There is method behind the madness. All that coddling did Baby Danks some good. He was, once again, paired up with Toby Hall, and for some reason, this is a successful formula for the Sox. He threw 96 pitches over 7 innings and a little bit, and only gave up 4 hits over that span. Paired with a couple of outs from Thornton and a full inning and some change from Jenks, today was just a day of great pitching- even if it was against the Royals. Danks’s pitching wasn’t perfect- he earned a wild pitch and hit a batter, and even picked up a fielding error- but that was just attributed, I think, to the fact that there wasn’t anyone on second base to throw it to. Moving targets are different than throwing at home plate, right Clay Rich. However, he pitched around errors (and there were plenty) and allowed no one to cross the plate.
Much like the beginning of the season, despite great pitching, our hitters weren’t hitting much today, but thankfully, when they did, they did it in succession, so that our fellas actually crossed home plate. “The Rock” Wise caused the first injury of the day (Hey, remember when we broke their second baseman? Grudzielanek still seems to be out), his lead off hit bouncing off the first plate umpire. Had it not, it might have been a double. Either way, Wise made the most of it and bravely ran to third on Dye’s single, then home on a pop up- not a sacrificed fly, by Jim Thome. Thome also lead off the 7th with a walk and scored on a home run by Paul Konerko. The way it bounced off his bat, I thought it was a spectacular pop-up or fly out (much like Dye’s yesterday), but was pleasantly surprised to see it cross the fence. Notably, Toby Hall had a base hit- a rarity, indeed. Swish had a base hit and was thrown out tryin’ to steal 2nd (smart baseball right there), possibly still trying to prove that he’s more valuable than Brian Anderson. Dye had two hits for the day, and I am really hoping his bat heats up for the series against the Twins.
As for the Royals, this was our last meeting with them for the year. I will have fond memories of Billy Butler sweating because he’s much too girthy for his age and job, unpleasant memories of Teahen playing every position in the outfield, of Miguel Olivo trying to punch Carrasco, and dreams about one day adding Alex Gordon to our roster. (Of course, I’m still holding out hope that Joe Crede will find a cure for his back and will return to the Sox with a 10-year contract.)
The Sox will go into their series against the Twins with 2.5 games over the division. Vazquez, Buehrle, and Floyd will be pitching in that series, hoping to give the Sox a victory over the division. On that note, upon reading this, I realized OC may have ended his hitting streak, but he's [the smartest guy on the team].
In other news, Crede was in the dugout today. He hasn’t talked to the press, but Ozzie still says he doesn’t expect Crede to play again this year. My, how far we’ve come this year, going from speculation about his possible trade to a mini media implosion over his back injury.
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