The series closer against the Angels ended 3-2 in favor of the Angels. It was a close game in terms of score, but by no means close in terms of the two teams’ approach at the plate.
Everyone’s biggest concern going into this game was John Danks. John Danks is tired, John Danks hasn’t pitched this many inning before, etc. Well, John Danks says he’s not tired- he’s just tired of answering questions about being tired. I happen to agree. I don’t think he’s tired, he just had a run of bad games. I think one of the biggest problems he’s had is pitching with no run support. He pitched through 5 full innings and some change and only gave up 2 runs. He walked 1, and had an impressive 7 strike-outs. Against the Angels and guys like Teixeira, that’s not bad. You get a pat on the back (I can’t bring myself to award anyone pats on the butt).
Let me tell you who doesn’t get a pat on the back! Horacio Ramirez. He got the loss because he was responsible for the last run in the 8th inning, the nail in our coffin. There is absolutely no valid explanation for his insertion in the game. Things could’ve been made worse by Linebrink, but he somehow closed the 9th inning with no additional runs. It’s good to see that he’s alive and well. Despite the fact that Ramirez is still my least favorite pitcher, once again, 3 runs by the Angels? Not a problem.
The problem was the spotty offense. You know you have a problem when the only points on the board are at the hands of Paul Konerko’s solo HR and another off the bat of Toby Hall (His second of the season!). 5 hits and 2 walks were all that the Sox could muster. Konerko had the most hits-2 for the day, including his 3rd home run in 3 consecutive days. OC had a hit and got on bases on an error and Swish was responsible for the first base hit for the Sox in the 2nd.
I didn’t expect much with Fields as DH. He’s not just a terrible third baseman; he’s a terrible hitter. Hitting an impressive .161 with the Sox this year. If you’re going to take Thome out of the game anyway, put in someone that can hit. Just anyone. Honestly. Hell, that’s your chance to see more from Chris Getz without taking out Uribe, Cabrera, or Ramirez (who was just 2 for 14 this series). In fact, instead of keeping an eye on Booger at bat, I spent the time during which the cameras were on him to figure out what was wrong with his face. The problem, in case you were wondering, is that he doesn’t know how to shave the cleft in his chin. And he’s constantly stuck inbetween a beard and a “clean shave,” and he just looks dirty. Maybe he should ask Dirty 30 about some shaving tips; he knows a lot about facial hair (And, like Fields, not much about hitting). If you didn't get a giggle out of that (sorry, I tried), you can see him crash and burn in the most unsuccessful attempt of all time at making his "best friend" Carlos Quentin seem like [he's not too uptight].
I also spent the majority of Brian Anderson’s time at bat (Yes, he finally got a start. And not surprisingly, he was just as successful as everyone else was- not at all) trying to figure out what his appeal was. You see, recently, I was watching a game with a friend. It was around the 8th inning and as I had predicted, they stuck B.A. in center field. I pointed at the T.V. screen, said, “There he is! That’s what I’m talking about!” Now my friend turns to me, and he says, “You’re only saying that because you think he’s cute.” That seems to be a universal opinion among guys. I don’t know about the rest of the ladies and if they feel BA is such a hottie, but it certainly seems to be the consensus among the guys. Is the ears? I think it’s the ears. The rest of the time, I wondered what the purpose of Nancy Faust (the organist extraordinaire of the White Sox) playing “Have Nagila” at random times in the game was. I even took the time to [Wikipedia it] and find out it stands for, “Let’s rejoice!” Yes, let’s rejoice that the Tigers beat the Twins again today, and we still have out 2.5 game lead.
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