Black Sox Blog

Everyone who is anyone is gearing up for the 2006 MLB season. My first step is going to be purchasing my Chicago White Sox Opening Day tickets. It is a tradition in my family for us all to take the day off of school or work to head down to the US Cellular Field for the White Sox Opening Day. Even when they were playing at Comiskey Park, we’d all hop in the car and get to the park early to celebrate the return of baseball.

This year’s White Sox schedule looks exciting with the White Sox meeting the Arizona Diamondbacks six times. The Chicago White Sox regular season home opener will be April 2, 2006 against the Cleveland Indians. After the Sox winning the World Series in 2005, fans are going to have some pretty high expectations for 2006. Some say White Sox tickets sales will be up for every game no matter who we are playing. Can you imagine a sold out Sox versus Colorado Rockies game?

April’s schedule begins with White Sox versus Atlanta Braves at Turner Field, three Royals games in Kansas City and I’ll be buying Tigers tickets in Detroit for the grand finale of our first regular season road trip. We have a three game road trip to battle the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field. Hopefully there will be some May flowers blooming when we host the Chicago Cubs and Oakland A’s. Come July, I will be wishing I had bought White Sox box seats as the weather heats up and we head out to the ballpark with our tickets to Baltimore Orioles versus Sox games from the 3rd to the 6th.

All things considered we have a pretty great schedule and with Joe Borchard, Tadahito Iguchi and Pablo Ozuna on the field we should be able to repeat our 2005 record. Mark Buehrle, Freddy Garcia and Javier Vazquez are our top pitchers and we are looking for them to be big producers at-bat as well. It is hard to imagine our pitching core needing improvement, but hard work is being done to try and repeat a winning season. I will probably attend more Chicago White Sox games this year than I have in many years.

In Illinois there are plenty of sports teams to keep a baseball fan busy in the off season. But, going to Chicago Bears home games or watching Chicago Bulls basketball and Blackhawks hockey games on TV, really never compares to watching my favorite baseball team try to make it to the World Series year after year. White Sox baseball games are a part of my history and of my future. I bought World Series tickets in 2005 and spent the next two days celebrating with friends in Detroit. The White Sox have the potential to dominate all of the more powerful teams, so you might find me joining the Sox on the road with New York Yankees tickets, Atlanta Braves baseball games and tickets to Houston Astros home games.

Not a big surprise last week, as Ozzie Guillen won Manager of the Year for leading the White Sox to the second best record in the major leagues. I still don’t agree with a lot of his philosophies, but he led the Sox to the their first World Series in a long, long time, so he’s going to get a free pass for quite some time.

This story talks about how the White Sox aren’t interested in Manny Ramirez. Kind of disappointing because Ramirez has been one of the best and most consistent hitters over the last ten years. I guess he doesn’t bunt enough.

Looking back, it seems so much easier then it should have been. The White Sox finished their sweep of the Houston Astros, and for the first time in 88 years, the city of Chicago, and more specifically, White Sox fans, have a World Series championship.

Freddy Garcia and the bullpen were awesome. Garcia went seven innings and gave up only four hits with seven strikeouts. The big guy, Bobby Jenks, got the save by pitching a one hit ninth, and the rest is history. Jermaine Dye had an RBI single in the eighth, and that was all the White Sox needed.

Dye was picked as the MVP. Anytime it’s a short series like this, it can be tough to narrow it down to one guy, but Dye had a hit in each of the four games, including three last night. He drove in three and scored three.

Celebrate everyone!! The drought is over.

The last time the White Sox won the World Series, World War I, while winding down, was still happenning. The Great Depressing was well over a decade away, and a man named Woodrow Wilson was the President.

The 88 year drought could end tonight.

Wow.

