Results tagged ‘ Alexei Ramirez ’

Disappointing Homestand

I’ve been at a loss of words for the past week thanks to the performance of the Chicago White Sox.  They started their homestand in grand fashion, but they proceeded to lose the next three games to the Oakland A’s.  While it was a head scratcher, we still had to focus for the Indians were coming into town.  With division games, you simply have to win as much as you can, and the White Sox failed to do that.  There are three phases to baseball: pitching, offense, and defense.  The White Sox lacked most of those phases in their series with the A’s, Indians, and Tigers.  While the pitching was better in the Tigers series, it wasn’t good enough to overcome the errors of the defense or the lack of offense.

While the Sox walked away from the Tigers series losing three out of the five games.  They had opportunities to win every game.  I always believed that good teams overcome errors or bad calls from the umpire, and the Sox aren’t a good time currently.  They cannot align all three phases into a game, and they are suffering because of it.

Offensively, situational hitting is killing the Sox.  The last team the Sox had in which they could execute effectively was 2006.  Alexei isn’t a batter that should be in the second spot.  He started out well because he was seeing a lot of fastballs, but when pitchers started going offspeed and outside the strikezone, Alexei was doing all the work to get him out.  Last year, Alexei was one of the best, or the best clutch, hitter the Sox have seen since Crede, but Alexei has only shone lukewarm highlights of his breakout rookie year last year.  Ozzie benched him for a few games at the beginning of the season for Jayson Nix, and it helped awhile with him sitting back on the breaking ball, but it hasn’t improved his clutch hitting or situational hitting in key moments.  His sacrifice bunting skills are pretty terrible, and he is prone to popping out instead of moving the runner.

I knew that Gordon Beckham would be making his debut in a Sox uniform, but I expected that to happen after the All-Star break.  With the departure of Wilson Betemit, I thought that would give more playing time for Jayson Nix.  Ozzie and Kenny thought that Beckham was ready, and they called him up leaving Fields’ status with the team in jeporady.  They weren’t going to call up Beckham to sit on the bench, so I assume that Kenny would be using Fields as trade bait.  Unfortunately, Fields doesn’t have a lot of value because he is prone to striking out a lot and he doesn’t have a strong glove and gives up big errors in key situations of a game.  The callup of Beckham hasn’t been as hopeful as some might have thought.  Beckham might be an answer to part of the problem, but he isn’t the answer to all of their problems.  Looking at Beckham’s approach to the plate, it seems that he just hacks at the first pitch.  There was one game in which he saw a total of three pitches in the game.  Beckham needs to calm down at the plate and work the count a little.  While there were some pitches that he drived well, start with the little things like singles before swinging for the fences.  The Sox have enough thumpers in the lineup.

There are many more issues with the offense, but I want to get to pitching.  Starting pitching has been blah.  Either we have great starting pitching or it’s been medicore at best.  In games in which you think you have a shot at winning, you watch the starters begin to fade and the bullpen is rushed onto the field to make matters worse.  I do not think Ozzie has been managing his starting pitching every well this last homestand.  He left Buehrle too long in the Tiger series, and it cost him a win.  I understand the desire to save your bullpen, but being down in the standings as you are, you have to treat each game as if it is the final game of the World Series.  I hate to see what would have happened if the Sox lost the last game of the Tiger’s series after Bobby gave up the two run homer to Granderson in the top of the ninth.  The team looked flat as it was, and losing that game would most likely have been a death sentence. 

