Not even another 5.2 innings of perfect baseball from Mark Buehrle and a Major League record 45 consecutive batters retired can put an end to the White Sox bad mojo in the Metrodome.
Buehrle was brilliant yet again, with only one of the first 17 batters he faced putting the ball into the outfield. But things quickly unraveled, as they tend to do in the horrordome, when Buehrle lost his return bid at perfection with a walk to Alexi Casilla. In a classy move, the Minnesota fans gave Buehrle a standing ovation, though I couldn't help but feel like it was a We Finally Got A Baserunner, We're Only Down 1, Here We Come type cheer. Maybe that's just my jaded hatred for all things Twins. And comeback they did, in typical Twins fashion with a little help from some poor White Sox defense.
Denard Span quickly made sure Buehrle lost not just his run at perfection but his no-no as well, with a single to CF to set up the game's defining play. Joe Mauer hit a deep but easily playable flyball to left field, where Scott Podsednik got a bead on it, measured it, then flat out missed his sorry attempt at a catch.
The Twins didn't stop there, and neither did the Sox defensive miscues. In the 7th, Chris Getz turned what should have been a double play ball into a 1st-and-3rd, nobody out situation by inexplicably breaking toward second as if he was covering in a hit-and-run situation (it wasn't) on a ball hit in the 3.5 hole. Getz looked like one of those little leaguers you tell to go play second base and he runs to second and stands on the bag, leaving the whole right side of the infield open. Lil' Nicky Punto would put the Twins ahead for good with an opposite field blooper over 1st base, and the White Sox bullpen took care of the rest putting the game out of reach.
The Sox defense, which laughably played error-less ball, was not solely to blame for the loss. While Buehrle was cruising through the first 5 innings retiring all 15 batters he faced, the Sox offense only managed two hits and, of course, zero runs. I couldn't help but think of Freddy Garcia's 1-hit loss in the dome a few years back, and couldn't help but wonder if Buehrle would suffer a similar fate. Comically, he ended up allowing 5 runs, none of which would have scored with some reliable major league defense.
Rosterbation
White Sox send Brian Anderson to Red Sox for Mark Kotsay
I can't take credit for "Rosterbation." I happened to see the word earlier today on USSM and decided it perfectly described this trade. The Red Sox had already effectively washed their hands of Kotsay when they acquired Adam Laroche from the Pirates, while the White Sox essentially ended the Brian Anderson era when they chose to send him down instead of DFA'ing Dewayne Wise when Carlos Quentin came off the DL. Anderson soon requested a trade, and even though they could find no team willing to send anything of value in return, the White Sox obliged in the quickest way possible, which just happened to be the soon-to-be-free-agent with negative trade value, Mark Kotsay.
Kotsay isn't any good, can't really play the outfield anymore, and will primarily be the backup 1B in place of Josh Fields, who will be optioned to AAA Charlotte to make room on the roster and will probably demand a trade of his own so we can do this all over again.
[Update by The Cheat, 07/29/09 12:22 AM CDT]: Yep, Fields has asked for a trade.