All's quiet with Sox after 2nd loss to Royals

Remember this little blast from the past?

"I'm sick and tired to watch this thing for a year-and-a-half. I'm not protecting anybody anymore. (Bleep) it. If they can't get it done, (general manager) Kenny (Williams) should find someone to get it done. That's it."

That was manager Ozzie Guillen last season going off on the White Sox' offense following a third straight loss at Tampa Bay.

It was just one of many diatribes since Guillen returned to the Sox' dugout in 2004, and few - if any - major-league managers publicly spank their players so often.

Fast-forward to Thursday afternoon at U.S. Cellular Field.

En route to losing their second straight game to the Kansas City Royals, the White Sox' offense was MIA again. Scoring 1 total run on 7 hits in two games was sure to produce more vitriol from the manager, yes?

"Nope," a sedate Guillen said after Thursday's 2-1 loss. "Not really. I think we will hit. We're facing three guys throwing the ball well right now.

"I think the only time I'm concerned is when the guys panic. When you start panicking, your at-bats get worse. Just take it one bat at a time. Be patient with them. And when you try to hit, be aggressive.

"If all of a sudden you start looking at your average on the third day of the season, that's not going to help you at all. But we're going to hit."

Thanks to Jim Thome's 3-run homer off reliever Kyle Farnsworth in Tuesday's season opener, the Sox managed to avoid a three-game sweep against the upstart Royals.

But they failed to score a run off K.C. starter Zack Greinke over 6 innings Wednesday and Kyle Davies over 7 innings Thursday.

"The way Greinke threw, you can put that up against any lineup at any point of the year and he's shutting that down," Paul Konerko said. "Today I thought we had some more pitches to hit.

"It's always a fine line when you want to get on yourselves and say, 'We were bad, we were flat,' because then it's taking away from their team. But just going off this series, we need to improve a little bit. That's it, we just show up tomorrow and get after it."

In the season-opening series, the White Sox went 18-for-91, a .198 average. Individually, Alexei Ramirez is off to an 0-for-14 start (6 strikeouts), Dewayne Wise is 0-for-12 (4 strikeouts), Chris Getz is 2-for-16 and Carlos Quentin is 2-for-10.

"I think they pitched good," Guillen said. "I'm not the type of guy to give credit to people who don't earn it."

The Royals earned the win in the top of the ninth inning, when Coco Crisp broke a scoreless duel with a 2-run homer off closer Bobby Jenks.

"A cutter that didn't cut," Jenks said of the pitch Crisp hit out to right field. "It happens from time to time. It stings a little bit still. A lot of bit, actually. You just have to brush it off, and the more important thing is to go out there and get that win tomorrow."

Sox starter John Danks had nothing to show for 6 shutout innings, just like Gavin Floyd had nothing to show for Wednesday's 7-inning, 2-run outing.

"I'm not worried about the hitting," A.J. Pierzynski said. "We had a couple bad days, keep your chin up and you move on. Or not. No one here is going to panic, I don't think. It's two games. We won one game.

"The only thing you're disappointed about is we wasted two great pitching performances from Gavin and Johnny Danks. Other than that, we played solid defensively; we made all the plays. We just didn't get the hits when we needed them."

White Sox vs. Minnesota Twins at U.S. Cellular Field

TV: Comcast SportsNet Friday; Channel 32 Saturday; Comcast SportsNet-Plus Sunday

Radio: WSCR 670-AM

Pitching matchups: The White Sox' Jose Contreras (0-0) vs. R.A. Dickey Friday at 7:11 p.m.; Bartolo Colon (0-0) vs. Francisco Liriano (0-1) Saturday at 3:05 p.m.; Mark Buehrle (0-0) vs. Nick Blackburn (0-0) Sunday at 1:05 p.m.

At a glance: This is a great rivalry, and tonight's game has two interesting story lines. First, Contreras makes his first start since rupturing his left Achilles' tendon Aug. 9. The right-hander was supposed to be out until at least July, so it's safe to say he's well ahead of schedule. Second, Joe Crede returns to the South Side in a Minnesota uniform. Crede signed a one-year contract with the Twins on Feb. 21 after playing nine seasons with the White Sox. The Sox were 9-10 vs. Minnesota last season, 8-2 at home. That includes the 1-0 win Sept. 30 at the Cell that sent the Sox to the playoffs.

Next: Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park, Monday-Wednesday

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