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Dunn, Rios and Peavy trip up Sox again

The White Sox are in the pennant race, and the final month of the season is here.

This is the time when well-compensated players like Adam Dunn, Alex Rios and Jake Peavy are supposed to be taking their collective games to even higher levels and taking the Sox higher in the standings.

The reality has been much different, of course.

Take Wednesday afternoon's 7-6 loss to the Twins as a prime example.

In another dud outing at U.S. Cellular Field, Peavy barely made it out of the first inning while putting the White Sox in a 6-0 hole.

Rios' best swings came in the sixth inning after he took a called third strike with a runner in scoring position.

The enigmatic center fielder returned to the dugout and whacked the wall three times with his bat.

Then there's Dunn, who continued his run of unmitigated failure by striking out as a pinch-hitter with runners on second and third and one out in the ninth inning.

Paul Konerko picked up Dunn again when he followed with a 2-run single, but the White Sox were unable to rally all the way back while falling 6 games behind the first-place Tigers in the AL Central.

Let's take a closer look at the troubled trio:

Ÿ We called out the pitcher and the White Sox after Peavy pitched 4 scoreless innings of relief against the Nationals on June 25.

Why in the wide, wide world of Wilbur Wood did the fragile right-hander throw 55 pitches in relief just three days after throwing 104 pitches in a start against the Cubs?

Yes, it was admirable at the time for Peavy to step up and take the ball against the Nats to bail out a beat-up bullpen, but he is now 2-6 with a 5.64 ERA in 11 starts since the relief outing.

In his last 7 starts at home, Peavy is 0-5 with a 7.46 ERA.

If he was on a team completely out of contention, Peavy would likely be shut down for the season.

“It's the toughest part of my career just because I'm not feeling how I always felt,” Peavy said. “We go out there on some days and have some pretty good stuff. Some days you don't have good enough stuff. I feel pretty good right now. I have a hard time coming back because I just never know what I'm going to get every five or six days.”

Peavy settled down after the disastrous first inning and retired 11 straight hitters, but the damage was already done.

Ÿ With Dunn on the bench, Carlos Quentin on the disabled list and Konerko batting third, Rios was back in the cleanup spot again.

He did deliver an RBI single in the eighth inning, but Rios completely lost it in the sixth after striking out.

“He swung the bat pretty good in the dugout,” manager Ozzie Guillen said. “He swung better than at the plate. He was connecting very hard. This is a very emotional kid, very emotional. I think he wants to do good and when he doesn't do what he thinks he can do, he gets angry.

“The only thing I'm concerned about, that I don't like, and I hope I never see that, is somebody gets hurt or he gets hurt.”

Rios also snapped at a booing fan near the White Sox' dugout during Monday's game against Minnesota.

As for batting Rios cleanup, why Ozzie?

“I don't see the options there,” Guillen said. “A lot of people are going to start talking about (Dayan) Viciedo. I don't want to put that kid on the spot. I think we're going to get A.J. (Pierzynski) back pretty soon, I guess. I don't know when. We'll see. Right now Alex is the best option I have.”

Ÿ As for Dunn, he was sitting quietly on the bench with an 0-for-12 slump and .163 batting average when Guillen pulled Brent Lillibridge and pinch-hit the struggling left-hander.

Dunn worked the count to 3-2 against Joe Nathan before striking out.

“Dunn can do a lot of things,” Guillen said. “I didn't like the matchup, Nathan against Lilly. Dunn can go up there and hit the ball out of the ballpark or walk. Obviously, he struck out, but that's the matchup I liked the best. Unfortunately it didn't work.”

Second-guessing the manager is all part of the game, so here we go ... Lillibridge hit a home run in his only career at-bat against Nathan.

sgregor@dailyherald.com

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Jake Peavy stares out of the dugout during the fourth inning Wednesday.
Paul Konerko tosses his bat aside Wednesday after hitting an RBI double off Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Scott Diamond during the sixth inning.