Occasional Offense, Homer Happy, and a Walk-Off Win

Before I recap the entire Dodgers series, I need to mention this.  I was watching the rubber match of the Sox-Dodgers series today, and Hawk mentioned it was AJ Pierzynski's mom's birthday today.  So happy birthday to Mary Jane Harrelson!  Sorry if I misspelled any part of her name, but I went with what sounded correct from Hawk.

White Sox-Dodgers Game One
Final: 5-2 Dodgers
Oh my Danks.

Unfortunately, I missed watching this game, as I was at the San Diego County Fair with my friend Lora and her cousins.  But looking at the box score and Gameday, it looks like John Danks pitched wonderfully.  He gave up three earned runs on three hits.  Two of those runs were scored on a James Loney two-run homer in the second inning.  Matt Thornton gave up the other two runs in the eighth, and the Sox managed to score another run in the bottom of the ninth for a 5-2 loss.

There wasn't much in the way of offense.  The Sox only got four hits off Hiroki Kuroda.  One of them was a solo shot from Paul Konerko in the second inning.  Alexei Ramirez got one hit and Jermaine Dye got two hits.  This wasn't the greatest offensive showing for the White Sox, and John Danks pitched better than the rest of the Sox played.

White Sox-Dodgers Game Two
Final: 10-7 White Sox
Home run happy!!!

Apparently it was sweltering in Chicago.  And the Sox played some hot baseball.  Gavin Floyd went six innings, giving up three runs, but only one was earned due to errors from Gordon Beckham and Alexei Ramirez.  Relief pitching was...OK.  DJ Carrasco gave up a run in the seventh, but the Sox lead was so great by then that, at that point, no one was really worried.  However, Jimmy Gobble came on in the eighth and lasted 2/3 of an inning, giving up three runs on a Matt Kemp three-run homer.  Then he nailed Juan Pierre, and after a look of absolute disgust from AJ Pierzynski, Ozzie came out and replaced him with Octavio Dotel.  Bobby Jenks came in for the save, and the Sox won it.

Offensively, oh my goodness.  The Sox were on fire!  Absolutely on FIRE!  In the first inning, the Sox got on the board with a solo shot from Alexei Ramirez.  They scored another two runs in the third inning.  Ramirez walked, and Jermaine Dye came up next and hit a two-run homer, his sixteenth of the season.  Two more runs were scored in the fourth.  Jayson Nix walked to lead off the inning, and Gordon Beckham flied out.  During Josh Fields's at-bat, Dodgers starter Randy Wolf threw a wild pitch, and Nix moved into second.  Then Fields slammed a two-run home run.  Fields has been in an offensive slump, and it was awesome to see him hammer that homer.

But the Sox didn't stop scoring.  No, not these guys.  A 5-3 lead wasn't enough.  They exploded in the fifth inning and scored another five runs.  FIVE MORE RUNS!  Dye popped out to lead off the inning, but Paul Konerko hit a solo home run to put the Sox up 6-3.  AJ Pierzynski singled to second, and surprisingly he had two infield hits in this game.  That's pretty big because that NEVER happens to him.  Awesome job, AJ.  :)  Brian Anderson then singled to left, and Pierzynski moved to second.  Up comes Jayson Nix who hits a three-run homer to left.  After Gordon Beckham struck out swinging, Josh Fields came up to bat.  And, well, he became my hero that night by hitting his second home run of the game, putting the Sox up 10-3.  The Sox won the game with a final of 10-7.  The six home runs hit in the game were the most since June 8, 2004, when the Sox played the Phillies.  

White Sox-Dodgers Game Three
Final: 6-5 White Sox in 13 innings
This...was a long game.

The White Sox wore the 1959 jerseys today.  Why you ask?  Well, the 1959 World Series was between the White Sox and the Dodgers, so they paid homage to a White Sox team that did something great.

Clayton Richard started for the Sox today.  He didn't pitch super horribly, but it certainly wasn't his best.  In 4.1 innings, he gave up four runs on six hits.  He was relieved by DJ Carrasco who pitched 2.2 innings, giving up three hits and one run that was unearned.  Scott Linebrink, Matt Thornton, Bobby Jenks, Octavio Dotel, and Aaron Poreda each came in and gave up no runs or hits.  Linebrink walked one, as did Jenks.  Dotel pitched two innings, and because Poreda was the last to pitch, he was credited with his first Major League win.

The Sox didn't get on the board until the fifth inning.  Paul Konerko led off with a solo home run, which ended the no-hitter Dodgers' starter Chad Billingsley was throwing.  Later in the inning, Josh Fields walked and immediately after, Dewayne Wise tripled, scoring Fields.  The Sox were still down 4-2, however.

My favorite play of the game, other than the winning run scoring, came in the sixth inning.  Alexei Ramirez flied out to left, but Jermaine Dye walked right after.  Jim Thome then walked, and Dye moved to third on a passed ball by Brad Ausmus.  Konerko struck out swinging, and my boo AJ Pierzynski came to bat.  He proceeded to smack a three-run homer to right, giving the Sox a 5-4 lead.  Chris Getz then struck out swinging.  On the way to commercial break, a camera focused in on AJ, who wished his mom a happy birthday.  That was probably the most adorable thing I've seen on a White Sox broadcast in years.

That would have been the winning run, but unfortunately the Dodgers scored in the top of the seventh.  Juan Pierre singled to lead off the inning, but Carrasco picked him off.  Russell Martin would have been the second error, but Ramirez made his seventh error of the season.  Martin eventually came around to score and tied the game.  Konerko has saved Ramirez at least 12 errors this season.  Unfortunately for Ramirez, this throw was so off the mark that it was impossible for Konerko to save him this time.  Ramirez had another error, his eighth, in the tenth that could have been dangerous, but luckily Jenks got out of it.

No one really threatened until the bottom of the thirteenth.  Jeff Weaver had come on in the twelfth in relief and remained in the game.  Konerko singled to center and was replaced by pinch runner Gordon Beckham.  Pierzynski singled, and Weaver intentionally walked Chris Getz.  Fields lined out to center, and Wise flied out to center.  Suddenly it went from bases loaded with no outs to bases loaded with two outs.  Luckily Scott Podsednik came up and singled to center, scoring Beckham.  THANK YOU, PODS!

Sadness
Sending out my thoughts to the families of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson, who have all passed since my last entry.  May they be comforted in their times of grief, and may those three rest in peace.

Final Shoutout
Another caption contest!  Hooray!  Go ahead and caption away!  Paul Konerko on the left and Scott Podsednik on the right if you need their names.  Have fun!
Photo credits: all AP