79
The White Sox must think it's still the Fourth of July. They set off the fireworks at the Cell four times to celebrate home runs -- two by Jim Thome, giving him 29, which is good for a share of the major league lead; one by Jermaine Dye, who with 22 homers is representing the A.L. in the Home Run Derby; and one by A.J. Pierzynski, whom the fans voted onto the All-Star team, giving the Sox seven players on the squad. The four dingers padded the Sox league-leading total (they also lead in runs and RBI) and turned out to be a necessity rather than a luxury as the Sox barely hung on to win, 11-8. Javier Vazquez improved to 9-4, but wasn't sharp, giving up five runs, three of them earned. Neither was Cliff Politte, who permitted three earned runs in 1.2 innings, boosting his league-high ERA to 8.54. Fortunately, Matt Thornton put out the fire that Politte started to earn his first save. Apparently, pitching in both the eighth and ninth innings, on top of his other recent relief stints, must have left Bobby Jenks too tired to pitch last night.
The win allowed the Sox to gain a half game on the idle Tigers, leaving the Good Guys one back of Detroit, who needed the rest after a tough series with Oakland. (Speaking of the A's, Update favorite, Frank Thomas did it again last night, hitting a walkoff homer against the Angels. It was the Big Hurt's 19th. He's hitting one every 11 at bats, which ain't too shabby.) The Sox win also cut their Magic Number to 79 and gave the team some nice momentum heading into the series with Boston. Given the overlap in names, I'm going to have to sign off a little differently the next few days, lest the baseball gods misunderstand what I mean: Go White Sox!
The White Sox must think it's still the Fourth of July. They set off the fireworks at the Cell four times to celebrate home runs -- two by Jim Thome, giving him 29, which is good for a share of the major league lead; one by Jermaine Dye, who with 22 homers is representing the A.L. in the Home Run Derby; and one by A.J. Pierzynski, whom the fans voted onto the All-Star team, giving the Sox seven players on the squad. The four dingers padded the Sox league-leading total (they also lead in runs and RBI) and turned out to be a necessity rather than a luxury as the Sox barely hung on to win, 11-8. Javier Vazquez improved to 9-4, but wasn't sharp, giving up five runs, three of them earned. Neither was Cliff Politte, who permitted three earned runs in 1.2 innings, boosting his league-high ERA to 8.54. Fortunately, Matt Thornton put out the fire that Politte started to earn his first save. Apparently, pitching in both the eighth and ninth innings, on top of his other recent relief stints, must have left Bobby Jenks too tired to pitch last night.
The win allowed the Sox to gain a half game on the idle Tigers, leaving the Good Guys one back of Detroit, who needed the rest after a tough series with Oakland. (Speaking of the A's, Update favorite, Frank Thomas did it again last night, hitting a walkoff homer against the Angels. It was the Big Hurt's 19th. He's hitting one every 11 at bats, which ain't too shabby.) The Sox win also cut their Magic Number to 79 and gave the team some nice momentum heading into the series with Boston. Given the overlap in names, I'm going to have to sign off a little differently the next few days, lest the baseball gods misunderstand what I mean: Go White Sox!
posted by Sherm Lollar at 7:24 AM
5 Comments:
I thought last night's score was 11 - 8. I agree with sherm's son, nice looking page but need some pin stripes.
Question, are Pollite's days numbered?
Thanks for catching the mistake. 13-11 was the number of hits, not runs.
Something to ponder. Should the All-Star game's outcome decide home field advantage for the World Series or should the advantage go to the league with the better record in overall interleague games?
The reason Selig made the Series depend on the result of the All-Star game was because otherwise the game didn't really matter. Interleague games matter already, since they count in the regular season record. Baseball won't buy your suggestion Looie and sorry to say, my friend, I don't either. Sure it would benefit the Sox, but if I were Commish, I'd give the team with the better record during the regular season home field advantage during the Series. If they were tied, I'd use the two teams' records during interleague play to break it. If they were still tied, I'd go your route, advantage league with the better interleague record. After that, flip a coin. But I'm just a lowly blogger, not the Commish, so All-Star game it'll have to be. I just hope this whole discussion actually matters to the Sox -- that is, they make it to the Series.
Well Sherm I can see your point but at least we seem to agree on one thing...let's not make the whole World Series depend upon one game. One play or one blown call could factor into the fates of October. The Used Car Salesman needed something to give rise to the All Star Game, which is still the best All Star format in all of the major sports because the winning team still needs to get 27 opponent batters out by out by playing defense. I would go along with your format.
Post a Comment
<< Home