It's easy for Sox fans to point to the Lance Broadway pick and mark the '05 draft as a failure, but a closer inspection reveals a number of players who could be classified as Top Prospects despite their lower-profile draft position. Unfortunately for the Sox, the '05 draft's Top Prospects now reside in other farm systems; Daniel Cortes (7th round) is the Royals top pitching prospect, with Chris Carter (15th) and Aaron Cunningham (6th) give the A's a couple extra Top 50 prospects via Arizona. But even with Broadway tucked away in the Suspects section of our classification system, we've still got a few names you'll recognize from the '05 draft here among the Plain Ol' Prospects.

Continue our look at the Sox prospects after the jump.

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The White Sox seemed to play their best baseball of the year with their proverbial backs to the wall. They had won 4-in-row (against 4 different teams) in elimination games, when a single loss meant the end of their long season. But winning their 5th elimination game in a row was too much to ask.

I wonder if any team has been able to stave off elimination 5 times in a season/postseason? I'm sure the there was at least one, I just don't know which teams were able to pull off such a feat.

Gavin Floyd gave up a pair of homeruns to the dead red sitting BJ Upton, and was pulled without retiring a batter in the 4th inning, as the Sox offense couldn't match the pace of their Rays counterparts. He probably threw better than Rays' game 2 starter Scott Kazmir, but unlike Kazmir, he had to face an offense that was not about to let a struggling pitcher off the hook. With his offense being Sonnanstine'd, Ozzie was forced to turn to the pen early. Despite another strong outing from Clayton Richard, the Sox could only manage a pair of solo-shots offensively, and got no closer than 3 runs the rest of the game.

We can admit now; now that the Sox are done for the season, now that the Rays have beaten them soundly 3-1. The Rays are a better team than the White Sox, or at least this version of the White Sox; the one without Q! and unable to properly set up their pitching rotation. In addition to their superior team speed, the one area where the Rays were clearly better than the Sox was in the back of their bullpen. And, at least for these 4 games, they pounded the ball out of the ballpark better than the Sox. The better team won.

These Sox weren't firing on all cylinders. The offense just hasn't been the same without our beloved Q!. The rotation was driven hard for 163 games, and strained through most of September with a 4-man rotation. The bullpen needed another week or two to get everyone back, healthy, and in their proper roles. And in the playoffs, anything less than your absolute best earns you a swift trip home.

So, today ends the White Sox' season, and I feel surprisingly good.

Chicago Winters Are Cold Without Warm Memories

When I look back on this season, I won't remember this game, or the series loss to the Rays, or even the 3-game sweep in the Metrodome. No, when I look back on this season, I'll see the "Worst" game of the season, I'll see Q! single-handedly taking out the Angels, I'll see Gavin Floyd's big hairy balls, I'll see that huge smile on Alexei's face, and maybe most of all, I'll see John Danks mowing down the Twins in the Plus One game.

I once called the 2006 club a 90-Win Failure, but that term doesn't apply to this 90-win club. They exceeded all but the loftiest (and unrealistic) expectations, and found some youth around which to build along the way. To me, this season was nearly a complete success. BP agrees.

Onto the Off-Season

Those of you who stumbled onto the site this season will be surprised by how lively this site remains for much of the off-season (save early February, which is a baseball dead-zone). We'll be here to discuss possible free-agent pickups, trades, the prospects we don't have, roster contruction; I might even revisit those 4 elimination game wins, which I was too superstitious to properly recap, as any optimism on this site was met with a karmic slap in the face. So stick around, you might find the site is still a daily stop even when games have ceased.

• Phil Rogers draws a parallel between the start of Mark Buehrle's career -- called up in July '00 to start, finished season in pen, came out of pen in playoffs -- and Clayton Richard's debut season with the Sox. Buehrle obviously had better numbers, and was just 21 at the time (Richard is 25), but it's an apt comparison, at least in role. I won't bring up that the swing-man who deserved a playoff start that series, Sean Lowe, didn't get a chance because the series only went three games.

  Game 1 was the first time I've seen Richard use his slider effectively with the Sox. I missed his first start, remember. He also never really dialed up his fastball as we've seen him do. It was a different style than we've seen from him in a majority of his outings, and even though the Rays seemed to be getting to him as the got to see him a second time, it was a style that's more conducive to long-term major league success.

• Ozzie Guillen all but declared Mark Buehrle the game 5 starter, should there be one.

  "We have to sit down and talk about it," Guillen said. "I don't want to lose faith in Javy, but it's something that's on our mind. If we get to a Game 5, I might start with [ Mark] Buehrle. I don't know yet. But you know it's going to be on my mind."

  And continues to rain on Carlos Quentin's comeback parade, not that I can disagree with him.

  "I don't want to hurt Carlos' feelings because I know when everybody gets to the postseason, everybody wants to be part of that," Guillen said. "I respect his work habit, the way he goes about his business, but it's not going to be easy. If he thinks he's going to take batting practice, and all of a sudden he's playing, I don't know about that one."

  Even if Carlos did have his timing back, which is doubtful considering he hasn't seen live pitching in a month, it's unlikely that he'd have his power, which has been his biggest, most surprising asset in a White Sox uniform.

• Nick Swisher is expected to start in LF in place of Dewayne Wise as the Sox face a left-handed starter in Scott Kazmir in game 2. Now, if only Brian Anderson would find his way to CF before the 8th inning.

What can you say that hasn't already been said about Javier Vazquez? He is what he is; an average pitcher who can't stand the heat in the kitchen.

I'd be lying if I said I expected anything better than 4.1 innings and 6 runs allowed from Vazquez, but there was a small part of me that knows that Vazquez can be a dominating pitcher at times, as he was in the first 4 innings of his last outing, or all 7 innings of the outing prior to the worst 4 consecutive starts of his career*. I hoped he would pitch well, better than expected, but I wasn't counting on it.

For that reason, and that reason alone, I don't feel too bad about the loss today. I was looking at this game as one that the Sox would be stealing if they were able to come out on top. And for about 10 minutes there, I thought they just might have a shot. But Vazquez gave the Sox 3 runs (earned on a two-out, two on Dewayne Wise HR) right back in the bottom half of the third.

I know there was considerable chatter in the gamethreads about Ken Griffey Jr.'s defense on Akinori Iwamura's triple in that inning, but I don't know if anyone gets to that ball. Junior was playing a bit shallow, by design, because of the moving-in-the-box type hitter at the plate, and I'd have to think that were Brian Anderson in the game, he might have been in even more. Junior played the ball as well as he can play it, and didn't even come close to making a play on the ball that hit at the base of the CF wall. Watching the replays, I think that ball was hit too hard, on too much of a line, to expect anyone to make that play. And this is coming from somebody who is always looking to point out Junior's defensive shortcomings.

* I went searching for a comparable stretch of games in Vazquez' past, but all I could come up with was a series of 4 straight games in which he allowed 5 runs earlier this season. Not surprisingly, Vazquez has had the two worst stretches of his career in the last 4 months on the south side.

If there was one bright spot for the Sox in their opening game loss, it had to be the pitching of Clayton Richard. In hindsight, he might have been an inspired choice for game one starter. But that's a move that I was admittedly against until I saw him pitch today, so it would be hypocritical of me chastise the organization for not having the balls (or foresight) to make that decision.

Unfortunately, Richard wasn't all that impressive out of the pen in relief of Vazquez late in the regular season. He was only alright, better than the other dreck littering the bullpen, which made the Sox decision an easy one. Vazquez would start game 1.

In the two biggest appearances of his career, his final start of the regular season in Yankee Stadium and the 3+ innings of playoff relief today, Richard has been very good. I suspect that the unusual left-handedness of those two clubs have something to do with his success, but Richard's two quality outings in high-stress situations for anyone, let alone a rookie who started the year in A-ball and outside the White Sox top 10 prospects, lie in stark contrast to the results of the $11+M proven veteran he relieved.

* * * * *

There were some ruffled feathers in the 7th inning, when Grant Balfour and Orlando Cabrera exchanged words following a ball well outside the strike zone on the first pitch of Cabrera's at-bat. It appears that Balfour, who relieved Shields with 1-out and the bases loaded*, got a little too excited for Cabrera's liking following a strikeout of Juan Uribe. Balfour said/yelled something, and Cabrera was not appreciative, kicking a cloud of dirt and chalk in Balfour's direction and, if my Associates Degree in lip reading is worth anyting, and it better be worth the 3 payments of $495 I paid, told Balfour "Fuck You!" Balfour responded by striking Cabrera out, and getting his Carlos Zambrano on as he left the field, almost having to be pushed into the dugout, as both managers found their way to the field.

