The Joy of Sox

Last night was the perfect night at the ballpark. I had The Ladyfriend at my side. I got to eat a frozen banana. And nachos. We had great bleacher seats right in center field. The weather turned out to be wonderful. And the White Sox kicked the crud out of the Angels for the 8th straight meeting. (Ironically, the last time the Angels beat the Sox, the first game of the ALCS, I was also in the ballpark. And also had a frozen banana.)

During the first inning, the pseudo-fans behind us began to complain about Freddy. He gave up some hits and a run. They were concerned. They started talking about it being a short night for Mr. Garcia. They worried about his 4 hits allowed in two innings. But have they never seen Freddy pitch? He takes time. He settles down. (I will not comment on how he calms himself down. I will leave those jokes to The Gat.) On the night, Freddy gave up only one more hit and 1 run total. Nice.

And then we got treated to a Thome homerun. Like Konerko, Thome's homers are noticable as soon as they touch the bat. As soon as he swang his big bohemoth swing, the entire crowd stood. I think they partly stood out of excitement. And perhaps partly out of reverence. But I think most stood because they feared being hit. With the speed those suckers go out, it's like a meteor shower. You don't know where it's gonna land and you don't know what damage could be done. I have heard that U.S. Cellular is offering Thome insurance.

Crede and Dye also homered. Has anyone else looked at our offensive numbers recently? It's ridiculous. Seven guys are batting over .300. Four guys have 7 homers or more. And even Scott Podsednick is knocking on the door of .300 now after a rough start. This is a defense and pitching team remember?

In fact, I have to say the highlight of the night was the defense by my boy Scotty Pods. I expect him to steal bases (which he did). I expect him to get on base (1 for 1 with 4 walks? Are you kidding me?). But Scott amazed me last night by robbing that homer by Tim Salmon. What was cool was that, being in the bleachers, I had an awesome view of it. I watched as Scott just stood at the wall waiting. His eyes were on the ball and I thought, "The dude is so zoned in." And still he waited. His eyes were locked. And then, he jumped, timed it perfectly, and ripped it back out of the bullpen.

I've seen great moments at Sox games. Homers, comebacks, game-winning hits, etc. But that was the best defensive play I've seen live. Getting to see it that close, and to see Scott's eyes as it unfolded, was great. Almost as good was the rection of the fans after the catch. There was a long chant of his name as he stood there playing the rest of the inning. As it peaked, he just stood there with his glove over his mouth in his humble, "Gee Shucks" manner.

This was the second Sox game that I've seen with The Ladyfriend. The first was in early April. It was very cold and we lost. So I remarked to her that I was glad our streak of bad games together was over and not some horrible omen. She said that one game is not a streak. I maintain that it is a streak--just a really short one.