White Sox One Game Closer
Posted by Sport.co.uk on: 01 October 2008 - 12:26
Author: Steve Rawlins
There has been no rest for the Chicago White Sox this September. On Monday, the South Siders managed to beat out the Detroit Tigers in a rain-out make up game to force a single game playoff against the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday. This game will decide which of these teams will take the 2008 American League Central title. The winner of this make-or-break game will face the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Division Series on Thursday.
Digging their way out
On the face of it, the White Sox have only themselves to blame for the extra efforts they are having to make to fight their way into the playoffs. They have managed to win only one of their last six games and ominously got swept by the Twins just last week. In fact, the win on Monday against the Tigers heralded the Chicago’s first consecutive win steak since the first week of September.
Detroit trying to spoil
Detroit has had a terrible 2008 season which actually started with playoff aspirations. The loss on Monday put them into last place in the same division that the White Sox and Twins will fight to win on Tuesday. The Tigers temporarily took the lead in the make up game, trying to play spoiler to the South Siders’ playoff chances, but the momentum shifted in favour of the Sox when their former star Freddy Garcia had to leave the game for the Tigers with tightness in his throwing shoulder. A couple of wild pitches followed from replacements Armando Galarraga and Bobby Seay.
The Rookie steps up
Seay then intentionally walked Konerko and Ken Griffey Jr. which loaded the bases for the White Sox, and then when Gary Glover, another White Sox former pitcher, took the mound for Detroit, rookie second baseman Alexei Ramirez sent his first pitch crashing into the stands for the grand slam homer.
Injury issues
Although Ramirez has very literally stepped up to the plate for the White Sox, the fact remains that this team is without its All-Star slugger Carlos Quentin who was leading the American League with 36 home runs before injuring his wrist at the beginning of September. Ironically, he was overtaken as the AL home run leader by Miguel Cabrera, who failed to score a home run for the Tigers against the Sox on Monday.
Win-or-go-home
Almost worse for the White Sox is that their best defensive player is also absent. Joe Creed, the wiley third baseman, had surgery on his back last year and had appeared to make a rapid recovery, hitting 16 homers in the first half of the season before returning to the disabled list earlier this month with back pains that required injections to calm them. Creed’s performance in Chicago’s 2005 World Series win was instrumental, and White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen hopes that former shortstop Juan Uribe will be a capable replacement in the postseason, should his team beat the Twins in the win-or-go-home game on Tuesday.