Linebrink and Dotel have struggled during the homestand.  Giving up big runs when they are called upon to hold games.  Carrasco has been one of the bright shining lights in the bullpen this year, but you are going to get to a point in which you go to the well a little too much.  I think the woes of the offense and the defense has effected the pitching.  Pitchers aren’t confident in overcoming errors or lack of offense.  Danks pitched a whale of a ballgame, but he walked away the empty in his effort.  Gavin Floyd was spectacular in his outing only to see a no decision because Jenks gave up a big two run homer.  The only starting pitcher that notched a win in the Tiger’s series was Contreras – who looked amazing in his first start since being sent down to the minors.  If Contreras can duplicate his outing, we would be in decent shape because we can bench Colon – he is on DL currently.  Colon has been a huge disappointment.  One outing he is amazing, and the second outing he looks terrible.  While you can have a little patience with Floyd and Danks, you expect more from your veterans.  What has been killing the bullpen has been walks.  Starters and Relief alike have been prone to walking alot of batters in a game – especially the leadoff hitter.  Holding runners at first has been a challenge, and it has plagued the pitching staff for the last few years.

Last phase is defense, and the Sox haven’t been a strong defensive team this year.  Those big errors have cost a lot of games for the White Sox this season.  Because of his lack of defense and production at the plate, Wilson Betemit was DFA, and you have a feeling that Fields isn’t that far behind.  Because of the injury to Konerko with his thumb, Fields has been playing a few games at first base.  Still, Fields defense hasn’t been spectacular even though he worked with Joey Cora in the offseason.  Along with his subpar defense, his hitting hasn’t been any better.  He has a high strikeout ratio, and isn’t prone to hitting in clutch.  Then again, you could say that about a lot of the Sox players.  Another player with error issues has been Alexei.  You would think with his talent, he would be more sure handed, but it hasn’t been the case for the young shortstop this season.  Giving extra outs to any team is a recipe for disaster.  Pitching hasn’t been strong enough to simply overcome those errors this year.

I do not see the Sox going far this season unless they can turn around their pitching, hitting, and defense.  With the way that the Tigers are playing, we are going to be hard pressed to make any ground whatsoever.  We had a good opportunity to make a dent in the standings, but we let three games slip through our fingers.  I see the Sox as sellers soon if they have a bad road trip with interleague play.  Most likely you will see JD, Fields, possibly Contreras if he pitches well, Buehrle – his contract value goes up if he is traded I recall, Thome is another possibility – some teams are looking for bats.  While it might be a little early to sound negative, but the Sox really hasn’t shown us something to really cheer about this last homestand – especially against teams in our own division.  I hope they turn it around because I hate to see them lose the way they have been.  You will lose games.  It’s the nature of the schedule, but to lose the games as they have been… it’s simply an embarassment to the fans, to the organization, and to themselves as ballplayers.

Offensive Mistakes, Error Sinks Win Streak for the Pale Hose

We saw the best of the Sox on Monday, and the worst of the Sox on Tuesday.  You had a sense that the game wasn’t in the Sox favor when Alexei Ramirez couldn’t get Scott Podsednik to third, Podsednik getting picked off at second on what appeared to be a steal attempt of third base.  Lets think about that for a moment.  With JD at bat, there is NO reason whatsoever to even try to attempt to steal third – if that was what Podsednik was trying to do.  JD has been one of the hottest Sox hitters these last few weeks, so why on earth would you do something as boneheaded as getting picked off at second.  The kicker?  JD smacked a single that could have scored Podsednik if he was still at second base.

It was a game of missed opportunities.  A game of bad defense, bad pitching, and bad clutch hitting.  Paulie had a good hitter’s count, and he pops up.  I lost count how many times Sox hitters have been overly aggressive at swinging.  Ramirez is notorious for aggressive swinging especially balls out of the strike zone.  As much as it puzzled the annoucers, Kennedy bunted OC to third eventhough he has been the A’s hottest hitter.  He knew that his team has been struggling, and he wanted to make sure there was a runner at third with less than two outs.  Cust earns a sac fly, and the A’s were up 1-0.  The Sox almost had a carbon copy inning except they didn’t score.  Alexei couldn’t execute the bunt, and he popped out, failing to move Podsednik to third.  Execution has been a problem for the Sox all season, but they have been better during the last two weeks.  Why is Wise playing center?  I understand he was the starter before he went on the DL, but BA has been playing better as well as hitting better than Wise has been.  Wise has been terrible at the plate, and I only recall one hit that actually made it to the outfield since he has been back.  He either had soft grounders to the pitcher or strikes out.  While his defense looks good, his offense has more to be desired.  Make BA the starter and stick to it, Ozzie.

