Buehrle's message is a big hit
There was a message behind Mark Buehrle's madness during Wednesday night's ugly loss to the Twins.
After getting rocked for 7 runs in 5¿ innings, an angry Buehrle was pulled from the game. But his night wasn't quite finished.
Buehrle "borrowed'' one of Juan Uribe's bats and went clubbing. The dugout space heater was the starting pitcher's one and only stop, but the outburst was clearly intended to send a wakeup call to the White Sox' slumbering offense.
"I was a (bleep) yesterday,'' Buehrle said after the Sox bounced back with a 6-2 win over Minnesota on Thursday afternoon at U.S. Cellular Field. "Today I'm a hero."
Ironically, Uribe was taking most of the bows after the Sox won two of three from the first-place Twins before heading out on a 10-game road trip.
After Minnesota jumped in front 2-0 in the fifth inning, the White Sox' offense finally snapped, too.
Jemaine Dye led off the bottom of the fifth with a home run off Twins starter Kevin Slowey. After Joe Crede doubled with one out, Uribe launched a 2-run homer that put the Sox in front for good.
"Buehrle is a good guy,'' Uribe said. "It's unbelievable. I've never seen Buehrle like that. And when I saw him doing that with my bat, I said: 'Oh my God, that's my bat.' I got to the dugout and he said: 'I'm sorry.' I said: 'That's OK.' He's a good person.''
And Uribe is a good player, seemingly when he wants to be.
"With Uribe, you've got to take advantage of him when he's hot, because this kid will take the ugliest swing, (have) the ugliest at-bat,'' said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. "We've seen that four years, five years, since 2004. You know what you're going to get. Sometimes you get upset, you scratch your head, you ask how this kid can play at the big-league level.
"All of the sudden, a couple days later, he's unbelievable."
For as big as his 2-run homer was, Uribe made a bigger impact in the eighth inning.
After he walked to load the bases with one out, Toby Hall grounded to third baseman Matt Tolbert, who appeared to start a routine double play by throwing to second baseman Brendan Harris.
While Harris was able to hit the bag for the force at second, he never made the throw to first because Uribe wiped him out with a hard, clean slide.
"I feel happy,'' Uribe said. "It's a good slide. I don't want to hurt anybody, but I wanted to break up a double play to help my team.''
He certainly did that, and the White Sox' bench went bonkers.
"Awesome,'' Guillen said. "I was the first one that jumped out of my seat. When somebody hits a home run, I just sit there and wait for the guy to shake his hand, unless it's to win the game. But when I see plays like that --clean -- play the game they way they should be playing, its something we're missing.
"Not just the White Sox, in baseball. I think that gets you pumped up. It was the way I grew up watching baseball, Don Baylor and all those guys, sliding into second base trying to get you. Now, if you slide in second base and you get dirty, you're a bad guy. I love this type of game."
And, for at least a day, Guillen also loves Juan Uribe.
White Sox 6, Twins 2
At the plate: Juan Uribe's 2-run homer in the fifth inning decided the outcome and ended a stretch of 11 straight solo home runs by the Sox. Jermaine Dye hit a solo homer in the fifth, his third in as many games. Toby Hall picked up his first RBI of the season.
On the bases: Carlos Quentin and Jim Thome pulled off a strange double steal in the sixth inning. It was Thome's first stolen base since Sept. 25, 2002. Alexei Ramirez also stole his first base in the major leagues.
On the mound: Starter John Danks pitched 5 innings and allowed 2 runs on 6 hits while winning for the first time since April 20. Octavio Dotel had 5 strikeouts in 2 scoreless innings.
-- Scot Gregor