* Great call by Maddon. Balfour is his best reliever, and arguably the nastiest reliever in baseball even though he essentially throws only one pitch. With Troy Percival being left off the playoff roster, most managers would probably have handed closer duties to Balfour without thinking twice. Balfour is exactly the type of pitcher you call upon in the 7th with the bases loaded, and Maddon's refusal to automatically stick the //obvious// choice into the closer's role allowed him to turn to Balfour in a much higher leverage situation.

The thought first crossed my mind when Vazquez failed to step up his game against the Twins following Ozzie Guillen's unflattering comments. At that point, Guillen had not lost faith in Vazquez; he had merely issued a challenge to his feeble-minded hurler. The Sox gave Vazquez every opportunity to prove his detractors wrong over the last month, with two starts on short rest (both disasters), and two games in domes in playoff environments (similar disasters). Needless to say he was unsuccessful. It's hard to believe that Guillen has any confidence remaining in Vazquez, no matter what his post-game comments may be, after 4 straight blown high-pressure starts.

If there's any short-term silver lining to Vazquez cratering yet again under high-pressure, it's that if the Sox are able to fight their way back into this series and force a game 5, there's no way he gets the call. It will be some combination of Mark Buehrle and Clayton Richard, who made Javy look like a chump with his 3+ innings of scoreless relief.

Ozzie Guillen and the White Sox made a shrewd move by waiting until the last possible minute to announce Clayton Richard as Wednesday's starter, and were rewarded with a surprisingly good outing. But Ozzie pushed his luck a little too much, and the shaky Sox pen put the game out of reach in short order.

I was confused in the lead up to this game that nobody in the mainstream media seemed to think Clayton Richard would get the start. To me, he seemed to be the obvious choice. The Yankees aren't the Royals, after all, and have a number of good left-handed hitters. So, even though Richard isn't a major league starter, he was still a better option than Lance Broadway for this game. Heck, even Broadway was dropping hints this week. Though I can't seem to find the exact quote now, Broadway said something like "they haven't told me" in regards to whether he was getting the start Wednesday.

For 6 innings, Richard make the Sox look like geniuses. He skated through the first 5 innings giving up only 1 hit, and worked out of trouble in the 6th, striking out Derek Jeter with 2 men on to end the inning. In the 7th inning however, Richard was unable to extricate himself from some self-induced trouble.

Richard walked the incredibly unclutch Alex Rodriguez, who advanced to second on Jason Giambi's groundout. With two outs and Xavier Nady due up, Ozzie came out for a mound visit, but didn't pull Richard, who had only given up 3 hits in his 6.2 innings of work.

Ozzie should have pulled him there. Richard isn't one of the other 4 starters, and isn't deserving of the long leash I've called for just a few days ago. Heck, he had never gone this deep into a major league game before. But with the bullpen as poor as it's been, it was hard to argue with leaving Richard in for one more batter. The results begged to differ. Richard quickly fell behind Nady, and then gave up a single back up the middle to even the score at one, the incredibly unclutch A-Rod scoring the tying run.

That definitely should have been Richard's last batter. But Ozzie left him, with Robinson Cano, who had 2 of the 4 Yankees hits in the game, due up. Cano quickly doubled down the right field line, and only then, with the go-ahead run 90 feet from home did Ozzie go to his pen. Predictably, they provided no relief. But it might have been a different situation if Ozzie had tried harder to protect the Sox lead.

Even though Ozzie made his mistakes in this game, it's easy to place too much blame on him for the Sox loss. The real loser in this game was the Sox offense. 5 times they put the leadoff man on base, including 3 leadoff doubles. Yet they were only able to productive out their way into 1 run, let alone any actual hitting with men on base.

The Sox dropped their record to 9-31 when they fail to hit a HR, highlighting their inability to produce runs in other ways.

At 6:35, the tarp was off the field. Roger Bossard was being interviewed on Comcast, saying they were going to play through the wet weather. But when they came back from commercial just after 7, the tarp was back while Hawk and DJ talked of double headers and rain outs. By 8 PM, they had called the game.

The Sox are scheduled to make up the game as a true double header tomorrow, so you halfway to St. Patty's ticket holders are pretty much out of luck. I'm sure the Sox would rather have a split double header, and not lose a game at the gate, but FOX was scheduled to broadcast the game so the first game doesn't start until nearly 3 PM.

I don't think it will matter much. I'm no meteorologist, but based on the weather report for tomorrow, I have trouble seeing them getting both games in. They might be able to get one in, playing through a number of delays, but I don't think they'll get two.

MLB was busy friday night, postponing 6 games total, including the Twins-Orioles game. The Twins are also scheduled for a double header tomorrow, so it's not like they gain any advantage by getting to keep their starters on regular rest while the Sox scramble.

