White Sox-Tigers: Javier Vasquez Ends Another Hot Streak for Chicago

So it was only a two game winning streak.  But for a team that hasn’t completed a series sweep since July 2, the White Sox loss night at the Cell cast a shadow over what otherwise was a nice series.

It’s true that you can’t win every game and taking two out of three is never bad. But last night, like so many other nights this season, the White Sox were let down by their preseason “ace", Javier Vazquez. 

Apart from his win last week in Kansas City, Vazquez has been just short of terrible. It seems like every time the Sox get a little winning streak, Vazquez’s turn in the rotation comes and he earns the loss.

I say “earns” the loss because that is precisely what he does. The Sox's right-hander seldom is bombed. He simply pitches just bad enough to lose the game. Call him the bizarro Jack McDowell.

Last night was the second time in two weeks Vazquez failed to help the Sox sweep the Tigers. The week before that, he pitched decently but made his signature “one bad pitch” and lost to the Rangers.

Before that, he did his best to snap a three-game winning streak in Kansas City but came up short as Carlos Quentin and the offense denied him the pleasure.

The week before, he snapped the last of the White Sox's prolonged winning streaks in a home loss to Oakland. In classic Vazquez fashion, he rolled through most of the game, until a hit batsmen, and two huge, hanging curveballs gave the A’s just enough runs to beat the Sox.

If you are keeping score at home, Javy Vazquez has ended three of the last four White Sox winning streaks. And he did his best to end another one before being bailed out by the offense.

Last night, he was in prime form. Getting ahead of hitters and spotting his fastball anywhere he wanted it. Seemingly bored with his nearly dominant fastball, Vazquez instead decided to throw an awful get-me-over breaking ball to Miguel Cabrera, twice, yielding three runs. After the first blow, a two-run shot with two outs in the third, Vazquez went back to his fastball.

He looked to be settled down by ripping through the Tigers in the next couple innings, putting guys away by daring them to hit his fastball. Then, with one out in the fifth, Placido Polanco chopped a 1-2 fastball into the corner for a double.

Suddenly gun shy and afraid to get beat on his fastball, Vazquez flipped a hanger to Carlos Guillen for an RBI double. After retiring Magglio Ordonez, he hung another breaking ball to Miguel Cabrera, who ripped a two-out RBI single to make it 4-0

No Sox fan wants to relive last night’s game in this gruesome pitch-by-pitch fashion, but these at-bats tell a lot about Vazquez’s troubles. He continually gets beat on bad off-speed pitches, even though he possesses one of the best fastballs in the league. 

After the Sox scratched a few runs across, there was Vazquez, giving one right back to the Tigers in the seventh. No, he didn’t pitch terrible last night, he did just enough to lose, and just enough to stop another White Sox winning streak.

Of course, this was a team loss. The Sox's offense blew all sorts of opportunities. There were coaching mistakes, too. One could easily criticize Guillen’s choice to allow Cabrera to beat the Sox twice with two outs and a base open. 

Also, in the sixth, after a Detroit error had Nick Swisher up as the tying run, Guillen somehow let Alexei Ramirez try to steal in a two-run game with a power hitter up.

And there was nothing worse than what third-base coach Jeff Cox did in the bottom of the eighth.

In perhaps the worst base coaching seen in the south side since the “waving” Wally days, Jeff Cox sent Jim Thome home on a Paul Konerko double with the Sox down two with only one out. Thome was out by 30 feet for the second out of the inning. Inexcusable. 

But they were the never-say-die White Sox, with Alexei Ramirez up and the tying run on second. As he lined a Fernando Rodney fastball into left field, it appeared as though the Sox's comeback magic would steal another one from the hapless "charging" Tigers.

Unfortunately, Ramirez's shot was too close to a Tiger outfielder, who made an impressive diving catch. The Sox showed their fight tonight, but it wasn’t enough to makeup for Javy Vazquez’s incredible proficiency to lose ballgames and end winning streaks. Mercy.