SB Nation User Blog: ChiSox Fan Forever

Midseason Break Over... Rivalries and Race To October Continues

ChiSox Fan Forever — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 08:48:42 -0000

With the All Star Break done and over (and the AL claiming another W over the poorer NL), the season looks to restart as the trade deadline of July 31st approaches and the Fall Classic is in near sight for many teams right now. Teams will begin deciding whether they will be sellers or buyers this year and for the AL Central, the Tigers, White Sox, and Twins all look to be close contenders in this close division. Injuries will play a huge factor in this playoff race. The current standings look like this:

AL CENTRAL:

Tigers-          48-39   GB: --
White Sox-    45-43    GB: 3.5
Twins-         45-44    GB: 4.0
Royals-         37-51     GB: 11.5
Indians-      35-54     GB: 14.0

I still believe that the Sox will be able to take the division, but they do start out against some very tough teams. The Sox will face Baltimore and Tampa Bay at home and will take a 7 game road trip (including a makeup game with Detroit from April 14) to Detroit and Minnesota. It will be a rough start but if the Sox can play well at home for the first 7 games, they may be able to become buyers quickly and find someone to help secure this team together.

The Sox should definitely become buyers and try and secure up the end of the rotation. If they can find a good arm to fill the 5th spot in the rotation, the pitching staff would be complete and with the return of Quentin to the lineup soon enough (he is continuing his rehab assignment), the Sox will have a big bat back in the lineup and that brings up a major question, which is, where does Podsednik go? Of course you need his bat in the lineup and I don't care what Ozzie says about his fielding, I believe Podsednik will be starting in center because of his bat, which helps charge the lineup and you have an everyday center fielder to count on. The Sox will be starting on Friday against the Baltimore Orioles by sending Mark Buehrle (9-3; 3.66 ERA) to face the young Jason Berken (1-6; 5.87 ERA). The Sox will be looking to get the second half of the season started with a bang against this young pitcher. Hopefully the Sox come out strong and can perform well and get right on rolling to try and take that first place spot from the Detroit Tigers

Konerko Makes It A Hat Trick

ChiSox Fan Forever — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 04:48:19 -0000

After losing 2 straight to the Royals and having a day off on Monday, the Sox were looking to make a run with only 6 games left before the All Star break, and that is what they did. Mark Beuhrle took the mound today to face Cleveland's Jeremy Sowers. Konerko carried this game on his back and the big bat he brought to the ball park today. Konerko ended up connecting for 3 homers off of 3 different pitchers on the night.

In this game, the Cleveland Indians drew first blood in the very first inning when Grady Sizemore homered to deep right field after Asdrubal Cabrera grounded out to second baseman Jayson Nix. Konerko ended up tying the game in the 2nd, when he crushed a 2-0 fastball to left center field, his first of the night.

The Indians took the lead once again in the top of the 4th. It led off with Victor Martinez grounding out to Gordon Beckham and Shin-Soo Choo doubling to center field. Buehrle got a little help when Jhonny Peralta popped out to A.J. Pierzynski in foul territory but unfortunately, he still suffered some damage after Travis Hafner singled to left driving in Choo, but was then tagged out at second when he tried stretching his single into a double. In the bottom half of the 4th, the Sox went 3 up, 3 down.

In the 6th, the Indians kept piling on the runs and plated one more run when Shin-Soo Choo hit a solo home run to deep center field with 2 outs. Buehrle got out of the inning with Jhonny Peralta grounding out to third baseman Gordon Beckham. The Sox finally got the big inning they were looking for in the bottom half of the 6th. The 6th inning started out the same way as it did the last time the Sox faced Jeremy Sowers. Scott Podsednik grounded out to third baseman Jhonny Peralta, but Alexei Ramirez hit a line drive double to center field. Dye followed suit and hit a single over to left field. Thome worked himself into a deep count and was able to draw a walk off of Jeremy Sowers to load the bases. With Konerko on deck, Eric Wedge was not going to allow Sowers face Konerko again, so he brough in reliever Chris Perez, who hit two batters the last time he faced the White Sox. That made little difference when Paul Konerko once again hit a 2-0 fastball out of the park, this time for a grand slam and to left field. This put the Sox up 5-3, but the scoring didn't end there. A.J. Pierzynski ended up popping out to Peralta for the second out, but Jayson Nix singled to center and was then driven in by Gordon Beckham on a double to center field. At the end of the 6th, the Sox led 6-3.

