elrockinMT

Carlos Lee for August 3rd

Paul Konerko for August 2nd

Jose Valentin for August 1st

Frank Thomas for July 31st. I think Frank wants to show Jose, Maggs, and PK that he can do it too.

This looks like it could be good news for the Sox and Danny Wright. We need that 5th starter badly.

I took in this game played in Billings. Very impressed with Gray, Nanita and pitcher Johnson. Looks like there is some real hitting talent on this rookie club. Gray homered and narrowly missed another homer leading off the 1st inning that looked as if it was right over the LF foul pole, but the ump called it foul.

That's the idea I think. We have 5 days before we need a fifth starter. A trade is a real possibility. No trade maybe a call up again from the minors?

A 4-man rotation for starters doesn't work. We need another starter, who will probably come in a trade before the 31st. We also need a relief guy, but it looks like Ginter is the choice there. I am thinking maybe Koch is on the block!?

It's late, but I was excited and thought I would share some quick game notes of the Great Falls White Sox-Billings Mustangs(Reds) game. Our pitchers gave up 13 runs in the 1st and 2nd innings. We trailed 13-0 at the end of 2. The Sox rookies came back and were leading 14-13 going to the bottom of the 8th. I saw Ricardo Nanita line three hits. He doesn't seem to be the homer type guy, but hits solid and on the line. He also can go the opposite way. Carlos Lee showed the same and we had some big bats going too. A couple round trippers. I will give you a run down on these guys in a later post, but I was impressed with the hitting and our bullpen. UPDATE THE SOX EVENTUALLY LOST THIS GAME AFTER GAINING A 14-13 LEAD. THE MUSTANGS SCORED 3 TO WIN. ANTOIN GRAY WAS ANOTHER STANDOUT WITH A HOMER AND MISSED ONE IN THE 1ST ON WHAT APPEARED TO BE A BAD CALL BY THE UMPIRE. HERE IS THE STORY: Mustangs blow lead, then rally By MIKE SCHERTING Of The Gazette Staff Instead of laying out everything that happened between the Great Falls White Sox and Billings Mustangs Saturday night at Cobb Field, it's easier to list what didn't happen : A triple play. A bench-clearing brawl. A very refreshing summer rain shower. An Elvis sighting. But just about everything else that could happen in a baseball game did in the Mustangs' wild 16-14 victory in front of 4,179 fans, most of whom stuck around for the entire 3 hour, 32-minute affair. Despite having a 13-run lead after two innings, the Mustangs had to come back - we'll try to explain that later - in the eighth inning on an RBI single by Rusty Beale and a two-run double by Luis Bolivar before closer David Shafer recorded three straight outs in the ninth to finally put the Mustangs out of their misery. Because it would have been a miserable night trying to figure out how they lost a game they led 13-0 after two innings. Billings batted around in both the first and second innings, scoring seven times in the first and six in the second. From there, though, the Mustangs appeared to be on auto pilot. They committed seven - yes, seven - errors in just about every way imaginable in allowing the White Sox to get back in the game. Mustangs' pitchers weren't much help either, giving up 12 hits over the next six innings before Shafer mercifully slammed the door for his sixth save. Brock Till, the Mustangs' fifth pitcher, got the win. To be fair to the Billings pitchers, though, the Mustangs' seven errors accounted for six unearned runs. Great Falls scored four runs in the third, five in the fifth, four more in the seventh, and finally took the lead in the top of the eighth on an RBI double by Brandon Bounds. Till struck out the next two batters with runners on second and third to end the threat and keep the game close. There were plenty of offensive highlights for the Mustangs, too. Chris Dickerson drove in four runs, three on a bases-loaded triple in the first inning, and Bolivar finished the long night with three RBIs. The 16 runs tied a season high for the Mustangs, and their 16 hits almost reached the season high of 17 set on July 15 against the same Great Falls team. Three players - Bolivar, Habelito Hernandez and Walter Olmstead - had three hits while Olmstead, Dickerson and Chad Ziemendorf each scored three times. Surprisingly, the Mustangs, who lead the Pioneer League in home runs, scored all their runs without the benefit of a homer. Antion Gray and Charlie Lisk homered for Great Falls. In fact, Gray appeared to lead off the game with a homer down the left-field line, but home plate umpire Jesse Redwine called the ball foul, prompting an argument from White Sox manager Chris Cohn. It was just the beginning to the bizarre evening, which also saw the Mustangs get doubled up on a dropped infield fly in the eighth inning. The bottom line, though, is the Mustangs won their fifth straight as the first half of the season comes to a close with today's game.

Hawk was vocal tonight. He ven used a curse word when yelling about Frank not off and running full speed on that 2 out hit by Maggs. Frank scored, but had hesitated not realizing it was two outs.

Ginter will probably pitch in relief, which is where Porzio should have been. He was a five inning pitcher even in Charlotte. Tonight he sucked pretty bad and so did White, but White was also victimized by a bloop double by Baldelli. He hasn't pitched to badly, but the last two games have not been his best outings either. I may be a bit crazy, but is it possible a trade for a starter is in the works and Billy Koch is the trade bait? There isn't any White Flag II trades happening. We are in this thing to win.

White Sox will be on the WGN channel tonight at 6:00 PM CDT. Porzio going for the Sox in his third outing since being called up. The last 2 have been 5 innings each versus the Tribe. Let's hope he can go at least 6 strong tonight. Last night ESPN BBTN showed Frank Thomas just missing his 400 homer in the 1st and then getting it later. However, they also spent as much time showing the fans dousing Baldelli with beer and making their comments about Sox fans. Dibble said Chicago was a great town with stupid fans.

