Sox Come Up Empty Against Rangers

After a couple of games that could have gone either way and did, the Sox sat on the receiving end of a more lopsided effort to finish off their series with the Rangers on Sunday.

White Sox: 0
Rangers: 5

Gavin Floyd started off steady, and for the most part he stayed so throughout save for a few poorly placed pitches that became souvenirs, including an absolute bomb from Josh Hamilton that landed 441 feet from where it started. Hamilton brought the oohs and ahs of the ESPN crew, and it wasn’t necessarily undeserved. The guy can play baseball.

Nate Jones made his MLB debut and played to his slightly developed reputation, walking the first two batters he faced. He then managed a double play and capped it off by striking out Josh Hamilton with an inside changeup.

Eduardo Escobar got his first start of the year and contributed both positively and negatively. He flashed his wheels in the 5th by burning a triple, but also got eaten up on a hotshot to third while playing the field in the 6th and was charged with an error.

Plus: Gordo went 1-3 with a walk, which seems unremarkable but he did so from the 2-hole in the lineup, hopefully helping him to get past the “mental issues” that have been keeping him from being a productive hitter. Also nice to see the big turn at first on a base hit translate into an extra base. Hustle can pay.

Minus: As you can see from the game graph below, the Sox never really threatened to be a part of this game. They were never more likely to win than they were at first pitch. Also, Alejandro De Aza had a very unbalanced awkward wave of the bat early in the game. It’s the exact same futile stick wave that he pulled out in the opener. I didn’t think too much of it the first time, but after seeing it again I hope it’s not an indication of a major hole that can be exploited at will by the opposition.

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