It’s funny how your perspective changes. Heading into the series, I would have said it was imperative that the White Sox take three of four. When they then proceeded to drop the first two, I was then more then happy for a two-two split. Regardless, the White Sox are back to a 5 1/2 game deficit, right where they started the series, and they’ll be in first place for the Wild Card regardless of whether the Twins win or lose tonight.
Not that long ago, Jose Contreras had the best start of the season against the Tigers in Chicago. On Monday, he was knocked around pretty bad and Justin Verlander held the White Sox bats in check. Contreras gave up seven runs on eight hits in only five innings and the only run that the White Sox could get in the 7-1 loss was a solo homerun by Jermaine Dye.
Tuesday’s game wasn’t much better. Kenny Rogers and Fernando Rodney held the White Sox to five hits in a shutout. Mark Buehrle was pretty good but he took the loss. He gave up four runs on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Joe Crede was one of our sparks yesterday and he got the White Sox back on track. He homered in the second inning to break a 3-3 tie then he homered again in the seventh to give the White Sox an insurance run. He’s now up to 27 on the season and when he gets to 30, I’ll feel redeemed. The downside to this game was Jim Thome hurt his hamstring so we’ll see when he’ll be able to get back into the lineup. Freddy Garcia wasn’t exactly great, but he improved to 12-8 on the season.
Today’s game was actually kind of fun. Jon Garland pitched a six hit shutout to give the White Sox pen a rest and the bats put up 10 runs. Jermaine Dye went yard twice and he drove in three runs and Juan Uribe hit a three run homerun.
Things don’t get any less huge this weekend. The White Sox play three against the Twins so they can’t let up now. The wild card lead is at stake this weekend.
