Another Error Spells Doom for the Sox

Heading into the bottom of the sixth, the White Sox had a 2-0 lead, but that was soon erased when Richard mishandled a grounder and overthrew first base.  A call of the bullpen was made, Richard was well over a hundred pitches, and Dotel was asked to get out of the inning.  I haven't been impressed with Dotel as of late and after his outing tonight, my stock in him has dropped even further.  He has constantly been behind in counts, and because of that, he has been hit hard in his last few appearances.  He gave up three huge runs, and the Sox weren't able to recover.  The Sox lack the offensive power to come back from a huge deficit.  Being down a run these days is a monumental hill to climb, and tonight was no different.   After Dotel's exit, Carrasco came to the mound, and his outing wasn't any better giving up four runs which really put the game out of reach.  The Sox didn't have Konerko or Thome in the lineup, and we do not expect to have CQ back until after the All-Star break.

In this case, I cannot blame Ozzie for bring Richard back out since he was on a short leash.  BUT, having Dotel in that situation where he has been struggling with his control is puzzling.  I rather have Thornton out or even Carrasco.  Granted, I would most likely be bitching about Ozzie bringing out Carrasco with the way he pitched tonight. 

The offense went on cruise control after they scored their two runs.  They had some opportunities for more, but there was some nice defensive players and baserunning blunders that cost the Sox.  Pods was on base three times, and two of those times he was either picked off at first or caught stealing when he overslid the bag.  It's the little things that is killing this team, and the players really need to have a long look at themselves and work at fixing what is wrong.

This isn't the way to start a series in which you have a bullpen meltdown.  The only positive I saw was Poreda.  Contreras heads to the bump tomorrow, so I hope we see a better all-around game.  It's unfortunate that Richard didn't win because he worked his behind off tonight and SHOULD have won if the bullpen didn't forget how to pitch.