Let me say it again. Wow. Down 4-0, I had pretty much wrote this game off. Then the fifth came, and the White Sox could not be denied. Joe Crede led off the inning with a solo homerun to make it 4-1. I’m not sure if that was the inspiration that the White Sox needed, but the flood gates opened. Juan Uribe, Scott Podsednik, and Tad Iguchi all singled and it was 4-2. Another single by Jermaine Dye and it was 4-3. Paul Konerko flew out to make it two outs, and the A.J. Pierzynski came up huge with a two run double. Down by four entering the inning, the White Sox left the inning with a one run lead. Prior to that, Roy Oswalt had given up only two hits. In the fifth inning alone, he gave up six hits.

A Jason Lane RBI double in the eighth (he had also homered earlier in the game) tied things up and we went into extra frames. From innings 10 through 13, the two teams combined for only one hit. It wasn’t until the 14th that the White Sox finally broke the game open.

Jermaine Dye led off with a single, but that baserunner was immediately eliminated by a Paul Konerko double play. The inning seemed to be all but over, and then Geoff Blum went yard to give the White Sox a one run lead. Not satisfied with just one run, Aaron Rowand, Joe Crede and Juan Uribe all singled back to back, and then Chris Widger drew a walk to put another run on the board.

The Astros threatened in the 14th by getting two men on (a walk and an error), but Mark Buehrle came in to get the final out of the inning to secure the White Sox win. It can all be locked up tonight!!

Playing in the rain, the White Sox accomplished what they’ve done all season. It wasn’t pretty, but they did just enough to win. In the top of the fifth, Morgan Ensberg drove in two runs with a double and the Astros looked like they were going to cruise to a 4-2 lead.

Paul Konerko had something else to say about it though. In the bottom of the seventh, Paul Konerko hit a two out grand slam to give the White Sox a 6-4 lead. The rest of the game wasn’t without it’s drama though as the Astros tied the game in the ninth on a two run single by Jose Vizcaino.

Then with one out in the bottom of the ninth, Scott Podsednik, who didn’t hit a single homerun during the regular season (and now has two in the post season), hit a walk off solo shot to end the game.

What a game. The White Sox head to Houston with a 2-0 lead. While the Red Sox last year taught us that no lead is sacred, I’m definitely feeling good about the series. Jon Garland throws against Roy Oswalt tomorrow.

My favorite White Sox is Joe Crede. Seeing him play the way he did yesterday was simply awesome. I’ve been hoping he’d turn into the 30 homer, gold glove third basemen that some thought he might, however, if he can nab a World Series MVP instead, it would be even sweeter.

Three huge defensive plays at third and a solo homerun were his contributions. Jose Contreras pitched well, as did Cotts and Jenks out of the pen. And Jermaine Dye gets an honorable mention for putting the Sox on the board in the first inning.

And while you hate to bad things happen to an icon like Roger Clemens, it’s also a good thing we won’t have to face him the rest of the series (speculation).

2-2 in the fifth. Go Sox.

Game one of the World Series was always for Saturday, but as of last night, the White Sox have an opponent. The Houston Astros topped the St. Louis Cardinals in five games, so the Astros travel to Chicago for game one.

Jose Contreras will square off against one of the greatest pitchers ever, Roger Clemens. Clemens had some leg problems (I want to say it’s his hamstring) so hopefully Konerko and company will be able to take care of business.

For another week, this White Sox fan will get some excitement. It’s hard to believe that when I started blogging in February that I’d be covering THE year for the White Sox.

The Cardlinals avoided elimination last night with some two out heroics in the ninth inning. In the meantime, I recommend you check out this White Sox column by Broken Cowboy.

For the fourth straight game, and the fourth straight win, a White Sox starter has gone the distance. It’s been almost a week since the Sox used a reliever.

Jose Contreras gave up three runs on only five hits. The White Sox got on the board first with a sac. fly by Joe Crede in the second inning but the Angels matched that with a run in the third. The Sox then took the lead back on a Jermaine Dye double in the fifth, only to yield the lead to the Angels in the bottom half of the inning.
Joe Crede was the man. He hit a solo shot in the seventh to tie the game up, then he drove in a run in the eighth to give the Sox the lead for good. The White Sox got two insurance runs in the ninth that eventually weren’t needed.