Brewers break out the champagne By LEE VERNOY Tribune Sports Writer -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are good things and bad things to be said for over-aggressiveness. Ask Great Falls White Sox manager Chris Cron. Trailing 2-0 with no outs in the bottom of the seventh in Friday's 3-1 loss to Helena, Cron had runners on second and third when Clinton King lined a single to left. Seth Morris scored easily from third, but Cron waved Charlie Lisk around third, and he was shot down at the plate on a strong throw from left fielder Nic Carter and equally strong relay from third baseman Justin Barnes. Lisk was out by 12 feet, despite a bone-jarring collision with Brewer catcher Lou Palmisano. Cron admitted it. He committed the cardinal sin as far as third base coaches are concerned: don't make the first out of the inning at home plate. "If I had it to do over, I wouldn't have sent (Lisk)," Cron confessed after the game. "(Helena) executed good; they played catch on the throw to the plate, and they had a little collision there at the plate. "That was my bonehead mistake for the night, and we weren't able to capitalize for it. Who knows what would have happened if I didn't send him. I made the mistake and I got to get better at it. That cost us something. ... momentum, for one thing." With the win, Helena clinched the first-half title in the Northern Division of the Pioneer League, even though second place Billings -- who trails the Brewers by 1Þ games -- scored a 4-1 decision over Missoula at Cobb Field. The Brewers own the tiebreaking edge over the Mustangs, who can do no better than earn a tie for the first-half flag. Terry Trofholz got things going for Helena off starter and losing pitcher Denis Ulacia (0-2) with a bloop single to right. He scored one out later when Vinny Rottino doubled into the left center field gap. Manny Ramirez drove Rottino across with a single to give the Brewers a 2-0 advantage before an all-time Legion Park record crowd of 4,786 could get their seats warm. Once Ulacia got through the first, he had no problems, retiring the final 13 batters he faced. The left-hander, who was making his third start in a rehabilitation assignment from Class AA Birmingham, struck out seven in five innings, allowing three hits and no walks to earn his manager's praise. "That's nice to see," Cron said. "His last two rehab starts weren't nearly as good as this one. He had much better command of his fastball, especially on the inside part of the plate, and that's what he needed to do. He kept us in the ballgame, didn't let things explode like they have been doing in the past. It was a real nice outing by him also. "I don't know if he's going to stick around for another start with us or if he's going to move on, but he did a lot of positive things tonight." Meanwhile, Helena starter Mitch Stetter (4-1) was doing his part, holding the Sox in check before giving way to Kenny Durost in the last of the sixth. Stetter, a 6-4, 195-pound portsider from Indiana, allowed five hits and fanned six to earn his fourth victory in five decisions. Nick Slack pitched the last 2 1/3 innings to earn his sixth save for the Brewers. Rylan Reed took over for Ulacia in the sixth and retired the first six batters he faced before allowing a single by Barnes leading off the eighth, but Barnes was cut down in a strikeout-throwout double play from Lisk to Antoin Gray. Cron was pleased with Reed's performance. "He needed to do that, he needed to keep us in the game. He worked ahead in the count for the most part and made some big pitches when he had to, got some strikeouts, We just hope to have him keep that stuff going. He's been pitching like that for the last three or four outings. He's had some real good outings, and that's a real good positive for him and the club." Reed did give up a ninth inning run when Trofholz scored on a wild pitch. "We did a lot of nice things," Cron added. "After (Helena) scored their two runs in the first, from the second inning on it was a pretty good baseball game, . The big guys made some nice plays in the field, the pitchers pitched their tails off. and our defense was very solid. "We just came up on the short end of the stick again. That's baseball." Cron is looking for improvement and more consistency from his charges once the second half kicks off Monday. "We gave it a nice run here, and we got the second half to look forward to," Cron added. "We're getting some guys back who are healthy...(Michah) Schnurstein is going to be a big plus for us" Cron noted that Schnurstein should be available tonight when the Sox travel to Billings for a two-game series with the Mustangs at Cobb Field. "The guys got their feet wet in that first half. It was nice to be in such a pennant race to try to win the first half. It's a good learning experience for these kids, and there ain't nothing better than playing for something other than just personal stats."

Tony Graffanino on Sunday versus Tampa Bay

Carlos Lee for Saturday versus the Devil Rays

Who the heck is Toby Hall and how did he hit a home run?

Stanhouse comes in with an ERA hovering near 7.00 and takes out our bottom 3 like they were in little league. Analysts say that the Sox need a 3B and a C and that Olivo especially kills our line up. The RBI tonight being an exception what do you guys think?

Loaiza with 103 pitches through 6

Loaiza gives up his first walk of the game. The guy is fantastic.

That was a classic moment is White Sox baseball! You were lucky to have been there. Congrats!

I see that Koerko strikes out. A strike out and a GIDP. Let's hope he isn't sliding again

Must be spoiled rich kids or just independently wealthy

What's up? Do we have idiots in the stands throwing beer on players? If we do you can bet that's all they will talk about on ESPN BBTN.

I just logged on in time to see that Carlos Lee hit a 2-run dinger and the Big Hurt followed with #400 Let me tell you Sox fans there is NEVER anything boring about being able to watch the Chicago White Sox play baseball.

I think Loaiza and Colon can dominate the Devil Rays. If Colon continues with his approach on Sunday we might even see a complete game shut out. Loaiza most certainly do the same. I would not count on Porzio throwing more than 5 innings on Saturday. He can be effective, but the pen will need to be ready.