7 K's sink Sox

(September 6)  

Short take:  Loss to Garner's ultimate punk.

The Sox took the field for a get-away matinee with the Tigers trying for a big four-game sweep.  The opposing pitcher was the guy Sox Fans love to hate, Phil Garner's ultimate punk, the freak Jeff Weaver.  Here's a guy so maladjusted, even his teammates hate to protect him in a brawl.

With that as plenty of motivation, the Sox simply never got out of first gear.  They roll over and play dead in yet another display of corpseball, 6-2 losers.  Cleveland extends it lead, it case you care to know.

Sox starter Jon Garland started with the wrong foot.  His eighth pitch of the game was planted in the seats to spot Garner's steaming pile a quick 1-0 lead.  Garland got in trouble again in the fourth and fifth innings, allowing leadoff singles in each frame.  He finally got chased without ever recording an out in the fifth, charged with five runs and eight hits.  

Reliever Matt Ginter did Garland the favor of allowing all his inherited runners to score.  His line score is an impressive three innings of one run and two hit ball.

Did he learn this trick from Bill Simas?

Meanwhile Jeff Weaver was making Sox hitters look silly.  The head case has 14 defeats so we know somebody is beating him, but the impatient Sox hitters went fishing for everything even remotely near the plate.  He went seven innings striking out five Sox hitters.  

Typical of our Sox, the offense came from solo shot dingers.  Paul Konerko and Jeff Liefer went back-to-back in the fourth inning.  The team managed just one hit the remaining five innings.

Oh sure, that's the winning formula for the big weekend series in Cleveland!

The division champion pigs are next.