Postponement, doubleheader a problem for Sox

Share

Friday, Aug. 20, 2010Updated 11:38 PM

By Brett Ballantini
CSNChicago.com

KANSAS CITY -- Back on May 26, in a game against the Cleveland Indians, umpire Joe West cost Chicago White Sox starter Mark Buehrle some innings and both Buehrle and manager Ozzie Guillen some cash when he ejected both after they protested Wests balk calls.

On Friday, he may have taken an even bigger toll on the team, choosing to start a game that was destined to be flooded out, thus preventing Chicagos starter from throwing more than seven pitches in the contest.

The storms that hit Kansas City caused power outages outside of Kauffman Stadium and also blew out the JumboTron screen inside the park.

Weather has cheated everyone before, Jackson said after facing just two Royals before the game was called, at 8:49 p.m. Unless you really just started playing baseball, Im sure youve been cheated by the weather.

As for whether Wests misjudgment of the weather angered him, Jackson demurred.

Thats Wests decision -- theres no reason to get mad over something you cant control, he said. Not to make a decision on if we start a game or not, thats his decision. Thats his call -- ask him how he feels about it.

Guillen had no comment about the postponement, literally left speechless by the circumstances. Meanwhile, the White Sox are now forced to scramble through a series theyd hope would play out a little easier than their last sets against the Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins.

Freddy Garcia will start Game 1 of a doubleheader that will begin at 6:10 p.m. Saturday. The starter for Game 2, estimated to start at approximately 9:30 p.m. (a half-hour after the conclusion of Game 1), has not been announced by the White Sox.

Royals starter Sean OSullivan set down all three White Sox to begin the game. As rain started falling and quickly came faster, Jackson walked Royals leadoff man Gregor Blanco and was facing Jason Kendall when the game was delayed.

Kansas City officials could have chosen to play a daynight doubleheader on Saturday, providing Game 1 started before 12:10 p.m. and Game 2 began after 6:05, due to FOXs national broadcasting blackout on Saturday afternoons. Its a fair speculation that continuing bad weather into early Saturday ruled out a split doubleheader.

Now the White Sox are faced with chasing their weakest starter of late (Garcia) with an X-factor (a minor-league callup, or a patchwork effort starting with long reliever Tony Pena) on what shapes up to be a lost day of pitching for Chicago. Consider that the White Sox will be facing K.C. ace Zack Greinke on a Sunday afternoon turnaround game (1:10 p.m.), and the Royals could well steamroll a Sox club eager to build on the momentum of Thursdays 11-0 drubbing of the Twins.

Meanwhile Jackson, who was 1-0 with a 1.35 ERA in his first three starts with the White Sox, gets robbed of a start at a time when the club desperately needs him.

A week and a half between starts? Pretty much thats what it is, Jackson said. No need to get mad, theres nothing you can do about it. You just have to take it as is, I guess. You can get mad all you want, but its not going to change the fact that all you can do is get ready for the next start.

Brett Ballantini is CSNChicago.coms White Sox Insider. Follow him @CSNChi_Beatnik on Twitter for up-to-the-minute Sox information.

Contact Us