June 16, 2011 · 12:52 am

A loss in Minnesota. Or: I probably could have written this post before the game even started.

So, anyone not new to my blog knows that I am a huge fan of Gavin Floyd (see: banner at the top of the page), almost in spite of myself. And, because of this, I am acutely aware of how incredibly frustrating he can be at times. Obviously, tonight was one of those times. When he’s having a rough day, it’s hard to watch, because he just doesn’t seem as mentally solid as a lot of other pitchers. You (or, okay, maybe just me) just want to grab him and shake him and tell him to breathe and relax and send him a sports psychologist.

(Incidently, this is probably why, of the current 5-slash-6 man rotation, he would probably have the hardest time coming out of the bullpen (ironically, he was the one of them who has actually been used in relief), in my very humble opinion.)

So, Gavin usually loses to Minnesota. So, it wasn’t terribly surprising that – even though the current Minnesota line-up was sort of haphazardly pieced together from the Minnesota farm system – the sight of the Twins’ uniforms still managed to unsettle him. A mentally-fragile player against a team that (despite all protests to the contrary) seems to psych him out a bit and I’m sure the extra 24 hours he had to think about it didn’t help. He eventually settled down, but by that point, the damage was done. The White Sox don’t beat Minnesota, Gavin doesn’t beat Minnesota, we still can’t stop a running game, and today wasn’t really anything we didn’t see coming.

I don’t like blogging about the White So when they lose, but I am particularly unhappy about doing so when Gavin loses, so that’s really all I have to say about that.

But, all of that being said, when Gavin is on, he’s incredible to watch, he can be dominating and he’s got an intangible presence about him, and I have no trouble remembering why I’m such a fan of him.

I just wish I didn’t need a Maalox every time he takes the mound.

On to tomorrow. Hopefully, we stop living in the past and get out of here with a little bit of momentum going forward. Go Sox!

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June 11, 2011 · 10:41 pm

The White Sox have good utility players, too. Or: Fine, Brent Lillibridge, I will write a post about you, too.

First things first. We won today. It was a messy, messy game with a billion White Sox stranded on base and weird strike-outs and questionable calls (for both teams, from pretty much everyone but the guy at third), but we somehow pulled it out.

Brett Ballantini sums it up way better than I can:

We *still* can’t buy John Danks any run support, but between his quality outing, Jesse Crain forcefully closing the door (he didn’t get to slam it tonight, the strike zone that was randomly re-drawn for every pitch gave him some trouble), Ramon Castro continuing to be one of the best back-up catchers anywhere in the game, and Brent Lillibridge being, well, Brent Lillibridge, we didn’t get sucked back into the losing vaccuum. He legitimately robbed a go-ahead 2-run homer from Coco Crisp in the 8th.

Clearly, after my earlier post about the Blue Jays “super utility man”, Brent wanted to make sure that he wasn’t lost in the shuffle.

Another one for the highlight reel. As usual, click on the photo to watch the video.

I don’t want to speak too soon, but if he keeps this up (along with his speed on base and if he can cut down on the strikeouts a little), he’s going to be one of those guys that earns regular playing time by his ability to prevent runs, rather than score them.

But, again, a messy win is still a win. And, since Cleveland lost, but Minnesota and Detroit won, I’ll take it.

0.500, here we come! (Eventually!)

Go Sox!

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June 11, 2011 · 6:34 pm

A Blue Jays interlude. Or: Some people really can (and will) do everything.

So, I have nothing to say about last night’s epic White Sox disappointment other than I am very glad that Detroit, Minnesota, and Cleveland all lost, too (only KC failed to lose, preventing the entire AL-Central from getting smoked yesterday).

And, in an effort to move on, I’m going to talk about something fun from the AL-East.