The remnants of Hurricane Ike are supposed to over southern Chicago at game time on Sunday, which is a night game on ESPN. Because of the national broadcast, I doubt they'd move that up to, say, noon just to get the game in. If they're only able to get one game in tomorrow, baseball should step in and send the game to Milwaukee, as has been discussed for the displaced Cubs.

Speaking of the Sox rotation, it would be fool hardy to try to hazard another guess based upon the approaching weather patterns, but I'm going to do it anyways. John Danks and Javier Vazquez are scheduled to throw Saturday, with Vazquez working on short rest. Friday's rainout would force Danks to come back on short rest, not just once, but twice in a row, if the Sox wish to keep their rotation as I outlined a couple days ago. I highly doubt they'd do that to a pitcher who has appeared tired for much of the last month.

Keeping Danks on regular rest by giving Clayton Richard a start in the Yankees series would also prove to be a sub-optimal solution, as each of the three starters in the Twins series would need to be on short rest. In other words, the Sox are screwed. We're either going to see 3 more starts by the 5th starters or the starters pushed to go on short rest multiple times before season's end.

[Note by Christopher Michaels, 09/13/08 11:29 AM CDT]: Larry notes that I should probably read the articles to which I link. Danks will not pitch today (though right now it doesn't seem like anyone will) and will go Sunday instead. Vazquez and (probably) Broadway are scheduled to throw today. The point remains, the Sox rotation plans are out the window.

The White Sox needed a big performance from one of their starters to get back on track. Mark Buehrle gave them just that Wednesday night at The Cell, snapping a 3-game losing streak overall and a 7-game skid against the Blue Jays.

It was oddly reminiscent of a start just a month ago against the Red Sox when Buehrle helped erase the memories of 4-game sweep/massacre that succinctly defined the 2007 season. The Sox jumped out to an early lead and Buerhle held 'em scoreless until turning it over to the pen late.

The offensive tone was set early in this game, when Jim Thome and AJ Pierzynski each came up with a rare hit with a runner in scoring position. The Sox entered the game with just 3 hits with RISP in their first 6 games against the Jays this season. By games end, the Sox had added 5 more, an offensive explosion. Pierzynski also came up with another one, a 2-run double to start the scoring in the Sox 3-run 6th.

It wasn't a pretty lineup that Ozzie ran out there, but, at least for one night, it was effective. As somebody pointed out, it looked a little too much like a 2007 line-up without Konerko, Quentin, Crede and General Soreness. But Dewayne Wise, Jerry Owens and Brian Anderson were each productive in their own way. Owens turned his speed into an infield hit and a stolen base, which didn't amount to any runs on the scoreboard, but really came through in a big way with a squeeze bunt* to plate--yeah, I'm using it as a verb again--the Sox 5th run of the game. Anderson, who replaced Owens when the Jays turned to lefty reliever, came through with a 2-out RBI single, which didn't seem that big at the time.

But when Bobby Jenks started throwing batting practice, that run would loom large. Jenks showed maybe the best curveball we've seen from him early in his extended outing, but after he used it to punch out Gregg Zaun leading off the inning, he reverted to mostly fastballs. The Blue Jays were not fooled. Thanfully, he was able to find his slider when Alex Rios strolled to the plate with the tying run just 90 feet from home. It would have been a demoralizing loss if the Sox couldn't hold on to a 5-0 lead after 7.

It was a big win, maybe the biggest of the season. I don't think that's the last time I'll be trotting out that cliche. But when you've got a one game lead on the division, every win is your biggest win until the magic number, or conversely, the tragic number, reaches zero.

* I'm a huge fan of the squeeze bunt. It's easily my favorite play in baseball. But the Sox aren't exactly equipped with the type of lineup that can be counted on to get a bunt down in a situation like that. I think their only attempt of the season was Anderson's failed attempt in the three-month long game. Of course, as I write this Big Papi lays down a sacrifice bunt--he wasn't even trying to beat the shift--in the bottom of the 12th inning.

* * * * *

This afternoon, Joe Cowley twittered that Javier Vazquez would be starting on short rest Saturday, with Lance Broadway--oh, joy--getting the start on Sunday. Vazquez has previously started on short rest twice in his career, with the last time coming during his stellar first half in New York. Broadway is getting the start over Clayton Richard because Ozzie wanted to throw a right-handed pitcher against a Detroit team that ranks among the best in baseball against lefties.

