Black Sox Blog

On the verge of a bad late season collapse, the destiny of the Sox is still very much in their hands.  With a big win against the Cleveland Indians on Sunday by a score of 5-1, the Sox still trail the Twins by a half game.  Therefore, the Sox must makeup a game against the Detroit Tigers on Monday in which they must win to keep their season alive.  It is great for the game of baseball to have an entire season of 161 games, come down to this last game as to whether they have a chance to play in the playoffs.  If the Sox end up beating the Tigers, they will host the Twins for a single-game tie breaker on Tuesday with loser goes home on the line.  Gavin Floyd will take the mound in the game against Detroit going up against former White Sox pitcher Freddy Garcia.  Garcia helped pitch in the clinching game of the 2005 World Series against the Astros.  Despite the fact that Garcia and Ozzie Guillen are countrymen of Venezuela and good friends, don’t expect Garcia to be throwing meatballs across the plate for the Sox hitters to feast on.  The Tigers would love nothing more than to knock the Sox out of a chance at a playoff birth.  If the Sox do not leave it all out on the field, their doomed, but I expect them to play their hearts out and try to extend the season.

All the White Sox had to do was not get swept by the Twins in the series and they still would have held a one-half game lead over Minnesota.  Not a tough task right?  Wrong, once again the speed of the Twins out shined the Sox.  Down 6-1, the Twins made a huge comeback to beat the Sox 7-6 in the bottom of the tenth.  A six run fourth was all that the Sox had to fight off the Twins with.  With only seven hits in the game compared to fifteen of the Twins, Minnesota just kept plugging away and chipping at the lead until finally in the end they pulled out the walk off run as well as the series sweep and claimed the lead in the AL Central.  Tough to swallow, but the Sox players know they are still in it and just need to win games.  Chicago hosts the Cleveland Indians for a three game series, if they are tied up with Minnesota after the end of the season, the Sox will have to make up a game against the Detroit Tigers and if they win, then Minnesota will have to travel to the South Side to play in a one game playoff.  John Danks will take the mound in the first game against Cleveland, but looming in the final game of the series is Cleveland ace Cliff Lee with a stunning record of 22-3.  Hope for the best Sox fans, pray for your team tonight.

A two and one-half lead over the Minnesota is looking better and better as the season is coming to a close.  Despite a dormant offense, which seems to be the trend of late, the Sox managed to squeak out a win.  Scoring three runs on a meager six hits was just enough to beat the Kansas City Royals 3-0.  A 2-run home run by Paul Konerko, his 18th on the year, gave the Sox a lead that they never lost.  Once again the White Sox pitching kept them in the game by dominating the Kansas City players.  John Danks pitched for seven innings, giving up four hits and zero earned runs giving the Sox a stellar performance that they needed on a night when the Sox hitters seemed lackluster.  The bullpen also came in and pitched scoreless innings proving that great pitching can really win the game.  Having the day off on Monday, the Sox will rest up to play a HUGE series against the Minnesota Twins which could very easily change the momentum in the AL Central.  Javier Vazquez will go for his 13th and most important win thus far on Tuesday to start off the three game series.

This deep into the season and a top one of the toughest divisions in the league, one would think that the Sox offense would just be hitting it’s stride in anticipation for the post season.  However, once again in their loss to the Yankees, the Sox only managed to get six hits in the game and still struck out seven times.  Even if they do make it into the playoffs, offensive production like this will get result in a quick sweep and early exit.  The starting pitching is not the problem for the Sox at this point.  Clayton Richard had another solid outing lasting six and two-thirds innings and only giving up five hits, two earned runs, and five strikeouts.  As long as the Sox pitching continues to be stellar, they will have a chance to go deep, but the offense needs to figure out what is going to even have a chance.  Despite the 5-1 loss to the Yanks, the Sox still hold a two and one-half lead over the Twins in the AL Central.  Javier Vazquez takes on the Yankees in the final game of the series and the final game ever for the White Sox at Yankee stadium.

A weekend marked by delays, cancellations, and then two big wins against Detroit, the Sox could not keep the momentum going in the first game against the Yankees of a four game series.  In the series ever for the Sox at Yankee Stadium, their offensive woes continued as they only managed to get six hits along with six strike outs.  Dewayne Wise tried to give the Sox a jolt of life by hitting a two run home run in the fourth inning to tie the game, but the Yankees answered in the seventh inning to break the tie for good and allow Mariano Rivera to move into second on the all time saves list.  Mark Buehrle started the game for the Sox and lasted six innings, giving up six hits, two earned runs, and six strike outs.  A stellar performance was just not enough against a stacked Yankee line up that has under achieved all year.  With twelve games left, the Sox are situated a top the AL Central with a one and one-half game lead over the Minnesota Twins.  The Sox better get their offense and pitching back on track to put some space between themselves and the Twins as the head towards a huge three game series against Minnesota just before the season ends.

Closer and closer to the end of the season, the Sox seem to be taking a step backward as they battle with Minnesota for the top spot in the AL Central.  The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Sox once again 6-4 in a very uneventful game except for a big eighth inning for both teams.  After the Blue Jays scored six runs in the top of the eighth, the Sox tried to battle back and scored four runs in the bottom of the inning.  However, that was the game, the Sox couldn’t manage to muster up any more runs to get back into the game against the Blue Jays.  Gavin Floyd pitched a decent game, lasting seven and one-third innings and gave up seven hits and four earned runs.  Jim Thome hit his thirty-first home run of the season but it just wasn’t enough again.  Offensively offtrack lately, the Sox once again had more strikeouts, nine, than hits, seven.  No way can Chicago keep up this trend as they come up to the end.  Despite the loss, Chicago is still one game up in the AL Central as they head into a three game home series against Detroit in which John Danks takes the mound in the first game.

In game one of two on Tuesday night, the Sox were shut down by Blue Jays ace A.J. Burnett and lost the critical game 3-1.  Only managing two hits in the game compared with nine strikeouts, the Sox offense could not compete with the spectacular pitching of Burnett.  A good pitching performance by Javier Vazquez, six innings, five hits and two earned runs usually put the Sox in a great position to win, however the Vazquez was clearly outshined.  Trying to redeem themselves in game two, the Sox were beat down once again 8-2 by the Blue Jays.  Clayton Richard started the game and he and the rest of the Sox pitching staff gave up fourteen hits to the Blue Jays but only struck out three batters.  The Sox boosted their offense a little bit by getting nine hits as opposed to two in the first game, but did not get the timely hits to score the runs they desperately needed.  After losing the two games, the Sox are now only up one game in the AL Central over the Minnesota Twins.  The next two games are against the Blue Jays and the Sox desperately need to get back on track to build their lead as they head into the final stretch towards the playoffs.

As the season gets closer and closer to the end, the Sox caught a few breaks with Minnesota losing eight of their last eleven.  Luckily after dropping the first two games in the series against the Cleveland Indians, the Sox pulled out the last one by a score of 4-2 behind a home run from each Nick Swisher and Alexei Ramirez.  Despite only seven hits and eight strikeouts by the Sox offense, stellar pitching by Javier Vazquez kept the Sox in the game and the bullpen pulled through to help get the much needed win for the team from the South Side of Chicago.  Vazquez lasted for six innings, gave up five hits and two earned runs on the day.  With a one game lead in the AL Central and the Wildcard basically in the hands of the Boston Redsox, each game from here on out is one of the utmost importance for the Sox.  Powerhouse LA Angels come to Chicago this weekend for a three game series in which the Sox need to show they belong amongst the elite teams in the AL.