Twins knock Sox out of first in 12-6 win
The White Sox are not in a good place right now.
For the first time since July 10, they are not in first place in the AL Central. Not surprisingly, it was the rival Twins who knocked them down a peg.
"They don't have the big boy (Justin Morneau) in the lineup, but you look at the lineup up and down, and they can swing the bat," manager Ozzie Guillen said after Minnesota battered the Sox 12-6 on Tuesday night at U.S. Cellular Field. "They can score some runs; they're very dangerous. They've got some speed. It's a good ballclub."
The White Sox still have similar thoughts about themselves, but they are now riding a four-game losing streak after falling for just the second time in their last 15 games at the Cell.
If there was panic in the postgame clubhouse, the Sox did a good job of hiding it.
"Don't give it much thought," Paul Konerko said when asked how it feels to be in second place. "It only matters where you are at the end of the year when the last game's been played. They're playing well right now. We're playing OK. Not good, not bad; we're kind of in the middle."
True, but the White Sox realize they need to pick it up against division opponents.
Tuesday's loss dropped them to 20-22 in the AL Central, and the Sox are 3-7 against the Twins. Minnesota is 30-16 in division play.
"I think that's the reason they are where they are," Guillen said. "I think we are not playing good in our division this year, especially against them. Hopefully things turn around. We've got a few games left."
Tuesday's game was decided early, mainly because Minnesota pounded Sox starter Freddy Garcia.
"Freddy's been pitching well, and I think today from the beginning you could see everything was around the plate and all of his strikes were hit hard," Guillen said. "They were swinging like they knew what was coming. It was only one game, and he should be ready for Detroit Sunday."
On a muggy night, the veteran right-hander looked to be out of gas from the first inning. Garcia lasted 21/3 innings, allowing 6 runs on 8 hits. He gave up home runs to Jim Thome, J.J. Hardy and Joe Mauer in the second inning.
"He was throwing pitches up," said White Sox catcher Ramon Castro. "Today was one of those days where nothing worked for us. They were hitting everything. They beat us. No excuse."
Trailing 5-0 in the second inning, Carlos Quentin managed to give the crowd of 30,900 some excitement with a 3-run homer off Twins starter Scott Baker. The slumping right fielder was dropped to the seventh spot in the order because of a 1-for-18 slump.
"Hopefully, he'll come back around," Guillen said. "He put a good swing on it. His 3 at-bats after that were very bad ones. I think we're going to keep him down there for a little while and see how he responds."
<p class="factboxheadblack">Scot Gregor's game tracker </p>
<p class="News">Twins 12, White Sox 6</p>
<p class="News"><b>Tough month:</b> Sox starter Freddy Garcia last just 2.1 innings and allowed 6 runs on 8 hits, 3 of them home runs. Since 2004, Garcia is 5-9 with a 5.65 ERA in August.</p>
<p class="News"><b>Bombs away:</b> In addition to Garcia serving up 3 home runs, the Twins also went deep off Tony Pena and Scott Linebrink. The 5 HR allowed tied a season high for the White Sox' pitching staff.</p>
<p class="News"><b>Quentin connects:</b> Dropped to the No. 7 spot in the order following a 1-for-18 slump, Carlos Quentin hit a 3-run homer in the second inning off Minnesota starter Scott Baker.</p>
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<h2>Stories</h2>
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<li><a href="/story/?id=399867">Guillen defends his team<span class="date"> [8/10/10]</span></a></li>
<li><a href="/story/?id=399868">Beckham on the mend, hoping to play soon<span class="date"> [8/10/10]</span></a></li>
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