Sox back in the swing of things

Eighties night at U.S. Cellular Field was meant to be a theme, not a goal for White Sox runs scored.

But an inordinately high run total seemed likely early in Friday's game as the Sox pummeled Kansas City starter Zack Greinke for 5 runs in his first 16 pitches before settling in for a tension-free, 9-5 victory.

The offensive barrage stood in stark contrast to the game eight days earlier in Kansas City in which Greinke limited the Sox to a lone run on 6 hits in 7 innings.

"Maybe he's got the U.S. Cellular Funk, I don't know," White Sox starter Mark Buehrle said of Greinke's troubles on the South Side.

Buehrle, on the other hand, continued to prove that his early-season funk is a thing of the past. The lefty improved to 5-2 with a 1.83 ERA in his last 8 starts by holding the Royals to 4 hits in 7 innings with 3 strikeouts and 2 walks.

Buehrle thanked his teammates for staking him to a 6-1 lead after an inning.

"It was definitely nice to come out and get the run support," he said. "These guys lit on in the first inning. It's good after having four days off to come out and swing the bats like they did, and it was nice to get a win."

The first eight White Sox hitters reached base. Orlando Cabrera and A.J. Pierzynski opened the inning with consecutive singles before Carlos Quentin was struck by a pitch to load the bases for Jermaine Dye.

Dye, who went 3-for-4, drove in 2 runs with a single to right-center that gave the White Sox a 2-1 lead. Jim Thome, Paul Konerko, Nick Swisher and Joe Crede each followed with singles before Alexei Ramirez brought the White Sox' sixth run of the inning plateward with a sacrifice fly to left field.

The explosion was the perfect way to open the second half for a team that struggled after the break the last two seasons.

"We had a good day, a real good day," said Sox hitting coach Greg Walker. "(Greinke) had a bad day, and we had a good day. He just did the same thing and stuck it to us over in Kansas City. I don't know what it was. I really think it was more us tonight. I think we came to play. Guys were ready to go."

That was music to the ears of manager Ozzie Guillen, who hoped for the best but wasn't sure what he'd get from his team after a four-day respite.

"Coming right out of the gate, swinging the bat like that gives us great momentum for the game," Guillen said. "As a manager or coach you always wonder how these guys are going to come out after four days off for anything. They needed four days off to regroup themselves mentally and physically, and when they come out and swing the bat that way you feel a little bit better."

Billy Butler touched Buehrle for a 3-run home run in the sixth inning that cut the lead to 7-4, but the Sox responded with 2 runs in their half of the sixth on a bases-loaded walk by Nick Swisher and a sacrifice fly by Crede.

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=222088">Guillen: We need everybody <span class="date">[7/19/08]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=222092">Jenks back in a jiffy <span class="date"> [7/19/08]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>