Boy, I tell you, I was puttering around with the Sox game on, and the Sox were doing well. I sit down to watch the top of the ninth, and three runs cross the plate. I flip to another channel and Jenks gets the final out.

Talk about frustrating.  I love White Sox baseball. I try to watch White Sox baseball, they don’t play well.  I turn it off, they win.

There was plenty of good news and bad news in this game. 

The bad news:
The bullpen made it interesting again.  The Yankees scored three times in the ninth inning.  Garland left with a man on second, so he was charged with one run and Thornton was charged with the other two.  Bottom line: Garland pitched 8.1 innings and gave up two runs.  Thornton pitched 0.0 of an inning and gave up 2 runs. To Thornton’s credit, he’s been the most solid pitcher we’ve had in the bullpen so far, so this was probably just one bad outing for him. He’s still got an ERA of 3.86, which is at least respectable. Iguchi committed two errors tonight, doubling his total for the year in one game.

The good news:
The Sox won the game.  The offense scored six runs, and they needed every last one of them.   Both Konerko and Thome each hit their eighth home run. Konerko went 3-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. Thome went 1-3 with 2 RBI and a run scored. Despite two errors, Iguchi went 3-5 with an RBI and a run scored.  Uribe, who has been struggling, went 1-3 with a run scored. Garland went 8.1 innings and only gave up two runs and seven hits. Jenks converted another save opportunity, giving him 16 on the season.

This lady’s going to have to go back and watch the archived broadcast. That way I know I can watch without the Sox losing.

Today, the Sox sent down both Aardsma and MacDougal and brought up Bukvich and Prinz. I was advocating bringing up Prinz, Reynoso, or Babula, or any combination thereof.  I suspect that they chose Bukvich and Prinz because both of them have major league experience.  I didn’t know that; I was choosing players just by looking at their statistics. In any event, what I wanted to see done got done, so I’m a happy camper. 

Please let me apologize for my absence.  I am in the midst of a very busy couple of weeks, and since I don’t get paid for this blog, this blog is what gets pushed to the side when everything has to get done.  This is simply a labor of love for me. Over the next couple of weeks, my blog entries may be (and probably will be) spotty at best.  In the midst of everything, I do try to make an entry at least once every few days, because I do take this blog seriously.   

It’s frustrating when the Sox only win once every four or five games, because it seems like all I ever get to do is write about when they lose.  They won on Friday, and it was a great game, but I had no time to write a blog entry until today, after the bullpen has blown two more games. Say what you want about the lack of offense, but when you have a lead – however small – going into the late innings, you should be able to count on your bullpen to hold it. Realistically, nobody’s perfect, so they will blow that lead every now and again, but it shouldn’t be like watching the Cubs (i.e. the bullpen is going to blow the lead and you’re only watching to see how long it takes them to do it.)

I’m really hoping they do well against the Yankees tonight for a couple of reasons: the Yankees are also struggling and the game is going to be nationally televised.  It was supposed to be Clemens’ debut, which is probably the only reason why ESPN picked the game up in the first place.  I think we’ll see Prinz or Bukvich tonight, and hopefully not until at least the seventh inning.

This lady hopes Garland has a great night tonight, the new gentlemen in the bullpen work out well, and that the Sox overall are refreshed by the changes. It would be nice to see the Sox win on national television, no matter who they’re playing.