Jim Thome’s dad was sitting right in front of us, next to Al’s wife Diane, when he jumped to his feet as his son launched a three run blast deep over the rightfield wall. Papa Thome slapped me on the shoulder so hard, I thought I’d have to go on the DL. His sixth inning home run turned a 3-2 game into a 6-2 game, ah some breathing room. Paulie Konerko followed it up with a solo monster drive to left to make it 7-2. Konerko had three hits on the day, plus his career best 2nd stolen base of the year. In the olden days Alexei Ramirez would’ve dusted himself off after getting knocked on his butt, today Joel Peralta put another one on a tee, which Alexei promptly deposited over the leftfield fence. After Peralta was pulled from the ballgame, Juan Uribe made it 9-2, knocking another ball out to left.
I neglected a couple of key defensive plays yesterday which helped Buehrle win, one by Juan Uribe and one by Ken Griffey, Jr. The shutout streak ended in the very first inning, thanks in large part to Konerko’s lack of range at 1B. Mitch Maier roped a fastball to right for a leadoff single off Lance Broadway. Then Michael Aviles hit a groundball to first, which Paulie turned into a double. Broadway got Mark Teahen to pop to short. The dumbest player in baseball (I’ll explain in a moment) lined a two RBI single up the middle. KC had the rookie Broadway on the ropes when Lance walked Billy Butler. Alex Gordon stepped in with two on, two in, and only one out. That’s when the brain surgeon Jose Guillen tried to catch Chicago sleeping, he began sprinting toward 3rd, Broadway stepped off the rubber, double pumped to allow Uribe to get to third, nailed Guillen for the 2nd out of the inning, effectively killing the inning, Gordon grounded out for out number three. KC’s manager came out to pick up the argument that Guillen was safe, keeping Jose in the ballgame, he should’ve come out and kicked Jose Guillen in the butt.
Kyle Davies struckout OC & A.J. in the bottom of the 1st before loading the bases, Konerko popped out leaving the sacks drunk, for his only out on the day. With one out in the bottom of the second, the Palehose strung together four singles, Uribe scoring from 2nd on Cabrera’s base knock. After Carlos Quinten struckout, the Sox had the bases loaded with two outs, but this time Jermaine Dye socked a solid double off the leftfield wall, giving Chicago the lead, which they would never relinquish.
Lance Broadway settled down after Jose Guillen’s first inning dummy play, going 5 1/3 innings to pickup the win. Horacio Ramirez, D.J. Carrasco, & Adam Russell worked the final four innings, scoreless, to preserve the victory, and the sweep.
I argued with a Kansas City scout in the preseason about the merits of signing Jose Guillen. He was telling me the Royals needed his power, I was telling him they didn’t need Guillen’s bad attitude. Certainly Jose has accounted for his share of RBI’s, doubles, and homers. But after watching this goofball the past three games, I’d have to say, I was right. This guy watched & subsequently argued about close calls on many called third strikes, let more balls than I can count drop in for basehits, and then he hotdogged it when he tried to force a runner at third on a ball he might have caught that was dropped into short left. This goofball is what is wrong with baseball today, a me first, Prima Donna, getting millions. I shouldn’t talk bad about this clown as he’s on my APBA team, hopefully I’ll be able to dump him in an offseason trade to a manager that doesn’t read the Baseball Zealot.