Sox’ Peavy agrees with decision to shut him down

Jake Peavy is done for the season, a smart move by the White Sox considering they’ve been left in the first-place Detroit Tigers’ wake as the end of the regular season comes into view.

Peavy made 18 starts — and one costly relief appearance — after having surgery in July 2010 to repair a detached lat muscle.

The 30-year-old right-hander was 7-7 with a 4.92 ERA.

“The decision’s been made, and I think it’s a good one,” Peavy said. “Obviously, it has been a grind. When it really doesn’t appear that we have a chance of catching Detroit, rather than just grind out a couple starts, we didn’t feel like we were risking injury, but we’d just call it a season being 100-plus innings into it.”

Give Peavy credit for taking the baseball this season even when he was never close to being 100 percent healthy.

But Peavy deserves the blame for throwing 55 pitches during a 4-inning relief stint June 25 against Washington.

Three days earlier Peavy started against the Cubs and threw 104 pitches in 5⅓ innings.

“After that relief appearance I never felt the way I did previous to it,” Peavy said.

Can he return next year and perform like the pitcher who won the National League Cy Young Award in 2007?

“I can’t make any promises because I don’t know,” Peavy said. “Only God knows what the future has in store. I can just tell you this: I’m going to promise to do everything I can do to be who I want to be.

“The game’s not even fun when you go out there almost feeling behind the 8-ball.”

Dylan Axelrod is scheduled to take Peavy’s rotation spot and pitch against the Tigers on Wednesday.

Axelrod, 26, was a combined 9-3 with a 2.69 ERA with Class AAA Charlotte and AA Birmingham before joining the White Sox on Sept. 5.

Ozzie’s future:Even though he is signed through the 2012 season, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen still wants a contract extension.#147;I said what I said two weeks ago, and they know what I want,#148; Guillen said. #147;It#146;s up to them. What they are going to do, I don#146;t think they even know what they want to do.#147;I don#146;t think they know what they want to do with the ballclub, what way they are going to go. It#146;s a long process about what#146;s going on, what we should do. When you have a disappointing year like this one was or is, there are a lot of things in the air.#148;Same old stuff:The White Sox#146; offense has struggled hitting with runners in scoring position all season, and Sunday#146;s 7-3 loss to the Cleveland Indians was another example.The Sox were 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position. On Saturday, they were 3-for-15.#147;We continue to leave people on base,#148; manager Ozzie Guillen said. #147;We had people on base and we just didn#146;t get it done.#148;Different result:In his previous start, Zach Stewart had a perfect game going at Minnesota before Danny Valencia led off the eighth inning with a double.That as the only hit Stewart allowed while pitching a complete-game shutout.Against the Indians on Sunday, the 24-year-old pitcher allowed 3 runs on 7 hits in 5 innings.#147;I wasn#146;t hitting spots like I was in the last outing,#148; Stewart said. #147;Some of my breaking balls weren#146;t sharp and I got hit around.#148;Remembering 9/11:The White Sox had a pregame ceremony to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of 9/11.The Sox saluted 10 members from each branch of the military (Air Force, Army, Marine and Navy) and members of the Chicago police department, fire department and pilots and flight attendants from United and American Airlines.#147;We don#146;t have to wait for Sept. 11 to remember,#148; manager Ozzie Guillen said. #147;I think every day we wake up, we remember that day.#148;