Posts tagged ‘Clayton Richard’

Clayton Richard. Well, at least for tonight.

There was wild speculation who would be taking the mound tonight. There were a few murmurs about Aaron Poreda and his blazing fastball, but he is still in AA and has yet to master a secondary pitch. Lance Broadway was optioned to Charlotte for bullpen help in Oakland and could not be recalled until 10 days had passed. Ozzie decided Clayton would be the man, though he hardly gave him a ringing endorsement: “Richard. That’s it. Don’t ask me why. Richard,” Guillen said. “Richard’s the pitcher [Tuesday], and hopefully this time he does better.”

He had shown promise in previous starts, but was hit hard the second and third time through the order. Opposing batters were hitting .346 their second look and an astronomical .667 the third time. Clayton backed up that solid inning of work in Oakland, Sunday with a huge performance tonight. Matched up against a future CY Young candidate in Felix Hernandez, the rookie had his work cut out for him and he answered the bell. The Mariners put the heat on early with a single by Cairo after Ichiro reached on Clayton’s throwing error, but he worked his way out of trouble. Swisher picked up his young pitcher with a great on a hard grounder to first, stepping on the bag and fired home to beat Ichiro for a double play. He worked a 1-2-3 second and the offense would give him the only run he would need when Griffey hit a sac fly to score Thome, who led off the inning with a double. Richard was not spectacular, but he showed good life on his fastball on his way to six shutout innings and his first Major League win.

What does that mean for the 5th starter spot from here on out? Maybe nothing as the Sox have the next three Thursdays off that could allow Ozzie to skip this spot in the rotation in the upcoming weeks. Even if we have to use a five man rotation Broadway and Richard have not done anything recall the nightmare of the 5th starter of years passed. There will be no Arnie Munoz or Felix Diaz taking the ball and sending Sox fans running for cover. Lance Broadway battled his way to a win last time out and did not take his demotion to heart as he won in Charlotte tonight behind five strikeouts in 6.2 innings.

The Sox remain in first place and look like they may be playing their best baseball of the season. If not for a bullpen collapse in Oakland in the first game of the season, they would be riding an 8 game winning streak. They extend their high water mark to 19 games above five hundred and maintain their one game lead in the division. It is encouraging to see the offense keep hitting the ball hard coming home from Oakland avoid scoring droughts that plagued the lineup earlier this season following high scoring games. Swisher especially, who has homered in back to back nights.

As the Sox welcome in the Tampa Bay Rays this weekend, the Twins head out on a fourteen game road trip, with the first eleven on the west coast. The division could very well be decided in the next three weeks as for the first time all season, it seems like the offense and rotation are hot at the same time.

Fair warning to all baseball pundits, regardless of team allegiance: he who attempts to declare that he has the AL Central “figured out” does so at his own peril.

Monday’s crucial series opener between the Twins and White Sox, who stood just 2.5 games apart in the standings, did confirm a few things that have long been status quo for anybody who follows the White Sox:

A) The Sox do not play well in domes.
B) The Sox really, really, really don’t play well in the MetroDome.

The 2008 AL Central race has, up to this point, been a complete blueprint for what life will one day look like through the looking glass (or inside the Matrix, take your metaphorical pick). Up is down. Black is white. The guy who’s been on a roll for two straight months and has 9 years of big league experience and a World Series ring gets taken deep by a rookie with a name that would make a good alias for a minor member of Batman’s Rogues Gallery. It’s what happens after everybody has it figured out that counts.

As mentioned in Monday’s episode of the podcast, it wasn’t until after I saw how much the pitching matchup for Monday’s game would “supposedly” favor the Sox that I began to get that gnawing, abysmal feeling in the pit of my stomach that surfaces every time the Sox play a critical game in Minnesota. Coming into this game, Mark Buehrle had been 6-2 with a 1.99 ERA in his last 10 starts. For his career against the Twins he was a stellar 21-11 (his most wins against opponent) and has been one of the few successful Sox pitchers in Minneapolis (10-5 career mark). Opposing him was Kevin Slowey, his dominant run of late June a fading memory as he allowed 15 runs in his last 14 innings to go with a finger injury that pushed back another start. Oh, and did we mention he was 0-2 with a 12.38 ERA against the Sox in two starts this season?

So naturally Buehrle got tagged for a pair of two-run homers by Justin Morneau and Denard Span, two left-handed hitters (lefties had only 3 HR against Mark all season) while Slowey threw a complete game shutout. You decide what it means. All I know is it gives me a lot of comfort seeing as how the deck is now “supposedly” stacked in Minnesota’s favor tomorrow with Glen Perkins matched against Clayton Richard, who’ll be making his second major-league start.