The Astros are up 3-1, so they’re our likely opponent. If that’s the case, we should see some great pitching.

The White Sox are four wins away from winning their first World Series since 1917. Go Sox!!

The White Sox are up 3-1 and they have a chance to win the series without even having to come home to play in Chicago. Freddy Garcia was the third straight starter to shut down the Indians as he went the distance. He gave up only two runs on six hits with one walks.

Once again, the White Sox got all they needed in the first inning. A repeat of yesterday, Paul Konerko hit a three run homerun to give the White Sox a nice cushion before the Angels even picked up a bat. Joe Crede and Carl Everett both had two hits and two RBIs.

Tomorrow it’s a repeat of game one. Jose Contreras takes the mound against Paul Byrd. Hopefully the end result will be different and the White Sox can lock up a chance to play in their first World Series since 1959.

Who needs a bullpen. Jon Garland, like Mark Buehrle in game two, went the distance. 83 of his 118 pitches were for strikes as he gave up only four hits and one walk while striking out seven.

Paul Konerko came up huge as well. Three for four with a homerun, and three of the White Sox five runs were driven in by him. Tad Iguchi made the most of his two times on base and scored both times. They didn’t even try to steal a base, but it might have been because they jumped out to an early lead.

The White Sox have a chance to leave Anaheim with a 3-1 lead. Freddy Garcia throws against the rookie Ervin Santana. And if Garcia falters, we have a nice rested bullpen.

This is how they White Sox have won all season. Ride your starting pitcher, then pick up some runs here and there. They led the league with 35 one run wins this season, and it’s nice to see their continuing to pull these games out.

Mark Buehrle was spectacular. Nine innings, five hits, now walks and four strikeouts. The game finished in a typical fashion for one his starts. Two hours and 34 minutes for a playoff game is unheard of these days. His sole blemish was a fifth inning, game tying, solo homerun by Rob Quinlan.

Things got interesting in the bottom of the ninth. A.J. Pierzynski, one of my goats in game one, struck out but on a weird play, catcher Josh Paul sort of fumbled the low pitch. The Angels ran off the field, Pierzynski ran to first base, and the umpire called him safe. Pablo Ozuna pinch ran, stole second, and a guy who’s angling himself for the MVP of the series, Joe Crede, drove him home with a walk off double. Crede is hitting .375 in the two games and has two RBIs.

I touched on this yesterday, but the use of K-Rod on Tuesday (he also pitched on Monday) meant we were facing Kelvim Escobar in the ninth and not K-Rod. Things might have been very different had we not forced him to pitch Tuesday night. Now we get a day off and play tomorrow in Anaheim. Jon Garland throws against John Lackey.

Ozzie Guillen did everything he needed to do to sweep the Red Sox. Whether it was right or not, it worked. Yesterday’s game was disappointing for the reason that we ran ourselves out of some potential rallies. The Angels got to Contreras early and that’s where the mistakes began.

Mistake number one came in the fifth inning. Scott Podsednik drew a one out walk and he got gunned down by Molina. Benji Molina is a gold glove catcher, and Podsednik had a horrible second half stealing bases. Yes, we were down by a run, but the Sox not only took a guy off the bases, they created an out they couldn’t afford. It’s the third time Podsednik has been caught stealing in the post season.

Not learning from that mistake, it happened again in the seventh. I had the game on and was only listening so I didn’t see it, but I have no idea why A.J. Pierzynski was running. Joe Crede had hit a homerun earlier in the game. It’s just frustrating when they give up not only baserunners, but outs. Sigh.

The good news is, we go to their pen. Scott Shields three two innings and K-Rod threw one. Hopefully that comes into play tonight. I hate to say it’s a must win game, but this is big. We can’t go down 2-0 and expect to be able to storm back when we don’t have the bats.

