Orioles 5-5, White Sox 1-5: The Good, Bad, and Indifferent

Box Score-Game 1

Box Score-Game 2 

Good

John Danks & Mark Buehrle

Both the Sox lefties pitched excellent ballgames today, but neither got the win they deserved.

Danks took a perfect game into the sixth in game one before Adam Jones broke it up with a single to center. With Jones on first, Danks was understandably distracted, as Jones has blazing speed and Toby Hall has one of the worst arms from behind the plate in the league. In this combustible situation, Danks left a changeup out over the plate that Guillermo Quiroz hit out for a two-run home run, the first longball Danks had allowed all year.

Those were the only runs Danks would allow, but he took the loss as the Sox offense could only muster one run for the game. 

In the nightcap, Buehrle tossed six innings, allowing three runs on three hits, two walks, and five strikeouts. It was a typical Buehrle outing—nothing spectacular, but solid results. Unfortunately for Buehrle, the bullpen failed to hold the lead and he got a no decision.

Despite the fact that the Sox have not been playing well as of late, the starting pitching has been solid. The offense and bullpen have been the real problems as of late—just as they were in 2007. Uh-oh. 

Matt Thornton & Scott Linebrink

Thornton rebounded nicely from a shaky outing with a scoreless inning in game one, and Linebrink held the Orioles at bay over 1.1 innings in game two. Both these pitchers are going to be key for the White Sox if this team wants to contend in the AL Central this year.  

Carlos Quentin

While there haven't been a ton of positives to take out of the last five games the Sox have played, one of them has definitely been Carlos Quentin.

Quentin went 1/3 with a walk in game one and 2/3 with a walk, hit-by pitch, and a run scored in game two. 

The most impressive thing Quentin has been doing is hitting offspeed pitches. He's getting out on his front foot on curveballs and changeups, but is still waiting back with his hands and making excellent contact. He's one of the few hitters on the White Sox now that is able to hit offspeed stuff well, and it's also pretty tough to get a fastball by him.

Quentin really is looking like he's fulfilling his All-Star potential that Arizona once saw in him. Personally, I'm incredibly excited to see Quentin on the South Side for a long, long time. 

Brian Anderson

You know what? Brian Anderson had himself a damn good ballgame today. He went 2/5 with two RBI, and that easily could have been 3/5 with even more RBI.

But the biggest hit was Anderson's sharp single into left field in the ninth inning that won what was a huge game for the White Sox. Anderson battled all at-bat with Randor Bierd before squaring up a fastball and drilling it for a walk-off single.   

Earlier in the game, Anderson cranked an RBI double deep to left field and nearly had himself another two-bagger if not for a spectacular catch by Adam Jones on the warning track.

It was really great to see Anderson have himself a good game, as he's really struggled to find playing time in the majors since scuffling in his rookie year of 2006.  

With his performance today, hopefully Anderson will get more starts in center when an outfielder gets banged up and/or needs an off day. He's always been a stellar defender, but his bat hasn't been there. Today, it was.  

Bad

The offense—game one

As a lineup, this group hasn't done all that poorly this year. They're taking pitches well and generally getting hits when they need to.

Except when they're facing a lefty with a good changeup.

When a pitcher like Brian Burres (or Greg Smith, for that matter) take the hill, it's pretty much a guarantee that this offense will look anemic.

Burres absolutely dominated the White Sox in game one, throwing eight shutout innings and making the offense look foolish from top to bottom. I'll give credit where credit is due—Burres pitched a heck of a game—but a lot of the reason why Burres pitched well is because this offense has no clue how to hit lefties who attack the strike zone and throw a good changeup.

Paul Konerko

Konerko is a notoriously slow starter, but he's looked worse than usual in this first month than in recent memory. He's having big problems hitting changeups and breaking pitches from both righties and lefties, and American League pitchers have figured this out. He's seeing a steady diet of changeups and breaking balls low and away, and that is the biggest reason why he's hitting .197. 

This was evidenced by Konerko's at-bat in the ninth inning of game two. On 2-0 and 3-0, Randor Bierd threw Konerko a curveball and what looked like a sinker—not a straight fastball. Konerko can expect a lot more of that—getting offspeed and breaking pitches in hitters counts—in the future.

He also committed an error in each game today, and in general, his glove does not seem to be as trustworthy as it has in the past few years.

Konerko is in a slump, no doubt about it. He's struggling mightily, but the Sox are going to have to wait it out. However, if he doesn't pick up his game by late May, you have to wonder if the organization will consider calling up Josh Fields to play first base.  

Boone Logan & Octavio Dotel

Both Logan and Dotel struggled if you look at the box score, but when they were in, I didn't get that feeling. Both Logan and Dotel picked up strikeouts in impressive fashion in their 0.2 and 1.1 innings of work, respectively, but then went ahead and gave up a couple of hits to allow runs to score.

Logan came in with a two-run lead and surrendered that to blow Buehrle's chance of winning the game and Dotel allowed three runs (one earned) to cross the plate in the top of the ninth that put the game out of reach. 

Lately, both Logan and Dotel have struggled a lot more than they did earlier in April. Luckily, Thornton and Linebrink have stepped up, but bullpen depth could become an issue for the Sox if Logan and Dotel cannot pitch to their abilities.

Also, Ehren Wassermann has yet to allow a run and has six saves with AAA Charlotte. Just sayin'... 

Jerry Angelo

Matt Forte? Really? Not Brian Brohm, Chad Henne, Limas Sweed, Reggie Kelly, or James Hardy? Really, Jerry Angelo?  

The Bears better take Dennis Dixon tomorrow or else I'm going to be really angry. Rex Grossman is not the answer. Brohm? Probably will end up better than Grossman. But no, Brohm is in Green Bay now. Part of me wants to see him torch the Bears in the next few years just so Angelo can realize how terrible of a decision he made. 

The game two offense

Yes, the offense did better than in game one, but they left nine men on base, including four who were in scoring position. Konerko and Joe Crede also hit into double plays. 

After Steve Trachsel was knocked out of the game after allowing five runs (four earned) in three innings of work, the Orioles' bullpen allowed just three hits and three walks the rest of the way.

This was one of those games that, while I'm content with the six the team scored, they definitely should have picked up more.