Tagged: Tampa Bay Rays

July 23, 2009

COMEBACK SOX!

Wuz good world dis ya boi White Sox Real Talk checkin in after a bounce back victory tonight against the Rays. Since Johnny Danks was scratched from his start due to a blister injury the Sox called up right hander Carlos Torres from Triple A Charlotte to face James “Big Game” Shields(you all know my problem with his nickname lol BUT im not gonna talk about that again.

What can I say about this kid Torres???? cuz he looked GREAT 6 innings only 3 runs allowed & those came off 2 homers not hit after hit after hit lol now im not gonna proclaim him the new Cy Young just cuz he had one nice outing NO lol but could he be a 5th starter option??? i think he has earned another shot for us to see more examples of what he really is. Now for the Sox the 6th inning is when things started to turn in our favor when Scotty Pods continued his great season with a leadoff Homer to make it a 3-1 game. Just a sidenote:I laugh everytime i see Pods blast one LOL its just soo funny but ANYWAY back to regualry scheduled blog lol. 2 outs later Gordon Beckham hit a single followed by Pods reaching base off an error. Then the Cuban Missle came up & hit a 2 RBI triple over B.J. Upton’s head to tie the game.

Then after the 3rd pitching change in the 7th inning the White Sox struck again when JD came up to hit his 60th RBI to give the Sox the lead 4-3.

So things got interesting in the ninth inning once again but this time with Matt Thornton but he got the job done for a much needed White Sox winner. Since the Tigers blew it against Seattle their division lead was cut back to a game again. I’m loving how this team is playing & I’m gonna make a bold prediction that if we win the division ITS GONNA BE A PROBLEM! with a starting 4 of Buerhle,Danks,Floyd, & Contreras I’ll spar with anyone. UNTIL NEXT TIME PEACE!!!!!!!!!!!1

July 21, 2009

JOHN DANKS TO MISS NEXT START WITH BLISTER!!

Wuz good world dis ya boi White Sox Real Talk checkin in with a pre-game blog on some distrubing news outta the Southside. John Danks will miss his start tommorow due to a blister problem, now they are not putting him on the DL & Sox staff say he should only miss one start but we all know that blister injuries can linger just ask Kerry Wood who had a blister problem last year & never was the same in the 2nd half. Now the Sox have called up Carlos Torres from Triple A Charlotte & will start tommorow’s game against the Rays. This isn’t the news I wanted to hear because we are in a Pennant race & we can’t be just giving away wins. We got Clayton on the mound tonight & he has been imploding of late & then Torres starting tommorow, I’m not saying he’s not gonna do well but against the Rays??? Not Likely so i think we are gonna need to score a lot of runs the next two nights to win these games. So hopefully Danks is only gone one start but we will see, until next time yall PEACE!!

July 20, 2009

SOX DRAW 1ST BLOOD IN ALDS REMATCH, TOUGH ROAD AHEAD!

Wuz good world dis ya boi White Sox Real Talk checking in after a THRILLER at da Cell between the Rays & my beloved White Sox. Action picked up in the 3rd inning when the game was tied at 1. That’s when Paulie Konerko struck again & hit his 18th homer of the season to give the Sox a 4-1 lead.

In the very next inning All-Star game MVP Carl Crawford hit a in-the-park home run when he hit a ball deep into center field & Scotty Pods thought the ball was out the park but it really was in & rolled off his foot into right field as Crawford just flew to home plate to cut into the lead 4-2.

In the 6th the Rays made things even more interesting as Evan Longoria blasted his 19th long ball of the year to cut into the Sox’s lead a lil more 4-3. Gavin Floyd pitched 7 innings of 3 hit baseball(all of which were homers) and look pretty decent depending on 9 days without throwing a pitch. Now after the Longoria homer the Sox played some good D that lead to the W.
KEY PLAYS:

The biggest play of the game happened in the 8th when Matt Thornton came in with runners on 1st & 2nd with 1out. That’s when Jason Bartlett tried to steal third & A.J. threw him out & got his 2nd runner of the game(he threw out Crawford earlier) that was important because on the very next pitch Thornton gave up a base hit that would’ve scored the tying run if A.J. hadn’t had made that play. Thronton then got the 3rd & final out of the inning, so Bobby Jenks came in the 9th to try to get the save, he looked unhittable the first two batters striking out Carlos Pena & Ben Zobrist BUT then things got risky as Jenks walked Pat Burrell, Willy Aybar singled then Gabe Gross was walked. So the bases were loaded for Bobby with 2 outs & the tying run 90 feet away but Mr.Jenks did not fold as he struck out Jason Bartlett to get his 22nd save of the season & a White Sox winner. There was even more good news as the Tigers were idle tonight & we closed the divison gap to just one game
WELCOME BACK CQ!!

Sox fans got the news they have been waiting to hear for the last two months…CARLOS QUENTIN IS BACK! he was called up today & Brian Anderson was sent down to make roster space for him. I personally was shocked because I was sure DWise was gonna be the odd man out but i guess not. Carlos had a base hit & also ran the bases pretty good in his 1st game back. This is huge for us because even if he is only 75% thats still great because he still changes our whole lineup. Its like aquiring someone through a trade & defitnely the boost we needed for this 2nd half Pennant Push.
ROUGH ROAD AHEAD!
Now the Sox got this tough stretch of 5 series on the right foot tongiht but we weill defintley know real soon how good we really are & how good are chances are of winning not just the division but possibly the AL Pennant. The schedule makers obviously aren’t Sox fans cuz the next 5 series(including the one we are in now) are BRUTAL. Not only do we have 3 more games against the Rays this week but after that we will be heading to Detroit for 4 & Minnesota for 3 in a VERY VERY important road trip, then we come home & things don’t get any easier as we will be welcoming in the Bronx Bombers & the Angels. So with all this being said by the end of the month we will be either in the race still or very damaged heading to August. That’s all for me tonight tho, tommorow all eyes will be on Clayton Richard to see if he will pitch well & preseve his place in the Sox starting rotation, until next time yall PEACE!!!!!!!!!!!

July 19, 2009

WALK A WIN……..SOX GIVE O’S THE 3RD GAME OF THE SERIES

Wuz good world dis ya boi White Sox Real Talk checking in with a blog wrapping up the 1st series of the 2nd half & also to preview the next series against the Rays. So coming into this game the Sox were looking to sweep the 0’s after taking the first two games of the series. The Orioles got on the board early with a Sox mistake off Jose Contrera’s wild pitch, this became the general theme of the game but I’ll get into that later. Sox tied the game up in the 3rd inning as Dewayne Wise boosted his horrible .198 batting average up to the .200’s with his first home run of the season.

Then things got messy as the game moved to the 5th inning as Jose Contreras gave up the tie on a bases loaded wild pitch, but that was just the tip of the iceberg as Ozzie went to the bullpen and brought out Aaron Poreda who was yet to give up a run in his appearances. That streak quickly came to an end as he gave up 2 runs on back to back walks to make it a 4-1 Orioles lead.

So Ozzie went to the pen AGAIN to bring in D.J. Carrasco, things didn’t get any better as he walked in a run then gave up a RBI single to Gregg Zaun to make it a 5-1 lead. Then another run came in on a double play fielder’s choice to make it a 5 run inning and a 6-1 O’s lead. The Sox tried to get something going in the 7th as Chris Getz hit his 2nd Homer of the season to make it a 6-2 game but the Sox couldnt muster anything else it was 1,2,3 after that. Then Greg Zaun officially close the door with a 3 run homer that gave them the 10-2 win.

The only good news of the day was that the Detroit Tigers also lost as the Yankees completed the sweep, The Tigers get tommorow off before heading home to play the Seattle Mariners who are in a tight battle for the AL West crown while my Sox get ready for a 4-game set with Tampa Bay.
BATTLE WITH THE RAYS:

Now the Sox have already faced the Rays this season as they took 2 out of 3 & really should’ve swept them back in April. That was then…this is now, The Rays are now in a heated battle for the AL Wildcard and are gonna need these games just as bad as we do.
PITCHING MATCHUPS:
GAME 1
Gavin Floyd(7-6 4.44 ERA)
VS.
David Price(3-3 4.70 ERA)

GAME 2
Clayton Richard(3-3 5.42 ERA)
VS.
Jeff Nieamann(8-4 3.73 ERA)

GAME 3
John Danks(8-6 3.98 ERA)
VS.
James Shields(6-6 3.75 ERA)

GAME 4
Mark Buerhle(10-3 3.52 ERA)
VS.
Scott Kazmir(4-5 6.62 ERA)
Now on paper it looks like a pretty even pitching matchup but I will give us the slight edge because of the struggles that Scott Kazmir & David Price have had and all of our starters in this series with the exception of Clayton have been pretty solid. Now all eyes will be on Mr.Clayton Richard on Tuesday as it potentially could be his last start of the season if he fails and Bartolo Colon continues to pitch well in the minors & is called up as expected this week.
EVEN MORE HEAT ON THE 5TH STARTER SPOT????

Just when you thought that Colon was the only option in the 5th starter role now there is word coming up that World Series hero Freddy Garcia will be pitching a bullpen session for Don Cooper tommorow and could be an option if he does well. Now I’m not expecting Freddy to be lights out like he used to be but my question is does Freddy have enough in him to give us 5 to 6 innings of work the next half just enough to get us over the hump???? that is a question that i would love to find out, aw yea before i close up is that there is a new rumor that Kenny might be trying to trade for Felix Pie…don’t know about that one lol but until next time yall…PEACE!!!!!!!!!!!