The Sox advertise grinder ball, and I guess this past weekend they gave us exactly that. It wasn't pretty, and I'm not quite sure how they managed to do it, but the Sox, who have not yet snapped out of the offensive funk they've been in all season, somehow managed to go into Anaheim and win a series against a very good Angels team.
FRIDAY- ANGELS 5, SOX 1
This was as bad a game as you'll ever want to see the Sox play. I've never seen exhumed corpses play baseball, but if I did, I would imagine it would look something like the way the Sox played in this game. The routine fly ball plopping 10 feet behind Darin Erstad ranks right up there with Torii Hunter's plowing over of Jamie Burke, and Jose Paniagua's infamous stint in 2003 as one of the low points in White Sox baseball this decade.
Game Scores- Conteras SOX 53; Escobar LAA 63
SATURDAY- SOX 6, ANGELS 3
The Sox jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead, but by the fifth inning the Angels had tied it at 3, and it merely looked like the Sox had found a new way to suck. But a clutch 2 out RBI gork shot by Crede, and some effective work by a bullpen that was finally given a lead to protect gave the Sox a much-needed end to their 5 game losing jag.
Game Scores- Garland SOX 49; Lackey LAA 56
SUNDAY- SOX 4, ANGELS 3
The offense looked as flaccid as ever for the first seven innings of this game. Bartolo Colon was devouring the Sox like he would a grande carnitas burrito. But then, trailing 3-0 in the 8th inning, a little bit of baseball magic happened. With the Sox down 3-1, AJ Pierzynski launched a 2 run bomb off of reliever Scot Shields to tie the game at 3. Matt Thornton pitched the Sox out of Mike MacDougal's jam in the bottom of the ninth to send the game to extras, where K-Rod broke down in his second inning of work and the Sox took the lead. Bobby Jenks was shaky in the ninth, but managed to nail down his 10th save and give the Sox an unlikely series win.
Game Scores- Buehrle SOX 46; Colon LAA 61
UP NEXT
AT MINNESOTA TWINS (16-15)
TUE- Vazquez (2-1, 4.02, 54.2 Avg GS, 54 Last GS) v. Bonser (0-1, 4.55, 49.8 Avg, 54 Last)
WED- Danks (0-4, 5.02, 47.6 Avg, 52 Last) v. Ortiz (3-2, 3.23, 55.0 Avg, 33 Last)
THU- Contreras (2-3, 4.88, 45.8 Avg, 53 Last) v. Silva (2-2, 2.75, 52.2 Avg, 62 Last)
Hard as it is to believe, there is a team that has been struggling even more to score runs than the White Sox have lately, and that team is the Minnesota Twins. In dropping 2 of 3 at home to the Red Sox last weekend, the Twins managed a grand total of only 5 runs. Add to this the fact that Joe Mauer, his .353 batting average, his cute little sideburns, and his all-American smile on the DL, and the Twins have just as many if not more reasons for concern than the Sox do right now.
The Sox, as it's been noted in the local media pretty diligently, will not face bane of their existence Johan Santana in this series, and they won't face any other lefthanders either. That's good news because they have only a .580 team OPS against lefties this year vs. .705 against righties. This should be a week for the Sox to make up some of the ground they've lost in the division since taking 2 of 3 in Detroit a couple of weeks ago. If not, I may buy one of those ceremonial US Cellular Field bricks they keep advertising during the games, and throw it through my TV screen.
AL CENTRAL ROUNDUP
INDIANS 19-10, 1ST PLACE
LAST WEEKEND- 2-2 at Orioles (2-3, 2-8, 9-6, 10-1)
The Indians have been doing things the Oriole Way a lot so far this year, and dancing with the Devil Ray pretty regularly. Things get a lot more difficult starting now, as they are going on the road to Anaheim and Oakland this week, and they just put a starting pitcher (Jake Westbrook) on the DL. By the end of this month, we'll have a better picture of how good this team is or isn't. You also have to wonder about how much longer they can get away with having a closer with an ERA of well over 7. I hate it when the baseball karma police let stuff like that go unpunished.
UP NEXT- 3 AT LAA
TIGERS 19-11, 2ND PLACE -1/2
LAST WEEKEND- 3-0 at Royals (6-3, 7-5, 13-4)
Joel Zumaya and his injured swear finger are going away for a long, long time, and the Tigers now have major, major bullpen problems. They'll be counting on Todd Jones, Fernando Rodney, Jose Mesa, and Jason Grilli to hold down the fort in the late innings for a while. They've also got what probably is the toughest schedule in the division this month. They'll finish a cushy stretch by hosting the Mariners for 3 this week, but then they go on the road to Minnesota and Boston, face the Cardinals in a World Series rematch, then host the Angels and Indians. That almost makes up for the fact that they've somehow managed to play the Royale NINE TIMES already this year?!?!?
UP NEXT- 3 AT LAA
ROYALS 10-22, 5TH PLACE -10 1/2
LAST WEEKEND- 0-3 v. Tigers (3-6, 5-7, 4-13)
I guess you can forget what I wrote last week about the Sox looking into acquiring Reggie Sanders. He TORE his hamstring shortly after that and is now on the DL for the forseeable future. Meanwhile, we can only hope the Royals still have their suck on when they come to the Cell this weekend.
UP NEXT- 3 V. OAK
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