Loss in finale of 2-4 trip leaves Sox' Guillen steaming

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The White Sox are off Monday, and they return to the field Tuesday night against the Baltimore Orioles at U.S. Cellular Field.

By then maybe Ozzie Guillen will have cooled off.

The Sox' manager was burning mad after another extra-inning loss, this one a 3-2 decision in 10 to the Royals on Sunday at Kauffman Stadium.

"A very horse(bleep) road trip," Guillen said. "Disappointing my (bleeping) (bleep). Disappointing for (bleeping) managers that have patience. Very bad road trip. The way it ended was the way we started, very bad."

Opening the six-game trip Tuesday at Minnesota, the Sox lost to the first-place Twins when Jim Thome homered off Matt Thornton in the bottom of the 10th inning. Thornton (sore left forearm) hasn't pitched since, and the all-star reliever might be headed to the disabled list.

As for the White Sox, they looked more like a team playing out the string than a viable contender while going 2-4 at Minnesota and Kansas City. Four of the games went extra innings, including all three against the Royals. The Sox were 1-3 in those games.

"We're getting down to the crunchtime and we need to win these close games," said starter John Danks, who allowed 2 runs in 6 innings Sunday. "It's tough. It was a tough series. It was a tough series against Minnesota.

"It isn't going to get any easier. We just have to go out there and play good baseball for the last five, six weeks and we'll see where that takes us."

The bullpen has been taking a beating since the all-star break, and that trend continued Sunday when Scott Linebrink came on in the 10th after Bobby Jenks pitched 3 scoreless innings.

With two outs, Gregor Blanco drew a walk off Linebrink, stole second and third and scored on Jason Kendall's single.

"I want to go home, (bleeping) disappear, have a day off and get after it Tuesday," Guillen said. "Just better be prepared for Tuesday. They want to keep competing, they have to start playing better."

While Guillen was upset with Linebrink for "giving in" to Kendall, he wasn't happy with the offense, either.

After the Sox tied the game at 2-2 in the fourth inning against Kansas City ace Zack Greinke, the bats were quiet the rest of the way. For the game, the White Sox were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

"Everything was there," Guillen said. "We had men on second base like five times with two outs and we didn't get a hit. No excuse. I don't give a (bleep) the way we lost, I don't care the way we won, we didn't get it done.

"This road trip was very important for us, and we played like (bleep)."

Playing three straight extra-inning games for the first time since 1988, the White Sox looked like zombies Sunday morning after a long doubleheader the night before.

On the other hand, the Royals had to deal with the same situation, and they are not in playoff contention.

"It just seems like we're playing hard, we're playing the right way, and it's just not working out," second baseman Gordon Beckham said. "There's just not that much to say. I know we're trying hard at the plate. Sometimes when you're trying hard you press a little bit, I guess.

"We're scraping. It's just one of those weeks where it seemed like everything that could go wrong did. We just have to regroup and come back.

"We've played how many innings in a day? Thirty-one innings in 22 hours. We need a day off and we're going to go back home and hopefully we'll have a good week against some AL East opponents."

<p class="factboxheadblack">Scot Gregor's game tracker</p>

<p class="News"><b>Extra, extra:</b> The Sox and Royals played three extra-inning games in less than 24 hours. The went 11 and 10 innings in Saturday night's doubleheader and 10 innings Sunday. It was the first time the Sox played three straight extra-inning games since 1988.</p>

<p class="News"><b>Stuck on base:</b> The White Sox had plenty of chances against Kansas City ace Zack Greinke, but they went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left seven runners on base.</p>

<p class="News"><b>Bobby's back:</b> With Matt Thornton and J.J. Putz unavailable to pitch, Bobby Jenks stepped up and threw 3 scoreless innings, allowing 1 hit and striking out four while throwing 42 pitches.</p>