The Indians faced Buehrle for the last time in the 7th and went 3 up, 3 down. Buehrle struck out Travis Hafner and Jamey Carroll to bring his K total to 3 for the night. The Sox, however, refused to follow in the footsteps of the Indians. Winston Abreu replaced Chris Perez in the 7th and led off the inning by walking Scott Podsednik. With Alexei Ramirez batting, Scott Podsednik stole his 13th base of the season, but didn't matter as Ramirez smacked a high fly ball to left field for his 11th home run this year and 42nd RBI, which puts him on track to hopefully tie his 22 home run season he had last year and set a career high in RBI's, hopefully breaking 80 this year. It didn't stop there even though Dye struck out swinging. Jim Thome was able to reach base as he singled to left field and Konerko drove him in when he homered for the third and final time of the night, pulling off the hat trick. That made it 3 home runs and 7 RBI's on the night. After Abreu gave up the home run, ex-White Sox pitcher Tomo Ohka came in to replace Winston Abreu. Ohka came in and got Pierzynski and Nix to fly out to center and pop out to first, respectively.

In the 8th, D.J. Carrasco took Buehrle's spot on the mound. Unfortunately, he allowed a walk to Ben Francisco. With no outs, Asdrubal Cabrera grounded into a possible double play, but the Sox only got Ben Francisco out at 2nd. With Cabrera at 1st, Sizemore took his spot at the plate and hit a 2-run homer to right field to make the score 10-5, White Sox still leading. After giving up the home run, Aaron Poreda replaced D.J. Carrasco. Poreda got out of the ending with only giving up one walk to Shin-Soo Choo. After the 8th, Sox still led 10-5.

In the 9th, the Indians tried getting the rally going as Travis Hafner led off the inning with a single to left field off of Aaron Poreda. Poreda then got Garko to ground out to Paul Konerko, the man of the night. With 1 out, Jamey Carroll finally got his first hit of the night when he singled to left field and drove in Travis Hafner. Carroll ended up being stranded on base since Poreda was able to cause Ben Francisco to hit a soft pop fly to Jayson Nix at second and strike out Asdrubal Cabrera to end the game. With tonight's game, Konerko brought his average to .301, above .300 for the first time since June 1st.

The Sox (now 3 games above .500 at 43-40) will face the Indians (now 33-51) again tomorrow at 7:11 pm at U.S. Cellular Field. Jose Contreras (3-2; 2.18 ERA since coming back from the minors) will be taking the ball for the Sox to face Aaron Laffey (3-1; 3.93 ERA) of the Indians. Aaron Laffey has been good against the Sox in his past, sporting a 2-1 record in 3 games started and has a 3.10 ERA to show for it. Contreras has very similar numbers to Laffey in his career versus the Cleveland Indians. Contreras has started in 13 games and has a 6-2 with a 3.15 ERA. The last time Contreras faced the Indians this year, he had a great game where he went 8.0 innings, gave up 2 earned runs on 5 hits, while walking 1 and striking out 8. He will be looking for another W to add to his total for the year and work his way back to .500 after the horrible start he had to the season.

Sox Bring The Bats AND Brooms To Progressive Field

ChiSox Fan Forever — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:39:00 -0000

With the possibility of a sweep within the Sox's grasp, they were not about to let the chance slip between their fingers. The only sweeps that the Sox have completed this year so far were a 2 game sweep of the Seattle Mariners (the first game was postponed due to rain) on April 28th and 29th and a 3 game sweep of the Kansas City Royals on May 29th-May 31st. The Sox came to Progressive Field ready to seal the deal on the poorly playing Indians and they succeeded, and have now won 9 out of the last 11.

