Getz Me A Broom!

Today was a real back-and-forth. Zack Grienke and John Danks each allowed 4 runs to cross the plate. It was an overall poor outing for both (Danks especially, lasting only 5.1 innings and allowing 9 hits and 2 walks), but the Sox came out victorious.

Grienke has been having himself a fantastic year, coming into today’s game with an 8-1 record. The Sox went after him early, and already put one on the board in the first inning. The offense got started with a triple by Scott Podsednik, who was really collecting those extra base hits today. The great news was that the Sox aren’t afraid of trailing anymore. After the Royals grabbed onto a 4-1 lead, the Sox came back with two runs in the fifth and one in the sixth to tie the game and keep themselves in it. Along with some good work from the bullpen, the stage was set for a 9th inning rally, which scored 3 runs.

Speaking of the bullpen, the Royals' bullpen once again boasts of the presence of Horacio Ramirez. I immediately cheered up at the thought of facing him, remembering his dismal pitching with the Sox last year. Maybe having him warm up in a tied game serves as a partial explanation for why the Royals are struggling so badly of late.

Small ball lives once again. No homers were hit today (although Pods came awfully close to one), and every run was earned the old-fashioned way. Still not much base stealing going on, but who can complain?

There are reasons to complain, though. For one, Danks’s location today. Everyone’s bound to have a bad day, but starting out with 5 straight balls is a scary way to start a ballgame. Then, there was Dewayne Wise. After today’s unfortunate performance, his average stands at .198 and the overall defensive performance of the outfield seems to have diminished. I don’t want to be too hard on him, seeing as he’s just back from an injury, but as it stands right now, he has less hits (5) than strikeouts (8) for the year. Maybe he shouldn't be handed the job right back until it becomes necessary. One final concern: After scoring the 7th and final point for the Sox, Chris Getz hobbled to the Sox dugout. Jayson Nix took over for him in the bottom of the 9th, but there was no word on how serious Getz’s limp was. Let’s all hope it was just a scratch.

And one final point for the day. I’ve been thinking lately of how big of a joke the acquisition of Podsednik seemed. And, wow, what a lifesaving move! Not only did he come in handy when Wise and Quentin went down, but he’s been doing a great job and really did become the answer to the outfield problem.