By Jon Lane
Good news and bad news.

Octavio Dotel, an established late-inning reliever for the White Sox, struck out the side in the top of the eighth to keep the ChiSox’s deficit at 2-1. That was huge because of the bad news: Kyle Farnsworth, starting over in Kansas City as Joakim Soria’s set-up man, surrendered a three-run home run to Jim Thome in the bottom of the frame. A questionable decision by Royals manager Trey Hillman, once a coach in the Yankees organization, to pull his ace, Gil Meche, after just 91 pitches.

Unfortunately for Farnsworth, giving up big hits in big spots is something that’s plagued him his entire career.