Gavin Floyd flirted with a no hitter today to lead the Sox to a 4-1 win over ESPN's love child, Boston Red Sox. The win salvages the four game series where the Sox dropped the first three games in lifeless fashion.
The Sox were bombed out of the first two games of the series by a score of 10-3, then followed those two losses with a 1-0 loss where Jake Peavy continued his dominance in this early 2012 season by pitching his second consecutive complete game.
The Sox end the up and down April at 11-11. The month saw the Sox going 4-1 against AL Central opponents Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers, Adam Dunn getting back on track pounding out five home runs, Alex Rios batting .311 and Paul Konerko crossing the 400 home run plateau. The month also saw history made on April 21 in Seattle where Phil Humber threw a perfect game.
The Sox will have an off day tomorrow then hopefully rudely welcome the current AL Central leading Cleveland Indians for a three games series. The Sox will then hit the road to face the Tigers and again Indians. They will face AL Central rivals 21 of 29 games in the month of May including ten games against the Indians. The month will also feature the first of two crosstown showdowns.
Hopefully as the weather warms up, so will the bats.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
That's two, Hector
You can't complain too much about the losses the Sox have endured
this year. They've been flat out beat most of the time, but two of
the eight losses Hector Santiago has had his hand in. More on that below.
What will probably be overlooked in this afternoon's 5-4 14 inning loss to the Oakland A's will be another solid performance by Chris Sale. He allowed two runs on six hits in eight innings. More than enough for a win. But the Sox offense was in sleep mode again as they only scored two runs in nine innings.
Paulie connected for his 400th career home run to lead off the ninth tying the game at two and pushing the game into extra innings. The game remained tied until the 14th when Alexei Ramirez hit a two out, two run double to give the Sox a 4-2 lead.
Unfortunately that wasn't enough cushion for Hector Santiago.
Santiago surrendered a game tying two run bomb off the bat of Yoenis Cespedes. The next three batters singled enabling the winning run to cross the plate.
The question now has to be raised, how much longer does Santiago close?
I'm not advocating pulling him out of the role JUST YET but you also don't want to be giving games away this early in the season. We saw this play out last year and the destruction it can cause. The Sox are a team that in order to contend will need every win they can get. Already, two games have been lost by Santiago's blown saves. Another alarming stat is the four home runs he's given up in his last six innings of work. That won't work.
You can't fault Santiago for everything though. The bats went 1-11 with RISP and made silly baserunning blunders. In the 13th, Brent Lillibridge and Gordon Beckham were called on to pinch run for Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko with nobody out.. Lillibridge was picked off second base which proved costly because two batters later Alex Rios shot a ball at A's third basemen Eric Sogard who deflected the ball all the way to the A's bullpen. Gordon tried to score from 1st but was gunned down on a nice relay play by Cliff Pennington.
The Sox fall to 10-8 and are in a three way tie for first in the AL Central with the Detroit Tigers (10-8) and the Cleveland Indians (9-7).
Tomorrow, the Sox return home to open a four game series against the Boston Red Sox. Phil Humber should get a big ovation from the home crowd as he will make his first start since his perfect game. I'm setting the over/under on perfect game montages on the U.S. Cellular Field scoreboard at 3.
What will probably be overlooked in this afternoon's 5-4 14 inning loss to the Oakland A's will be another solid performance by Chris Sale. He allowed two runs on six hits in eight innings. More than enough for a win. But the Sox offense was in sleep mode again as they only scored two runs in nine innings.
Paulie connected for his 400th career home run to lead off the ninth tying the game at two and pushing the game into extra innings. The game remained tied until the 14th when Alexei Ramirez hit a two out, two run double to give the Sox a 4-2 lead.
Unfortunately that wasn't enough cushion for Hector Santiago.
Santiago surrendered a game tying two run bomb off the bat of Yoenis Cespedes. The next three batters singled enabling the winning run to cross the plate.
The question now has to be raised, how much longer does Santiago close?
I'm not advocating pulling him out of the role JUST YET but you also don't want to be giving games away this early in the season. We saw this play out last year and the destruction it can cause. The Sox are a team that in order to contend will need every win they can get. Already, two games have been lost by Santiago's blown saves. Another alarming stat is the four home runs he's given up in his last six innings of work. That won't work.
You can't fault Santiago for everything though. The bats went 1-11 with RISP and made silly baserunning blunders. In the 13th, Brent Lillibridge and Gordon Beckham were called on to pinch run for Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko with nobody out.. Lillibridge was picked off second base which proved costly because two batters later Alex Rios shot a ball at A's third basemen Eric Sogard who deflected the ball all the way to the A's bullpen. Gordon tried to score from 1st but was gunned down on a nice relay play by Cliff Pennington.
The Sox fall to 10-8 and are in a three way tie for first in the AL Central with the Detroit Tigers (10-8) and the Cleveland Indians (9-7).
Tomorrow, the Sox return home to open a four game series against the Boston Red Sox. Phil Humber should get a big ovation from the home crowd as he will make his first start since his perfect game. I'm setting the over/under on perfect game montages on the U.S. Cellular Field scoreboard at 3.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Who just is this White Sox team?
The Sox completed the three game sweep against the Seattle Mariners this afternoon by a final score of 7-4. The win ups their record to 9-6. Nothing spectacular by any means. But they're doing enough to keep fans interested in the early going. At this time last year the Sox had just lost their eighth game in nine tries. Then proceeded to lose two more getting swept by the Tigers before ending April 10-18. There's still plenty of time for an implosion here but they're keeping us engaged and not burying themselves in the early going like they have done the past three seasons.
So far we've seen Adam Dunn and Alex Rios hit. Solid efforts by the bullpen. Jake Peavy looking good and seemingly pain free. The 21st perfect game in MLB history thrown just yesterday by Phil Humber, and Robin Ventura playing it cool in the first fifteen games of the season.
Looking around the A.L. right now there's only one team that's really slapping everybody else around. That's the Texas Rangers who end Sunday with a 13-3 record.
One thing our Sox need to do is improve their mediocre performance at The Cell.
Last season they gave the home crowd just about every reason to boo them off the field with a lousy 36-45 record on the South Side of Chicago. This year they've gone 3-4 in their first homestand. They keep that up, the fans will stay away and Kenny will give the 'ol "We can't do much without the fans support." b.s.
Regardless, the ultimate goal is meaningful baseball being played in September and October this year. While there's still a long way to go, it's nice to see, what seems to be at least, a rejuvenated baseball team .
The Sox head to probably the second worst place for them, (besides Minnesota) Oakland to face the A's. Bartolo Colon will face his former team tomorrow night while self proclaimed warrior Jake Peavy will do his best to upstage Humber. Because, that's just what competitors do!
So far we've seen Adam Dunn and Alex Rios hit. Solid efforts by the bullpen. Jake Peavy looking good and seemingly pain free. The 21st perfect game in MLB history thrown just yesterday by Phil Humber, and Robin Ventura playing it cool in the first fifteen games of the season.
Looking around the A.L. right now there's only one team that's really slapping everybody else around. That's the Texas Rangers who end Sunday with a 13-3 record.
One thing our Sox need to do is improve their mediocre performance at The Cell.
Last season they gave the home crowd just about every reason to boo them off the field with a lousy 36-45 record on the South Side of Chicago. This year they've gone 3-4 in their first homestand. They keep that up, the fans will stay away and Kenny will give the 'ol "We can't do much without the fans support." b.s.
Regardless, the ultimate goal is meaningful baseball being played in September and October this year. While there's still a long way to go, it's nice to see, what seems to be at least, a rejuvenated baseball team .
The Sox head to probably the second worst place for them, (besides Minnesota) Oakland to face the A's. Bartolo Colon will face his former team tomorrow night while self proclaimed warrior Jake Peavy will do his best to upstage Humber. Because, that's just what competitors do!
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Phil Humber - PERFECT GAME!
The Sox ran out of the dugout and celebrated at the pitchers mound this afternoon. No, they weren't reenacting the 2005 World Series celebration, they were piling on Phil Humber who dominated the Seattle Mariners this afternoon to throw the 21st perfect game in MLB history for the 4-0 Sox win!
Just about a year ago he took a no hitter against the Yankees into the 7th inning only to give up a base hit to Alex Rodriguez. Today, a completely different story. Only a couple hard hit balls and a low pitch count (96 total!) contributed to his masterful performance.
