One tough series off the clock, Sox still in first.

It was pretty questionable — Cox got big-time lucky on waving BA with Riggans having him dead to rights but dropping the ball and Pierzynski pulled another Dennis the Menace trick out of his hat but the Sox did legitly tie the game up in the bottom of the 9th. I watched the replay of the Pierzynski play and A.J. quite simply did it again — I can’t believe he coaxed that call. Pierzynski simply stuck his elbow out and then fell down like a NFL kicker trying to draw a roughing the kicker call. Is Eddings a Sox fan or what? Maybe an A.J. fan?

I also have to question the stupidity of Maddon IBB’ing Thome to get to Ramirez. I know Thome is a Hall of Famer and you get the force at every base but I think Thome is more likely to strike out or GIDP in that situation than the guy hitting over .300 and who also has speed. Alexei’s swing-happiness was countered by the fact that the bases were loaded so it’s not like the pitcher could risk throwing him all junk outside the zone. Weird move in my opinion.

I was able to catch the rest of this game and before I left for a family party, I was pissed to see that the Twins were beating the Angels 3-1 in the 7th inning. It sure was nice to see that the Angels came back and won it when I got home. Keep losing, Twins.

How much o time AJ spends reading an MLB rulebook?

This little gem was in a comment, thought I’d share it:

Paul made the mistake by rolling the ball. Next year no one will remember the controversy at all.
by Megawatt on Oct 13, 2005 2:25 PM CDT

Pierzynski could pull off a flop worthy of an Italian soccer player.

If the Sox could get two wins for the price of one. I don’t expect the Twins to lose with their Francisco Liriano @ Miguel Batista matchup — lol, man the Mariners suck.

he just can’t seem to pitch around defensive mistakes…but as long as the offense can hit with RISP on a consistent basis…i’ll be happy and so will everybody else…but yeah….jenks continues to have a solid year out of the pen…he seems to struggle in non save situations but can get through it…with the k rate down this year it looks as if he’s trying to pitch to contact more and get quicker outs and it’s working for him….uhhh here’s to beating the shit out of baltimore

aj’ed in the a!

when todays suspended game began pablo was on the roster, so this is his last game with the team. it is also his birthday.

Those East German scores are much too low.

I think Eddings is, like in “The Godfather”, in KW’s pocket “like so many nickles and dimes”. Gotta be – that was just too obvious.

But you must, must, must love AJ. Let’s see if he sparked something.

Have they mentioned who is going to ‘start’? Furthermore, what are the rules as far as the lineup is concerned — if Q started in the three spot in the original game, does he have to start there tomorrow? Because if he doesn’t, I’d love to see Ozzie use Q, Dye and Thome as his top three, hoping for a homer to end the game quickly.

Also, do we re-obtain Pablo and Nick Masset for just this game? I certainly hope so.

“We, whitesox fans, often, but this year especially, have a lot of opinions and suggestions to Kenny and Ozzie regarding our lineup, team, and the farm system. In all of those suggestions I never hear anyone mention this crucial point: for us to develop our team we must get rid of Jim Thome.”

And you know what? He should get all the calls in his favor, just for knowing the rules of the game, and capitalizing when others aren’t paying attention.

Paulie with the first 2-out RISP hit against the Rays this season? Who woulda thunk!! (Thanks hitting coach, Griffey!)

I love 1st place. It’s so cozy up in there.

I might have to go out to the bar and grab a beer to see it

Matchup: White Sox (74-55) at Orioles (61-68), 7:05 p.m. ET
Probable Starters: Clayton Richard (20 IP, 8.55 RA, 1.75 WHIP, 15 K) vs. Chris Waters (90, 6.20, 1.17, 72—Triple-A)
Pythagorean Record: Chicago, 75-54 (672 RS, 561 RA); Baltimore, 64-65 (664 RS, 669 RA)
Hit List Rankings: Chicago, #4; Baltimore, #17
Prospectus: Before this contest kicks off, the Orioles and White Sox need to finish a game that was suspended back on April 28. At that time, the O’s were 14-11 and the White Sox 14-10, and MVP candidate Carlos Quentin had hit his sixth homer of the young season. The game was suspended after the 11th inning’s conclusion, when both teams had scored one more run to prolong the evening. The White Sox should have won the game much earlier, as they stranded 14 baserunners during the course of the game against the Orioles’ three, and wasted an excellent eight-inning effort from Javier Vazquez (one run, seven strikeouts, one walk). The significance of having this game’s outcome pushed to today is that the White Sox are just half-a-game up on the Twins, and have a chance to gain as much as 1½ games on their rivals if they are able to wrap up the extra-inning game as winners and then take the regularly-scheduled clash as well.

As for the highlighted Preview game, the White Sox send Richard against an Orioles lineup that’s hit very well during the second half. While Richard has performed well on the K/BB front—he has 6.8 strikeouts per nine and just 2.3 free passes per nine over his five appearances in the majors this year—he’s given up an eye-popping 30.7-percent liner rate, which explains the .395 BABIP he’s allowed. There are obviously small-sample issues if you try to draw much from those figures—he has thrown just 20 innings in the majors—but the thing to watch for is whether or not he’s too predictable, either in strategy, or perhaps due to tipping his pitches. As a guy with a sinker and a high-80s fastball and no dominant offering to put hitters away, anything that helps the hitter is going to cause fluky stats, like his 52 percent strand rate and unsightly BABIP.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-sp.osnotes25aug25,0,5575436.story?track=rss

Also, the Orioles are converting their first round bust Adam Loewen to an outfielder.

Who’d defend Cox if Riggans makes the tag?

Or does Junior keep getting trotted out there due to his “status”?

Rangers purchased the contract of OF Nelson Cruz from Triple-A Oklahoma.
Cruz is 5-for-17 since being activated at Triple-A on Thursday after missing three weeks with a quadriceps injury. So far this season, he is hitting .342 with 37 homers and 99 RBI in just 342 at-bats. His OPS is a solid 1.124. He’ll likely see significant time in right field, and is worth grabbing in AL-only leagues.

Will be interesting to see if he’s figured it out.