The LA Angels of Anaheim took care of the Yankees. Now they have to swing back to the midwest where they’ll face a rested and ready Chicago White Sox. Jose Contreras takes the mound against Paul Byrd, and we could play three games before the Angels can even bring in their ace, Bartolo Colon. And that’s only if he’s ready to play, because he left in the first inning last night.

In short, things have really stacked up well for the White Sox. Colon is out, and we have a team that just made a plane ride to CA, and now they have to turn around, hop on another plane and come to Chicago. Home field advantage could end up really helping us out.

What a game. Paul Konerko hit a two run homer in the sixth inning to break a 2-2 tie. In the Red Sox half of the sixth, Manny Ramirez hit a solo homer, and Damasco Marte proceeded to load up the bases. Orlando Hernandez came in and got two pop ups and then got Johnny Damon to strikeout to end the inning. Damon bailed us out because the pitch was in the dirt. He tried to check up, but just couldn’t quite hold back.

The White Sox added a run in the ninth when A.J. Pierzynski scored on a suicide squeeze. Bobby Jenks pitched a perfect ninth to finish the sweep.

I’ve been pretty critical of Ozzie Guillen all season, but he did a number of things right in this series. He kept Buehrle in longer then most managers would have in game 2 and Mark calmed down and gave the Sox seven good innings. Heck, even the squeeze play today was a nice call.

The Yankees and Angels are tied in their game three 6-6 with the series tied up 1-1. Hopefully we’ll take advantage of the nice break and we’ll be ready when things start back up on Tuesday.

What a game. The Red Sox jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead and things looked to be done. The White Sox put two runs on the board in fifth and had Joe Crede on first with one out. Juan Uribe hit into what should have been an inning ending double was misplayed by Tony Graffanino. Two things about David Wells are, he’s a very good pitcher and he’s a pitcher who’s very good about getting rattled. He seemed to calm down and got Scott Podsednik to foul out, but then Tad Iguchi hit a HUGE three run homerun to the give the White Sox the lead.

Mark Buehrle got through seven innings before giving the ball to Bobby Jenks. Nothing like throwing the kid into the fire as the first batter he faced was Manny Ramirez. He got him to fly out and the only flaw in two innings of work was a double by Tony Graffanino in the ninth with one out. He got Johny Damon to foul out and then Edgar Rentaria to foul out.

The White Sox are now one win away from going to the ALCS, but we’re going to Fenway. It’d be nice if we could wrap this up tomorrow.

What a game. The White Sox put five runs on the board in the first inning and they never looked back. It was 6-0 before the Red Sox finally got on the board with two runs in the fourth. The White Sox answered immediately with two in the bottom half of the inning, and eventually put 14 runs up.

In all, the White Sox hit five homers. A.J. Pierzynski blasted two homers and went three for three. Scott Podsednik, who didn’t hit a single homerun in the regular season, went yard in the sixth inning.

Jose Contreras was very solid. He went 7 2/3 and gave up only two runs on eight hits while striking out six. Game two tomorrow features David Wells against Mark Buehrle, and it’s on during prime time, which is nice. No need to kill the mouse button by hitting refresh while on the Yahoo box score at work.

In a way, we brought this upon ourselves. The White Sox square off against the Red Sox in Chicago on Tuesday at 4 pm. We went 1-2 at Fenway this year, but it’s not a fun place to play, so in my mind, keeping home field advantage in our lap is a neccesity.

I didn’t expect us to sweep the Indians with nothing to play for, but I guess it goes to show you how well you can do if you’re loose and the other team is tight. In the process, we knocked the Tribe out of the playoffs. Had the Indians won the wildcard, we would have faced the Yankees, and I honestly don’t know which would be worse.

Curt Schilling pitched today, so he probably won’t be ready to go until at least Friday. By then, I’m hoping we’ll be up 2-0.

