White Sox lose, but bats show some life
At least there was some life in the White Sox' latest loss.
Yes, it's a reach, but it's been a long time since the Sox' offense deserved a least a pat on the back.
So here it is — good job for that 7-run, 14-hit outburst against the Yankees in Wednesday night's marathon game at U.S. Cellular Field.
And let's not forget individual nods to right fielder Alejandro De Aza for going 4-for-4 and Carlos Quentin for hitting a 3-run homer.
Hey, even Adam Dunn and Alex Rios came through with hits.
Of course, there is that flip side during the White Sox' quick fade into the abyss — they lost the game 18-7.
“I think we picked the wrong day to score 7 runs,” manager Ozzie Guillen said.
The pitching, long the strength of this underachieving club, continued to crack against an unforgiving Yankees lineup that piled up 23 hits.
“Like I said yesterday and the at the beginning of the series, those guys don't miss much,” Guillen said of New York. “It seemed like they knew what was coming. I think Gavin (Floyd) was really off and every time he was around the plate, he got hit hard.”
A night after the Yankees whacked John Danks around, it was Floyd's turn during the White Sox' fifth straight loss.
Coming into the game having allowed just 2 earned runs in 22⅓ innings since the all-star break, Floyd was tagged for 10 runs on 9 hits in 2⅓ innings. That raised the right-hander's ERA from 3.96 to 4.56.
The Yankees scored their final 8 runs off relievers Will Ohman, Brian Bruney, Matt Thornton and Jesse Crain.
During the five-game slide, the Sox' team ERA is 8.37.
Now 6½ games behind the first-place Tigers in the AL Central, you have to seriously wonder if the White Sox have what it takes to pull it together and make a push down the stretch.
“Every game we lose is embarrassing,” Guillen said. “It gets to the point where, what's going to happen next? But those guys (Yankees) are very good hitters. They don't miss much. You have to bring your best stuff.”
New York stormed out to a 13-1 lead in the third inning, but the Sox chipped it down to 13-7 in the fifth against A.J. Burnett.
The White Sox erupted for 5 runs on 5 hits in the fourth inning, with Brent Morel and Juan Pierre delivering RBI singles in front of Quentin's 21st home run of the season.
That's not too bad, considering the Sox scored a total of 7 runs during the first four losses of the current streak.
“Swing that bat and see what happens,” Guillen said. “I hope they take that approach every day.”
While Dunn and Rios each had a hit, they still were a combined 2-for-7. With Paul Konerko out for the third straight game with a sore left leg, the White Sox are going to need much better production from the duo to get back into contention.
“If those guys were doing good, or better, of course we'd have a better ballclub, of course we're going to score more runs,” Guillen said. “But I'm not the type of guy that says we're losing because this guy and that guy are not hitting. I think we're losing because we're not playing as a team, we're not playing well and being more consistent.”
sgregor@dailyherald.com