4-22-08: Yankees 9 - Sox 5

April 22, 2008 - Chicago, Illinois

The White Sox celebrated Earth Day by only shooting fireworks off once, in the ninth inning. A.J.'s home run came a little late for a full come back. At least the Sox still had some fight left in them during the late innings.

Jose Contreras put together a mostly strong start, but the bullpen could not back him up. The Sox didn't help their cause by stranding thirteen runners. It came down to execution. The Yankees were able to execute at the right times and the Sox couldn't.

Paul Konerko continued his hot hitting by driving in the go ahead run, but the lead wouldn't last for long. A combination of Jose Contreras and Boone Logan helped set up a situation where Octavio Dotel would give up a grand slam. That pretty much spelled the end for the Sox, but at least they still had life.

The good:
5 players had 2 hits each.

Mike MacDougal was great in his one and a third innings of work.

The bad:
Poor execution led to wasted opportunities.

Matt Thornton gave up 3 runs.

The ugly:
The Sox stranded 13 players!

Octavio Dotel gave up a grand slam.

The Sox have a nice habit of bouncing back from games like this. Hopefully, that will stay true as the same two teams go at it again. Even though the Sox didn't win, they showed that they will not just lie down and take it. The hits are there, they just need to be more timely.