Sox offensive struggles continue

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Following Tuesday night's 2-0 loss to the Angels, the White Sox offered their customary cap tips to opposing starter Jered Weaver, who allowed just 1 hit over 7 innings.

But manager Ozzie Guillen put most of the blame on the Sox' anemic offense, which scratched out just 3 hits in the game and didn't advance a runner to second base until Carlos Quentin doubled with one out in the ninth inning.

Before the game, Guillen flip-flopped slumping cleanup man Paul Konerko and No. 5 hitter Jermaine Dye.

Before today's game, Guillen said he'd make much bigger lineup changes.

"We get it going for a couple of days and all of the sudden, it goes backwards,'' Guillen said after the White Sox dropped their third straight. "I'm going to make some moves, hopefully to get some guys to relax a little bit. I think I'm going to move a couple of guys down, and when they start swinging the bats the way they can, we'll move them back.''

Based on the batting averages, the Sox look like a team overloaded with No. 9 hitters.

Konerko is down to .213 after going 0-for-3 Tuesday. Jim Thome, also 0-for-3, is batting .209. Nick Swisher -- look, another 0-for-3 -- is at .206. New leadoff hitter Orlando Cabrera (0-for-4) is batting .224 and Juan Uribe (0-for-3) is at .202.

"Weaver was pretty good tonight,'' said A.J. Pierzynski, who broke up the right-hander's no-hit bid with a single leading off the fifth inning. "He didn't make a lot of mistakes. But at the same time, we have to find a way to get something going.''

Is there something specifically wrong with the Sox' offense?

"It's more baseball,'' Pierzynski said. "Baseball is up and down, back and forth. If you win, everything is great. If you lose, it stinks. It's frustrating, because you don't see guys giving away at-bats. We're hitting some balls hard and they're not falling. We're hitting some balls soft and they're not falling either.''

The loss could have been much worse for the White Sox if not for starting pitcher John Danks and reliever Octavio Dotel.

Danks nearly matched Weaver with 6½ scoreless innings, and Dotel entered the game in the seventh inning with the bases loaded and one out.

Dotel struck out Erick Aybar and Vladimir Guerrero to bail out Danks, but Los Angels finally broke through with 2 runs in the eighth.

"I left O.D. in a horrible situation there, and he picked me up big time,'' Danks said. "It was a game where I had to battle and make a big pitch when I had to. For the most part, I did.''