I don’t completely understand it, but despite the fact that the Indians could tie us if we get swept this weekend, the newswires are saying we get in as the division champion. It’s our first playoff appearance since 2000, but the kicker is, we haven’t won a playoff series since the last time we won the World Series. For you history buffs out, that was 88 years ago. It’ll be interesting to see if this year’s version of the White Sox can end decades of failure.

Not that the Tigers didn’t give us a little bit of trouble. We lost Monday’s game on a walk off homer, and that was after giving up a 3-0 lead. Tuesday we were equally pathetic at the plate and got edged once again.

Things turned around for us yesterday. Jose Contreras was solid, going eight innings and striking out nine. The White Sox offense picked at the Tigers, scoring runs in five different innings. Aaron Rowand opened up the game with a three run shot in the top of the ninth.

This afternoon was a little tighter, but the White Sox got to Jason Grilli early. Paul Konerko homered for the 40th time and Carl Everett was three for four with two RBIs. Freddy Garcia won his 14th game by going seven innings. He gave up only two runs on eight hits.

The weekend series means nothing, which is fine with me. Both the Yankees/Red Sox and Indians/White Sox games are listed as Fox games, so hopefully the Sox will be on out here. Although the playoffs will be starting soon, so I’ll be able to get to see all the White Sox I want.

The White Sox magic number is now two, and a win this afternoon against the Tigers means we’re guaranteed a tie for both the AL Central and the Wild Card. It’d be nice if the White Sox took care of business and either the Indians or Red Sox lost tonight. Thankfully it looks like the Indians finally ran out of gas.

This would qualify as a good weekend. Three straight wins and all with the pitching staff giving up a single run. This is what got us off to the great start that we’ve been riding the last couple of months, so I’m all for going back to it.

The Indians, on the other hand, finally lost a game as the Royals came back to beat them this afternoon. Our magic number is now five. If things work out right, we sweep the Tigers, the Indians drop one game in their series against the Devil Rays, and there’s no drama this weekend when the Sox square off against the Tribe. We’ve owned Detroit this season, so hopefully that dominance will continue.

Jose Contrares really came through with a nice performance on Friday. It was his first career (at least MLB) complete game and he struck out nine while earning his 14th win. Yesterday, Freddy Garcia was equally effective, and this afternoon, it was Mark Buehrle winning his 16th game of the season in the final regular season game at U.S. Cellular Field.

I’m feeling pretty good. Like the playoffs are a foregone conclusion, not just a possibility. Time to take down those Tigers.

The White Sox couldn’t build on their big win Tuesday and our offense showed our true colors. Four hits and no runs. And what was once a 15 game lead is now 2 1/2 games.

On deck is a four game series with the Twins. The Indians, on the other hand, get the streaking Kansas City Royals. The way the Twins and the Tigers have been playing, the AL Central has to be back to being the worst in the league, despiting having two teams set to get into the playoffs.

Time to win guys. The Indians have the Devil Rays after the Royals, while we have the Tigers. Then we square off in the final weekend of the season. Hopefully things are locked up by the time we go head to head.

What a game. With me working out of town, I didn’t get to watch it, but I wore out my refresh button as I kept going back to the box score on Yahoo. After Monday’s loss, this game was nothing short of huge.

The Indians jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second, but the White Sox answered with two in the third on a Joe Crede two run homer. Travis Hafner gave the Indians the lead again in the fourth, but the White Sox answered and tied it up with a Juan Uribe RBI single in the bottom half of the inning.

Then things got really interesting. The Indians scored two in the seventh to make it 5-3 and things were looking grim. The White Sox answered in the bottom half of the inning as they rattled off three runs. A.J. Pierzynski drove in a run with a double. Aaron Rowand hit an innocent enough sacrafice fly to follow that to tie the game, but Jose Hernendez cut off the throw to the plate and threw the ball away trying to get the runner at third. Another run scored, and the White Sox had a one run lead.

Then in the top of the ninth, things looked grim again. Dustin Hermanson gave up a walk and double before Ron Belliard drove in the tying run on a ground out. With two outs and a runner at third, Hermanson struck out Ben Broussard to end the threat, and the game went into extra innings.

Joe Crede might have had another disappointing season for the Sox (he’s my favorite player), but what a huge game. In the bottom of the tenth, Crede homered for the second time and the White Sox walked away with the win. Our magic number is now nine and a win today would go a long way towards locking up the division.

Not a bad weekend. We took two of three against a still solid Twins team. Unfortunately, the Indians continue to tear things up. This week will be round one as the Tribe comes to Chicago for a three game series. It’s sad at this point, but I’d even take a series loss as long as it’s not a sweep. That would leave us with a 2 1/2 game lead (three in the loss column) with a week and a half to go. A sweep would be catastrophe if we’re on the receiving end, while a sweep for the good guys would pretty much seal up the division.

Friday was more of the same. No offense (six hits in 10 innings and only two runs), but fortunately it was enough because the Twins might just have worse hitting then we do. Jon Garland was very sharp (eight innings, six hits, one run), but it was a Joe Crede single in the top of the tenth that put the game away. Crede has been on a tear since coming off of the DL and homered earlier in the game. In eight games, he had two hits in five of them and his average has improved from .232 to .247.

Yesterday was the loss, and again, more of the same. Johan Santana tore through us and held the Sox to four hits. Orlando Hernandez was keeping pace with him but fell apart in the fourth and gave up four runs. The White Sox struck out 16 times, which has to be a season high (I’m too lazy to look it up).

Today, we actually got eight hits, and once again, it was enough. Aaron Rowand had an RBI single and Jermaine Dye got a run across when Nick Punto misplayed his ground ball. Jose Contreras was awesome, going eight innings and holding the Twins to five hits.

It’s do or die time, but this makes for some nice drama. It doesn’t look like any of the games are on TV, but it’d be nice if ESPN picked up the Wed. game. Go Sox.

If your a glass half full kind of person, the White Sox at least made a moderate move in the right direction this week. With one loss by Cleveland and one win for the Sox this week, the White Sox magic number is now 13. If you’re a half glass empty kind of person, then you look at the fact that we lost two out of three to the worst team in baseball.

Things started out well enough on Monday. Jose Contreras was good enough, and the pen also did their job. Aaron Rowand had three doubles and he went four for four. All six runs were scored by different people, as were all five RBIs driven in by five different Sox. Chicago even held off a late inning run by Kansas City to pick up the win.

Yesterday, things went a little differently. The White Sox had 9-4 lead before Freddy Garcia fell apart. While he didn’t take the loss, he was the biggest contributor as he gave up seven runs through 5 1/3 innings of work. The Sox took a two run lead into the ninth when Dustin Hermanson blew the game and the Royals scored three to win it. It was the first time in 105 games that the Kansas Royals entered the ninth inning down and came back to win the game. A few Sox hit homers, but that’s not even worth mentioning.

This afternoon, Mark Buehrle was cruising and the game was tied 2-2 through six when the Royals struck again. A four run seventh put the Royals up by a comfortable margin, and while the Sox answered with three in the top of the eighth, the comeback fell short. The Royals had eight doubles and Taz Iguchi had a three run double.

The Indians are off today and our lead stands at 4 1/2 games. It’s been months since things have been this close. Next we travel to Minnesota, and I bet they’d love nothing better then to put the screws to us. It’s time to win guys.

I really hate when this happens. The White Sox had a nice, comfortable, double digit lead over the Indians. Then the Angels rolled into town and swept us. If the Indians win tonight, they’ll be only five and a half games back of us (five in the loss column) with plenty of time to play. When I wrote last, the White Sox’ magic number was fifteen. Guess what, it’s still at fifteen.

