Black Sox Blog

I’ll post more on this later, but two goods and two bads happened today. The first good is Frank Thomas came back. The first bad is he left in the seventh with what’s hopefully a minor hip injury.

The second good is the Sox won again, breaking their three game skid. And one of the results of the Sox playing so well is the double edged sword. As a fan, I’m really happy the Sox are playing as well as they are. The problem is, I still dislike Ozzie Guillen as a manager and because of the team’s “success,” we’re now stuck with him until at least 2008 (with an option for 2009).

One of the best hitters ever to lace up a pair of shoes for the White Sox will be returning to the lineup soon. Thomas is supposed to be activated from the DL effective tomorrow. Unfortunately Ozzie Guillen doesn’t read this blog and Brandon McCarthy was sent back down to the minors.

Frank Thomas has a career .996 OPS. That’s good for tenth all time, and he’s fourth among active players.

The White Sox seven gave road swing turned into a six game road swing, and they ended up losing four of six. Today shouldn’t have came as a complete surprise, because the Garland train couldn’t last forever, and he got shelled for the first time this year.

He gave the Sox six innings, but he left with seven earned runs. He added nearly a 0.50 point to his ERA in the process. Almost all of the damage came in that sixth and final inning as the Rangers put six runs on the board.

Juan Uribe had a nice game going three for four with two RBIs. Aaron Rowand had two doubles and scored twice.

Minnesota was shut out by the Roy Halladay today, so despite losing three in a row, the White Sox still have a 3 1/2 game lead. Chicago gets to come home to play the Angels this week. Hopefully the home crowd will push them to a series win.

You know he’d eventually take his lumps. Brandon McCarthy had a game I’m sure he wished that he could forget. All those homeruns down at AAA explains a little bit of what happened here as McCarthy threw five innings and gave up four homeruns. He gave up two other hits, walked three, and he struck out four.

Paul Konerko hit his thirteenth homer of the season. To make matters worse, the Twins won, so the their lead has now been cut by two games in the last two days. Garland throws against Park tomorrow, so that’s a matchup we should win.

Maybe I cursed by saying I’d be happy with a split. Once again, the Sox bats failed them as a very strong outing by Jose Contreras went to waste. He gave up only four hits through nine innings while striking out nine. Unfortunately he gave up a two run homer to rookie Dallas McPhereson that ended up making the difference.

The White Sox only managed six hits of their own, with Scott Podsednik having the only multi-hit game. He went two for four with a run and an RBI. He was also caught stealing for the seventh time this year.

As I check out the Sox team stats at Hardball Times a few things stick out. First off, the Sox are still three games ahead of their Pythorgorean Win/Loss, meaning the Sox five game lead is largely due to luck/timely hitting. However, their batting average on balls in play is below average (.276 vs. 294 league average) so in some respects, they’ve gotten unlucky with the bats. And the pitching/defense side, they’re still tops. They lead the league in ERA, runs given up, slugging percentage allowed, and Defensive Efficiency. So the hope is, when the pitching falters a bit, the hitters will start finding the gaps and get the offense going.

The Sox travel to Arlington to play the Rangers tonight. Hopefully they’ll come out of this one with the series win and finish the road trip with a winning record.

The White Sox won again. I said I’d be happy with a split against Anaheim, and Freddy Garcia pitched the Sox to at least that last night. Paul Konerko and Chris Widger accounted for five of the Sox seven hits, and drove in all four runs on homers. Konerko’s three run shot put the Sox up for good, while Widgers solo homer gave them a little extra insurance. So much for small ball.

Freddy Garcia improved to 5-3. He pitched eight very solid innings, giving up only seven hits and two runs. He struck out six batters and reduced his ERA to 3.41. As a team, the White Sox have a microscopic 3.17 ERA. Luis Vizcaino has been anchor with regard to that stat, as he’s given up almost as many runs as some of the starters have. I said it the other day, but I really hope they ship him when Orlando Hernandez is back and use Brandon McCarthy out of the pen. There’s little AAA can do for him now.

The Indians did us a favor by beating the Twins in extra frames, so they now lead the Twins by six games. It’ll be interesting to see if either team can make a big move in the next month leading up to the All Star Break. I’d feel a little safer if we could get that lead up into double digits, but we’re also a small losing streak away from having it pretty much disappear.

Mark Buehrle pitched the equivalent of a complete game last night, giving up only four hits in nine innings. The Sox did their best to blow the strong outing, but a Carl Everett solo shot in the first was good enough to put this one into extra frames. Then in the eleventh, Iguchi doubled to drive in the winning run.

