All season long everyone knew that the WS trophy was going to have to go through the defending champion White Sox and despite some up and down play up to the All Star break the on-field talent was never in doubt. The Sox temporarily took over first place highlighted by their head to head win over the Angels before running into a hot Mariners team and losing their final game of the week.
The first place Angels had taken the first two games over the White Sox in convincing fashion. However, in the third and final meeting of the season, the White Sox were able to pull out a 3-1 win in a tightly played game that had a "playoff feel". Both teams benefitted from excellent pitching and there were few scoring chances over the first four innings. Dan Slettterink and Ben Fischer shut down the opposing sides over the first two innings. The Sox were threatening in the 2nd but Adam Joos threw out a runner at home on a hard ground ball from his shortstop position. Graham Boudette and Joos put up 0s for the Angels in the 3rd and 4th innings while Joe Rizzo did the same for the White Sox.
The White Sox broke into the scoring column in 5th with RBI singles by Fischer and Kyle Rosenstein and a big double by Rizzo to help his own effort. Trailing 3-0, the Angel's Joe Bradley reached on a fielder's choice, stole 2nd, and scored on a White Sox mishap the very next play. With runners on 2nd and 3rd, Enzo Galletta hit a 320 foot bomb to deep center field but Sebby Amico made perhaps the highlight over-the-shoulder catch of the year. Rizzo struck out the last batter to end the threat leaving the runners stranded. Joe Bradley and Jack Gohr pitched perfect last innings for their respective teams as the White Sox were able to hold onto a tight 3-1 win.
In other AL action, the Mariners and A’s are both coming on strong and the Royals are playing their best ball of the season.
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The Mariners are benefitting from a deep staff with the Tighe brothers, James Reilly and reliable Matt Lenox, combining with the recent strong hitting of Matt Panacopoulos, Jackson Dunnell and rookies Corey Ward and Zack Abruzzese.
The A’s resurgence has been primarily on the back of their pitching including two shutouts in the last week. Matt Weber has been a stalwart off the hill game in and game out as well as Kevin Dewing, Matt Coughlin, Jack Monahan and Nick DiNapoli.
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The Royals had their biggest win of the season beating the Padres 4-3 on Sunday after playing the Astros tight in a 2-0 loss the day before. Ryan Fargo who is having a very strong finish to his RBRL career was the star with three solid innings on the mound and an rbi double in the winning rally. Other key plays were an rbi from Spencer Hilliard and two hits and rbi from Matt Starble. The highlight of the game was rookie John DiMare making a game ending diving catch in the outfield with the winning run in scoring position.
Next week we will highlight the National League.
OLDE REDDING BUTCHER SHOPPE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Joe Rizzo (White Sox)
Joe played outstanding in the White Sox two big wins over the division rivals Angels and Athletics. Joe went 4-5 from the plate with 3 RBIs and a double. He continues to consistently produce for the Sox and is hitting over .400 for the year. Joe was equally productive in the field pitching 7 strong innings in the 2 wins while playing flawlessly in the field from his shortstop position. Against the powerful Angels lineup, Joe pitched 4 strong innings giving up only 1 run while striking out 5. Joe continues to lead the White Sox in innings pitched and strikeouts.
Honorable Mention: David Erikson (Angels) Matt Panacopoulos (Mariners)
DYNAMIK SPORTS ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Connor Gill (Marlins)
Connor was a bright spot for the Marlins in a generally tough week for the team on the field. He started the week with two hits versus the Athletics and on Sunday had his strongest game on the season against the AL leading Angels. In that game Connor was robbed of a sure hit on a line drive to the outfield early in the game and then came back to hit a two-run single off of one the league’s top pitchers hard throwing Joe Bradley. In that same game he made a heads up play at second base tagging a runner going to second and then firing to first to complete a double play.
Honorable Mention:
Kevin Dewing (Athletics) John DiMare (Royals)
