4-2-08: Sox 2 - Indians 7

April 2, 2008 - Cleveland, Ohio

The White Sox deserved to lose this game. The only White Sox player that decided to show up was A.J. Pierzynski. Javier Vazquez was shaky in his 5 innings, despite 6 strikeouts. Mike MacDougal was better than I expected him to be, but still off. The bats never really showed up either.

Orlando Cabrera continues to confound me. He appears to not be the same player who won two gold gloves, including one last year. Alexei Ramirez finally got his first major league hit. The Sox seem to be coerced into double play balls every time they get someone on base.

Javier Vazquez was fantastic until he got the hitters 0 and 2 or 1 and 2, then he reverted into a pitcher who couldn't find the strike zone if his life depended on it. He needs to trust his fastball in situations like that and lay off the breaking ball. He's getting creamed on the breaking ball with two strikes.

The good:
A.J. Pierzynski was 3 for 4 with a home run. He was also smart on the basepaths.

Paul Konerko's 3 walks.

The bad:
The bullpen needs a little tweaking to hold the game.

Jim Thome cooled down in this game, but still hit the ball well.

The ugly:
Javier Vazquez's mini meltdowns on the mound.

There was no one on for A.J.'s great day at the plate.

The Sox definitely need to rebound tomorrow afternoon and salvage one game from this series before moving on to Detroit. The starter should go 6 to 7 innings, so the bullpen can get a rest. The White Sox need to start playing fundamental baseball and move the runners along. Most importantly, they need to get more base runners.