Yankees dial long distance vs. Sox
A better offensive approach, surprisingly solid early efforts from young starting pitchers John Danks and Gavin Floyd and slick defensive play rank high on the list of reasons why the White Sox are the early leaders in the AL Central.
A little further down - but not much - the Sox entered Tuesday night's game against the Yankees leading the major leagues in fewest home runs allowed (5).
Considering they play half of their games at hitter-friendly U.S. Cellular Field, it remains to be seen how long White Sox pitchers continue staking the stingy claim.
"They have to know when it gets warm in Chicago, this ballpark shrinks a little bit,'' said Sox manager Ozzie Guillen.
It was an unseasonably warm 71 degrees at game time, and the visiting Yankees took advantage of the conditions, hitting 3 home runs while rolling to a 9-5 win.
It was the first time since the March 31 season opener at Cleveland that Sox pitchers allowed more than 1 homer in a game.
They survived the first Yankees homer, a solo shot by Jason Giambi against starting pitcher Jose Contreras leading off the second inning.
The second one, Bobby Abreu's grand slam against reliever Octavio Dotel in the seventh, put New York in front 6-3.
Dotel came into a difficult situation, trying to protect a 3-2 lead with the bases loaded and one out.
The veteran right-hander recorded a big strikeout against Derek Jeter, but after falling behind Bobby Abreu 2-0, Dotel laid a fastball over the plate and paid the price.
"When you go 2-0 against a good hitter like that, it's tough,'' White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski said of Abreu's grand slam. "(Dotel) left it down and (Abreu) whacked it.''
It was a bad pitch, but Dotel didn't have many options.
"At 2-0, I just have to come and throw a strike,'' Dotel said. "I didn't want to be perfect in the zone, just get a strike and see what happens. (Abreu) didn't let me get to that point. I don't know about the weather here. This is my first time as a Chicago White Sox player. Sometimes you come in a game and try to do what you know how to do.''
The Sox loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh inning, and after Joe Crede drew a walk off reliever Jobah Chamberlain to make it a 6-4 game, Juan Uribe popped out.
The Sox outhit the Yankees 13-11, and they also drew 6 walks. But the White Sox were also burned by their inability to come up with the big hit as they left a whopping 13 runners on base.
"We had a chance to score a couple runs and didn't,'' Guillen said. "We got people on base all night long and couldn't pull the trigger.''
The Yankees did one more time, when Johnny Damon hit a 3-run homer off Matt Thornton in the eighth inning to break the game open. Like Dotel, Thornton fell behind Damon 2-0 and had to give in.
"When you fall behind in the count against a good-hitting team like them, that makes it tough,'' Pierzynski said. "Just a bad day. Just a bad game. We had some chances to put that game away early and didn't get it done.''