Ground Lost, Time Running Out

The Sox bit the big one again in today's televised battle against the Kansas City Royals. Paul Konerko's solo home run was just about the only good thing about today's game.

And I can't help but wonder if Ozzie is to blame. Jim from the Sox machine talked about Ozzie's choice to leave starters in long past what has come to be a typical pitch count. Edwin Jackson's last outing, for example, consisted of 128 pitches. I assume this would take its toll on the pitcher who has been almost unstopable otherwise since joining the White Sox. Then again, perhaps he has just run out of the steam that came with the excitement of leaving the sinking ship known to the baseball world as the D-Backs.

Is it praise-worthy that Ozzie defied the new norms and stuck with a good thing? Or does it show that he is careless with the health of his pitchers and thinks little of consequences?

That last question confuses me because often times, Ozzie throws games away by making stupid choices like putting in Tony Pena and other times he'll do anything to win this one game (Well, to be honest, other than the Edwin Jackson incident, I can't think of another time he's done this...)

Ground was lost against the Twins once again today, with a series coming up where the two face off. It seems improbable that the Sox will gain any ground by then, and even more improbable that the Sox will overtake the Twins in the standings. But one can hope.

A sweep of the Twins could do wonders. Another spectacular winning streak would also be nice. But what will really happen? We'll have to adopt the Cubs' slogan. There's always next year. How odious it sounds. Can't Obama do something about this?