While the offense was giving you heartburn, the defense was giving you a stroke.  How many times will Ozzie put Betemit at third base?  It seems that everytime he is at the hot corner, he makes a error that changes the game.  His bat hasn’t been great, and his glove is worse than Fields.  I rather have Fields strikeout three times a game than to give up big errors.  Granted, Fields glove isn’t great, but it’s better than what Betemit has to offer.  I think we are going to see a bigger push for Beckham if Betemit/Fields continues to struggle as they have been.  Yes, Fields has been better, but Monday night we saw the bad Fields striking out three times and look completely lost at the plate. 

Colon doesn’t have the ability to pitch over mistakes.  We saw that in the whitewash the Twins gave the Pale Hose a few weeks back, and last night was no different after Betemit’s error.  Colon flip-flops wins, and last night was his turn to lose, and lose he did.  He was pitching well keeping the game close until the error, and then, as if punishing the team, lost all control walking batters and serving a room service fastball to Holliday for a bases clearing double which effectively knocking the Sox out of the game.

After the mistakes, you could see/feel the energy drain from the players.  They weren’t crisp, and it looked like pressure was getting to them to make plays offensively.  They say that you are only as good as your next pitcher, and the White Sox have Richard, who has been lights out, on the mound tonight.  Hopefully last night was a fluke, and the White Sox can rebound and play a solid game.  It’s another step in Richard’s evolution as a starting pitcher in the rotation, and if he has another quality start, he has my vote.

Sox Break Curse, Swept Past Greinke and the Royals

It has been a great week for White Sox baseball.  Heading into Friday, the White Sox were 2-1 on their six game road trip.  Angel’s pitcher Weaver was just too much for the Sox, and they failed to sweep on Wednesday.  With an important series starting on Friday, the White Sox needed to make up some ground on the Royals, Twins, and Tigers. 

The Pale Hose sent out Clayton Richard to the mound on Friday, and the young southpaw dominated the Royals lineup.  Not only did Richard pitch well, all the Sox hitters managed a hit and scored a run in the 11-2 shellacking.  It was Richard’s fourth start of the season, and it was his second win.  If Richard continues to pitch as well as he has in his last few starts, Ozzie is going to have a difficult decision with Contreras and Colon.  Currently Contreras is pitching in Triple-A trying to regain his lost command.  As for Colon, he has been hit or miss this season.  He is usually good one game and bad the next.  Hopefully he can break this pattern when he pitches against the A’s this week.

The 1-2 combination of Scott Podsednik and Alexei Ramirez are getting it done.  While the tandum isn’t as strong as it was with Podsednik and Iguchi, Ramirez has been working the field more and stopped trying to pull the ball.  He has been more discipline at the plate, and his average has gradually climbing.  Pods has been an excellent catalyst for the White Sox setting up the 3-4-5 hitters perfectly.  He is a much needed sparkplug for the offense, and he is one of the MVPs of the offense along with Dye and Konerko.

Saturday we saw Buehrle looking for win number seven, and he came close but he gave up a solo home run to walk away with a no decision.  The White Sox rallied past the Royals in the ninth to give them their forth win on their current road trip and in line for the sweep on Sunday.  With a 2-2 tie going into the eighth inning, the White Sox put runners at first and second with consecutive bunt singles by Podsednik and Ramirez.  JD managed a walk, and the White Sox took the lead on Thome’s RBI ground out.  Tied 3-3 in the ninth, Getz hit a one-out single, Fields walked, and Podsednik smacked a RBI single to give the Pale Hose the lead again.  Alexei got the Sox an insurance run, and Bobby Jenks nailed down his eleventh save of the season.  The White Sox offense managed to score three runs off the Royals bullpen to get them their second win in the three game set.

