Slumping Sox

The White Sox are stumbling badly. As of this post, they have lost 9 of the 11 games since the All-Star break, including a recent three-game sweep by the Minnesota Twins at U.S. Cellular Field. That sweep hurt, because the Twins have climbed all the way back from a huge hole to tie the Twins in the AL Centrla standings, and have also allowed the New York Yankees to take the AL Wild Card Lead. At this rate, I think even the Cubs could whoop up on the White Sox!

So how bad was that Twins sweep? Very bad. We're not seeing typical (typical being last year and early this year) White Sox baseball. Whereas the Twins made ridiculously amazing defensive plays, the Sox could not.



Whereas the Twins ran the bases well, the Sox did not.



Even the always-opinionated manager Ozzie Guillen was at a loss of words as what was going on with his club!

Orioles and Red Sox

So I've been a bit lazy of putting up recent images. Oh well. Anyways, last week, the White Sox hosted both the Baltimore Orioles and the Boston Red Sox. The Orioles are a struggling team, and with the exception of the series opener, the Sox had their way with them.



But the main event was the Boston Red Sox. Boston is a quality team, and gave the White Sox a real challenge, taking two of three. The White Sox avoided being swept by winning the Sunday finale 6-5 in 19 innings! I was not at that game (thankfully).... I can't even imagine what it'd be like shooting a game for six hours! Just out of curiosity, I asked some people who did shoot it (who all said it was a terrible experience, btw) how many frames one goes through in a 19 inning game. One guy said he took almost 2,000 shots. Another guy said he took about 1,500 images. On a typical game, I think I shoot on average between 400-500 shots. I guess I'm just a bit more selective... although their numbers may have been a bit inflated because it was an extra inning game... and in those games, you pretty much shoot every pitch because you never know which one will be the game winner.

Crosstown Classic Part II

Man, was the energy at the ballpark electric this weekend. Not only because it was Cubs-Sox weekend at Wrigley, but because I think people were expecting another memorable brawl.

Ding, ding, ding!



Well, no brawl in this Chicago-Chicago series rematch, but the Sox did win the series (surprise, surprise) by taking two of the three games, including the Saturday game in dramatic fashion. I mean, with the White Sox, is there any other way?

With the Cubs leading 6-5 in the 9th inning, White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski - the punchee in the first Crosstown series - landed the big blow by cranking a three-run home run off of closer Ryan Dempster. Cub fan frustrations ran high after that blast, as they showered the outfield with garbage, delaying the game for about five minutes. Ridiculous. You knew after that home run, the Cubs weren't going to come back to win that one, and Bobby Jenks came on to close out the victory for the Sox.