It’s been the story this season. Their pitching is stellar, and they score just enough to walk away with a win. The scary thing is, we’ve outplayed our Pythagorean Win/Loss by six games. The Indians have underplayed their’s by two. Those eight games make up our current lead in the AL Central. While we’re not quite the hitless wonders of 1917, we’re definitely a touch below average.
What does it all mean? For this White Sox fan, not much. We’re in first place in the real standings, not some hypothetical one. We’re going to the postseason (I’m more confident then I was at this time last week) and we’re going to have a shot at winning our first World Series in almost 90 years.
Brian Anderson was the hero of Friday’s game. Since making his debut almost two weeks ago, he’s been given spot time by Ozzie Guillen. If I ran the Sox, the Carlos Lee deal doesn’t happen and Anderson is the starting centerfielder. Podsednik has done well, but I think his value to the team has been overstated. Had he played the entire year, some jokers would have probably talked him up as the MVP of the American League.
I’m sorry, I got on a tangent here, so I’m going to continue. This season has been an odd one for this White Sox fan. On the one hand, I don’t think Ozzie Guillen’s one run at a time style is a good one. On the other hand, the Sox have the best record in the American League, so it’s hard to argue the moves they’ve made. It’s a divergance of what you believe in and what you want to happen (see the team win).
Where were we. Ah yes, Brian Anderson. He hit his first two career homers on Friday and drove in three runs. Orlando Hernandez threw eight good innings, but he let the tying run score in the eighth. Fortunately, Tad Iguchi came through in the twelth inning with a two run shot to win it.
Yesterday’s game had some suspense. The White Sox jumped out to a four run lead, only to see it evaporate to a mere one run cushion. Damasco Marte got the job done in the ninth and he earned his fourth save of the season. Jermaine Dye was four for four with a homer, two runs and two RBIs. He also stole two bases.
Today, the time away from home must have caught up with them. After his one hit loss earlier in the week, Freddy Garcia was shelled this afternoon. Aaron Rowand had three hits and an RBI and Paul Konerko had two hits, a run and an RBI.
A four game trip to steamy Texas is on deck before we head home to face the Tigers. At this point, I’d take a split. The last series of an extended road swing is always a tough one and I’m sure the players are really not looking forward to Thursday’s afternoon game.
