they have on this club and folks, it was GREAT. Lets just hope they hit a groove and keep this up, because it still is early on and this team can do some serious damage in what is proving to be a weak division this season.

We're in Boston again tomorrow, first pitch is at 6:10 and this one is going to be on WCIU. Lets close out this month with a win boys, we need it.

 I would just like to take this time to say THANK YOU on this memorial day to all of those men and women in uniform and their families who have made such huge sacrifice to fight for our safety and our freedom in this great country. I don't think that men and women in uniform get enough credit from our citizens, nor do their families. I cannot say that I know what you are going through or how it feels, but again, from the bottom of my heart, and on behalf of the citizens of these United States, Thank You, God bless you and your families.

Underachievement Reigns

The White Sox were rolled in Toronto today (Sunday) as John Danks fell to an absurd 0-8 record. Carlos Quentin got us on the board early with a solo shot in the first, leading me to believe the Sox were going to battle today, boy was I wrong. The Blue Jays came out and absolutely shelled John Danks in the bottom of the first, putting up 6 runs, highlighted by a grand slam by Aaron Hill of the Blue Jays. I'll spare you the rest of the details, the final score was 13-4 Blue Jays.

I have to wonder what is going on with John Danks. His first 6 or 7 starts this season were good to above average. The problem there was the lack of run support Danks was receiving from his offense. But recently Danks has looked awful on the mound, missing his spots, falling behind batters, and failing to mix up his pitches. I wonder if recently he has been trying to do to much because he is expecting lack of offensive support or if his confidence is shot because its the end of May and he has yet to win a game. But Danks has arguably been our best starting pitcher the last few seasons, its a shame to see him going through such an awful stretch. Just something to think about....

A couple interesting stats regarding the Sox and the Jays:
The White Sox have lost 22 of the last 27 games they have played against Toronto.
The White Sox have lost 15 of their last 18 games they have played IN Toronto.

I am starting to wonder wether or not this team is going to fully turn it around and play to their potential. That is what is making this season so frustrating, I had never had as high of hopes for a White Sox team coming into a season as I did this year and they continue to make stupid plays, put together bad at bats, and just underachieve all around.  It would be different if we didn't have any expectations for this team or if they didn't have any talent. What also has made this road trip extremely frustrating is the fact that the team had been showing major signs of improvement prior to this trip. They seemed to be turning the season around, not to mention they could and should have won almost every game during this road trip. With the exception of today, they have been in the game at the end of all the contests on this trip, they just haven't been able to get runs in and close games when given the chance (leaving men on base in the late innings in tie games/1 run games).

I don't mean to sound negative, but just the way they have been playing has really posed the question, "Is this team going to underachieve all year?" Its still early and a lot can happen in 100+ games, but if they don't start playing to their potential, this year is going to be one major disappointment.

Lets just hope they bounce back in Boston (easier said than done). Inconsistency has been leading to their underachievement. It seems like when the pitching is there, the offense isn't or vice versa. We need the entire team to focus and just start destroying teams, because they have the talent to do it. Really all their is to do now, for us, the fans, is to support our team and hope they get hot. If they can string together a few nice winning streaks we'll be right back in this thing.  Until then, lets just do what we can to support them and pray they figure this thing out.

Sox Inconsistency Costing them Games

The White Sox have been off and on all season. It has personally costed me a lot of frustration and pain. This post is going to be short and emotionless. They lost a game they should have won on Friday and lost a game they should have won again today (Saturday). There have been a lot of things piling up for this team that keeps costing us games. Im not going to write them in paragraph form, because I'll start rambling. So I'm just going to list them:

1. Complete lack of clutch hitting.
2. Leaving TONS of men on base. (They've left over 25 men on base in this series in Toronto alone)
3. Bad at bats
4. The pitching staff has given up A TON of 2 out hits/walks/runs (especially with 2 outs and no one on base)
5. Lopsided efforts (what I mean by that is when the pitching shows up, the offense doesn't and vice versa)
6. Questionable decisions by Ozzie
       A. Keeping Dunn in the lineup everyday (he needs some time off)
       B. Pinch hitting Quentin today for McPherson with 2 outs and the winning run on 3rd, instead of for Dunn with 1 out. I say this because with a runner on 3rd and one out all we need is some decent contact (Which we are not getting from Dunn) By the way, Quentin hit a deep fly ball that ended the inning, he does that in Dunn's spot and we win.
       C. Managing of the pitching staff and bullpen (don't get me wrong, I like Ozzie, just a few things I think he could have done better lately)
       D. One could argue that shuffling the lineup may help run production as we are putting men on base, but it seems that the same guys continue to come up in big situations and fail. Shuffling the lineup may bring different men up in big situations.

