White Sox 12-2, FINAL: Just pretend like it never happened.
Mid 8th, White Sox 12-1: With the game entering it's final full inning, remember to check out the W.B. Mason Extra Innings postgame show with TC and Tony Mazz, looking back at what went wrong with Paul Byrd and what's next for Dice-K.
End 7th, White Sox 12-1: Now that Billy Wagner has arrived and thrived at the back end of the Red Sox pen, this is what it's come to for Manny Delcarmen: Mop-up duty in a 12-1 game. How the mighty have fallen.
Mid 7th, White Sox 12-1: While Paul Byrd flops in his second outing as the fifth starter, the chances of Daisuke Matsuzaka coming to the rescue look less and less likely. Dice-K pitched poorly again tonight, allowing four runs over four innings with two homers for Pawtcuket. Even if he's promoted next week, he's giving no indication he will provide any tangible help down the stretch.
End 6th, White Sox 12-1: Tazawa takes one for the team, pitching through the sixth to spare the bullpen in a hopeless situation, especially with some uncertainty tomorrow with Tim Wakefield and his cranky back.
Mid 6th, White Sox 12-1: The Rangers have won in Baltimore, so the Wild Card lead is nine outs away from dropping to two games.
End 5th, White Sox 12-1: Terry Francona declares the ultimate surrender, subbing out his entire defense — except for Gonzalez at short — before the bottom half of the inning.
Mid 5th, White Sox 12-1: Freddy Garcia has had some seriously long waits in the dugout between innings, but it hasn't shown itself on the mound. J.D. Drew gets a leadoff single, but the Red Sox can only manage two lazy flies to center and a routine grounder to short after that.
End 4th, White Sox 12-1: The White Sox are unloading six weeks of frustration on the Red Sox tonight. Five more runs on six hits for 12 and 16 since the first inning. Tazawa is being left out there to absorb the beating. Mark Kotsay and Chris Getz are each 3-for-3 with a combined seven RBI.
Mid 4th, White Sox 7-1: The Red Sox get one back, but easily could have had much more against Garcia. After a leadoff single by Pedroia, Victor Martinez gets himself needlessly thrown out at second trying to stretch a single into a double. Then, after a Youkilis RBI single, David Ortiz comes within five feet of a two-run homer to center. Not the Red Sox's night so far.
End 3rd, White Sox 7-0: The Sox offense has unloaded again … oops, sorry, wrong Sox.
9:07 p.m.: And just like that, the Paul Byrd Era is over. Byrd finally looks like a guy who hadn't pitched for a year, allowing seven runs on 10 hits over 2 1/3 innings. It's 7-0 with a man on second and one out and Junichi Tazawa coming in. Ten of the last 14 batters Byrd faced had hits. Not pretty.
9 p.m.: For the second straight inning, Byrd allows four consecutive hits to open the inning, with two runs scoring and runners at the corners. It's 4-0 White Sox and Byrd has allowed eight hits to the last 11 batters faced. Fairy tale, over.
Mid 3rd, White Sox 2-0: Alex Gonzalez gets the first hit of the game, but it gets erased very quickly, with Jacoby Ellsbury hitting into a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.
End 2nd, White Sox 2-0: Byrd comes crashing back to earth, but it could have been a much harder landing. Byrd allows a two-run homer to Mark Kotsay, then two more singles for first-and-third with nobody out. But Byrd comes right back with a shallow fly to right and two strikeouts to strand the runners.
Mid 2nd, 0-0: Did I jinx the offense? Sorry, Red Sox! Garcia breezes through his second inning, including a strikeout of Jason Bay. Youkilis and Bay destroyed Rays pitching this week, but Garcia has struck them both out tonight.
End 1st, 0-0: Byrd picks up where he left off, putting the White Sox down in order, including a called strike three to rookie Gordon Beckham. Byrd got help immediately from Dustin Pedroia, who laid out to flag down Scott Podesdnik's opening grounder.
Mid 1st, 0-0: Garcia doesn't seem to care how hot the Red Sox bats are. He gets a pair of soft grounders, then wastes a two-out walk to Victor Martinez by blowing away Kevin Youkilis. Now Paul Byrd looks to build on Sunday's amazing debut.
8:10 p.m.: The Red Sox have 10 hits in 5 of 6 games and 12 of 16. The Red Sox are hitting .297 with 114 runs scored in that span, second only to the Yankees in the majors in those categories. That's what Freddy Garcia and the White Sox pitching staff must deal with tonight.
7:50 p.m.: The White Sox seemed like a team of destiny in late July, with Mark Buehrle pitching a perfect game and DeWayne Wise saving it with a spectacular ninth-inning catch. But it's been a nightmare in Chicago since then, the White Sox going 16-24 to fall out of both division and Wild Card races. This is the team the Red Sox must take advantage of this weekend.
2:45 p.m.: Their lead in the Wild Card back up to three games over the Rangers, the Red Sox head to the Windy City for a weekend/holiday four-game series against the White Sox. Paul Byrd will look to continue his remarkable revival tale tonight, while Tim Wakefield seeks to make a comeback of his own Saturday after getting through a Thursday bullpen session unscathed.
The Red Sox took 3-of-4 from the White Sox at Fenway a week ago, and the White Sox have continued to slide out of contention since then. This is a golden opportunity for the Sox to establish a strong foothold in the Wild Card race, with 15 of their final 25 games at home, starting Tuesday.