So, imagine that you are John Farrell – former pitching coach for the Boston Red Sox – and you are now the manager of the Blue Jays. And, it’s the top of the 9th and the Boston Red Sox are in Toronto and are leading your Jays 16 – 4 and they are beating the snot out of your pitchers: your starter only lasted 4 innings (giving up 9 runs), and you’ve breezed through pretty much the rest of your bullpen (giving up 7 more).

So, what do you do now? Obviously, you move your recently called up from triple-A utility infielder from second base to the mound.

(Clicking on the photo will take you to the clip @ MLB.com)

I have said it before and I will say it again. I love the utility players. I love watching someone busting their butt every time they get a chance to play, I love watching people show off what they can do when they’re put out in the action, I love watching people who are up for doing whatever they are asked to do, and, I have to admit, I also love when the entire game gets turned on its head like this – giving the devoted fans who stuck around to the bitter end, something to smile about today.

Way to go, Mike McCoy (who apparently only has to play 1B and catcher to hit every position on the field). Grabbing a double on a day where your team only managed 6 hits and you and your 60 mpH curveball & knuckleball threw the hot Red Sox lineup for a bit of a loop. 1.0 IP, 12 pitches with 9 for strikes, and a 0.0 ERA. You totally deserved that standing ovation.

This is one of the things I love about this game.

(Also: In other random highlights from today’s game:
My 2nd-fave Blue Jay (behind utilityman John MacDonald) Jose Molina showed off some awesome base-running as he slid into home with one of the smartest slides I’ve seen lately. You can tell that he’s always thinking like a catcher.

And, in other oddities from the game, if things weren’t going badly enough for the Jays, the home plate umpire started calling out people after 2 strikes. When things aren’t going your way, it’s hard to catch a break.)

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June 6, 2011 · 11:47 pm

Finally, a win for John Danks. Or: But, run support is still hard to come by.

A recap, in list form, and not really in any particular order.

1. John Danks finally collects a win. It was a pretty much a pitcher’s duel until the 8th inning (with the exception of a hanging slider in the 4th, which resulted in a Paul Konerko solo HR), so the run support was still hard to come by, but at least we weren’t outpaced by the Mariners.

2. In the 7th, Gordon Beckham nearly got his head taken off by a high-inside pitch (#6). He got his revenge by hammering a line drive up the middle on pitch #8, plating AJ Pierzynski (2-0, ChiSox).

3. And, there is something to be said for the contagious nature of good play (unfortunately for all parties involved, Adam Dunn still appears to be immune). Brent Lillibridge has lit a bit of a fire under the collective rear ends of the defense. Beckham and Morel have come alive, Quentin’s been busting his rear end and Juan Pierre’s been trucking along, flashing a bit of leather over in left.

4. Jesse Crain continues to come out and be ridiculously awesome and provide solid clutch disaster-relief pitching. If he continues to do what he does, even 8 or 9 times out of 10? He’s more than earning his paycheck. Also, I’m glad he’s on our team.

5. And, Sergio Santos. The man is an animal. Another solid 3-up, 3-down, 7-pitch save. Everything I said about Jesse Crain applies equally here. Except, I think the fact that he has only been a pitcher for about 5 minutes makes it even more unbelievable. I wonder if we are allowed to call him the closer, yet.

6. And, speaking of Brent Lillibridge. Firstly, aside from a (somewhat random) less-than-successful bunt attempt, he was walked 3 times. THREE. Either they are afraid to pitch him in the zone, or they are intentionally pitching around him to get to Adam Dunn. We are clearly in the twilight zone. And, secondly, we had another addition to “Brent Lillibridge continues to make a case for more playing time” files.

Clicking on the picture to the left will take you to a clip of – possibly – his most ridiculously awesome catch, definitely saving some runs. He may still think of himself as an infielder, but I don’t think anyone else is ever going to again.

It wasn’t perfect, and we definitely won this one on defense, but it was a good, fun game with lots more things for the list of things that don’t suck than things that do. I’ll take it.

