Hall tries, but he can't hit Sox' fifth straight home run
He tried.
Man, did he try. But after watching as the four guys in front of him hit consecutive home runs, White Sox catcher Toby Hall just couldn't connect to become the fifth Sox player in a row to go deep.
"I was on deck, and I told (Juan) Uribe, 'No pressure; you just have to go out and hit a home run,'" said Hall, who saw the feat accomplished in 2006 as a member of the Dodgers. "Then he goes out and does it.
"Yeah, I wanted to hit one."
"We were rooting for Toby to get No. 5," said Jim Thome, who kicked off the power barrage with a 3-run homer.
It's not unusual: Saying he wanted to get Ken Griffey Jr. some more at-bats, manager Ozzie Guillen inserted the veteran slugger into the No. 2 spot in the batting order for Thursday's game.
It wasn't an unfamiliar spot for Griffey.
"I came up as a second hitter," Griffey said of the early years in Seattle. "I did it all my first year, and part of my second year and then moved around and about my third year I started hitting third."
Griffey went 1-for-2 with a pair of walks on Thursday.
Seeing red (eye): This weekend's in-and-out trip to Oakland is just one of the reasons manager Ozzie Guillen isn't too pleased with the schedule-makers this season.
He's not alone.
"I'm not the only manager to criticize the schedule," Guillen said. "Everybody has crazy schedules. I don't know what the reason is. I just talked to (Detroit manager) Jim Leyland about it and they got it worse than we did. They went (out west) four times."
The Sox flew to Oakland immediately after their series finale with Kansas City on Thursday. They'll play three games by the Bay and the head back to Chicago on Sunday to prepare for Seattle.
"Thank God we only go there for three games," Guillen said. "Two days in Oakland - that's enough.
"It's not an easy thing to do, but we not the only ones. We have to deal with it and hopefully, the schedule will come out better in the future."
Knock it off: Courtesy of the "doink" he took in the first inning off Royals pitcher Kyle Davies, Sox left fielder Carlos Quentin has now been hit by a pitch in each of his last six games, becoming the first player in baseball's live-ball era (1920-present) with such a streak, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
Craig Biggio, who holds the career HBP record for baseball's modern era, was never hit by a pitch in more than three straight games. Don Baylor and Ron Hunt, second and third on the list, each had four-game HBP streaks.
Double the pleasure: With his stolen base Thursday against Kansas City, Paul Konerko now has 2 steals this season, doubling his career high.
He said it: Sox manager Ozzie Guillen on the difference between the Sox' stretch run in 2005 and this season: "In '05, we were choking. This time, we're supposed to be here."