5-12-08: Sox 7 - Angels 10

May 12, 2008 - Anaheim, California

How the mighty Buehrle has fallen.

10 hits and 8 runs (6 earned) is not a typical outing from Mark Buehrle. The hits may be typical, but the runners don't usually score that much. One of three things may be happening. He is getting bad defense behind him, the ball magically finds the holes or he's hiding an injury. I hope it's one of the first two. Those are more easily fixed than the latter.

Sox Machine has broken down Mark Buehrle's numbers this season and it appears to be the defense that's failing him most often. The only statistic that's worse this year is walks. Everything else is slightly better. Go figure.

The offense is still here, but in this game, it's just not enough. The Sox seemed to get production from everyone except Konerko and Quentin. Jim Thome didn't hit, but managed two walks. Jermaine Dye was a hitting machine, going 4 for 5. The Sox managed a late innings comeback, but it just wasn't enough to tie or win.

The good:
Jermaine Dye went 4 for 5.

Dotel and Thornton both pitched perfect innings.

The bad:
Carlos Quentin went 0 for 4.

Joe Crede had a throwing error.

The ugly:
Mark Buehrle gave up 8 runs.

Paul Konerko went o for 5.

The Sox need to shake this game off and come back playing strong. They showed a lot of life in the late innings and almost came back from an improbable score. Keep these things going and the Sox will be on a tear on the West Coast.