Tagged: Sox

July 19th Postgame – Orioles blowout Sox

Well, there’s a reason why I need a day job, and there’s a reason no team has ever won a championship “on paper”. Today, all the cards were aligned for the Sox to complete the sweep…and the Orioles kicked their butt. Everyone stunk today. I wonder if the Sox had the same mindset I did and took the game too lightly…This season the team has given up too many games that they should have won. This is something the Sox can not afford to do, especially with their 2nd half schedule. The Sox have an extremely difficult schedule coming up, and have two very hard stretches which will tell the story of the season. Who knows, if the Sox blow it early in this tough stretch, they may turn into sellers, but as it stands now, the Sox will need to hang tough during these games if they seriously want another division title. I will be posting more on the schedule in the coming days. Right now, both the players and fans need to forget this one and enjoy the rest of their Sunday.

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July 19 Pregame – Sox Go For Sweep Against Orioles

The only change for today’s lineup is Ramon Castro playing for Pierzynski. Ever since Jose Contreras came back from the minor leagues, he has used Castro as his personal catcher and it has worked out great for him. It’s also a move that gives A.J. a chance to take a day off, even if he hates doing it. Contreras has been excellent since being sent down to the minors. His overall stats still don’t show it because of how terrible he was before the Sox sent him down (and according to the broadcasters, Jose ASKED to be sent down), but Jose is looking like the pitcher the Sox could depend on 3-4 years ago. A decent effort from Jose should give the Sox the sweep. The Sox offense faces Guthrie today, who already lost to the Sox this year. He does not have great stats, and the hot Sox offense shouldn’t have a problem with him.

July 18th Postgame – Sox squeak by Orioles

The Orioles’ rookie pitched himself a good game today, but one has to think that his psyche was rattled by the error in the 5th inning. Bergesen was cruising along until the error occurred. Sox hitters then followed with 6 straight hits (7 if you count the next half inning, since the 5th ended with a play at the plate). The 4 runs proved to be just enough. Bobby Jenks made things interesting, but saved the game. Mark Buehrle was his usual self, getting himself into a little trouble early, settling down, and then finding his rhythm to work to be both effective and efficient.

Today’s questionable Ozzie decision regards his use of the bullpen. Why in the world would you bring in Scott Linebrink to face Adam Jones after that matchup resulted in a home run last night? Even when you ignore the fact that Linebrink has been less than trustworthy during crucial moments, it’s a weird decision.
Other than Linebrink, there’s not much to complain about today. Good teams make the opposition pay for an error, and the Sox did that in this game. It may have not been pretty at times, but in the end, the team scored more runs than it gave up and Sox fans will take a win any way they can get it.

July 17 Pregame, Baseball’s Back! – Sox vs Orioles

Welcome back White Sox baseball. Tonight’s lineup, per Scott Reifert’s blog ( http://whitesoxpride.mlblogs.com/ ):

Podsednik – LF
Ramirez – SS
Dye – RF
Thome – DH
Konerko – 1B
Pierzynski – C
Getz – 2B
Beckham – 3B
Wise – CF
and Johnny Danks on the mound. No surprises in the lineup tonight. Anderson vs. lefties and Wise vs. righties seems to be a given until Quentin comes back (and it will be VERY interesting to see what the Sox do with these two when Carlos does come back).
Tonight the Sox get to face their biggest fear, a rookie they’ve never seen before. Jason Berken’s stats aren’t great this year, but he has had a good July, and even though he hasn’t gone deep into games, he has put a string of decent starts together. If the Sox are patient enough, they’ll be able to see that Baltimore bullpen, which is the most overused in the AL. 

July 12th postgame, White Sox get thumped, lose rubber game

Buehrle was the most disappointing aspect of today’s game. The offense did not look great early (making quick outs against a guy like Baker with a big deficit), but they did wake up later in the game. In the end, the deficit became too big and the Sox lose the series. At the start of this series I said that anyone in their lineup could beat the Sox, and sure enough, Carlos Gomez kills Sox pitching again, which is a shame since he’s gotten benched for his poor offense this season. 

Beckham had another miscue at 3rd today. I have to wonder if it’s time to end the experiment and move the kid to his natural position. Ramirez has not looked great at SS either, but he dazzled at 2B last year. The problem is that Getz would be the odd man out (who is having a great July and helps the Sox in the youth and speed department). The Sox really shot themselves in the foot by putting their money on Fields and having no else to go to at 3B. Unless Nix can play there, you might have to consider giving Fields another chance. He did look good very early in the season, with a good approach at the plate (and also providing youth and speed, similar to Getz), but that all disappeared fast. But let’s remember, he is a young player, and if he was given the job, he should have probably had more time to prove himself. 
Luckily, Beckham seems to be unfazed by the issues, coming up strong at the plate and on plays later in the game whenever he makes an error. However, it still makes me wonder if the Sox are mishandling another prospect. Beckham was a very good shortstop and has all the makings to be a star. The transition to the big leagues is very hard and we are making the kid learn a new position on top of that. Since expectations are so high for Beckham, I’d rather not mess with the kid at all.
We all know the Sox aren’t perfect in that regard. Examples:
– Bringing up prospects too early because of the 5th starter hole years ago. The likes of Munoz and co. were billed to be decent pitchers, but never recovered after being brought up to have big leaguers hammer their stuff (Fixing the 5th starter fiasco, by the way, is one of the big reasons I credit the Sox finally putting it all together in 2005. Even if you put an average pitcher in that spot, you still help the bullpen, don’t have an automatic loss, etc. I think Javier Vazquez would have been incredible in that role this year.)
– Never really giving Brian Anderson the reins to start in CF. Since Rowand left, Anderson has been forced to platoon with Rob Mackowiak, Darin Erstad, and now Dewayne Wise.
– And even more recently, how about Aaron Poreda? He is taken away from starting regularly in the minors, is used very sparingly, then is told he can’t start because he has to be stretched out. 
I have to wonder if Josh Fields will just be another name on the list…and I really hope the Sox don’t make similar mistakes with Beckham

July 12th Pregame, Sox in Minnesota

Quite simply, this is a game the Sox should win. Baker is a pitcher the Sox should light up, and Buehrle is an All-Star. 

Again, Ozzie puts Podsednik in center, which worries me since Buehrle loves to rely on his defense. I’m sure Ozzie is testing this alignment for when Quentin returns, but the Dome seems to be the worst place for a test run. Also, with Anderson’s great game yesterday, one would hope he’d earn another start and more playing time. Hopefully the offense scores enough to ease the Sox into victory. 
Lineups: