After a whole day of non-stop raining and thunderstorms, the White Sox game was somehow played. The conditions weren’t ideal, but the showers were all scattered, so the rain came and went. It also dropped from 70 degrees to 45 degrees in a matter of hours today. But baseball was still played.

After last night’s 14-0 loss, the White Sox really needed a win to boost morale, and just to get back into the swing of things. Tonight would be a good night to start it with Mark Buehrle facing Brian Burres on the mound.

After a short rain delay, they got the game started. The Blue Jays started the 2nd inning with a walk by Scott Rolen and back-to-back singles by Kevin Millar and Jose Bautista, which scored Rolen. A bunt by Raul Chavez moved Millar to third, which allowed him to score on a sacrifice fly by Marco Scutaro, as the Blue Jays went up 2-0.

However, the White Sox came back with a second inning of their own, starting with a Paul Konerko single. Corky Miller then hit a double that moved Konerko to third base, which opened the door for Brian Anderson to score Konerko on a single. With Miller at third now, Alexei Ramirez singled to score Miller and quick as a snap, the White Sox are back in the game, with a 2-2 tie.

The game stayed quiet until the fifth inning. Brent Lillbridge and Jerry Owens made great catches. They were so great that I must include Ken “Hawk” Harrelson’s commentary on Owen’s catch:

“That ball hit in the gap. Nobody’s going to catch tha…YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Even Hawk Harrelson didn’t think Owens would catch up to the ball.

Anyway, the fifth inning was the game-changer, and possibly season-changer for the White Sox. The Blue Jays allowed the dreaded leadoff walk to Josh Fields. After a Carlos Quentin groundout, Fields advanced to second. Jermaine Dye then walked, and Paul Konerko singled, scoring Fields and advancing JD to second. Corky Miller walks to load the bases and after a pitching change, Brian Anderson singles to score a run, making it a 4-2 ballgame. The bases are still loaded when FREEZE!

Alexei Ramirez. The Cuban Missile. In case you are unaware, Alexei hit four grand slams as a rookie last year. Four. That’s impressive.

And on a 3-2 pitch……you guessed it…….GRAND SLAM! That put the South Siders up 8-2! This really put Alexei out of a slump.

White Sox fans had to wait a whole inning before their next score. After an error on the throw by Scott Rolen (he bobbled the grounder beforehand), Jermaine Dye launched a homer that put the Sox up 10-2, as that stayed the final score. Here are the AL Central standings:

Chicago: 9-8
Detroit: 9-8
Kansas City: 9-8
Minnesota: 9-9
Cleveland: 6-12

This is going to be an interesting race this year. Any team can take it.

Thoughts on the Game
To me, this was a great effort by the White Sox. Everything was present…..pitching, defense, and offense. But after Alexei’s grand slam, I did some research. As you know, the batting average is merely how often you get hits expressed in a percentage. With the bases loaded, Alexei Ramirez is hitting an astounding .450 in his career (9-for-20).

Now I have just made up a new statistic…….home run percentage. This is the same thing as batting average, except with home runs. Alexei is hitting .250 (5-for-20) with the bases loaded fir home run percentage. That’s amazing!

And more than half of his hits are home runs with the bases loaded. Can you call this guy clutch??

3 Stars of the Game

1. Alexei Ramirez: 2-for-4 with a single and a grand slam…..5 RBI.

2. Paul Konerko: 3-for-4 with 1 RBI and 2 runs scored.

3. Mark Buehrle: 6.0 innings pitched, only 2 ER.

Brett Pill struggled going 0-for-4 in Connecticut’s win. Get ‘em back tomorrow Brett!

After a long road trip, the Sox finally came home to the South Side. I was sure that it would be low-scoring. Gavin Floyd was going to be on the mound, and the wind was unimaginable (yes, they are in the Windy City). It was blowing in from left field.

And boy was I wrong! The White Sox pitching was smashed. Hit after hit after hit for Toronto. I am not going to go into detail. But they got 21 hits, and won 14-0.

Gavin Floyd pitched 4.1 innings and surrendered 5 ER. Jack Egbert pitched 1.2 innings, and allowed 6 ER. And then Clayton Richard pitched 3.0 innings, and allowed 2 runs.

Need I explain more?

3 Stars of the Game

1. Blue Jays Pitching: Never allowed one run throughout the whole game.

2. Blue Jays Hitting: Everyone contributed here, can’t name one hitter better than all.

3. Blue Jays: They played well, end of story.

Brett Pill struggled tonight, going 0-for-3 in Connecticut’s loss. In his defense, Connecticut only managed 3 hits the whole game.

After last night’s 10-3 loss, at least things couldn’t be much worse for the Chicago White Sox. John Danks was on the mound for the White Sox, and Jeremy Guthrie earned the start for the O’s.