Paul Konerko blasted his 398th career home run to lead off the 2nd inning to give Humber an early lead to work with.
The perfect game was the third thrown in White Sox history, the second in three years. See: Buehrle, Mark - 2009.
Just about a year ago he took a no hitter against the Yankees into the 7th inning only to give up a base hit to Alex Rodriguez. Today, a completely different story. Only a couple hard hit balls and a low pitch count (96 total!) contributed to his masterful performance.
Paul Konerko blasted his 398th career home run to lead off the 2nd inning to give Humber an early lead to work with.
The perfect game was the third thrown in White Sox history, the second in three years. See: Buehrle, Mark - 2009.
Sox/Mariners Game 2, The Week That Was
The Sox were able to get back above .500 last night with a 7-3 win against the Seattle Mariners. Adam Dunn continued his hot hitting by blasting two home runs ending the night with five RBI's. Not too bad, sir. Not too bad.
The nice win follows their abysmal performance this week against the Baltimore Orioles where they dropped 3 of 4 to the current AL East leading team. But let's not start saying "Baltimore sure looks good this year."
They don't. They are doing their usual hot April/May start only to finish well under .500 and in last place like they do pretty much every season.
The series against the Orioles had some ugly numbers on and off the field, as well. The highest paid attendance for the series was for the Wednesday game at 13,818. Brutal, just brutal. But hey, I didn't have to wait in line for a beer that night!
Anyway, Robin will try and secure the series win with Phil Humber on the mound this afternoon backed with the usual lineup...
1. De Aza cf
2. Morel 3b
3. Dunn dh
4. Konerko 1b
5. Pierzynski c
6. Rios rf
7. Ramirez ss
8. Viciedo lf
9. Beckham 2b
The game is on FOX for whatever reason today so it will be a 3:05pm start time. You got to think someone is getting fired at FOX as I write this for deciding to put these two teams on national television.
I can hear the pregame now; "Most of you will see the Yankees battle the Red Sox this afternoon. The rest will see...uh...is this right? The Chicago White Sox against the Seattle Mariners? Really? OK."
The nice win follows their abysmal performance this week against the Baltimore Orioles where they dropped 3 of 4 to the current AL East leading team. But let's not start saying "Baltimore sure looks good this year."
They don't. They are doing their usual hot April/May start only to finish well under .500 and in last place like they do pretty much every season.
The series against the Orioles had some ugly numbers on and off the field, as well. The highest paid attendance for the series was for the Wednesday game at 13,818. Brutal, just brutal. But hey, I didn't have to wait in line for a beer that night!
Anyway, Robin will try and secure the series win with Phil Humber on the mound this afternoon backed with the usual lineup...
1. De Aza cf
2. Morel 3b
3. Dunn dh
4. Konerko 1b
5. Pierzynski c
6. Rios rf
7. Ramirez ss
8. Viciedo lf
9. Beckham 2b
The game is on FOX for whatever reason today so it will be a 3:05pm start time. You got to think someone is getting fired at FOX as I write this for deciding to put these two teams on national television.
I can hear the pregame now; "Most of you will see the Yankees battle the Red Sox this afternoon. The rest will see...uh...is this right? The Chicago White Sox against the Seattle Mariners? Really? OK."
Monday, April 16, 2012
I Saw This Movie Last Year
The Baltimore Orioles hit three home runs in the final two innings (One with two outs in the 9th.) and scored six more times in the 10th to beat our Sox 10-4 on a chilly Monday night.
The Sox were holding onto a 4-1 lead in the 8th before the wheels feel off. Jesse Crain surrendered what looked to be a meaningless solo home run to cut the Sox lead in half. Then closer Hector Santiago gave up two solo bombs in the 9th. The O's brutalized Zack Stewart in the 10th to make sure there were no White Sox comebacks and to demoralize fans of the Pale Hose.
In a game that was played in front of about 10 people, the outcome eerily reminded me of some of those bad April & May losses from last season.
Just as some were feeling a little good about this team they give you the middle finger.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Saturday Morning Funny
A good friend of mine e-mailed me this video the other day. It could be made for a lot of teams (including our very own) but I got a good laugh out of it. Enjoy!
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