And, we do it again tomorrow. I’m probably not going to be able to catch that one, and with King Felix on the hill for Seattle, my heart probably won’t be able to take it, if I do.

Lets build some momentum, here. Go Sox!

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June 5, 2011 · 6:23 pm

Well, that’s not good. Or: Possibly very, very bad.

Well, today ended with a loss. Which, is a bummer. AJ Pierzynski was O-fer, Lillibidge was O-fer, Alexei was 1-5 (with a single that he got by the skin of his teeth), Beckham, Dunn and Quentin were 1-fer and man this wasn’t fun.

And, it didn’t start out that way. Jake Peavy was perfect (really, really perfect – 4K and ~30 pitches) through 3 innings and things were rolling along swimmingly. Paul Konerko was back in the line-up and he was on fire from the get-go.

And then, in the 4th inning, Jake Peavy gave up a couple of singles, allowed a base runner to advance on a wild pitch, gave up a run on a sac fly and then (though he had only given up one walk through 21 innings pitched this season) walked three consecutive batters and gave up a first-pitch 2-out grand slam to Ryan Raburn and our 2-0 lead gets flipped on its head and it’s 2-6.

If that’s not enough of a kick in the teeth, Will Ohman comes out at the top of the 5th even though Peavy’s only thrown 75 pitches and all of a sudden I’m pretty sure everyone else was thinking what I was thinking. Which was something along the lines of, “Oh, crap.” Not sending out his starter at that point in the game – regardless of how bad that one inning was – normally isn’t Ozzie’s style.

That’s pretty much where the game went from being a run-of-the-mill loss to very, very bad.

And, sure enough, Peavy was out with a strained groin. Re-evaluation due tomorrow and a blow to the bullpen. And, not to mention, probably the last way *anyone* wants to see the end of the 6-man rotation. Maybe I’m being pessimistic, but I’m worried, and I bet I’m not alone. Man, I hope he’s okay. For his sake.

Well, in continuing the tradition of focusing on the “things that do not entirely suck”, I bring you the defensive brilliance of Gordon Beckham, who would like everyone to remember that people not named Brent and Paul play for the White Sox. He followed up his earlier solo-HR with an excellent layout catch – which I have linked here for your viewing pleasure.

Well, tomorrow Seattle is in town and we get to do it all over again.

Go Sox!

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June 4, 2011 · 11:05 pm

Today’s loss was sort-of inevitable, but not this way. Or: Too bad we can’t ask for a do-over.

Well, when the Tigers went up 2-0 instantly and Edwin Jackson needed 40-something pitches to get out of the first inning and the White Sox didn’t have a hit until (I think) the 4th inning, I didn’t have a great feeling about today. Which is why this loss seems somewhat inevitable. With the amount of baserunners that Detroit had today (they left 10 on base, courtesy of a total of 9 hits and the fact that the White Sox pitching staff walked a combined 7 of their guys today). It seemed like the game should have been 37-0 for them by the end of the 4th inning.

And, then, in the 5th, a 2-run HR by Beckham tied it up and we were back in it. There were ups and downs from there, but it never seemed like either side had a good hold on it from then. In the 7th and 8th, Chris Sale pitched a bit, followed by Jesse Crain in the 8th (and makes a fantastic double play) and then again in the 9th, still tied at 2. He gives up a lead-off triple and then manages to get the next two guys to pop-out and strike-out and avoid a sacrifice fly – because he is just that awesome.

And, then, with first and second empty, whoever was steering this ship today decided to pitch to the cleanup man (Miguel Cabrera). And, then, on the 1-2 pitch, BAM! A two-run homer to RF. I think maybe that decision wasn’t so hot in retrospect.

So, as was sort of expected from the 2nd inning, this one goes in the loss column. I just wish it wasn’t on a play everyone will be regretting in the morning. Jesse Crain is better than that loss, I think. Though, I’m not ruling out the possibility that I’m biased. I don’t think I’ve pulled out a sad Charlie Brown photo since I moved to wordpress, but today’s post needs a little help from the Peanuts.

