Cuban Missile Crisis

It sure felt like a crisis last night, as the White Sox were beaten down by the Blue Jays by two touchdowns (that's 14-0 if you're keeping score at home) last night in one of the most awful games I've ever witnessed. However, the story would be the exact opposite just 24 hours later as the White Sox trounced the AL leading Blue Jays 10-2. Alexei Ramirez finally came through in the clutch with a grand slam that capped off a 6 run 5th inning. Mark Buehrle was sensational, as he recorded another quality start, his 3rd of the season.

So after last night's debacle, Mark Buehrle needed to become the stopper and halt the bleeding. He did just the thing tonight with 6 innings of solid work. In which he gave up two runs (and they were very cheap runs), 6 hits, and 3 walks. He also struck out 4 Blue Jays in the process. The win now makes Buehrle 3-0. He is the first White Sox starter this season to own such a record. It looks like Buehrle's extra day of rest did not affect him, as he was sharp for most of the night. The home plate umpire did not give Mark the outside corner for most of the game, but Mark pitched through that. Buehrle also pitched through two bloopers in the 2nd inning, one down the right field line by Kevin Millar, the other by Jose Bautista that was flared into center between Jerry Owens and Brent Lillibridge. However, Buehrle was not phased by these hits, as he only gave up two runs in the inning, which is all the Jays would score for the night. Mark was also aided by some superb defense from Brent Lillibridge, who robbed Aaron Hill of a hit up the middle in the 4th inning that saved a run and maybe the ball game. Jerry Owens also made a nice diving catch along the warning track on a fly ball hit by Vernon Wells. Octavio Dotel, Matt Thornton, and Scott Linebrink kept the Jays off the board in the 7th, 8th, and 9th.

On the offensive side of things, it didn't start out so pretty. The Sox made it too easy for Brian Burress in the first, as Lillibridge struck out, Fields flied out, and Quentin also flied out. However, the Sox would nod thigns up in the 2nd with clutch RBI hits from Brian Anderson and Alexei Ramirez. Things really got started in the 5th when the Sox took their first lead of the game on a Paul Konerko single up the middle and then a Brian Anderson single to left. Then it was time for The Missile to finally shine this year. Alexei took some tough pitches in the at bat against Shawn Camp, but with a full count, Alexei flicked his wrist at a hanging slurve that Camp left out over the plate. Next thing you know, the ball is in the left field bullpen. This might be the game that officially takes Alexei out of his prolonged slump. Ramirez now has 5 grand slams in his young career and is a crazy 9-20 with the bases loaded in his career. Brian Anderson also had an encouraging game, as he drove in two runs early in the game and went an impressive 2-3. Konerko went 3-4 with an RBI and Jermaine Dye went 1-3 with a 2 run homer. It was nice to see the Sox finally hit the ball well for a change after getting shutout last night and being limited to only two runs the night before. The right handed heavy lineup which includes Corky Miller and Brent Lillibridge is now 3-0 on the season. With those two in the lineup, the Sox offense has scored a combined total of 26 runs. It looks like Ozzie needs to give those guys more starts.

Today's game definitely makes up for last night's disaster. It was also kind of a must-win because Halladay is pitching tomorrow against Jose Contreras. Let's all hope that Jose doesn't suck as much as he did in his last start at Baltimore. The White Sox have actually hit Halladay fairly well. However, he's still Doc Halladay. Believe it or not, the Sox are 5-0 on weekend games so far. How weird is that? Let's hope the trend continues tomorrow. With the Tigers beating the Royals today, three teams are atop the AL Central once again, as the Sox, Tigers, and Royals share it with 9-8 records.

- Stan (White Sox writer)