Since I last wrote, the White Sox have won three of four. They split their two game series with the Indians and swept their two game set against the Mariners. The White Sox continue to take care of business and this afternoon they won their 20th game. With a 20-8 record, they’re only one game off of the torrid pace they were winning games at last year.
On Monday, the White Sox jumped all over the Indians. They scored seven unanswered runs by the sixth inning, but the Indians finally woke up and scored one in the bottom of the sixth and four in the seventh. The Indians never pulled any closer in the 8-6 loss. Scott Podsednik went four for five with three runs and four stolen bases. Paul Konerko hit a three run homer in the top of the first to start things off for the Sox. Javier Vazquez was very good through six innings (one unearned runs and five hits with seven strikeouts), but the pen was hit hard. Brandon McCarthy gave up four runs and only got one batter out. Bobby Jenks pitched a shutout ninth though, and he picked up his eighth save of the season.
Tuesday was the loss, and man was it bad. C.C. Sabathia came off of the disabled list and shut the Sox down. Chicago did manage eleven hits, but they stranded fourteen base runners in the 7-1 loss. Joe Crede continued to hit the ball extremely well and he went three for five with the only RBI of the game for the Sox. Mark Buehrle was shelled to the tune of seven runs on thirteen hits. Boone Logan was very sharp in mopup work though. He threw 2 1/3 no hit innings and struck out five.
Yesterday was more Joe Crede. He hit a grand slam in the seventh to bust the game open. Unfortunately the Mariners answered with four in the eighth to take the lead back. Then Pablo Ozuna came through in a huge way. He hit a solo homerun with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to send the game into extra frames. He then doubled in the eleventh and scored the winning run on Juan Uribe’s single. Bobby Jenks picked up his first win of the season with 1 1/3 shutout innings.
This afternoon, Jose Contreras shut down the Mariners in a 4-1 White Sox win. He gave up one run on four hits and three walks with four strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings. Jenks finished things up in the ninth and earned his ninth save of the season. On the hitting side, Jim Thome did most of the damage in the first inning with a three run shot.
Kansas City is on tap this weekend so I expect more of the same for the Braves. The Tigers are still holding on to a game and a half deficit, and they finally lost after winning six straight. The Indians, on the other hand, have hit the skids are now just a game above .500. It’s still early though, so the Sox still need to keep on winning.