Sweeps haven’t been kind to the White Sox this season, and they looked to complete their third attempt of a series sweep in the last two weeks.  To complete this feat, the Pale Hose needed to get a win over Zack Greinke who has been magnificant this season.  At first glance, one might think that the Sox were doomed, but that was before Greinke had to pitch to Podsednik.  The speedy left-hander started the game with a triple and scored on a single to left from Thome who beat the shift.  The Sox lead 1-0, but the lead was a short.  The Royals managed to plate three runs off of Danks in the second.  I am sure there was a lot of collective sighs as Danks didn’t have his best stuff, but he battled and kept the Sox in the game going five and a third innings giving up four runs on nine hits, two walks, and five strikeouts. 

Dotel entered the sixth inning to get the Sox out of a pickle.  The righty has been lights out this season, and he continued to dominate Sunday giving up no runs in an inning of relief.  The Sox scored four runs, three earned off of Greinke in which he hasn’t surrendered more than two runs this season.  Thorton’s outing was superb going almost two innings in relief that lead to the Sox plating a three spot in the top of the ninth.  AJ started the inning with a single.  BA came in as a PH for Wise and coaxed a walk.  Fields walked which lead to Getz’s heroic GW single to right.  The ball sailed over the head of Guillen that plated both AJ and BA.  BA blew through the stop sign that Cox gave, but BA managed a beautiful slide that just beat the tag to put the Sox up by two.  Podsednik got an insurance run, and the Sox cruised to a 7-4 win. Jenks collected the save, and Thornton was awarded the win.  The Sox completed the sweep over insurmountable odds of beating Greinke and completing the sweep.

The curse is broken, and the Sox walk into their next homestand with a 5-1 road trip.  The Sox will see the A’s(4), Indians(3), and the Tigers(5).  It will be a long homestand, and the Sox play a double hitter with the Tigers to make up a previous rained out game.  It’s another important series with the Indians and the Tigers.  Both teams are playing well, and the Sox have the opportunity to gain some ground on the Tigers.  With the win on Saturday, the White Sox managed to slip into second plate in the AL Central.

Josh Fields has been playing much better on this last road trip.  He must have sensed his job might be in jeopardy because he has been delivering some clutch at-bats and showed better plate discipline.  

Sox Bats Blast Angels at the Big A

The White Sox haven’t been the road warriors this season, and they looked to redeem themselves from letting the Sunday night’s game slip through their fingers.  John Danks goes to the mound in search of his forth win of the season, and he will go against Santana.  The Pale Hose have lost their last five on the road, and they wanted to come out strong in support of Danks.

If the first inning was any indication of how the game was going to be, no one knew the onslaught the Sox would unleash on the Angels pitching staff.  The White Sox opened the frame with four straight hits to lead 1-0, but when the dust settled, the White Sox were leading 3-0.  But the inning did have his toll on CQ when he was rounding first base on his double.  He heard a pop and started to limp over to second base.  He was helped off the field.  Word has it that he traveled back to Chicago for treatment, and it is unknown if he will land on the DL. 

Podsednik has been on fire at the leadoff spot, and he played a fantastic game going 4-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBIs.  Alexei, batting second, came alive going 4-for-4 in his first four at-bats.  He finished the night going 4-for-7 with three runs score and three RBIs.  JD had a big night as well hitting a three run homer.  He ended the night going 2-for-5 with four RBIs and a walk.  Thome, the man of the night, also hit a three run homer that surpassed Mike Schmidt on the all-time home run list for thirteenth place.  Paulie added to the hit barrage with a solo shot later in the game.  Anderson filled in for the ailing Quentin, and he went 3-for-5 with three runs scored.  Fields and Getz each had two hits apiece, and AJ had three hits.

It was good to see Alexei really start to break out.  It looks as if he is really seeing the ball well.  I liked how BA came out and had a good game as a replacement for Carlos.  BA needs to continue to have strong games – especially with Wise on his rehab assignment in Triple-A.

