Black Sox Blog

Down 0-2 in a best of five series, the Sox are in a win-or-go home situation for the rest of this series.  Luckily for the Sox they won game 3, 5-3 over the Tampa Bay Rays.  Once again John Danks came through in the clutch for the South Side Sluggers.  Danks lasted six and two-thirds innings, giving up seven hits, three earned runs, and struck out seven from the high-powered Rays offense.  The bullpen came in and held the Rays scoreless which gave some confidence to the team for the rest of the series.  Dewayne Wise came up big for the Sox with a 2-run double that scored two and went on to score himself.  The Sox offense needs to get a jump start from somebody if they are going to have a chance in the rest of this series.  Only managing seven hits vs. five strikeouts usually will not get it done in the playoffs, but Danks carried the team on his back once again to keep their chances still alive.  The blackout at U.S. Cellular helped the Sox win the first game, but can they pull off another and keep this series going?  We’ll see on Monday in Game 4.  Go Sox!

The more experienced Sox knew they had a chance in the game, but Rays rookie Evan Longoria came up big and hit two home runs to power the Rays past the Sox for a 6-4 victory and a 1-0 lead in the series.  Dewayne Wise did his part in hitting a three run homer in the third inning.  Also, Paul Konerko tried to get a rally going in the top of the ninth with a solo shot, but the Sox just couldn’t get the key hits when they needed them to get back over the hump and steal the lead.  Javier Vazquez pitched a bad game only lasting four and one-third innings and giving up eight hits, six earned runs, along with six strike outs.  The pitching is the key for the Sox and without stellar performances, the Sox are doomed, especially against a young line up like Tampa Bay that will steal the momentum and just feed off of it.  Mark Buehrle takes the mound in game to as the Sox try to even up the series before they head back to Chicago.  Ozzie and the crew do not want to go back down 2-0, but a good game from both the pitching and offense is needed to beat the AL East winner, Tampa Bay.

With only one chance left to get into the post season, the Sox pulled off a great win against the Twins to be back in the running for a World Series since 2005, when they won the championship.  To have a chance to keep playing, John Danks needed to have a great game against a powerful Twin line up, and Danks delivered.  Pitching a stellar eight inning, Danks only gave up two hits and zero earned runs and dominated the game.  With the pitching and defense covered, all the Sox had to do was put some runs on the board.  Only managing five hits in the game, Jim Thome hit a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh to put U.S. Cellular field into a frenzy.  Bobby Jenks came into the game and finished off the Twins batters as well as their season with a flawless ninth inning.  For the final out of the game, Brian Anderson came flying in from center field and made a diving catch to seal the game.  Once the ball was caught, the beer and champagne started flowing and the celebrations began.  The Sox are matched up again the AL East winners Tampa Bay Rays in a series that is sure to be a thriller.  The series starts Thursday and look for Ozzie Guillen to pump his team up and have them ready to end the cinderella story of the Rays.