Jon Garland Gets It Done

Tonight's 6-0 win in Oakland was big in many ways. Batters executing when it mattered, solid defense in the infield and a great pitching performance from Jon Garland. He stifled the Oakland lineup, throwing the 2nd shutout of his career.
Hard to believe, but this is a 16-4 ballclub. Compare that with 2004, when the Sox' best month was September (17-12). Hell of a run so far.

I was skeptical when they let Magglio Ordonez walk and traded Carlos Lee. But it looks like Kenny Williams finally found a right bag of candy.

Observations

A. It's kind of ridiculous to talk about the win in this way, but it still must be pointed out that the Sox actually won the first game of a series in Oakland.
In 2004, their one and only win at the Coliseum came on July 17, the third match of the four game in which the sox lost 3 games by no more than 4 runs. It may sound silly, but this team needs games like this to build confidence and show to themselves that they're a different team from last year.

B. Chris Widger? Are you kidding me? Hitting a 2-run home run after almost a 5 year long-ball drought? I guess it'd be silly to expect him to do it again, but hell, it seems like there's somebody who wasn't expected to contribute much coming in and getting it done lately.

C. It's good to see Paul Konerko drive in those two runs in the top of the 9th to drive in the nail further. He was 1-for-5, but he got up there and put the game out of reach. Widget's 2-run shot was enough, in retrospective, but a good team doesn't let up when they have a chance to tack onto the lead. Sox hitters should do more of this.

D. Shouldn't have taken me this long to get to it, but Jon Garland pitched a hell of a ballgame. He didn't overpower guys (only 3 strikeouts), but he made the smart pitches. Only one of the 4 hits gave up was for extra bases, and he only gave up one walk. And he pitched 79 of his 116 pitches for strikes. That's impressive.

And the best part is that he let the bullpen corps a much needed rest. Jose Contreras and Orlando Hernandez only pitched 8 1/3 innings in their starts at Kaufmann Stadium, forcing Ozzie to use 4 relievers two days in a row with Hermanson nursing his sore back. If Garland didn't get past the 6th inning today, the pen would have been in some serious trouble.

E. Juan Uribe is a terrific defender. He made some really terrific plays on top of the 9th, especially when he was able to get to the Jason Kendall grounder and make a strong throw to get him out at first.

Looks like there will be some good defense down the middle of the diamond. Rowand is a centerfielder with good range and an adequate arm, Uribe's a superior defensive shortstop, Iguchi makes the plays he needs to make. And the Pierzynski/Widger combo looks pretty solid.

I think the 2005 White Sox feature one of the best defensive lineups that South Siders have seen in some time. There are no real glaring defensive deficiencies. While they may not be able to score as many runs as last year, they probably won't give away as many runs on botched plays.

Concerns
A. Iguchi doesn't seem to be converting the scoring opportunities as well as it was first expected. Granted, he's still adjusting to a new league, new culture and new pitchers. But he left 6 men on base in 5 at bats today. Maybe it's just a bad day for him, but he's had a few days similar to this.

B. Jermaine Dye is looking, well, bad. He went 0-for-5 today, striking out twice. With Frank Thomas struggling to come back from his injury, Sox need his bat. For all the hoopla about speed and moving runners along, somebody eventually has to drive them in.
C. Sox drew 2 walks in 36 at bats. Still no panic button yet, though.

From the Watchtower
A. How rare is it to see a bench-clearing shenanigan start between the pitcher and a runner on 2nd base? I've never seen that before.

B. Oliver Perez looks like he's shaking off the rust, outdueling Roy Oswalt in a 7 2/3 inning effort in a 2-0 Pittsburgh win over Houston. He got 9 strikeouts and gave up 2 walks, allowing 4 hits along the way. He's going to be a hell of an ace for a playoff team someday.

C. Cubs finally get above the .500 mark, beating out the Reds 10-6. But not before Dunn made things interesting with a 3-run shot off of Chad Fox, who only got 1 batter out in 29 pitches, walking 3. Mark Prior looked sharp, giving up 2 runs in 6 innings while striking out 10. North Siders have been blessed with a guy who's got a great shot at becoming a hall of famer, if he stays healthy. Hopefully they don't run him out of town.