One is left to wonder--those of us prone to wondering, that is--why not throw Vazquez on regular rest with Broadway going on Saturday? Though I now see that's exactly how it's listed on the ChiSox.com probable starters, so Ozzie may have changed his mind, or Cowley misunderstood him (easy to do), or ChiSox.com is wrong (all possibilities). I'll take the wait and see approach until we get confirmation one way or the other.

[Update by The Cheat, 09/10/08 11:56 PM CDT ]: The Daily Herald's Scott Gregor is confirmation enough for me. Looks like Vazquez will start on Saturday, though he doesn't really explain why. Does Vazquez get one extra start, the 5th starter one less, this way? I don't really want to go through the trouble of counting it all out.

We've already had a couple of tongue in cheek entries titled "Worst Game of the Season" and "The Day the White Sox Lost the Central," but if ever there was a time for hyperbolic headlines, this is it.

Everything that could go wrong did go wrong in Tuesday's double header. Paul Konerko might be lost for the season. Javier Vazquez pitched just well enough to lose, and just long enough to make a Lance Broadway start on Saturday a distinct possibility. Clayton Richard still doesn't have a second or third major league pitch, and doesn't belong on the mound starting games for a playoff contender. The Sox drop two games in a single day, scoring just 3 runs in the process. Oh, and The Twins win to pick up a game and a half in the standings. It would have been difficult for the South Side to have a worse day overall.

Sox fans have experienced a broad range of emotions in the last 5 days. From Q!s season ending injury and surgery, to a solid win against the Angels, a marathon affair on Saturday followed by a blown lead on Sunday, I was actually feeling pretty good about the Sox chances.

The White Sox had been in first or within a half game of first every day since May 16th. The Twins weren't exactly playing good baseball the last two weeks. I figured the Sox didn't exactly have to play their best baseball down the stretch to make the playoffs, slightly over .500 figured to be enough. Even my favorite postseason odds simulation was finally starting to run in the Sox favor. ELO had the Sox making the playoffs 70% of the time before Tuesday's series of unfortunate events.

I should know better than to get my hopes up. Every time I've written about feeling good about the Sox this season, they go in the tank for an extended period of time. No more positivity from me, I promise.

Recapping the Nightcap

I don't think there's much to say other than the Sox got their collective butts kicked by a better team right now. Actually, dantesox' comment, and the discussion that followed, about Brian Little and the Blue Jays being the best team in baseball right now, received a lot of play on Blue Jays sites the last couple of days. They certainly have a better pitching staff than the Sox, and now with Quentin and Konerko on the shelf their offense looks to come out on top as well. The Jays have really taken it to the Sox this year, winning all 6 meetings and holding the Sox to 3 or less in every game.

The Sox had 1 hit with runners in scoring position Tuesday (across two games), upping their season total to 3 in 6 games against the Blue Jays. 3 hits with runners in scoring position in 6 games against the Jays. Think about that. The Jays had that in the 5th inning.

There is something about dome teams from the AL East that makes the White Sox bats go flaccid. The Sox didn't manage a 2-out hit w/RISP against the Rays until their 10th meeting this season, and remember it was last season in Toronto where there Sox upped their 1-for-60-something streak against opponents bullpens.

Monday's ceaseless rain has caused yet another pitching crunch for the White Sox. Without an off-day between now and Tuesday's double-header, one of today's starters (Javier Vazquez or Clayton Richard) has to go on short rest in their next start, or the Sox have to call upon another option.

According to the Tribune's Mark Gonzales, Don Cooper "virtually ruled out" Aaron Poreda as an option, with Gonzales going on to cite the layoff since Poreda's final regular season start on 8/29 as a reason he isn't an option. Of course, for those of you who follow Larry's interminably-titled minor league threads, you know that Poreda pitched just a few days ago, on the 5th to be exact. He struck out 9 and walked 2 in 6 innings of 2-run ball in the Southern League playoffs.

The other options appear to be Lance Broadway (no, thanks) and DJ Carrasco, which would require the shift of some high-leverage bullpen work to Scott Linebrink and/or Mike MacDougal.

All of the options have their drawbacks. Javy pitching on short rest might require a quick hook and a rare economical effort from him on Tuesday. Carrasco would need to be given a few days of buffer on either side of Saturday where he was unavailable from the pen. Broadway would require the purchase of some revolutionary new padded uniforms for our defenders. And Poreda would be making his major league debut in the middle of playoff race.

All of this is my way of saying, 'hey, we needed something to talk about this morning following an off-day. Why not this?'