Danks battled through six innings.  He was roughed up in the first inning for three runs, and he continued to work hard through the next five.  He surrendered three runs on four hits with six walks.  With the defense and offense behind Danks, he managed to get the win, and it was a hard fought win for for southpaw.  Carrasco pitched two innings of relief with Jimmy Gobbles pitching a solid ninth who dropped his ERA by a few runs.

With the way Danks started, it looked to be a game in which either team could win.  Danks settled in over the course of his six innings pitched, and he was able to trust in his defense and offense.  It was a great win to kick off this road trip, and it was a very nice win to wash out that nasty loss Sunday.

Richard, Alexei Give White Sox Another Shutout Win

The old saying goes, “You are only as good as your next starting pitcher,” and that saying held true today when Clayton Richard took the mound in search for his first win of the season.  He replaced Jose Contreras in the rotation when Contreras requested to be optioned to Triple A to work on his command.  Richard’s last outing was a gem in which he went seven inning giving up two runs, one earned.

Richard pitched six solid innings while surrendering four hits and three walks.  I thought he mixed his pitches well, and he was able to have hitters chase after his slider that helped him earn a career high eight strikeouts.  I like to see a few more solid outings from Richard before I start drinking the special koolaid, but so far his last few outings has really impressed me.

So far, it’s been a great homestand minus the blowup Thursday against the Twins.  Back-to-Back shutouts, strong starting pitching, a little small ball, a little long ball, and solid defense.

White Sox struck first when JD eached second base on an error by SS Jack Wilson.  Paulie hit a grounder up the middle for the first run playing Dye.  Alexei extended the lead when he hit his second home run, a two run shot to left, in as many days.  JD rounded the offense when he smacked a hanging curveball into left for his eleventh home run of the season.

Carlos looked like his was pushing himself.  He only had one good at-bat in his three attempts.  He missed a hanging breaking ball in one at-bat in which he again swung at the first pitch.  His last at-bat he finally tried to work the count to no avail.  With the weather getting warmer, I hope Carlos can get on track after suffering from his foot ailment for the past few weeks.

I thought Getz hit the ball well.  He seemed to be strugging in his last few games, but I thought he had some good at-bats.  Fields still looks to be lost at the plate even though he had a single in the game.

Buehrle heads to the mound tomorrow looking for the sweep.

Floyd Blanks Those Pesky Pirates

While Floyd hadn’t won a game since April, the talented right hander looked for his third win of the season.  We saw a confident pitcher on the mound last, and Floyd took a no-hitter into the fifth.  He limited his walks to only two which plagued Floyd in most of his starts, and he limited the Pirates offense to only two hits.  It was his best game of the season by far in which he went deep into the game pitching eight solid innings.  His curveball was devestating.  It was great for Gavin to be able to get ahead of batters to be able to toss that wicked bender.  It was a game that the Sox needed to kick off interleague weekend.  To preserve the win, Bobby Jenks saved his tenth game of the season in as many attempts.

The pitching was fantastic, but the offense did just enough to give Floyd the win.  I was disappointed in few of the batters pitch selection.  For example, Dye had a 1-0 count, and he swung at an off-speed pitch out of the zone for an easy double play kicked off by the pitcher.  Dye has been struggling.  I still think he isn’t comfortable hitting third.  There was some highlights on the offense.

Ramirez was 2-for-3 with two runs scored, key stolen base, and his second home run of the season.  Pods was 2-for-4 with an RBI groundout that plated the White Sox first run.  I thought BA had some nice at-bats where he tried to work the count.

