Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Cleveland 4, White Sox 3
OK, there's no doubt about it - today's game was frustrating. After Contreras shook off a rough start, the offense choked time and time again. Most egregious was Alex Cintron's failure to get a run home with a runner on third and one out in the 8th. Ed Farmer had described Cintron's at-bat as a "good at bat" because it took 8 or 9 pitches, but there is no "good at bat" that results in a strikeout with a runner on 3rd and one out.
Even more frustrating is that the Sox seem to have used up all their luck last year. Konerko got unlucky a couple of times - once when his line drive hit off of Betancourt and was turned into a double play in the 7th. He also just missed bringing the winning run home in the 9th when his flare fell just foul. He made an out, and the game went to extra innings when neither Mackowiak nor Pierzynski could get the run home. Somehow I think that flare is just fair last year and the Sox win.
Another disturbing question is why Boone Logan was throwing a high-leverage 8th inning after McCarthy looked good (once again) in the 7th. Logan needs some success before he gets the high-leverage situations. If the Sox are not going to use Cotts in the 8th with a lead, when are they going to use him? The 8th is for Cotts and Politte. It worked last year, it will work again. Cotts pitched pretty well, but when he got stretched to a third inning, he (and the Sox) got beat. I think he would have done better in the 8th - and would have only pitched one inning.
Here's the ERV Boxscore:
| Batter | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | 11th | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pods | -0.24 | -0.11 | -0.35 | 0.38 | -0.24 | -0.24 | -0.79 | |||||
| Iguchi | -0.17 | 0.62 | 0.38 | -0.21 | 0.27 | 0.38 | 1.27 | |||||
| Thome | -0.11 | -0.45 | 0.57 | 0.22 | 0.22 | -0.21 | 0.26 | |||||
| Konerko | 0.38 | -0.34 | 0.84 | -0.91 | -0.47 | -0.34 | -0.85 | |||||
| Mackowiak | -0.35 | 0.89 | -0.78 | -0.24 | 0.31 | -0.35 | -0.53 | |||||
| Pierzynski | -0.31 | -0.24 | 1.00 | 0.41 | -0.75 | 0.11 | ||||||
| Uribe | -0.24 | -0.24 | -0.03 | 0.49 | -0.24 | -0.25 | ||||||
| Ozuna | -0.24 | -0.17 | 0.26 | -0.15 | ||||||||
| Cintron | -0.69 | 0.27 | -0.42 | |||||||||
| Anderson | -0.17 | -0.11 | -0.75 | -0.49 | -0.31 | -1.83 | ||||||
| Total | -3.17 |
| Pitcher | ERV |
|---|---|
| Contreras | 1.10 |
| McCarthy | 0.52 |
| Logan | -1.03 |
| Politte | 0.74 |
| Cotts | 0.03 |
| Jenks | 0.44 |
| Total | 1.35 |
Fielding
Pierzynski Passed Ball = -0.11 ERV
Team ERV = 0.46 ERV(Martinez error, Mota wild pitch).
Player of the Game: Tadahito Iguchi
Game stories: Chicago Tribune, Sun-Times, Southtown.
