Friday night in Baltimore had all the makings of another painful White Sox defeat...
- Poor defense
- Underwhelming starting pitching
- Lack of clutch hitting and fundamentals (i.e. getting runners home from 3rd with < 2 outs)
- An injury to our All-Star 1B
If there was ever a singular play to spring the Sox from their recent slumber, Gload's grand slam has to be it. He turned around another uninspired loss into victory with an uppercut that would have made Clubber Lang proud.
I hope Ozzie learned something with the use of his bullpen tonight. Kenny may not be able to fix the starting rotation, but the acquisition of MacDougal and the emergence of Thornton have given Ozzie the tools to shorten the game. He can take some of the pressure off the starters by going to the pen early.
Two weeks ago, with the Sox down a down a couple of runs, Ozzie would have gone to McCarthy or Riske, and maybe even Cliff Politte. Now with the power arms at the end of the pen, he can keep the game within reach much easier. Now if he'd only have McCarthy warmed and ready by the time Vazquez is about to face his 19th batter on Sunday...
The Brewers made a couple of trades today that left me confused. I'm sure you've read about the Carlos Lee deal by now. For those who haven't, a couple different views here: Lone Star Ball - Brew Crew Ball. It appears to me that Melvin doesn't want to give the Milwaukee fans the impression that he's cashing in his chips this season, when that is probably the best decision long-term. It's not a terrible trade, but Mench and Cordero are going to be a getting more expensive next season, and Laynce Nix is just overkill to their glut of outfielders.
Then they went out and acquired David Bell to fill in for all of their injuries on the infield, which is sort of like pissing on a bonfire in the hopes of putting it out. I really only brought this up because of what it does to Philly. Finally, finally out from under David Bell -- man, they should have kept Polanco -- they have no third baseman. You know where I'm going with this.
Update [2006-7-29 1:8:56 by The Cheat]: Kenny could get himself in a nice little bidding war here. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: