What Can You Say?

Following a stupendous outing against the Jays and Roy Halladay, Paul Byrd came plummeting back to Earth last night in Chicago. And the result was a 12-2 beatdown of Boston by the White Sox.

The only thing that hurt more than the loss itself was that Boston missed a rare opportunity to pick a game up on the Yankees. But I doubt that was on the mind of the Boston players last night as they watch Byrd and Tazawa combine to give up 12 runs by the end of the fourth inning.

Byrd made it just 2.1 innings, giving up seven runs on 10 hits. He was actually throwing a lot of strikes, but too often they ended up getting sprayed all over the field. Tazawa had the same problem in his 3.2 innings of work (five runs on seven hits); plenty of strikes but too many became hits. It was just a bad day for Boston's pitchers. It happens sometimes.

Not that the lineup helped much. Once again they allowed an average Freddy Garcia to dominate them.This time it was even worse; Garcia went six innings and allowed just one run. I don't know what power he has over the Boston lineup, but I am glad we aren't seeing him again. The only starter who acquitted himself well was Youk, who went 1-2 with a RBI single. Other than that it was just an ugly night all around.

Honestly, I don't know exactly what there is to say beyond that. There isn't any lesson to be learned from this. It's not like the Sox threw away a winnable game or anything; this match was over before the fifth inning. They got smacked around, simple as that. I wish I had more for you, but a game like this really limits the observations one can make. Look at it this way...now you have more time to go out and enjoy what is looking to be a beautiful day

I sure do hope this isn't an omen for the four game set. The Sox have to kick it into overdrive now to have a shot at catching New York. Today it's Wakefield (provided his back doesn't give out) and Gavin Floyd. These two faced each other on August 26 in Boston's 3-2 win. Both pitched well but neither got a decision. I would bet on another lower-scoring game today, and hopefully one with a similar ending.