Never Trust Dudes In White Shoes

Athletics - 11
White Sox - 3

As if the last series versus a playoff contending team hadn't actually happened, the White Sox came out in the first game versus the visiting Oakland Athletics with about as much grace as this, minus the UN referencing in faux-Ivy League tonality... but definitely, definitely just as awkward and painful to take in.

The hapless A's (62-76) hung 20 hits up on the Sox pitchers tonight. All six of the miserable bastards. Our pitchers were more run-prone tonight than a tourist with irritable bowel syndrome pounding Mexican tap water by the gallon. The A's 6-9 batters, who average about .252, had 8 hits. Ex-Sox Ryan Sweeney had a good day for himself, going 4-for-6 and scoring three times. My brain hurts.

What goes up... must come down. Carlos Torres, who shut out the Cubs and limited them to 5 hits in his last start, was pulled tonight after just 2 outs. Torres let in 5 earned runs off of 4 hits and a walk, which forced Ozzie Guillen to go to his rented mule (DJ Carrasco) in the top of the 1st. Not good. Carrasco, who has been one of the more dependable arms out of the 'pen this year, just... wasn't there tonight. By the time that DJ's stats were closed out for the night, the Sox trailed 8-0.

From there, the revolving door to the bullpen just kept spinning. Surprisingly, only 3 more runs were allowed past the 4th inning for Oakland. I'd chalk it up to wanting to hurry things up so they can go clubbing with Cutler and Greg Olsen.

Offensively, the only bright spots were a 2-run homer by Mark Kotsay in the 4th and a solo shot by Paul Konerko in the 6th.

Tonight's "Let's Make an Error!" winner: Alexei Ramirez - #18 of the year. Sigh... Derek Jeter's made seven this year, and he's got herpes.

Oh, and just to make tonight's loss a little sweeter? Both the Tigers and Twins lost. Not that we need to... win... or anything...