Grand Night for the Good Guys

It’s been a while since John Danks has seen a win, and the Pale Hose aimed to deliver the southpaw’s third win of the season.  The Sox were down by two runs in the top of the forth because of a miscue by Alexei that should have ended the inning with a double play.  The Sox were determined to score in the bottom half of the inning when Konerko got the Sox on the board with a two-run blast to left.  Fields had an RBI single that gave the Good Guys the lead, but the Sox offense wasn’t done.  Fields has struggled of late, so it was good to see him get an RBI single.  Nix, during a nine pitch at-bat, walked to make the bases loaded for JD.  On a 0-1 pitch, JD promptly unloaded the bases with his tenth home run of the season, his eighth career grand slam.  Nix gave Chris Getz a breather tonight by playing second.

While Danks struggled at the end of his outing, he was good enough to let the offense lift him for his third win of the season.  The bullpen came out and effectively shut the down on the twins, and Bobby managed his ninth save of the season.  Podsednik had a stolen base; his second in as many games.

Alexei looked a little lost tonight.  He made a key error as well as almost blew a call to run home on a single.  Cox waved him around, but Alexei sled into third.  He promptly jumped up and ran home just beating the tag by sliding into home.  It would have been a disaster if Alexei was called out of the plate, and the game could have gone in a different direction.

The key at-bat of the night was Nix’s nine pitch at-bat.  He fouled off some tough pitches to coax a walk that lead to JD’s towering grand slam.  BA continues to struggle.  He had two good at-bats last night, but tonight he wasn’t waiting on pitches and managed to swing at the first pitch.  BA needs to calm down a little, or he is going to be finding himself on the bench soon.  I know Ozzie is tolerant when his players give him good at-bats, but you know he was tearing his hair out when he was watching BA make first-pitch outs.

The Sox managed to win two in a row, so the sweep is on tomorrow.  The Sox have struggled when sweeping opponents, so lets hope they can break that streak tomorrow and come out with a win.  The Sox send Colon to the mound tomorrow, and lets hope he has a repeat performance from his last outing.  If the offense gives him some run support, I think Colon should do OK.

Thome, Miller Squeek by the Slumping Tribe

It hasn’t been a good few weeks for the Pale Hose, but the Sox got on the board early in an important AL Central matchup with the Tribe.  Thome smacked the first of two home runs in the first inning to give the Sox a 2-0 lead, but that lead would dwendle over the next few innings.

Richard got the nod to start when Contreras was optioned to Triple A.  Contreras struggled mightly in his first five starts, and the Sox management thought it was time to make a change for the right hander.  The Sox starters haven’t been that impressive in their last ten starts.  The only starter that was consistent was Buehrle.  Danks and Floyd, two of the Sox young hurlers, didn’t have exception starts in their last few outings.  Danks did get a no decision in his last outing where he only yielded a run.

It’s hard to win games when your starter cannot go at least six innings.  You end up putting a lot of pressure on your bullpen as well as giving them an excess workload.  And to compound problems, the Sox hitters haven’t been all sharp.  In the game Monday, the Pale Hose were down by five runs in the top of the ninth with Alexei at bat.  Instead of working the count, he swung at the first pitch and effectively ending any type of rally the Sox could muster.  This hasn’t been the first time Alexei has been first pitch swinging.  There are times to be aggressive, but when you are down by five runs, base runners are more a premium than trying to smack the ball a long distance.  There was a reason Ozzie benched him a few games, and it seemed he didn’t learn his lesson.  He sat out of today’s game, but was inserted as a defense replacement at the end of the game.

To make matters worse, Carlos Quentin informed Ozzie of a heel issue that has been nagging him.  He sat out today, and he will most likely sit it tomorrows rubber match.  This will give Carlos a few days rest to heal his sore heel.  I assume if there is any progress, then Ozzie might be put in a position to place him on the DL.  Granted that CQ has struggled this past week, so this might be a blessing that he will have a few days rest.

Nix continues to make his presence known.  He launched his second home run of the season to make it a 3-1 early lead.  He also coaxed a walk in the lead off spot.  Another hero of tonight’s game was Corky Miller.  He is backup to AJ, but he looked far from a backup player.  He managed to toss out Grandy on a base stealing attempt, and he plated two on a clutch two-out RBI single that gave the Pale Hose some breathing room.  The man of the hour was Thome.  He struggled as of late, but two key home runs gave the Sox the lead twice, and he managed to raise his slumping average to a 227 clip.

