Last Night's Loss a Truly Painful One

After witnessing this team pull off their improbable World Series victory six years ago, there are not too many games (regular season or otherwise) that will have me feeling badly after defeat. However, last night's game tested my patience considerably.

There are not too many games where you will see a team comeback three times after the 8th inning to tie the game, but that's what the White Sox did last night. They trailed Washington 3-0 entering the bottom of the 9th inning, when pinch-hitter Mark Teahen hit a game-tying, three-run homer off of Drew Storen. Making things even more improbable, the homer was only his second of the season.

The euphoria that came with that homer unfortunately did not last, as Lance Nix broke the tie in the top of the 10th with a solo homer to give the Nats a 4-3 lead. Undeterred, the Sox tied the game again in the bottom half of that frame on a Todd Coffey wild pitch. One of the more aggravating parts of this game came in Brent Lillibridge's at-bat following wild pitch. Not only did Lillibridge miss the most epic hanging breaking ball of all-time during his at-bat, Coffey threw a pitch far enough inside to Lillibridge where it could have hit him and won the game. However, Lillibridge jumped out of the way of the pitch. The pitch was waist-high on the inner-half, you have to take one for the team, Brent! Nonetheless, he struck out, which effectively killed that inning's rally. Teahen would fly out to end the inning and send the game deeper into the night.

The Nats took a 5-4 lead in the 12th inning, and were one strike away from ending the game when A.J. Pierzynski tied it with a solo home run. I thought to myself afterwards: "Good fortune has to fall the Sox's way tonight, right?"

Well, no. They were one out away from getting out of a sticky situation in the top of the 14th, when Alexei Ramirez's throwing error ended up plating another go-ahead run for the Nationals. Washington would tack on three more runs after that, and would win the game 9-5 in 14 tense, agonizing innings.

The Sox currently sit at 37-40, just 4.5 games out of first. However, if you have watched the Sox all year, 4.5 games almost feels like 8.5. They can never show any signs of consistency. Everytime they have a golden opportunity to make up some ground in the division, it seems like they squander it. Last night, Detroit, Cleveland and Minnesota each lost, which would have put the Sox in a great situation to make up ground in the division, while widening the gulf between them and Minnesota. Unfortunately, that did not come to pass.

With the Sox only four games away from the mathematical half-way point in the season (81 games), you almost wonder if this is who they are, a team that will be lucky to finish with 83 wins. The way they have played up until this point of the season has not exactly filled me with dreams of seeing them play in October.

Oh well. Here's to hoping the Sox can win the next two against the Nasty Nats.

Oh there's a change in the weather, change in the sea, from now on there'll be a change in me...

I sincerely apologize for my absence yesterday. I was very busy, and I unfortunately did not have the time to update my blog. I should not be surprised though; the one day that I am unable to write for this blog, the White Sox have possibly their busiest day (or days) of the offseason.

First things first, the White Sox have traded second baseman Chris Getz and third baseman Josh Fields to the Kansas City Royals for Mark Teahen. The Royals, just to sweeten the deal, have also sent $1 million to the Sox to help balance the salary discrepancies. I actually like this deal; the Sox were finally able to get rid of Josh Fields, and they acquired a player who can provide some decent offense to an already strong lineup. However, the only thing that I will certainly miss is the speed of Chris Getz. He went 25-27 in steals last year, and it will hurt not having his speed at the top of the lineup next year. Nonetheless, his offensive production was pedestrian at best. Getz only hit .261 last season, with two home runs and 31 RBIs. His OBP was also a pretty sub-par .324. You would like for a guy with his kind of speed to be able to get on base more, but since it was his first full big league season this past year, I will cut him some slack. He can always improve.

Teahen will definitely provide more power for the White Sox, as he hit .271 last year, with 12 home runs and 50 RBIs. His OBP was only one point better than Getz's last year (at .325), but the increased offensive contribution definitely makes up for the lack of OBP. I also like how versatile Teahen is as well. The Sox say that he will play at third next year (they will move Gordon Beckham to second base), but he is also capable of playing the outfield, first base and second base as well. That certainly gives them more flexibility if someone were to go down with an injury. All in all, this was a great trade for the White Sox, even if they do lose some team speed in the process.

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The arrival of Teahen also comes with another farewell to a great Sox player. The team has announced that they have bought out the contract of right fielder Jermaine Dye for $950,000. This is a sad day for many Sox fans because of all of the contributions that Dye has made to the South Side. He was the 2005 World Series MVP, he nearly won the AL MVP in 2006 when he hit 44 home runs, and he was very instrumental in helping the Sox get back to the playoffs in 2008. The season that he put together this year was not bad either, as he hit .250, with 27 home runs and 81 RBIs. However, the team buying out his contract is a pretty clear sign to me that the team is ready to go in a new direction.

I was fine and dandy about the prospects of a Quentin-Rios-Podsednik outfield until I heard that the Sox will not be bringing back Scott Podsednik. Instead, they have signed outfielder Mark Kotsay to a one-year, $1.5 million deal. I am truly hoping that the Sox either have one more trade up their sleeve, or that they are active in the free agent market this winter, because I do not want to see Mark Kotsay as a starting outfielder. Period. Kotsay hit .278 with four homers and 23 RBIs in 67 games last year, but I think his best work is as a platoon player, and not as an everyday player. He fields his position well in the outfield (realistically, he can play all three outfield positions), but I do not think he will provide enough offense for the Sox if he started everyday. Plus, there has to be a reason as to why he has not played in at least 130 games since 2005. His days as a regular starter are behind him. Hopefully the Sox and Kotsay can make me eat my words if this is the direction they choose to go in.