Those are the ones that have really stood out to me as of late. This team has been playing better than during their losing streak, but is still underachieving. With the starting pitching we have been getting and the amount of men we have left on base, this team should be over .500 by now. The above factors amongst other small things are going to need to change or this team will continue to underachieve. I don't mean to be a downer, but this team has way to much talent to have the record they have.

They have great potential, anyone can see that just by watching the games. Think of it this way, we've left all those guys on base and missed all of those opportunities lately and have still been right in the game at the end. It's just those small little changes that need to be made to get us over this hump. I still think we're going to be in the hunt by mid-summer. It has just frustrating lately to watch this team play such mediocre baseball when I know they're capable of great things.

I'm not even going to get into breaking down these last two games. All I'm going to say is:
We left a ton of men on base on Friday and wasted another great pitching performance from our staff.
Today (Saturday) we exchanged blows with the Jays, knocking the ball around the yard and tying it with 2 outs in the 9th. Edwin Jackson struggled, the offense actually gave the pitching staff some support. But the extra innings hit and the offense stalled yet again, until Corey Patterson of all people walked us off.

I leave you with this, we need to get over this hump and start producing and playing the way that I know this team can. If we can win tomorrow and split this double header and try to cool down a Boston team that is on fire right now. If we can salvage this road trip and come home close to .500 we'll really be ready to make up some ground.

We're in Toronto tomorrow at 12:07 over on Comcast Sportsnet. Say a prayer tonight Sox fans, we cannot afford to start losing again.

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Offense Provided by Juan Man

Phil Humber continued to prove himself on Thursday in Toronto. The White Sox right hander went 7.2 innings scattering 6 hits and 1 earned run giving the White Sox another stellar pitching performance from our starting rotation. The offense was provided by one player who has been starting to pick it up as of late. Juan Pierre, who is on an 11 game hitting streak and quickly earning trust back from his manager.

Pierre knocked in the first run of the ball game on an RBI single in the 5th, only to be countered with a Blue Jays Home run in the bottom of the 6th off the bat of Yunel Escobar. The score would stay tied at one until the 9th inning as both offenses struggled to score. The Sox would catch a few breaks in their last at bats, first on a throwing error by Blue Jay third basemen John McDonald, who fielded Alex Rios's ground ball and threw it into the stands, which of course resulted in Rios being awarded second base. After AJ failed to sacrifice Rios to third, Toronto threw a wild pitch (which essentially was just as good as if AJ had been able to get the bunt down). So after a throwing error and a wild pitch we had the potential winning run on third in the 9th. Beckham was then hit by a pitch and would then steal second with Pierre at the plate. Pierre then hit a ground ball behind the bag at first, which resulted in a foot race to first, as Marc Rzepczynski (Blue Jays pitcher) was slow to cover first, Pierre beat the throw and on yet another break in the inning for the White Sox, the ball was kicked into short right field, allowing Beckham to score from first.

Santos would come in to nail it down and preserve the 3-1 Sox victory.

This was a big win for our White Sox, the offense struggled again, the team is trying to claw their way back to .500 to contend for a division, and we just had a hard loss on Wednesday. All these things in mind, we really needed that game yesterday. We need to close out this road trip in a very strong way because after this trip we go back home and the schedule slowly starts to lighten up. If we can come home at .500 or very close to .500, that is going to put us in prime position to really tear up our schedule.

This win also moved the White Sox up into 3rd place. I know it doesn't sound like much, but when you consider how awful the team was playing just a few weeks ago and how far out of it we were, thats a moral victory right there. We need those small victories to keep us going and to shed light on the fact that we have been making progress, because with the way the Indians have been playing, its hard to feel like you've done much, when you win 11 games out of 14 and you still haven't picked up any ground on the division leading team. We just need to keep chipping away at these teams and we will come out on top. Is that a central division championship prediction for the Sox? Take it as is...

One more thing, did any of you watch for the Toronto fans booing Rios last night like I told you to? Because they definitely did, and it still blows my mind, because they got rid of him....

Anyway, we need this one again today, we have Buehrle on the bump today and first pitch will be at 6:07 over on Comcast Sportsnet. As Hawk would say, we need to sinch it up and hunker down today. Lets get this offense going!

Chest Pains in Texas

I'll try to keep this one short and emotionless, because I am not happy right now. The Sox needed this one today. They didn't get it, due to the offense and their inability to get ANY timely hitting. Now I am an absolute optimist when it comes to the Sox, but I'm also emotionally attached, every loss hurts, but this one today really killed me. We hit into 3 double plays and strand the entire state population of Rhode Island on the bases. We needed this series and what really gets me, is we played well enough to win today, in terms of base runners and pitching. Poor Gavin Floyd.... my God, he goes 7 innings and gives up 1 earned run and 3 hits.... and gets the loss? Excuse me while I go throw up....

I mean in the last 3 innings alone we left like 6 or 7 guys on base! It's like, "Hang on Ozzie, I'm getting on a plane to Texas right now, I'll come hit for ya." I mean how long can this inconsistency continue with this offense? It is way to talented to leave guys on base like this. What really kills me is the importance of this road trip and the fact that we should be 2-1. 

The 8th inning we have 1st and 3rd with 1 out and Dunn strikes out (thats new) and Pierre grounds out. We get nothing. 

Now, I wanna talk about something that really, really got on my nerves. My buddy Alexi Ramirez leading off the 9th. Lets break down the situation....

9th inning factors:

- Down 1 run (so we need base runners at all costs)

- Heart of the order

- The pitcher they bring in has control issues

- The pitcher they bring in has walked 12 in his 15 innings of work....

.... Put that all together and what does baseball for Dummies tell us? TAKE SOME PITCHES!!!!! WORK THE COUNT IN YOUR FAVOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Instead Einstein... pardon me... Alexi swings at the first pitch OF THE INNING! And flies out to center. We're already working up hill because we're down a run, now we're down an out after one pitch!! Think thats a stupid point for me to make? Well the pitcher went on to walk the next 2 batters on 9 pitches.... Imagine if Alexi would have just taken a few pitches, might have had an extra out and an extra baserunner. 

This offense is just knocking days and hours off of my life, every time they have a good game (last night) they come back and look like they've never picked up a bat before. The only way the Sox are getting back into this is if they stack up win streaks (big or small) and its hard to win when your offense strands Will County on the bases. I'm sorry if this has been an uncharacteristically bleak post, this game today just really bothered me. We just had so many chances, again Floyd and the bullpen do their job perfectly, and the offense just stomps all over our hopes and dreams. I've just never seen such a stacked offense stall like this. And the double plays? Good Lord, I started thinking, yea theres 1 out and a guy on first, we might as well just sac bunt and take our chances getting a base hit with 2 outs, at least we'd stay out of the double play (obviously thats exaggerated, but the double plays are really getting old). Its too bad that we don't get runs for double plays hit into, we'd be unstoppable. 

Again, its early in the year still, we're within striking distance of .500 and the division, and our schedule gets really easy pretty soon. Everything is going to be there for the taking, it's just up to the Sox to take it. 

My girlfriend just walked out of the room and she says, "Do you want anything?" (meaning to drink or eat)  And I responded with, "Timely hitting." This one is gonna be on my mind for a while....

Something to look out for an think about while we're in Canada:

- Take note on how many times the Blue Jays "fans" boo Alex Rios when he bats.....
Even though he gave them a lot of solid years and the Blue Jays were the ones who released him....

Lets bounce back again tomorrow and string some wins together. Sorry if I was negative, even the most optimistic fans have a breaking point sometimes. Go Sox. Everything will look better tomorrow after a big win over the Blue Jays.

