Sox erupt; Tribe roadkill

(April 9)

Short Take:  Big day for Biddle and the Milkman, too   

This game was different.  Even before it started, this game was different.  The Chicago White Sox took the Cleveland Indians by the throat and didn't stop tightening their grip for eight and one-half innings.  A 7-0 eruption in the first two innings ends with a 9-2 blowout victory.  That's more like it!

Cal Eldred was scheduled to start but had been suffering from a stiff neck he got the night before his first start in Cleveland last week.  

Double or nothing the hotel maid is a Tribe fan.

Eldred was a scratch leaving the Sox rotation a bit up in the air.  Manuel had planned to use a spot starter in Tuesday's game.  Those plans were moved up one day with Rocky Biddle getting Monday's start.  Jim Parque will likely go Tuesday (a day early) and Eldred may go on Wednesday--otherwise it's another spot starter.

The slumping Ray Durham had been the catalyst for the champion Sox all last season.  His bat alive tonight, and it made all the difference in the world to the Sox offense.  Ray singled to start the game and finished with a 4 for 5 performance.  After that first single, the Sox would never look back.

With two timely walks by Royce Clayton and Carlos Lee, the Sox beat four runs out of the Indians on just three hits.  Herbert Perry doubled home all three runs, and he did it with two outs!  Sox Fans, we haven't seen much of that the past week.  After getting benched the three previous games, Perry made a huge statement for everyday status, finishing with four rbi's.

The second inning was some kind of awesome, too.  After one out, Durham ripped a triple followed by Clayton with an rbi single!  Sox Fans, who wudda thunk it?

Frank Thomas got in the act and crushed one into the left-center seats for two more runs.  Well, at least there was one thing we could have anticipated happen.

Rocky Biddle doesn't seem like such an unlikely member of the Sox staff after his spot start.  Yes, he got tagged for 10 hits, but he battled all night.  He allowed just two runs and struck out four, walking nobody.  He looked in deep trouble in the third inning when the first four batters reached base, scoring two runs.  With two men on and nobody out, Biddle came back and got the next three batters, two on strikeouts.  That was guts.

Two more insurance runs from hits by Paul Konerko, Carlos Lee, and Sandy Alomar (plus a sac fly by the Milkman) and fretful Sox Fans were breathing a sigh of relief.

Tomorrow is another day.