With Jose Contreras pitching as well as ever, he was one the one sent to the mound tonight against Jeremy Sowers, and pitched just like he has since that trip down to the minors. He held the Cleveland Indians to 2 earned runs on 5 hits while striking out 8 and walking 1 in 8.0 innings.

The Indians offense drew first blood (unlike the last 2 nights where the Sox scored first) in the 3rd. It started with a single to right field by Jamey Carroll and Ben Francisco moved him over to third when he hit a double to left field. Contreras helped himself by striking out Asdrubal Cabrera for his 3rd of the night. Unfortunately, he couldn't send down Grady Sizemore like he had in the 1st. Sizemore grounded out to second where the Sox traded the out for the run and sent him down. Contreras prevented any more damage by getting Martinez to fly out to left center.

The Sox's offense finally came to life in the 5th, where they plated one. The inning led off with with Nix flying out to deep right and Beckham getting his first hit of the night when he smacked a 3-2 fastball to deep center. Anderson was able to help out and just grounded out to shortstop. Podsednik helped the team by singling to shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera. Alexei Ramirez came through in the clutch and crushed the ball to right field to drive in Gordon Beckham, but was tagged out at second when he tried to stretch a single to a double.

The Sox continued with their hot bats in the 6th. Dye began the inning but failing to get on base by flying out to right center, but Thome and Konerko both singled to center and right, respectively. Castro came up and hit on the first pitch fastball from Sowers and was able to just push it over the right field wall for a 3-run home run to put the Sox up 4-1. It didn't stop there when Jayson Nix doubled on a sharp ground ball down the left field line. Gordon Beckham kept his hot bat going when he singled to left field. Beckham ended the series going 8 for 11 with 1 double, 1 HR, and 5 RBI's. The inning ended with Brian Anderson grounding into a double play. Cleveland responded by plating their last run of the night when Victor Martinez hit a 2-out double to left field and Shin-Soo Choo drove him in with a double to left.

The Sox scored for the last time in the 7th when Jose Veras replaced Jeremy Sowers. Podsednik started out with a ground out to shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera. Alexei Ramirez then hit a pop up past Cabrera that was just out of his reach and Alexei Ramirez was able to reach first. Ramirez stole 2nd base for his 12th this year with Jermaine Dye batting. Jermaine Dye popped out to shortstop Cabrera for the 2nd out. Rafael Perez came into the game to replace Jose Veras. Thome drew a walk from Perez to make it runners on 1st and 2nd, with 2 outs. Joe Smith replaced Rafael Perez still with 2 outs. Konerko faced Smith and doubled to right field to drive in Ramirez and Thome, but Thome was tagged out at home for the third out.

In the 8th, Alexei Ramirez left the game due to an injury to his right hand. Chris Getz took over at 2nd base and Jayson Nix took over at shortstop.

In the 9th, Matt Thornton relieved Jose Contreras and blew threw the 9th by striking out Choo and getting Peralta to ground out to shortstop Jayson Nix. Thornton then walked Travis Hafner but ended the game on a great note by striking out Ryan Garko on a 2-2 fastball.

The Sox will now to Kansas City to take on the Royals (33-44) for a 4 game series. In the opener, the Sox will be sending Mark Buehrle (7-2; 3.26 ERA) to face Bruce Chen (0-1; 5.68 ERA). Hopefully the Sox can continue this 5 game win streak and keep the W's up on the board. An update an Alexei Ramirez's injury will be posted when more has been revealed.

Sox Take Over Crosstown Series

ChiSox Fan Forever — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:23:09 -0000

With this rubber match between the Sox and Cubs, possibly for the year with the rainout only to be made up if there are playoff chances, it looked to be another offensive day from the start after the past 2 days of high offensive days. The only team that actually had an offense going was the Sox offense. The Cubs horrible defense only helped them take today's game and the Sox took advantage of that.

