Lucky 7 for Sox

(June 23)

Short Take:  Six runs seal the deal.

After Friday's pathetic loss at Baltimore, the Sox appeared ready to collapse again in Saturday's matinee.  Spotted a one-run lead, Mark Buehrle and the defense behind him fell apart in the third inning.  However a big six-run Sox rally in the seventh inning does the deal and seals the win, 8-3 for our Pale Hose.  They are back to just one game beneath .500.

The third inning was a nightmare.  A lead-off triple and a pair of misplays by Carlos Lee and Royce Clayton had Sox Fans throwing objects at their TV screens.  The Sox were down 3-1 and appeared on the verge of another "corpse ball" performance.

The play of lead off man Ray Durham was the first clue the Sox wouldn't roll over quite so easily.  Stuck in a 0 for 21 funk, Durham started the game with a double and scored the first Sox run.  His double in the seventh inning batted in the first of six Sox runs in the inning.  The Sox batted around, including homeruns by pinch hitter Tony Graffanino, and Paul Konerko, doubles by both Durham and Jose Canseco, and an rbi-single by Chris Singleton.

Now that's team effort!

Meanwhile Buehrle settled in, allowing just three additional hits stopping Baltimore cold.  He lasted 5.2 innings striking out six, walking nobody.  Gary Glover was the lucky pitcher of the record during the Sox seventh inning rally earning him his third win of the season.  Bob Howry and Keith Foulke were effective if not perfect pitching the last 2.1 innings.  Foulke's ERA falls to 1.82.

Another matinee Sunday followed by an off-day before the biggest series of the season in Minnesota.