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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Sox Tack on Another Series Win

I apologize for not posting sooner, I realize that I have 2 games to talk about. Fortunately for me, both games I need to talk about turned out to be wins, which makes it a lot easier to write about. Ok, so the Sox drop a heartbreaker in the series opener and bounce back with vengeance. The offense exploded in the last 2 games of this series with the Dodgers, if I may reference my last post where I said that we will see if we have a great team here based on their ability to bounce back or not after that bad loss on Friday, well I think they answered my question.

First lets talk about Saturday, the offense exploded for 9 runs and Mark Buerhle was..... well, Mark Buerhle. He completely shut down the Dodgers and scattered 7 hits and 2 runs over 7 innings, vintage Buerhle. What was most impressive about this win for Mark was that it improved his overall inter league record to 24-6, thats best all time, in the history of the Big. Congrats Mark. On top of that, Buerhle is now 10-0 in his last 12 inter league starts.... that is an absolutely ridiculous stat, it really shows how dominant he is during inter league play. 

Sox came out and dominated this entire game from the start, knocking their ex teammate Jon Garland out in the 5th inning and shutting down the Dodger offense, highlighted by great pitching and pretty solid defense. Sox took this one easy, 9-2

Offensive highlights for this one:

-Paulie: 3 for 5 with 3 RBIs

- Alexi: 3-4 with 2 doubles and 2 RBIs

-AJ: 3 for 5 with 2 runs scored

This was a huge game for the Sox, because like I said they needed a strong game after dropping that heartbreaker on Friday. This game transitions nicely into Sunday's series finale. 

Sunday the Sox came out looking for yet another series victory and were hoping to improve to only 4 games under .500. Well with Edwin Jackson on the bump, they did just that. The big story in this one was the offense yet again (Edwin Jackson had an O.K game and the defense was pretty bad).

Alexi Ramirez was 4 for 5 with 5 RBIs and fell a triple short of the cycle (have a day). Juan Pierre must be reading my blog because he was 3 for 4 with 2 RBIs, getting on base like a leadoff man should. They knocked the ball around the yard and got on the board fast, posting 3 runs in the first inning off of 2 home runs (Ramirez, AJ). What was nice about this offensive effort was that it was relentless, they got up and instead of trying to cruise the rest of the way, they buried L.A, the continued to add to their lead, I love to see that! They have the type of offense that can burry a team and it was nice to finally see them play to their potential (almost). I say almost because despite all the runs, Adam Dunn is still struggling, imagine if we get him going how dangerous this lineup would be..... Another great sign is that Alex Rios is starting to hit, he is a big key to this offense, now that he's starting to hit, this teams production is going to drastically increase. Just as I said multiple times in previous posts, as the weather heats up, so will this teams offense....

Edwin Jackson was above average, he stuck around 5.2 innings, scattering 1 run on 5 hits. Threw a lot of pitches for only being in there for 5.2 innings. He is still having issues with getting ahead of the hitters, thus causing him to throw more pitches. But all in all he had a nice game.

The defense was bad, they committed 3 errors, not much to say about that, they really just need to improve. 

This team has finally started to show us what a solid contender it can be, winning 7 of our last 10 and 11 of our last 16. What is pretty awesome to think about is that this team is still not playing totally to its potential. The reason I say that is because there are still guys in our lineup not hitting and the defense is still making multiple errors a game. The more confidence that continues to build with these wins, the looser guys are going to be. The looser they are, the better they play. Once we get Rios and Dunn going, this offense is going to be unstoppable and I promise you the defense will come around. 

Now we go on the road for a 3 city road trip. This is a big trip folks, we need to continue to play as well as we have been playing and continue to build the confidence. Because we are slowly creeping back into this thing and it would be a real shame to see all of our work this month go for naught because of this trip. First, we have Texas (in Texas) if we continue to do what we've been doing, were going to be fine. Lets focus on one game at a time and continue to play to our potential. About 2 weeks ago this club was 11-22, now we're 22-26. Pretty impressive if you think about it.

Quick injury report: Carlos Quentin has been benched because of a sore knee, reports indicate that he is fine and he will be available to play tomorrow in Texas. Which is good because last I checked, he's leading the majors in extra base hits...

We're in Texas tomorrow, we're gonna run Danks out on the bump, first pitch will be over on Comcast Sportsnet at 7:05. Go Sox, big series coming up. 

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