However, in the “things that do not entirely suck” column: The Brent-Brent defensive duo was out in full force again today. Morel with another heads-up line-out at 3rd (among others) and Lillibridge falling (literally) into the lap of the people sitting in the first row along the right field foul line (among others). Morel keeps this up and someday that glove could be gold (BOLD PREDICTION TIME. Note – I did not say that he would keep it up, but I can hope!) and if that play of Lillibridge falling into the crowd doesn’t appear online, I am going to be disappointed. Because it’s been at least 3 days since he’s had a video added to my defense page. (And, not to mention, that all HRs look kind of the same, and yet we get a video of every one of those. I think this was just as worthy. <– PET PEEVE ALERT)

And, not that I think this will magically solve all of the White Sox’s issues, but I really hope Paul Konerko starts feeling better soon.

Tomorrow is a new day. Thank goodness. :)

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June 4, 2011 · 12:54 am

Thank heavens for the long ball. Or: Even a sort-of ugly win is still a win.

Ladies and gentlemen, this:

Is Brent Morel.

He plays third base for the Chicago White Sox and he would like to make sure that you are all aware that he is not just “the other Brent” on the South Side.

Seriously. Mark Buehrle pitched a solid game. Carlos Quentin hit a 3-run homer to (FINALLY!!!) get us out of an inning without leaving the bases full(AGAIN). Brent Lillibridge hits yet another home run (why is there never anyone on base when he does that?), Adam Dunn *finally* gets a hit against a left-handed pitcher (0-40 no more!), Juan Pierre makes an awesome running catch (to help Matt Thornton out of a jam. He was more happy about that in his post-game interview – he still remembers dropping those fly balls that cost Matt some save opportunities in April – than about his HR) and then follows it up with his first HR of the season (he looked like he couldn’t believe it, either!). And, a showy 4-out-save from El Matador (ie: Sergio Santos).

And, yet, it takes all of that combined to equal the awesomeness that was Brent Morel this evening. 3 separate web gems at 3B and also going 3-for-4?

There’s a new Brent in town, y’all.

This game was a bit messy: Team RISP: 2-for-12 and Team LOB: 10. Bases loaded, no-one out more than once and we couldn’t get anyone across the plate. 5 of our 6 runs came on home-runs (3-run, solo HR, solo HR), and the other came off a rookie error from the Detroit pitcher. It was a bit frustrating.

But, a win is a win. A win for us, a loss for the Tigers (snapping our losing-streak against them!), a loss for Cleveland and a loss for KC???! Everything went our way in the standings today, and I will most certainly take it.

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June 2, 2011 · 9:33 pm

Some amusement for me on a ChiSox off-day. Or: Things I would miss, if not for Twitter.

(Just when you thought an off-day was enough to keep me from posting….)

So, I follow @MLB on Twitter. And, it’s not unusual that the person/people responsible for posting content to that account make me crack up on a fairly regular basis.

And, today was no exception. I clicked on the following tweet, and I’m glad I did. I normally don’t have even the faintest clue what is going on in the NL (clicking the image will take you to the video), so I would have missed this completely.

This has got to be one of the stranger things to transpire in either league of MLB so far this season. And, just when you think it can’t get more strange, it totally does. Don’t worry, you don’t need any context. You’ll have just as much idea of what is going on as the people, you know, on the field.

And, another thing that adds to the wackyness? This whole thing was going down in the middle of NINE RUN COMEBACK (also worth checking out). Man, tickets were worth the price of admission today.

(And, because I have about 14 other things I should be doing, this is all the post you are going to get from me today. You’re spared my random thoughts on my special love of the utility bench-player until another day.)

Hope the Sox are enjoying their day off, but I’ll be excited to see them back in action tomorrow. Go Sox!

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June 1, 2011 · 5:17 pm

A comeback that ends with sweep. Or: Maybe I should speak too early more often.

