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It was 10 years ago today that Hawk Harrelson uttered one of his most famous lines as a broadcaster.
The “Alexei ... YES!!” call highlighted White Sox starting pitcher Mark Buehrle’s perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays.
It was the best moment for me as a Sox fan (behind, of course, the 2005 World Series title).
Flash forward 10 years, and Miami Marlins starting pitcher Caleb Smith carried a perfect game through 5 2⁄3 against the White Sox tonight.
Ugh, it was bad. The Sox needed a Jon Jay RBI single through the right side to finally break it up.
Smith pitched seven innings of one-run ball. He gave up just two hits and two walks.
Sox starting pitcher Dylan Covey was not very Buehrle-like tonight. He went six innings, giving up five earned runs on six hits while striking out seven.
The park was lively tonight, but not missing bats can lead to bad things, especially in today’s era of baseball.
Neil Walker started the Marlins’ four-run fourth inning with an RBI single over a drawn-in infield. Starlin Castro then doubled Walker home.
Covey then grooved an 0-1 fastball to Curtis Granderson, who deposited it into the Marlins’ bullpen for a two-run home run.
The Marlins added another run in the following inning, thanks to a Harold Ramirez solo shot. I’ve been impressed with Ramirez this series; he has hit the ball hard. Ramirez has produced exit velocities of over 100 mph in four of his at-bats so far. I don’t watch many Marlins games — nor do many people (ouch) — but I enjoy watching players I don’t normally see play the White Sox.
But regardless, the Sox fell to 45-53. Yuck. The slow start after the All-Star break is going to hurt the rest of the season — not that they have any chance at a playoff spot, but the final record is not shaping up to be too pretty. The team has a lot of Minnesota left on the schedule, and the South Siders will not be out-slugging that team any time soon.
The Sox will have an improved (?) Reynaldo Lopez on the mound tomorrow night to try to salvage the rubber match. Go get em’, Lopey!