With both pitchers breezing through the lineups through the first inning, Danks giving up one hit and Zambrano none, Cubs came up looking for some offense and blew the chance that was handed to them. Danks got Soto to ground out but then allowed a single to Ryan Freel. With Freel on first, Danks tried keeping him close and attempting pickoffs, but that came back to bite him when he threw one too low for Konerko as it got away and Freel moved into 2nd. With Danks struck out Fukudome to make it 2 outs. Freel stole 3rd without a throw from catcher AJ Pierzynski, but Andres Blanco failed to push the run across as he popped out to Alexei Ramirez. The Sox got their first hit in the 2nd, when Konerko doubled to deep left center and Getz walked, but they were unable to push across any runs.

Sox drew first blood for the third straight day against the Cubs, this time in the 3rd inning. It started off with DeWayne Wise grounding out 2nd, but Scott Podsednik got on base when he was hit by a pitch on the knee. With 1 on and 1 out, Ramirez came up to bat and was much more patient than he has been lately, as he drew more pitches and allowed Podsednik to lean towards 2nd and get into the head of Zambrano. Zambrano threw a hanging slider and Ramirez just took advantage of it as he hit it out of the park to left center to put the Sox up 2-0.

In the 4th, the Cubs offensive woes continued as Lee started off the inning with a single, but Jake Fox hit a grounder to Gordon Beckham who went around the horn to get the double play. With the Sox already up 2-0, they were looking to extend their lead as they did when A.J. Pierzynski led it off with a single to center. Gordon Beckham helped move A.J. over to third with a single to right on a hit and run play after Chris Getz flew out to center. With 2 on and 1 out, DeWayne Wise drove in A.J. when he singled to second, where Blanco just knocked down the ball. Gordon Beckham was picked off at second after a couple of tries from Zambrano and Podsednik grounded out to third to end the inning.

The Cubs continued to struggle to plate runs as Soriano led off with a double in the 6th and Theriot grounded to second to move Soriano to third. With one out, Bradley struck out to make it 2 outs. Danks got into a bigger jam as he walked both Lee and Fox. Danks worked his way out of the jam by getting Soto to ground out to Ramirez at shortstop, who got Lee out at 3rd on the force. The Sox offense continued to hit well as the Cubs defense continued to struggle as they have most of the day. Chris Getz led the 6th off with a stand up double to right field and Beckham sacrificed himself to Zambrano to move Getz over to 3rd. With DeWayne Wise up, Getz stole home easily as Zambrano attempted to throw a pitchout, but missed horribly. Wise was hit by the very next pitch as Zambrano could not control his emotions. Ozzie Guillen came out of the dugout to check on Wise and half of the White Sox team left with him as emotions rose. With Podsednik up to bat, Wise stole 2nd and Podsednik drew a walk as Zambrano lost his control. David Patton then came in to replace Zambrano. Ramirez hit a high one between Theriot and Soriano that should have been a pop out, but the Cubs struggled to get a read on it. With bases loaded, Dye hit a pop out to Theriot in short left and the infield fly rule was called, even though Theriot nor Freel were facing home, but Theriot completely failed to even get a glove on the ball. Theriot bobbled the ball and Wise sprinted home to put the Sox up 5-0.

In the 7th, Danks hit Freel on the third pitch to put him on. Warnings were finally issued to both sides. Cubs failed to push across anything as Fukudome fouled out to Beckham, Blanco grounded into a force out where Freel was out at second, and Soriano struck out swinging. Danks ran his pitch count to 110 and was replaced by Linebrink in the 8th. Danks finished the day with 7 innings pitched, 4 hits given up, 5 strikeouts, 4 walks, but has a 0.00 ERA for the day to show for the hard work.

With Linebrink pitching in the 8th, he was looking to show the Cubs he wasn't such an easy pitcher to hit, and he did that by striking out the side of Theriot, Bradley, and Lee. In the 8th, Dye added one more insurance run by hitting a homerun to right center field. Linebrink came out in the ninth to end the game and he blew through the Cubs lineup with Fox grounding out to Ramirez, Soto flying out to Podsednik near the wall, and striking out Freel on 5 pitches.

With this game over and finished with the Sox winning 6-0, the Sox now lead the interleague series again with a record of 36-35 in the overall series. The Sox have also outscored the Cubs 350-341. The only way the Cubs can tie up the series now the makeup day for the rainout of June 16. This makeup game will be played on September 3rd or September 10th, these are the two mutual days for the Sox and Cubs. This would either would extend a rough 10-game road trip that the Sox would have to deal with to Boston, New York, and Minnesota to 11 games if played on Sept. 3, or give the White Sox an extra game before leaving for a West Coast road trip on Sept. 10.

Thomas Feud Finally Over in Chicago

ChiSox Fan Forever — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 18:40:51 -0000

Frank Thomas returned to U.S. Cellular on Friday and was sitting in the 3rd base dugout as he looked out and felt as if he was home. With all of the controversy that had gone on between the White Sox and former Sox slugger Frank Thomas, he was glad to be back in Chicago and have good speaking terms between the organization and himself.

On Friday though, he did something he hasn't ever done. He let all of his emotions spill out as he admitted that he never wanted to leave Chicago and wants to retire as a true member of the White Sox. He also stated that he would be willing to sign a ceremonial one-day contract. It would definitely mean a lot to this town and the organization if Thomas was able to retire as a White Sox player.

Ozzie Guillen through in his own opinions of the one-day contract idea by stating, ''I don't believe in that,'' Guillen said of one-day contracts. ''It's better to get one year. One day I don't think is necessary. It would be nice when he announces his retirement that we do something nice for him and let people know [what he meant to the White Sox], but one day? I don't buy that." Well, I would believe in doing a ceremonial contract for one day, but honestly, the Sox do not have the space to sign him even to a one year deal. What would we do if we actually signed him to a one year contract? Where would he be put and who would be sent down to AAA Charlotte? These are questions that would remain.

Now, even though Thomas is wanting to return to the White Sox, he said that he was still hoping to play a whole year. Honestly, if Frank Thomas is available at the end of the year, come September, and the Sox are in a playoff race and need a player, why not sign him compared to calling up a new bat from AAA Charlotte? He would be a good sign if the Sox needed a big bat at the end of the season. I would still say it would be nice to sign him for a day and make a ceremony out of it because this town appreciates everything he did for the organization and town, even though he was not a part of the all important World Series team in 2005.

End It Like Beckham

ChiSox Fan Forever — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 04:41:52 -0000

With the loss of Friday night's game behind the Sox, they decided they wouldn't allow the Cubs to take advantage of them again offensively. Everyone came out swinging and hitting, especially Scott Podsednik. With the second game in front of the Sox and Cubs, it was off to the races from the very beginning, but unlike Friday's game which featured 4 combined home runs, the runs were produced through small ball today.

With the pitching matchup of Dempster vs. Buehrle, it looked to be a great matchup. However, in the first inning, Sox drew first blood in the bottom half when Podsednik led the inning off with a double to deep left and Alexei Ramirez sacrificed himself to move Podsednik over to third. With Dye on a tear lately, he proved once again how valuable he was by doubling to deep left to drive in Podesednik.

In the second, the Cubs made themselves look even worse as Buehrle got Jake Fox to fly out to center and struck out Soto and Freel. In the bottom half, the Sox struck once again for another run after DeWayne Wise drew a walk with two out and then stole second while Podsednik was in the box. Podsednik came through in the clutch by singling to right to bring Wise home. End of the 2nd, Sox up 2-0.

After 2 shutout innings, Buehrle gave up his first runs of the day, yet they remained unearned because of two errors, one by Gordon Beckham and the next by Alexei Ramirez. Beckham committed a throwing error trying to throw out Andres Blanco, so Blanco made it to second with one out. Soriano flew out and it looked like Buehrle was going to be able to get out of the jam with the lead intact. Unfortunately, Theriot singled to center and drove in Blanco. With 2 outs, Bradley hit one towards Alexei Ramirez who committed a fielding error. With two outs still, Derrek Lee singled to left which pushed Theriot across home. Buehrle finally got out of the inning with Fox flying out to center again. After 3 innings, game tied at 2.

In the 5th, Soriano led off with a single and Theriot followed that up with a walk. With two on and no outs, Buehrle hurt himself by balking when he went to throw to first. This moved Soriano to third and Theriot to second. Bradley smacked a ball to Ramirez but caught it for the first out and Lee hit a sac fly to center which drove in Soriano. This was one of the many lead changes throughout this game. In the bottom half, the Sox refused to lay down as they brought out their big bats. After a Wise flyout, Podsednik stepped up and hit a home run that just went over the fence in right. The bases did not stay empty as Ramirez singled to right center, Thome drew a walk, and Konerko was hit by a pitch that seemed to hit the SOX symbol on his batting helmet. With a similar situation from Friday, A.J. Pierzynski came up with bases loaded and came through with a single to right, which drove in Ramirez and Thome. After 5 full innings, Sox lead 5-3.

During the sixth, the Cubs refused to give up. After getting two outs, Buehrle walked Fukudome and gave up a single to Blanco. D.J. Carrasco replaced Buehrle and inherited runners at 1st and 2nd. Carrasco then gave up a 2 run double to Soriano and a 1 run single to Theriot. In the bottom half, Podsednik continued his great day by driving in Wise after he tripled to deep center. After 6 full innings, the game was tied once again, 6-6.

In the 8th, Alexei Ramirez continued his defensive troubles by committing another throwing error on an easy play on Ryan Freel. Aaron Poreda replaced Carrasco and ended up giving a single to Fukudome and a run after Blanco grounded out to Ramirez and pushed a run across. Ramirez threw to Konerko, who then threw to A.J. hoping to turn the double play and keep the run from scoring, but Konerko's throw was a second late. In the bottom half, Marmol took over for the Cubs and Beckham led off with bloop single to very shallow left field, just out of Ryan Freel's reach. Wise then sacrificed to first and Podsednik's perfect day finally came to an end when he flew out to center (but hey 4-5 ain't bad). With 2 outs, Ramirez came up to the plate and made up for the earlier errors by when he singled to left and drove in Beckham. After 8, the game is once again tied, 7-7.

In the ninth, Bobby Jenks replaced Dotel and had a quick 1-2-3 inning by striking out Lee, getting Fox to fly out to center once again, and striking out Soto. Things were looking good for the Sox and they only got better. In the bottom of the ninth, Sean Marshall came out of the bullpen for the Cubs to face Thome, Konerko, and AJ. Thome flew out and Konerko singled to left, which put the winning run on 1st. Fields was then put in to pinch run for Konerko. AJ ended up grounding out to third, which put Fields on second with 2 outs. Things were looking scary for the win without extra innings. With Getz coming up to bat, Jayson Nix took his spot and ended up drawing a walk from Jose Ascanio. Gordon Beckham came up to bat with 2 on and 2 out and he proved to the White Sox organization why he will remain in the lineup. On a first pitch 4 seam fastball, Beckham hit it to right field and drove in Josh Fields to end the game with a White Sox win, 8-7.

Even though Beckham drove in the winning run, I would have to make Scott Podsednik the player of the game as he went 4-5, with 3 RBI's and 2 runs scored, while being just a triple short of the cycle. Tomorrow's rubber match features Carlos Zambrano (4-2; 3.48 ERA) and John Danks (5-6; 4.43 ERA). This will be the deciding match everyone is looking forward to, especially to see who will take the momentum into the last game of the Crosstown Rivalry in September.

CrossTown Classic Continues

ChiSox Fan Forever — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:27:35 -0000

With the Sox pulling off a long 13 inning victory and the Cubs coming off a tough sweep from the Detroit Tigers, these 2 teams get ready to pull out all the stops and face off again in this series. With the all time series tied at 34-34, these two teams are looking to catch up in their divisions and see if they can start a win streak to pull them closer to their hot division leaders.

With the Sox now 6 games behind Detroit and Detroit on a 7 game win streak, they are looking to keep the W's rolling and hope for a little magic from the Houston Astros. Hopefully the Sox can continue their hard hitting ways at home as we have seen the past 2 days... The Sox could use some more wins at home, as that is where they have struggled this year, after going 54-28 at home in 2008.