Well, when all was said and done, that ended up being a heck of a fun ballgame.

I’m glad I spoke too soon about Gavin Floyd. Anyone who has stopped by here before knows that I’m rather partial to him, even with his very unpredictable Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde pitching personality that can make him frustrating to watch – painful, when he’s having a bad day, but a pleasure to watch on a good one.

After he finally fumbled his way out of the 3-run, 7-hit 2nd inning, he came back and (including the last out of the second) retired 8 straight in short order. He totally got himself back into the ballgame sitting on the bench in the top of the 3rd, only allowing two more hits (one of those being the usual solo-HR that he gives up with relative frequency). So, good on him and I’m glad to see him continue his success against the Red Sox – sure it wasn’t a 10-K highlight reel, but it definitely got the job done. I don’t know if he needed a pep talk, a slap upside the head, a cup of coffee or a hug, but whatever worked, I’ll take it. And, likely, so will he.

Other highlights:

  • It’s quite amusing to watch how every team trots out a completely random – and significantly older – line-up when they face Wakefield and his knuckleball. 65mph and it puts on quite a show. I don’t think Quentin really knew what he was looking at. :)
  • Omar Vizquel leading off second and dancing behind Wakefield like he was going to try to steal 3rd. Not only is the concept rather comical, it felt like we suddenly woke up in 1994.
  • Alexei Ramirez continues to be *on fire*. He (and Paul Konerko) are probably the two position players on the ChiSox that really deserve significant all-star consideration.
  • Chris Sale, coming out of the bullpen for another 1 1/3 inning of relief. He keeps this up, Matt Thornton’s going to get booted out of his set-up man job, too.
  • Santos, for the win. A mildly-dramatic fly-out to Lillibridge in RF (man, the two of them make quite a pair), a non-dramatic pop-up to Rios (hanging out in CF for a half-inning) and a strike ’em out swinging to end the game. A nice little 3 up, 3 down and a sweep of the Red Sox and the White Sox go home 5-5 for the road trip.
  • And, of course, what’s a game these days without something about Brent Lillibridge? Yesterday, he missed a HR over the monster by about 2 inches (and ended up with a single), and in the top of the 4th, the same thing, but at least he ended up with a double and an RBI for his troubles today, putting us on the board for the first time. However, the moment he (clearly) had been waiting for came at the top of the 6th when he SLAMMED one over the AAA sign and into the parking lot.

    It’s funny. For a back-up position-player, it really seemed like that HR was completely inevitable this series. He just had that air about him from the first time he stepped up to the plate at Fenway. And, it was a beauty.

I would like to draw your attention to the graphic at the top of this post (from the front page of chicagowhitesox.com). It made me grin when I saw it and it is definitely one thing that I’d like to file it under “awesome things you never could have predicted on opening day”.

Go (White) Sox!

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June 1, 2011 · 2:27 pm

Is it too early to see the writing on the wall? Or: 2 and a half innings of ouch.

Okay, so I know that we’re only in the mid-3rd, but man. This has already been painful.

I am going to preface what I am about to say with making it very clear that I really like Ramon Castro as a catcher. I think he can call a great game (see: Mark Buehrle’s perfect game) and he’s not bad with a bat and he’s been more than servicable this season in the back-up catcher role.

However, that being said, Gavin Floyd has a decent record this year. And, a great record in Boston over his career. However, his 1-5 daytime record says something that makes today not all that surprising. We’ve only seen two innings of work from Gavin and, by this point, I’ve seen him shake off at least a half-dozen signs. To say nothing of the 7 hits and 3 earned runs already piled up on the Boston scorebard. For reasons that are unclear to me, I just don’t know if Gavin can pitch to him.

Either that, or Gavin just *REALLY* isn’t a morning person.

SIGH. Oh well. Back to the game thinking positive thoughts and hoping that things go upward from here.

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