Twins can do no wrong
MINNEAPOLIS - The White Sox didn't lose another game to the "piranhas" at the Metrodome.
No offense to manager Ozzie Guillen, but that tag is so 2006.
After gutting out 7 innings in a 3-2 loss Wednesday night, starting pitcher Mark Buehrle came up with a new description for the pesky Twins.
"Ozzie calls them piranhas, and I like to call them (bleep)-heads because they are so annoying when they get on base," Buehrle said. "They try to keep your mind off the hitter. They bunt, they steal, they hit-and-run, they do all the little stuff it takes to win ballgames.
"I'm not thinking about how bad we are at this place when I'm on the mound. This team just doesn't seem like it does anything wrong at home. I made a pitch to (Joe) Mauer for a double play, and it hits the turf and bounces 10 feet in the air. They just can't seem to do anything wrong here."
While cutting the Sox' lead in the AL Central to a half-game with the win, Minnesota took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a walk, a bloop single to right field and a groundout.
After the White Sox came back to tie the game in the second on Ken Griffey Jr.'s run-scoring groundout, the Twins pecked away for 2 more runs in the bottom of the second on an infield single, a bunt single, another bloop basehit to center field, a walk and a groundout.
That made it 3-1 before the Sox tightened it up on Griffey's home run off Minnesota starter Nick Blackburn in the fourth inning.
But that would be the end of the scoring as the White Sox' offense flailed away for the second straight game.
"Pretty good ballgame," Guillen said after the Sox dropped to 1-7 at the Metrodome this season with one more huge game to play tonight.
"The bad thing about it is we came up empty on offense. When we got something going, we didn't hit in the clutch. In a game like this, you have to hit in the clutch."
The White Sox did get a run in the second inning, but after loading the bases with two outs, Dewayne Wise struck out.
After Griffey homered in the fourth, the Sox had runners on first and third with one out and failed to score.
"We had our chances," said A.J. Pierzynski, who broke out of an extended slump while going 2-for-4. "It's just a matter of getting that big hit. If we get them tomorrow, these first two games don't even matter."
With one out in the ninth inning, Pierzynski connected off Twins closer Joe Nathan and drove the ball to left-center. It looked like a sure double, but Carlos Gomez picked up where Torii Hunter left off and made a standout running catch.
"I thought for sure it was a double," Pierzynski said. "If he misses that, maybe I score. It wasn't meant to be."
Pierzynski and Guillen scoffed when it was suggested White Sox hitters were tight during the first two games of the series.
"I have two guys (Griffey and Jim Thome) going in the Hall of Fame, I have guys that played in the World Series, I don't see any reason for them to be tight," Guillen said. "I only have one kid, (Alexei) Ramirez."
And the Sox have one more chance to get 1 coveted win against Minnesota's (bleep)-heads.
<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=237623">Back in the swing of things <span class="date"> [9/24/08]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=237648">Guillen shakes things up by batting Wise leadoff <span class="date"> [9/25/08]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>