I suppose the first thing I should do is address my absence from the blog over the last 5 or 6 days -- There's nothing lamer than the 'I'm sorry, I've been so busy with work and trying to get to second base with my new girlfriend' posts, so I've at least come up with a new excuse. -- Mice, filthy, disgusting mice, ate part of the coaxial cable running between the exterior cable box and my residence. Or at least that's what the cable guy says when he's run out of excuses.
So for all of you still clinging to the notion that Cheat on vacation equals an automatic victory, the joke's been on you. I've been here the whole time; saw all three victories over the Tigers, attended one, watched Javier walk the entire Yankees roster while throwing down some impressive NTN scores and a few brews. Last Wednesday's loss to the Yankees was the last time I really wasn't able to watch a game.
What if? What if Joey Cora did the sensible thing, and held Tadahito Iguchi on Jim Thome's double into the right field corner? Would Paul Konerko have delivered the clutch hit with 2 runners in scoring position? He did single deep to left leading off the 6th. Would Javier Vazquez have turned into 5-and-dive-Javy with a 2-run lead?
We'll never know, but it makes for a fun discussion. And that's about the only 'fun' we can draw from Tuesday night's game with the Royals.
This was a game the Sox were supposed to win; a game at home against the bottom-feeder of the AL with a pitcher who the White Sox have Pwned in the past. Minutes before the first pitch, Hawk and DJ even had to envoke the 'That's Why They Play The Games' postulate to get themselves ready for the game. For some strange reason, their guarded pessimism seemed to rub off on me. I went from supremely confident that the Sox were in the middle of one of their patented 8-game winnings streaks to hoping they could scrape out enough victories against KC to keep pace with the Tigers until their next meeting.
It's just frustrating that the Sox seem to play so well against the best teams in baseball, yet currently account for 12 percent of the Royals' win total.
Ugh. I just saw another replay of Joey "el molino de viento" Cora. Reggie Sanders threw that ball in to the cutoff man with absolutely zero urgency. In fact, you could see the look on his face after he let go and realized that Joey was sending Gooch. He flinched like he wished he had put something -- anything -- on his throw. And even with that lollipop of a throw to Grudz, and the 1-hop from Grudz to Buck, Gooch was still out by Tour de France stage at home.