Sunday, May 31, 2009

119

The streak continues. The streak of White Sox starters not allowing more than three runs in a game, that is. Mark Buehrle did his part yesterday, holding the Royals to three runs on seven hits in 7.1 innings. Buehrle, who extended a streak of his own -- he's up to 23 innings without a walk -- failed to get the win, though. Former batterymate Miguel Olivo homered off Buehrle in the eighth, evening the game at 3-3. Scott Linebrink came in, threw six pitches to get the last two outs of the inning, and picked up the win when the Sox pushed across two in the ninth. Bobby Jenks earned his 11th save of the season with a scoreless final frame.
Scott Podsednik, firmly ensconced as the leadoff man, drove in the go-ahead run in the ninth, with a line single to right field. Alexei Ramirez, who's on a hot streak of his own, plated an insurance run with his third hit of the night, none of which left the infield. Ramirez has raised his average from .213 to .261 over the last eight games by going 15 for 34 (.441). For the second night in a row, the Sox managed double-digit hit totals, this time collecting 10 safeties and improving their record to 12-2 when doing so. The resurgent Josh Fields kept his hitting streak alive by smashing a double. Fields, who has to be looking over his shoulder at Gordon Beckham at Charlotte and Dayan Viciedo (up to .270) at Birmingham, has gone 10 for 24 (.417) during his six-game streak.
We've got one bone to pick with Ozzie. Pinch-hitting Dewayne Wise for Brian Anderson in the ninth didn't make sense. Sure, KC's pither, Juan Cruz, is a righty and a left-handed batter like Wise ordinarily hits better than a right-handed batter like Anderson against a right-handed pitcher. But going into last night's game, Anderson was hitting .318 off right-handers, was hitting about 60 points higher overall than Wise, and is the best defensive outfielder the Sox have. We'd like to hear Oz's explanation, but from where we sit, this was the wrong move.
The win moved the Sox back into second place, 4.0 games behind the Tigers. That's the highest the Sox have been in the standings since May 2. They're going to have a tough time today, as they face Zack Greinke, currently the best pitcher in baseball. Greinke is 8-1 with a 0.84 ERA. Nope, that's not a misprint. He's giving up less than an earned run per nine innings pitched! The Sox will need to be on their game. Go John Danks! Go Sox!

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