MVN - Most Valuable Network

Sox “tie” after stranding 14

After blowing several opportunities to win the game, the Sox settled for a “tie” today against the Baltimore Orioles - a game I hope stays that way.

The Sox took a 2-1 lead on Paul Konerko’s single in the seventh, but Bobby Jenks blew his second straight save opportunity against Baltimore in the 9th, sending the game into extra innings.  In the 10th, Carlos Quentin, the Sox’ hottest hitter, lead off with a double and moved to third on Crede’s flyout.  But instead of giving Brian Anderson a chance to win another game with a walk-off hit (or sacrifice fly), Ozzie Guillen decided to go with a suicide squeeze.

Anderson had been on base three times earlier in the game, yet Ozzie took the bat out of his hands with the squeeze attempt.  Anderson whiffed on the bunt attempt, Quentin got tagged out at home, and what looked like a very promising end to the homestand died on the next pitch when Anderson struck out.

Uribe kept the Sox from losing with a game-tying homer in the 11th, but Pierzynski was retired for the sixth time with two men on, proving to be the last at bat of the game.

I hope this game doesn’t get finished because it would put too much strain on the players.  Baltimore would have to fly halfway across the country for potentially one inning, and the Sox would have to give up an off day - not something they want to do considering they’ve played fewer games than any other team in the majors.  This game should only get finished if it is going to mean something come playoff time.  And while the teams are in first now, chances are things won’t stay that way so it probably won’t matter.

As for the offense, Sox fans have no choice but to be concerned.  Big offseason aquisitions like Swisher, Cabrera, and Quentin have done okay, but the middle of the lineup is awful right now and as a group the Sox are last in the AL with a .242 average.  Remind you of last year?

The bright spot so far this year has been the pitching.  The bullpen has been good and the starters have kept the team in almost every game.  The offense must wake up soon though, as 16 of the next 19 games are on the road.

Nevertheless, the Sox are guaranteed to be in first place at the start of May, who would have thought! 

This entry was posted on Monday, April 28th, 2008 at 9:34 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.