Ninth Inning Disaster

(August 11)

Short take:  Visions of Minnesota

Another heart breaker.  In a ninth inning eerily reminiscent of the nightmarish Foulke Meltdown game in the Hump Dome last June, the Sox closer comes unglued and the Sox go down in flames, 4-3 to the Mariners.  Foulke never got the third out.

Danny Wright was very effective.  He got touched in the second inning for one run but managed to mow down Seattle's vaunted line up for most of the rest of the game.  He was taken out with two out and a runner on in the eighth inning after throwing 103 pitches.  He looked to be the winner and improve to a perfect 3-0 record.

Nope.

Rbi-doubles by Paul Konerko and Chris Singleton plus a solo homerun by Jose Valentin spotted Wright a 3-1 lead.  Wright looked good enough to make it hold up.  Still, a golden opportunity to break the game open went by the boards in the White Sox ninth when a first-and-third situation with one out was squandered.  The culprit?  Ray Durham of course.  Ray grounded into a double-play extending his hitless streak with another 0 for 3 performance.  He reached base twice all night, both on walks, which is actually an improvement over Friday's giant 0 for 5 disaster.

No sooner had the groans back in Chicago died down, Keith Foulke started them again allowing a single and a walk to begin the bottom of the ninth for Seattle.  Shades of the Minnesota Meltdown, Foulke managed to get the next two hitters out.  Maybe he could wiggle free?  Not a chance.  The two subsequent  singles prove again that Foulke isn't likely to ever get the ninth inning's third out when his palm ball isn't working.

Should we mention we're under .500 again?  Why bother.