You can’t lose ‘em all. Unfortunately, that has been my slogan with the Sox. When we do consistently terrible and drop series left and right, you have to think, “you can’t lose them all.” Indeed, the Sox were not swept by the Indians and pulled off a 4-2 victory. Had they not, and had lost to a pitcher whose record was 2-7… well, that would tell you a lot about what the rest of the season would be like.
It was Javi’s day to pitch. I am very proud of the fact that he has improved from being a Contreras-like pitcher in June (7.48 ERA) to his performance the past few weeks (3.24 ERA in August). He’s been falling apart toward the end of the game, but that’s what the bullpen is for. He’s probably the most consistent in terms of pitch location and he and Floyd both pitch well with several different pitches. He made it through 6 innings, only walked one, struck out 5 and only gave up 2 runs. He wasn’t the problem pitcher. The bullpen was, once again in shambles- long story short, Jenks had to come in and get 5 outs. Really, the game was much more suspenseful than it should have been.
The offensive lineup was interesting today. With Crede (don’t get me started) and Quentin noticeably missing (and Griffey not so noticeably, but he was also on the bench), Ozzie also sat out Jim Thome and A.J. When the big guy isn’t in the lineup, who else are you going to park at DH if not Josh Fields? [eye roll] You know how I feel about Booger. He is too young and too weak of a hitter to be allowed to DH. He had himself a hit and a run today, so he wasn’t a complete waste of space in the lineup. Toby Hall had another one of those Toby Hall days at bat, where he couldn’t come up with anything, but Big Pierogi needs a day off every now and then, so that’s that. Brian Anderson (finally!) got some playing time. It's a miracle that his muscles haven't atrophied and his glove hasn't turned to dust since the last time he had to sweep the cobwebs off his batting helmet. He had the first hit of the game and struck out twice, but that’s more than Jerry Owens did yesterday. Speaking of Jer, [SoxMachine’s Video Tribute] brings a tear to my eye.
Beatnick Swisher (And that’s his name until he proves to me that he’s not that gaping black hole he was in May or even July) got himself a solo home run today. It was the most monstrous home run I’ve seen in a very long time- if not ever. It’s the first contribution he’s made in a long time. In fact, most of his hits (on the rare occasion when he does have a hit) in the last month or so are home runs. He’s either walking (not lately, though… everyone figured out his shpeal) or swinging for the fences. Then there was Alexei’s 2-run homer, which was unbelievable. He pulled a Joe Crede and lifted a ball literally 2 inches from the ground (ok, maybe not literally) and catapulted it over the fence. Just goes to show you, these yoo-hoos can’t win without homers…
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