Sox fans, have you seen this story before?
In a game that was reminiscent of their last series in Tampa Bay, the White Sox got plenty of baserunners, but were unable to get hits when it matters, stranding six men in scoring position in their 4-3 loss to the Cubs in the first Crosstown Classic game of the year.
After Jermaine Dye and AJ Pierzynski blasted homers early in the game, the Sox were sitting pretty with a 3-1 lead. They had plenty of chances to extend that lead and put the Cubs away, but every time, they failed to bring a man home who was in scoring position.
For those who are scoring at home, the White Sox went a pathetic 0/10 with men in scoring position in today's ballgame. The White Sox had two leadoff doubles—Nick Swisher in the sixth and Brian Anderson in the ninth—but both times, they were unable to move the runner to third, let alone bring him in with a sacrifice fly.
Making productive outs is extremely important to an offense, and the White Sox failed to do that today. After Swisher's double, Joe Crede struck out, Alexei Ramirez popped out, and Brian Anderson struck out to end the inning.
The situation after Anderson's double was a bit more curious, as Ozzie Guillen called on Jim Thome to pinch-hit for pitcher Matt Thornton. What Thome needed to do was make a productive out—anything less would be unacceptable.
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Thome swung mightily at the first pitch and weekly popped out behind the third base bag.
If Thome had shortened up his swing and done nothing but try to hit the ball on the ground to the right side, Anderson would have advanced to third and scored on the flyout Orlando Cabrera had in his at-bat. The Sox would have led 4-3 with Bobby Jenks coming on to nail down the save.
Thome was not the man to get that job done with his big, long swing and home-run mentality. However, the White Sox did have a player on their bench who likely could have got the job done in Pablo Ozuna.
Ozuna is one of the team's best bunters, and if he laid one down, Anderson would have advanced to third. He's also one of the team's best hitters in controlling where the ball goes off his bat and is excellent at taking the ball up the middle and the other way—both of which would have moved Anderson to third.
But Guillen stuck with Thome, and the Sox consequently failed to score.
You can say hindsight is 20/20, but any Sox fan, player, or coach who has watched Thome this year should have known that he was not going to make a productive out in that key situation.
John Danks was brilliant, going six innings and allowing just one run, retiring 11 batters in a row from the second to sixth inning. His ERA is now down to a sparkling 2.80—but he's just 4-4 on the season.
Octavio Dotel gave up the lead in the seventh when he threw back-to-back home runs to Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez and Scott Linebrink gave up the game when Ramirez took him deep to center for a walk-off home run.
This game was not on the relievers, however. The White Sox should have had a bigger lead than two going into the seventh and it should have been Jenks, not Linebrink, pitching in the ninth with a lead.
There are good losses, and there are bad losses. Today's game was a bad loss for the Sox in a game they should have won.
However, their failure to do the little things right ultimately cost the White Sox today. It was a game the Sox should have won, but deserved to lose.
Article posted via Examiner.com.
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5 months ago
Not being able to convert with runners in scoring position sounds like the Cubs against
Tampa Bay too. Big win today though against the crosstown rivals, great to see
Lee and Ramirez getting their power back.
By the way, the game was tied going into the bottom of the 9th, the Sox were not leading.
from 5 months ago
I know—my point there was that it should have been Jenks pitching with a lead instead of Line with the game tied.
from 5 months ago
Sorry, I read that wrong.
I was just too excited about a great win today I guess.
5 months ago
I was disapointed in the sox for letting so many good opertunities slip by, and anderson should have been on thrid from his double because he easily could have made it if he tried. then, all you do is squeeze him in. THis needs to be dealt with soon, or else the white sox may lose first (but whose gonna take it), if any manager can do anything about it, its Ozzie. He should just go on another rant because the last 2 times he got pissed, the sox had a 7 game win streak and an 8 game win streak. He should get pissed more often.
5 months ago
I was actually just about to write an article similar to this. Very nice analysis JJ...I gotta admit that the Cubs were the better team today.
There was no excuse as to why Anderson did not get to 3rd on his bomb off of Wood...and neither was Dotel throwing in the roundhouse of DLee and Rameriz.
from 5 months ago
BA was being cautious there—you never want to make the first out of the inning at 3B. Fact is, we should have brought him in regardless, and we didn't.
If you ask me, the Cubs didn't win that game—the Sox lost it. I really wasn't all that impressed with the Cubs, but I was even less impressed with the Sox.
5 months ago
Good article, JJ. I think the White Sox had things figured out, they just came up a little short.
5 months ago
Good read, JJ, I agree that hitting with RISP is key. It's funny how momentum works, too. The Sox seemingly had it and the Cubs didn't. But the home teams are winning at such a strong clip this year that it makes momentum useless. Derrek Lee, coming into the series, hadn't had a meaningful hit in a long time, and Ramirez wasn't exactly tearing the cover off the ball, so things can turn around in a hurry.
5 months ago
Nice breakdown for what was simply an overall frustrating game. I'm not sure what was uglier, those frisbee get-me-over breaking balls that Dotel threw or watching Jim Thome continue to emulate Mighty Casey striking out.
from 5 months ago
Jim Thome is a huge problem to this team. Once Josh Fields gets off the DL in AAA and starts hitting again, it'd be mighty nice if Thome was DFA'd and Fields was called up to DH.
Too bad that won't happen, though...
4 months ago
Good article...I was hoping the White Sox could help my Cardinals out a little but it didn't happen.
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