Dye had a solid game going 2-for-4 with a walk.  He has been one of the most consistent hitters for the Sox these last few years, and the Sox really needed their veterans to step up in today’s game.  While the Sox were only two games under five hundred, you don’t want to see the gap widen between the Tigers, Royals, and the Sox.  Konerko continued to hit well going 1-for-4 with a walk and a double.

When Richard left in the fourth, he gave way to Carrasco.  DJ gave up a bloop RBI ground rule double to Cabrera, but afterwards he shut the door down on the Tribe giving the Sox an opportunity to stay in the game.  While Thome and Miller helped the Sox offensively, I think it was Carrasco who made that all possible with two solid innings of relief.  Thornton and Dotel made the bridge to Jenks possible, and Bobby had a 1-2-3 ninth that gave him his eighth save of the season.

Both the Tigers and the Royals lost today, so the Sox managed to gain a game on the two.  It’s still a tight race in which the top four teams are separated by two and a half games.  It’s going to be a grind, and if the Sox want to make the playoffs, they are going to have to win the division.  The AL East will most likely get the wildcard spot.

Ozzie Benches Ramirez, Nix Starts at SS

According to www.whitesox.com, Nix Starts at SS

I cannot say that I am shocked that Nix will start at SS.  He had a good spring training, and he had a very good debut game after his stint on the DL.  Alexei has struggled to find his swing, and there hasn’t been any improvement from game to game.  You see glimpses of him reading to right the ship, but the next game he is back to swinging at pitches out of the zone, swinging too early, or looking uncomfortable at the plate.

I do not know if Nix has what it takes to play every day, but he is a better option than Brent Lillibridge.

With this move, I assume that Contreras is on the hot seat.  He might get demoted if he doesn’t have a good start next outing.  There isn’t a good option to replace him in the rotation.  Richard hasn’t been stellar, and Broadway hasn’t been a head-turner either.  It’s a difficult situation for Ozzie and Kenny.  They might opt to look for one of the free agent pitchers that is still on the market.  A decision needs to be made soon before they sink more in the standings to the Tigers and Royals.

Bullpen Cannot Hold Lead, Sox Lose in Extras

In a game in which the offense came alive, it was the bullpen that struggled.  It seems that the Pale Hose cannot get a break.  Either it’s the pitching or the hitting that struggles this team which led to a losing streak of four games.  When you think of Floyd and Danks pitching, you almost instinctively pencil in a win, but you cannot say that as of late.  Both talented pitchers have been struggling, but it’s not all their fault.  A bunch of the blame lands on the offense and the defense. 

The Sox should never had lost last night, but one of their strengths became one of their weaknesses.  Walks and Royals timely hitting turned the game into their favor.  The Sox were one out away from going to the top of the 12th, but a grounder past a diving Fields changed all that.  The culprit?  A leadoff walk.

We need our starters to go deeper into games, or we are going to blow up our bullpen before we even get to the all-star break.  I know all teams go through dry spells, but with the talent that the AL Central has, having a prolonged losing streak can be determintal in the divisional race.

Runners in scoring position for the Pale Hose as been rare, but when we have the opportunities to break open games, rallies studder because of double plays and strikeouts.  Nothing fustrates you more when you see our hitters swing for balls over their heads, at their shoe tops, or so far outside you need to have a ten-foot pole instead of a bat. 

I really thought that Ramirez was turning a corner with his hitting, but after watching his performance last night, I was too quick to give him praise.  It might be time to integrate Nix into the lineup and have him start at SS for a few games.

It’s been good to have JD back in the lineup.  When PK hits behind him, Paulie seems to always hit better.  Without JD in the lineup, Konerko was struggling.

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