A Day That Shall Live In Infamy

Just when you thought that Chicago sports could go nowhere but up, the opposite occurs. Like one of Kanye West's hit songs, "All Falls Down", everything fell down, or apart, for Chicago sports teams yesterday. Nevermind the Cubs, they're not in this discussion. I'm talking about the teams on the South and West side of town. Not only did the Bulls get a reality check last night with a 21 point loss to the defending world champion Celtics at home, the White Sox also got a reality check in Baltimore where Bartolo Colon pitched like his jersey number and Adam Eaton became one of those horrible pitchers that looks like Cy Young against the White Sox. To add on to that, Carlos Quentin, who is also called God or the Chuck Norris of Baseball (either way, he is God), left the game in the 8th inning after getting hit by a pitch on his left hand. It appears that Quentin (or God) is alright, the worst thing that will probably happen is that he might be listed as day to day. As for Colon, he really did pitch like a 40 year old. Ozzie got tired of his fatass by the fourth inning and took him out of the game. The Orioles would not score another earned run after Colon's departure. Meanwhile, the Sox offense was stymied by Adam Eaton, who came in with an ERA of 11. Chris Getz was the only bright spot offense, collecting 2 of the teams 7 hits.

Bartolo Colon's box score line probably looked horrible. Thing is, it should have been worse. I probably could have hit this guy up there yesterday. 10 of the 19 Orioles batters he faced got on base. Luckily for Colon and the Sox, only 5 somehow scored. Colon only had two pitches yesterday and both were not Major League caliber. His fastball was flat and was around the mid to high 80s. He only got it above 90 once. He also had no movement on them, so these were basically batting practice meatballs. His changeup also sucked and he was afraid to throw his slider that had good movement at the tail end. Looks like Bartolo didn't have his pre-game meal yesterday. Let's hope this isn't his arm acting up and that he rebounds in his next start. I had thought that we only had one bad old man at the end of the rotation in Contreras, let's try to not make it 2. D.J. Carrasco was about the only good thing that came out on the pitching side of things yesterday. He worked three innings of one run ball, the run he gave up was not earned though. If Contreras, Colon, and Richard all fail as starting pitchers, I would be the first to vote Carrasco into the starting rotation. This guy is spot on in long relief mop up situations. Dotel and Jenks came in for even more mop up duty. Both pitched a scoreless inning while striking out one apiece.

The offense had a promising start, Chris Getz singled to lead off the game and stole second. Unfortunately, the next three batters, Fields, Quentin, and Thome would all strike out. It would get even worse, as the Sox managed only 6 more hits all game against Adam Eaton and the O's bullpen. The Sox' only runs came in the 8th. Adam Eaton left the game with men on the corners and Carlos Quentin got hit on the thumb with a pitch from Jim Johnson. Quentin would leave the game and seems to be okay. Jim Thome would then flare a shallow single into the left field gap to scoring both Ramirez and Getz. That was it for the offense as Chris Getz and Paul Konerko were the only players who had more than one hit. Looks like the White Sox offense is very inconsistent at this point. Fields, who went 3-5 the night before, went 0-4 last night with 3 strikeouts. Brian Anderson, A.J. Pierzynski, and Carlos Quentin also went hitless. Let's hope this offense wakes up against a banged up Blue Jays pitching staff.

The White Sox have always had some trouble against the pesky Orioles. Their hitting usually ends up owning our pitchers somehow and our hitters rarely hit some of their horrible pitchers. Seems really weird if you ask me. Maybe the O's are just one of those teams we have to struggle against. Whatever it is, this team better pick it up on this homestand. The Blue Jays also seem to be one of those teams that gives the Sox a lot of troubles. How much trouble? Let's just say the Sox won only one game against them all year last season. It'll be Gavin Floyd vs. Brian Tallet tonight at U.S. Cellular Field. Luckily, the Sox are still in a first place tie with both Detroit and Kansas City for the central division, as all three teams are 8-7.

- Stan (White Sox writer)