The White Sox started the game right off the bat (no pun intended). Chris Getz singled, and moved to second on a groundout by Josh Fields. Carlos Quentin stepped up, and singled, scoring Getz. And the route continued in the second, with Alexei Ramirez reaching base on a walk. Chris Getz singled, scoring Alexei, and moved into second on the throw. With a runner on second, Josh Fields cranked a ground-rule double to score Getz. In the 3rd inning, Jim Thome hit a home run, and BOOM! The White Sox are quickly up 4-0.

John Danks continued to pitch great, until he gave up a solo home run to Luke Scott. But that didn’t baffle him the rest of the game, as he went 7.0 innings, allowing only 4 hits and 0 walks!

Into the seventh inning, a Chris Getz single takes Guthrie out of the game. Dennis Sarfate comes to the mound, and to his first batter, gives up a 2-run shot by Josh Fields. The Sox then get two more runs home in the eighth inning, and the Orioles get one in the ninth, but it was not enough as Chicago came away with the victory.

Thoughts
You couldn’t have put it any better. John Danks was unstoppable. But what really impressed me today was the offense finally coming through with runners on base. This season, they have been stranding runners all the time, and to see the batters come through was a great feeling!

3 Stars of the Game

1. John Danks: His curveball had some great movement and he went 7.0 innings, allowing only 1 run and 4 hits.

2. Josh Fields: 3-for-5 with a single, double, and a home run. 3 RBI as well.

3. Chris Getz: 3-for-4 with 3 singles and 2 RBI.

In Connecticut’s double-header, Brett Pill went 1-for-3 with a single in his first game, and 0-for-4 in the second game. His average is .306, highest on the team.

Sorry for not getting to this last night. With the rain delay, the game started late and I had a practice ACT test today, so I wanted to get to bed earlier. But after testing with a blood sugar over 400, I am home and will be reviewing last night’s nightmare here.

Well, the title says it all. First, the game started with excitement: a 98-minute rain delay. So the game did not start until around 7:40. Nevertheless, I still tuned in. I was confident as the White Sox just won a 4-game series in Tampa, and the Orioles were slumping. And after meeting fellow White Sox fan, President Barack Obama, the White Sox were filled with motivation to win for the whole United States!

But with Jose Contreras on the mound, you never know what will happen, even when you are facing a pitcher who has never started a game at the Major League level in Brad Bergesen. Wait…….who is that???

The game was scoreless in the first two innings, until a single by Nick Markakis (does he always get hits?) and a home run by Aubrey Huff put the O’s up by 2. But the White Sox came right back in the top of the 4th, with a walk by Chris Getz. Then, Carlos Quentin grounds to third base, but an error allows CQ to get on safely, and great baserunning by Chris Getz advances him to third. With two outs, Jermaine Dye singled, scoring Getz, and moving CQ to second. Right after, Paul Konerko smacked a single, scoring Quentin, but Dye was thrown out at third. But the run counted!

The Sox actually took the lead 3-2 in the 5th, but then it fell apart for Contreras. In the 5th and 6th, 4 runs were surrendered to the O’s, by walks, hits, and every possible way. It was ugly. That’s all I can say. I wanted him gone after he gave up 2 runs in the 5th but he continued into the 6th.  And then in relief came Clayton Richard, who didn’t fare so much better, giving up two more runs. And then came Jack Egbert, just recalled from AAA after MacDougal was designated for assignment. Well, 2 more runs for the O’s.

And that’s all she wrote. 10-3. U-G-L-Y. Right now, I am concerned with Jose Contreras and the bullpen. Contreras hasn’t been able to locate his pitches in any start, and he is crucial to the success of the White Sox this year. Also, half of the bullpen, including Clayton Richard, is not performing well. I think Richard was rushed up through the system, and that can really damage a player’s career.

Anyway, caps off to Brad Bergeson, he pitched great.

3 Stars of the Game

1. Brad Bergeson: In his MLB debut, only allowed 1 ER in 5.2 innings pitched.

2. Aubrey Huff: 2 home runs with 4 RBI.

3. Nick Markakis: 4-for-4 with 3 runs scored and 2 RBI.

The game in Connecticut was postponed yesterday, so there is no Brett Pill update.

On White Sox off-days, I plan to write about White Sox history. Sure enough, I typed a huge blog about the Black Sox Scandal, my favorite event in all sports. And it was pretty long. And then an error occured, and I lost everything. I will do that on my next entry.

Anyway, Brett Pill got the only hit for Connecticut so far, but the game was suspended due to rain.

Also, the Chicago Bulls lost on a last second shot by Ray Allen of the Celtics.