Equally impressive was Damasco Marte. He threw two perfect innings to improve to 3-3.

Unfortunately the Sox just can’t shake the Twins, who also won yesterday. Lead is still at five games, but it just seems like they’re waiting for the Sox to falter so they can pounce all over us. The last few years that’s come after the All-Star Break so we’ll see what happens.

Hopefully it was just jet lag. Jon Garland lost his first game of the season, but he hardly pitched bad. He did give up eleven hits, but only three of them crossed the plate. It was the offense that failed them in this one.

The White Sox scattered five hits off of rookie starter Edwin Santana. Konerko and Iguchi both had two hits. Luis Vizcaino was ineffective again as he gave up a run. It would be too much to ask for Ozzie Guillen to get rid of Vizcaino and put Brandon McCarthy in the pen when El Duque comes back. He’s about as far removed from Earl Weaver as anyone I can think of.

Fortunately Cleveland edged the Twins, so our five game lead is still intact.

This game was pretty unfortunate. Brandon McCarthy’s strong major league debut went to waste as it looks like Guillen had him a pretty strict pitch count. With one out and a man on in the fifth (McCarthy had hit Derek Lee), Guillen pulled McCarthy after 78 pitches. He struck out six, and ended up being credited with two earning runs when Lee eventually scored.

In comes Luis Vizcaino and out goes the game. A few batters later, Jason DuBois took Vizcaino deep with a three run shot to put the Cubs in front for good. Paul Konero hit a solo shot in the ninth to shave the lead to 4-3, but that was all the Sox could get.

Guillen was his usual testy self after the game when he poorly defended taking McCarthy out. Probably the one bad thing about the Sox great start is we’ll get to see Ozzie Guillen in the dugout for several years to come.

The Twins won in extra frames, and the lead is back down to five. The Sox have a tough four game series against a good, but Vlad-less Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Travelling out west is never a good thing, so I’d be pretty happy if they split the series 2-2.

This is one of those bittersweet situations. You never want to mess up a good thing, and while El Duque’s WHIP is nothing to write home about, he’s kept guys from crossing the plate and is 4-1. On the other hand, I’ve been following McCarthy on this blog all season, so it’ll be nice to see what he can at the major league level.

With that said, it doesn’t seem to matter too much, because the Sox just keep on rolling. This time it was nice come from behind win. Down 3-0 in the eighth, the Sox busted out with four runs in the eighth. Paul Konerko had a big game going two for five with a two run double in that eighth inning. Jermaine Dye added an insurance run in the ninth with a solo shot. It was his eighth homer of the season.

Contreras pitched a really strong game. Seven innings of four hit ball to improve to 2-1. Cliff Politte got roughed up for two runs, but Marte and Hermanson closed the game out. Hermanson earned his tenth save.

With the Twins loss, the Sox now have a six game cushion in the AL Central. Five in the loss column. But they’ve once again been able to quietly put together a nice four game winning streak. It looks like McCarthy is going to make his debut today, so I’m interested to see how he does.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s American League teams or National League teams. American League Central teams, or American League East teams. The Whits Sox just keep on winning. And they won their 30th game of the season yesterday. With this nice cushion, and Frank Thomas looking ready to come back, it’s hard not to be excited.

Yesterday the Sox beat their cross town rivals the Cubs in the first game of Interleague play this season. Freddy Garcia was awesome, going seven innings and giving up only a single run on five hits. He improved to 4-3. The pen did their job as well as three relievers combined to one hit the Cubs in the final two innings.

Black Sox Blog favorite Joe Crede hit his fourth homer of the year. Jermaine Dye also went deep for the seventh time this season. And Scott Podsednik stole his 25th base. It’s been a long time since someone stole 100, and Scott’s almost on pace to do that.

The team now stands 18 games above .500. This is pretty significant because of they play .500 ball the rest of the way, they’ll still finish with 90 wins and be in contention for the division title. This sounds obvious, but every game they win now means one less they HAVE to win later, so they just need to keep it up.

Frank Thomas has cooled off since his initial two for three game to start his rehab. He’s now four of twelve with one double. He’s going to be down there for a couple more weeks, so hopefully the Sox can keep on winning until he can come back and help the team.

I’ve always been a huge fan of baseball history, so when I run across a site that leans toward baseball’s past, I make a point to check it out. Jon Earving has recently started a Mets Blog called the Tom Seaver Fan Club. He’s just getting started, but he plans on doing some indepth analyses of Met’s greats. Be sure to check him out on a regular basis.

The Rangers have a pretty potent lineup. Going into this game, they were fourth in all of baseaball in runs scored, and they’re second in all of baseball in homeruns. But the Sox staff has held them to two runs in the last two games, including Mark Buehrle’s shutout with help performance yesterday afternoon. Buehrle improved to 7-1 on the season.

Paul Konerko hopefully hit himself out of his slump. He went three for four with his tenth homer of the season. The main concern were the three times the Sox were caught stealing. In a closer game, those kind of things come back to haunt you.

The Sox travel uptown to play the Cubs at Wrigley this weekend. The game on Saturday looks like it’s the first Fox Game of the Week, so that’s pretty cool. I’ll definitely have to watch that one.

The White Sox won, and once again, Jon Garland came through with a great performance. Seven innings, only five hits and two runs as he improved to 8-0. Marte and Hermanson closed the game out as Hermanson is slowly getting more and more time as the closer. And it’s deserving because his ERA is still zero.

This has been the White Sox toughest stretch of the season though. They’re 5-5 in their last ten games. Fortunately, the rest of the division has been equally as tepid. The Twins have also been 5-5, and only the Tigers have a winning record in their last, and it’s barely with a 6-4 mark. They hold onto a 5 1/2 game lead, but unfortunately they’re only four games ahead in the loss column.

They’re bats are still dry. The teams’ hitting .232 with runners in scoring position, and they’re also only hitting .280 on balls in play, which is below the league average of .294. So there’s a little unluckiness (is that a word) involved, but not too much. Thanks once again to the Hardball Times Team Stats.

Fortunately, help is on the way. One of the best hitters ever to put on a White Sox jersey, Frank Thomas, has started his rehab stint. He went two for three with a double and a walk yesterday in his first game.

Okay, this is a special treat. I actually get ESPN in my hotel room, so I’m getting to see the Sox. Unfortunately they’re down 5-4, and still in trouble.

Brandon McCarthy was beat up for the second straight start. With the Sox rotation looking to being showing signs of mortality, it would have been nice have McCarthy waiting there for a chance. But in his last start at AAA, he went only five innings and gave up two more homers. Four strikeouts was his lowest total of the season for a single start.

Rangers put another run on the board, so it’s 6-4 Rangers. It’s still early (bottom of the third) so hopefully we’ll get some runs back.

Going into the series, I would have been happy with a split against the other hot team in the American League, but after taking the first two games, I was expecting a little more.

Seeing Freddy Garcia get pummelled on Saturday was rough, and seeing Contreras get roughed up, with no offense to boot, might have been even rougher.

I’m back in my little cell (hotel room) after a weekend trip home. While baseball was on the back of my mind, it wasn’t a priority, so I’m hoping to get back to more timely blogging with the Texas series.

After losing the first two games in their series against the Devil Rays, El Duque and the White Sox bounced back to salvage a game. Hernandez went 6 1/3 and only gave up three hits and two runs before yielding to the pen to finish the game out. Dustin Hermanson earned his sixth save of the season and he still hasn’t given up an earned run.

On the hitting end, Paul Konerko drove in his team leading 25th run on a double in the fifth. The White Sox also showed some nice patience at the plate by drawing six walks.

Next up is the second best team in the AL to date, so it’s a battle of the two best teams. I’m going to be home this weekend, and thankfully two of the games will be on WGN, so I’ll be able to check them out.

So far this season, the White Sox have done just enough to win pretty much night in and night out. Outside of the three game losing streak last week, the White Sox have won, and won, and won, and won….well, you get the point.

This week was no exception as the Sox swept the Blue Jays. Another one run win. Last night the pitching let them down, but the bats came alive. This afternoon it was a mix of both.

Mark Buehrle was once again good, but not great. But he was just good enough to win. The Jays scattered nine hits over 7 1/3 innings, and the tagged him for four runs (two earned) in the fourth inning. Damasco Marte had a tough ninth inning, but he got out of the jam and picked up a save.

The amazing thing has been how mediocre the team offense, at least statisticly, has been. With Iguchi out of the lineup, the White Sox had one hitter above the .280 mark in the lineup, and that was Pedro Lopez at .286.

