4-9-08: Twins 12 - Sox 5

April 9, 2008 - Chicago, Illinois

Sometimes you just can't win.

If you didn't see the game, it would appear that John Danks got lit up. The box score doesn't always tell the entire story. John Danks did get lit up, but it was mostly on bloop or softly hit singles. There was only one single that was hit hard while Danks was on the mound. That's just an excuse though. You need to be able to defend against the hard hit balls and the softly hit balls.

A.J. did his best at stopping wildly thrown balls. Between Danks and Nick Masset, A.J. really got a workout. He even had to leap on a pitch out to save a ball from going over his head.

This is the type of game where the Sox would lose 18-0, if it were 2007. This year, they did a lot to minimize the damage and to score a few runs. The Sox did see some fireworks though. There were three home runs in the game for the Pale Hose. Nick Swisher, Joe Crede and Paul Konerko all went yard. All were solo home runs.

The good:
Matt Thornton's 2 innings of scoreless relief.

Nick Swisher working the defense and offense.

The bad:
Nick Masset giving up a grand slam.

An 0 for 4 Jim Thome.

The ugly:
John Danks only lasting 2 1/3 innings.

3 Minnesota errors couldn't help the Sox much.

No team can win 162 games in a season. There will be games like this, where everything seems to go wrong. The good thing is how the Sox handled themselves as a team. They never gave up and tried pecking away at the Twins lead. Ozzie used the bullpen smartly. The regulars did not get in there, so they can be ready to go for tomorrow's game.