In the first game of this series it will be Jose Contreras (2-6, 5.23 ERA) taking the bump for the White Sox as he will be facing Randy Wells (1-3, 2.57 ERA) of the Cubs.

I will predict this game as a White Sox winner, with the way Jose has been pitching after his minor league stint and the score will be 6-2, White Sox Winner!

GO SOX!!!

Sox Win It In Long 13

ChiSox Fan Forever — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 08:49:01 -0000

Today was a typical game for the White Sox as we Sox fans have grown to know them, dragging the win out at the last second and taking a day off our lives with each second. And Scott Podesednik thrived in the clutch as he always has in Chicago, and he loves it.

The day started out rough for the Sox as the Dodgers broke the 0-0 tie in the fourth. It all started when Clayton Richard hit Juan Pierre to lead off the inning. Then, Russell Martin flew out to right, which pushed Pierre over to 2nd. Next, Juan Pierre stole 3rd without much of a surprise. Then, Orlando Hudson drove in Pierre with a single to left. Casey Blake singled moving Hudson to 2nd. Kemp flew out to deep right, allowing Hudson to get to third. The stolen bases against the White Sox grew higher as Blake took 2nd. Mark Loretta then delivered a double to deep left driving in Blake and Hudson. After the 4th, 3-0, Dodgers.

Top of the 5th made the Dodgers look even better, with the hits and sacrifices still piling up, only 1 run was plated by the Dodgers in the 5th. Richard only made 1 out in the fifth before being taken out and being replaced by Carrasco, who came in and allowed nothing more by getting Blake to fly out and striking out Matt Kemp, who is one of the best power hitters for the Dodgers, which left men on 2nd and 3rd. Middle of the 5th, Dodgers up 4-0.

Finally, the Sox's offense decided to respond in the bottom of the 5th with Konerko leading off with a homer and Wise tripled to deep center right after Josh Fields walked. End of the 5th, Sox still down 4-2.

In the 6th, Carrasco came out strong once again as he allowed a double to Loretta and then striking out Jones, Ausmus, and Castro. In the bottom half, Dye doubled to right after Ramirez flew out. Thome walks and Konerko fails to do anything. With 2 outs, AJ comes up to the plate and puts one over the fence to finally give the Sox the lead, 5-4.

Top of the 7th, Dodgers respond once again while taking advantage of a throwing error from Ramirez to get Russell Martin out at first. Unfortunately, Hudson then singles and pushed Martin to third and Blake grounds out to second as the Sox concede the run for the out.

In the top of the 8th, Sox reliever Scott Linebrink looking strong after struggling for a couple of weeks. (I will admit, once I saw him come out, I felt like having a heart attack since he has been throwing horribly.) Luckily, Linebrink ends up striking out 2. From the 8th to the 11th, only 1 hit was given up by the Dodgers.

In the bottom of the 12th, Sox blow a huge chance to win it. Podsednik singles after Wise flies out and Ramirez pushed Pods over with a nice single to the shortstop. With 2 men on and only 1 out, Anderson grounds out to first which moves them both over, but Nix fails to get a base hit to drive in anyone to end the inning. In the 13th, Poreda came in and struck out 2 out of the 3 batters he faced, proving he belongs in the majors.

In the bottom half of the 13th though, the Sox redeemed their chance for the win as Konerko singled and was then replaced for Gordon Beckham. AJ then singles to right and Getz is intentionally walked to load the bases. With bases loaded and no outs, Field AND Wise both fly out to center. With 2 outs now and hope running out for runs in the inning, Pods proved once again how clutch he is in Chicago by getting a base hit to center to drive in Beckham. In the end, Sox get the 'W' but with some unnecessary stress for the fans.

Even though I love the Sox, sometimes I hate the stress they put into each game... They keep it exciting at least. Sox go on to face the Cubs at the Cell. Hopefully the Sox can take advantage of this Cubs team that has been beaten around this year and who has just gotten swept by the Tigers.