Yeah, the Sox could have and probably should have come out of Comerica Park with a sweep of the weekend series against Le Tigre. For the second time in this young season they managed to lose a game they were winning in the bottom of the ninth with two out, and that's not something you want to do too often in the course of a season.
Still, I'm not going to sit here and bitch about taking 2 out of 3 from the Tigers on the road. All three games were exciting and hotly contested by both teams. The Sox pulled themselves off the deck once to steal a win, coming back from a 1st inning 4-0 deficit, and almost did something very similar on Sunday, but it wasn't to be.
All in all, this was a week that saw a no-hitter for the Sox, and a series win on the road against the defending AL Champions. You can do a lot worse than that.
FRIDAY- SOX 5, TIGERS 4
This looked like it was going to be a stinker of a loss, when a pop fly misplayed by Juan Uribe turned into a double that led to 3 runs. But the Sox changed their hitting approach after that inning, and came out in the sixth waiting out Tiger starter Chad Durbin and making him throw strikes. That led to the Sox tying the game, and later taking the lead in the seventh on a Darin Erstad single, and the Sox got 4 1/3 innings of scoreless relief out of the bullpen to grab the series opener.
Game Scores- Sox-Danks 37, Tigers- Durbin 43
SATURDAY- SOX 7, TIGERS 5
I keep reading that the Tigers are a team with "no weaknesses". But, as the World Series showed last year, they have at least one weakness, and that is their subpar defense. In this game, they jumped out to a 4-0 lead on a first inning Carlos Guillen grand slam, but later made 3 errors and allowed 2 unearned runs that turned out to be the difference in the game. The L in this game went to Fernando Rodney, who as a reliever already has 4 losses in 2007.
Game Scores- Sox- Contreras 49, Tigers- Robertson 50
SUNDAY- (10-8) TIGERS 6, (9-8) SOX 5
Just a tough, tough loss. With Bobby Jenks unavailable to close, the Sox turned to David Aardsma to hold onto a 5-3 lead in the ninth inning. He retired the first 2 batters, then gave up a single to Carlos Guillen, followed by a 2 run homer tomahawked out of the park by Marcus Thames. The Sox couldn't get anything going in extra innings, and when Boone Logan entered the game in the 12th, it felt like the Sox were tapping out and conceding the final game of this series so as to save some semblance of a bullpen for the seven games in seven days this week.
Game Scores- Sox- Garland 64, Tigers- Verlander 58
This week the Tigers start out with 2 at the Angels, then come to US Cellular for a pair, and close out the week at home against the Twins.
As for the Sox, they start the week in KC (more on that later), then host the Tigers for 2, and the Angels for 3 over the weekend.
AL CENTRAL ROUNDUP
TWINS (11-7) AT ROYALS (6-12)
FRI- KC 11-7, SAT- MIN 7-5, SUN- KC- 3-1
How refreshing to see the Royals show up against somebody in the division other than the Sox. On Friday they did exactly what a major league team should do against Sidney Ponson, which is shell him and beat him. Saturday, it came down to a battle of the bullpens, and predictably the Twins bullpen won out. The finale saw an unlikely pitchers duel between Jorge de la Rosa and Ramon Ortiz, with de la Rosa coming out on top thanks to a 2 run homer by Ross Gload.
Game Scores- Fri- Ponson 20/O.Perez 38, Sat- Bonser 43/Greinke 34, Sun- Ortiz 55/de la Rosa 73
THIS WEEK
MIN- 2 v. CLE, 2 v. KC, 3 at DET
KC- 2 v. SOX, 2 at MIN, 3 at SEA
(8-7) INDIANS AT DEVIL RAYS
FRI- CLE 4-3, SAT- TB 5-6, SUN- CLE 6-4
The Indians bounce back, kind of, from an ugly series in the Bronx by taking 2 of 3 from the Devil Ray at Tropicana Field. It's nice how everybody in the AL Central has been dancing with the Devil Ray early in the season except the White Sox. I'm just saying. It's notable that the Rays James Shields struck out 12 and posted a game score of 81 in the finale.
Game Scores- Fri Sabathia 60, Sat Byrd 28, Sun Westbrook 56
THIS WEEK
CLE- 2 at MIN, 2 v. TEX, 3 v. BAL
PREDICTED STANDINGS THIS TIME NEXT WEEK
Twins 14-11
Tigers 14-11
Indians 12-10
Sox 13-11
Royals 9-16
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