Friday was the only close game, and it was a lapse in our concentration that cost us the game. In the twelth inning, Benjie Molina laid down a bunt to move Vladimir Guerrero to third base. Geoff Blum made the play, barely, but Vlad didn’t stop running and he made a very awkward flop to avoid the tag and score the go ahead run.

Paul Konerko homered for the 37th time this season and he and Juan Uribe accounted for six of the White Sox eight hits. Aaron Rowand drew three walks.

The other two games were blowouts. Saturday we lost 10-5 and Jon Garland was lit up. This afternoon, John Lackey shut us down and Orlando Hernandez gave up three first inning solo homers.

This week we travel to Kansas City. Two of three is paramount (I hate having to say that). The Twins could help us out a ton tonight by taking care of the Indians on ESPN’s game of the week.

I was pleased when I went to the standings and found a nice little number next to the White Sox name. That number is 15, and it’s our magic number. We took two of three against the Kansas City and things are looking up.

The question now is, who will we play in the first round. It looked like it might be the Yankees, but now they’re behind Cleveland, which means if the playoffs started today we’d be playing the Angels.

I’d really like to see the Sox get homefield advantage and the number one seed. We have a nice five game lead over the Red Sox.

This weekend we square off against the Angels. Possible preview of the ALDS?? Only time will tell.

The Tigers rolled into town this holiday weekend. I’ve been a little worried the last couple of weeks as the Indians slowly inched their way up the standings. But a nice four game sweep against Detroit did the trick, and now it’s just a matter of time before the White Sox clinch the division.

In the four games, the White Sox gave up only six runs. We even topped the Red Sox at Fenway today to extend our winning streak to five games. Now if the Tigers could just win a couple against the Indians, it would make my life that much easier.

The Indians are in the hunt for that wild card spot, but I think the Yankees are going to pull it out. Now, Ozzie Guillen just has to rest his guys and make sure nobody gets hurt. Scott Podsednik is back, so we have what should be our playoff lineup in there.

Brandon McCarthy had another very nice outing today. Seven shutout innings, but this time he struck out seven. And this is against one of the best hitting teams in the majors. Nice job, Brandon.

This White Sox fan is glad that August is over and done with. Let’s put it in the books, close the book and then forget about it. The White Sox were 12-16 in the month, by far their worst this year. What’s odd is, their numbers before and after the All Star Break aren’t all that different. On the hitting side, they were .262/.324/.420 in the first half and so far this year, they’re .259/.313/.425 in the second half. On the pitching side, they had a 3.62 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP in the first half and a nearly identical 3.61 ERA and 1.27 WHIP in the second half.

Most of the reason is, they’re no longer getting into as many one and two run games, and when they are, this time they’re on the wrong side. I was hoping they would have made some kind of move prior to this last trading deadline, but it looks like we’re going into the playoffs with what we have right now.

On Monday, Mark Buehrle had a mediocre outing and the White Sox made four (yes, four) errors in the game. The new result of that was three unearned runs. Juan Uribe broke out of his season long slump and went three for four and Geoff Blum (more on him later) drove in two runs.

Yesterday was the doubleheader, which was a split. I don’t feel like talking about the loss, so let’s talk about the one shining moment in this series. Brandon McCarthy got his first major league start in almost two months and he looked like he did when he made his debut. He only struck out two batters, but he went 7 2/3 innings (117 pitches) and gave up only two hits and one walk. That one outing got his ERA down nearly two points.

This afternoon, the White Sox got shelled. They actually had a 2-1 lead through the top half of the sixth when Texas exploded for five runs. The Rangers added three more in the eighth just to run up the score. Orlando Hernandez gave up three homeruns in five innings of work as he took the loss.

The Indians are tied 2-2 with the Tigers. If the Tribe wins the game, we’ll only have a six game lead. We still have six games with Cleveland, so this is going to be a bit scary. While I’m all for a good playoff race, I really hope that final weekend series of the season means nothing.

The Tigers are on deck. We’ve owned them so far this year, so hopefully that continues. We need wins.