With the start of the White Sox regular season postponed due to coronavirus concerns, NBC Sports Chicago has decided to re-air 70 victories from the 2005 season from now until June. Here at Sox On 35th, we will also be following along and recapping those games for you in our Tale of the Tape series.
Date of Game: May 8, 2005
The White Sox survived a big fourth inning where Toronto scored four runs on some sloppy defensive plays. Luckily, the pitching staff was able to keep the Jays’ offense quiet for the rest of the game. With the 5-4 victory, the White Sox improve to 24-7.
W: Mark Buehrle (5-1) | L: Gustavo Chain (4-2) | S: Damaso Marte (2)
The Good
- Juan Uribe (SS): 2-for-5, HR (3), RBI, run
- Jermaine Dye (RF): 1-for-4, HR (5), 2 RBI, run
- Aaron Rowand (CF): 2-for-4
The Bad
- Paul Konerko (1B): 0-for-3, 2 K
- Carl Everett and Joe Crede: both caught stealing
- Juan Uribe’s fielding: Two errors to bring his season total to six
Moment of the Game
The difference maker in this game turned out to be Pedro Lopez’s single to center field in the top of the fourth that grew the White Sox lead to 5-0. The Blue Jays would score four runs in the bottom half before Buehrle and the pen stopped them for the remainder of the game.
Stats On 35th – Let’s Break This One Down by the Numbers
Today’s Numbers:
22.9, 4, 15, 5, 43
22.9
Despite giving up four runs in the fourth, Mark Buehrle is today’s MVP in terms of Win Probability Added (WPA) with 22.9 percentage points. He managed to toss 7.1 innings before giving way to Dustin Hermanson and the bullpen.
4
The infield turned four double plays in this one, with Juan Uribe starting two and a mixture of Joe Crede and Pedro Lopez beginning the others.
.774
The White Sox own the best record in all of baseball at 24-7, which also gives them the highest winning percentage at .774. The next closest team is the Baltimore Orioles who own a .667 winning percentage and 20-10 record.
5
The victory allowed Chicago’s winning streak at the time to grow to five games.
43
Despite there only being a one run difference in this contest, the White Sox run differential on the season was a +43. The offense had scored 145 runs compared to the 102 given up.
Looking Ahead:
The next game being shown will take us down to Tropicana for the May 11th, 2005 game. NBC Sports Chicago will be airing it at 4:00 pm. As always, check back here at Sox On 35th for the recap!
Player of the Game
Today’s Player of the Game is Mark Buehrle who went 7.1 innings, leading the team in WPA while only giving up two earned.
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