Out Pitched, Out Played

If it's not Roger Clemens, it's Roy Oswalt. If it's not Oswalt, it's Jon Garland. We keep going up against top notch pitchers and we keep getting mowed down by them. We don't even put up a fight. Garland was certainly on tonight. He threw 102 pitches in 8 1/3 IP and only gave up 4 H and 1 ER. He worked quickly. He threw strikes. He had good control. And we never had a chance.

With that said, Berroa needs to be moved down in the order. Once again, our leadoff hitter showed absolutely no patience. In his first AB, he was down 0-2 before grounding out. In his second AB, he swung at the first pitch, popping up to Iguchi. In his third AB, he was down 0-1 before grounding to short. In his fourth AB, he swung at the first pitch and flew out to right field. Four AB's, 7 pitches. Come on.

Considering Greinke's final line, he didn't look terrible. He threw 94 pitches and gave up 5 ER in 5 1/3 IP, but three of those runs scored after he left. Of course, if he hadn't put all those guys on base, they wouldn't have had a chance to score. I don't think Greinke was as sharp as Splitt and Davis thought he was. The White Sox certainly had their share of bloop hits, but Greinke fell in love with his curve ball and the White Sox have some good hitters. They either waited and dumped the ball in front of the outfield or they found a way to get the bat on the ball. Before the game, Alberto Castillo said that he was going to get Greinke to establish the fastball. I don't know what happened to that game plan, but I wish they would have stuck with it.

In relief, Sisco let all three inherited runners score and a 2-0 deficit became 5-0. It might as well have been 50-0 with Garland on the mound. But Sisco has got to do a better job out of the pen.

Finally, our defense cost us a couple of runs tonight. In the fifth inning, Stairs didn't field a grounder cleanly and a runner scored as a result. Stairs got the out at first, but he could have either looked the runner at third back or had a play at the plate if he'd fielded the ball cleanly. In the sixth inning, with bases loaded and one out, the first batter that Sisco faced in relief hit a grounder to Teahen who couldn't field the ball cleanly and he had to settle for the force at third, but a runner scored. The next two guys (at the bottom of the order) singled, and this game was O-V-E-R.

Terrence Long hit a home run in the ninth, but the Royals still lost 5-1. So, we've dropped the first two games of this series. We have an afternoon game tomorrow in Chicago to finish the series. The pitching match ups don't get any easier. J.P. Howell (1-1, 4.09) goes against Mark Buehrle (8-1, 2.67). Let's not make excuses. Let's just play a fundamentally sound game and win one of three in Chicago.