Sox won't go quietly, come up with another clutch win
The White Sox are really starting to resemble the annoying party guest that can't take a hint.
For the past week, the Sox looked the other way as the lights continually flickered and the exit door was pulled right open.
"We're not ready to go home yet," left fielder Dewayne Wise said.
"Maybe we don't like our wives and don't want to go home," catcher A.J. Pierzynski said before wisely adding, "Just kidding. I love you, honey."
The White Sox obviously love having their backs smack up against the wall.
They needed to win three straight games in as many days against three different teams just to squeeze into the playoffs, which they did.
And after losing the first two to the Rays at Tampa Bay in the American League division series, the Sox returned to U.S. Cellular on Sunday needing another victory to stave off elimination.
Maybe it's just how they roll.
"Everybody got to the field today and nobody was nervous, anything like that," Wise said. "We were running around the clubhouse like we were up 2-0. That's the way you have to approach it."
In their latest do-or-die encounter, the Sox got away from their usual "hit it over fence" approach and grinded out a 5-3 victory over the Rays to force a Game 4.
Gavin Floyd starts for the White Sox opposite Andy Sonnanstine today (4:07 p.m. or 7:07 p.m.), and the home team heads in feeling understandably confident.
"This team has been the most resilient team I've ever been around in my career as far as stuff like that," Pierzynski said. "I've never seen a team in big games act as normal and as unflappable as this team has been."
The Sox could have gone into panic mode when the Rays picked up 2 hits in the first inning and made starting pitcher John Danks work out of a tough jam.
They could have done the same in the second, when Tampa Bay took a 1-0 lead on 2 more hits.
Instead, the White Sox kept their cool and let the big crowd get behind them.
There wasn't much to cheer early, especially the 35-minute rain delay that pushed back the first pitch. But Wise got things started in the third inning when he drew a leadoff walk off Matt Garza and stole second base with two outs.
Pierzynski followed with an RBI single to tie it, and the momentum swing finally came around to the Sox.
"If your manager doesn't panic, you don't panic," center fielder Ken Griffey Jr. said. "That's it. Ozzie (Guillen) doesn't panic."
Taking a cue from Guillen, the Sox jumped in front 4-1 in the fourth inning and held on from there.
Jim Thome opened the fourth by lining a double off the fence in left-center field. After Paul Konerko walked, Griffey singled to load the bases, and Alexei Ramirez put the White Sox in front with a sacrifice fly.
Thome scored on the sac fly, while Konerko tagged up and hustled into third base and Griffey did the same advancing to second.
"The object is to score runs," Griffey said. "No matter how you do it, it's the most important thing. We were able to do it with the small ball, and D. Wise came up with the key hit."
Wise followed Ramirez with a bloop, 2-run double down the left-field line, and after the Sox added another run in the sixth inning, Danks was able to make the lead hold up.
"It almost feels like guys are just happy being here, you know, because there is no pressure on anyone," Danks said after pitching 6 innings and allowing 3 runs on 7 hits.
"No one's acting like this is do or die. A.J. hit it right on the head; guys really just try to approach it like it's a game in June. I think that helps take the pressure off of us a little bit."
If the White Sox take the same approach today, the pressure could fall on the Rays.
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