But none of that matters because the Sox have now won eight games in a row, and it’s not even the first time they’ve won eight straight. And to make it even better, the Sox play Tampa Bay for three games before heading into a tough series with the Orioles. As it stands, the Sox have held off the Twins, who have won four games in a row themselves, and they still have a nice 4 1/2 game lead.

You know when your team is on a roll when you check the score, see your team is down by a run, yet you still know they’ll pull it out. And that’s exactly what the White Sox did last night to win their sixth straight game. Jermaine Dye hit a solo homer in the seventh to tie the game, then A.J. Pierzinski had a two run single to put the White Sox in the lead for good.

Dustin Hermanson saved is fifth game, so the White Sox now have two guys with five or more saves. Six teams in MLB have yet to save their fifth game. While I don’t put a lot of credence in the save as a statistical category, it does mean they’re winning relatively close games. According to the White Sox team stats at Hardball Times, the White Sox are no 15-5 in games decided by two runs or less.

Also of note is they trail only the Florida Marlins with a .344 slugging average against. The league average is .406.

Brandon McCarthy won on Thursday at Norfolk. He pitched eight very strong innings, striking out ten batters and only giving up five hits. He’s now struck out 50 in 37 2/3 innings. I’d say bring him up if the Sox weren’t doing so well. At least he’s getting some throwing time in and he’s available if one of their top five go down.

Every once in a while, a season borders on magical. I know this is usually in the eye of the particular fan, but a great example was the 1984 Tigers. With their 35-5 start, they did something no other team did, and day in and day out, they found a way to win. Usually the magical season is capped off by a World Series win, which is why I wouldn’t put the 2001 Mariners in this category.

So far, the White Sox are having a magical season. Despite a rather mediocre offense, they’ve found a way to win game in and game out. This afternoon it was via the walk. The White Sox won 2-1, and they only managed two hits. Both runs were scored when Andy Sisco and Ambriox Burgos walked in back to back runs.

The White Sox now stand at 21-7. With them being fourteen games above .500, they’ll finish with 88 wins even if they play .500 ball the rest of the way. That puts them right in the middle of the division race and a playoff spot.

Freddy Garcia did the job last night. 6 1/3 innings and only two runs is a quality start, and it was enough to seal up the win.

Joe Crede continued to roll as he hit his third homer. Three different White Sox stole bases, and A.J. Pierzynski hit a big two run blast that would end up being the difference.

The Twins were edged by the Indians, so the cushion becomes a little larger. The White Sox now have a four game lead in the loss column.

This is old news but Brandon McCarthy, my second favorite player right now even though he’s not up in the big leagues, won his second game at AAA last week. So far he’s been prone to the long ball, but he struck out 11 batters in 6 2/3 innings. That brings his season total up to 40 strikeouts through 29 2/3.

The other White Sox minor league who’s been in the spotlight has been Gio Gonzalez, who’s playing for the Class A Kannapolis Intimidators. He has a very impressive 38/6 k/bb ratio in 22 innings.

The White Sox finish their series with the Royals in an afternoon game. Let’s hope they can pull off the sweep.

Another day, another come from behind one run win. Mark Buehrle was good but not great, but he was good enough to keep the White Sox in the game so they could pull it out. While a line of eight inning, eight hits, and no walks is very solid, the three homeruns almost cost them.

With the Royals up 4-2, Aaron Rowand hit a solo homer in the seventh to shave the lead to a single run. Then in the eighth, Carl Everett’s two run double put the White Sox in the lead for good.

Singo Takatsu slammed the door shut in the ninth as he struck out two of the three batters he faced.

With the Twins loss, the White Sox have extended their lead to 3 1/2 games. They’re twelve games over .500. They just need to keep on winning and bury the Twins. If they don’t, I have a feeling it will come back to haunt them.

After Friday’s game, I was getting worried. The Tigers took it to the White Sox and handed them their third straight loss. They were down Saturday before rallying in the seventh in a come from behind win. Had they lost that game, I probably would have titled this column “Back to Reality,” but for the time being, the White Sox are still riding high.

The White Sox took the rubber game today by hammering the Tigers, 8-0. Jon Garland improved to 5-0 by following up his four hitter earlier in the week with another four hitter. And it was nice to see the Sox scoring runs in bunches without hitting the ball out of the park.

With the win, the Sox improved to 18-7, and they now stand 2 1/2 games ahead of the Twins. They’re an impressive 15-4 in the division, and they have the hapless Royals on deck beginning Tuesday. Two of three will go a long way towards helping the Twins hold onto that lead.