Tigers' Verlander adds to Sox' pain; Konerko injured
The losses keep piling up for the White Sox.
They fell to the first-place Tigers again, 2-1 Wednesday night at U.S. Cellular Field. The Sox also lost Paul Konerko, one of their few consistent hitters, for an undetermined amount of time.
Konerko had to call it a night after grounding out in the seventh inning. The White Sox' captain has a jammed thumb, the same injury that gave him trouble for much of last season.
"Konerko's not doing too good," Guillen said after the Sox dropped to 3-8 on their homestand, which wraps up Thursday. "He's had the same problem for a little while. Every time he makes a bad swing, he aggravates it."
Konerko, who wasn't available after the game, regrets trying to play through the injury last season. It is unknown if Konerko is heading to the disabled list, but he isn't expected to play Thursday.
"He's been dealing with this since I can remember," Guillen said. "Maybe he shows up today and feels a little better. I'd rather he be out for a couple days and make sure he's healed."
Konerko (0-for-3) and the rest of the White Sox didn't do much against Detroit ace Justin Verlander (7-2), who went the distance and had a shutout going until Jim Thome homered leading off the seventh inning.
That made John Danks (4-5) the tough-luck loser. The left-hander pitched 71/3 innings and allowed 2 runs on 5 hits.
"Obviously, it's nice to go out there and give us a chance to win," Danks said. "But at the end of the day, I got outpitched and we lost."
A couple of weeks ago, Sox general manager Kenny Williams said he'd wait until 60 games were played before he started making serious evaluations.
Wednesday's game was No. 60, and the White Sox are 27-33.
The Sox still think they can contend in the weak AL Central, but they also are working in younger players such as Gordon Beckham, Chris Getz, Clayton Richard and Aaron Poreda with an eye on the future.
"Fortunately, we have so much depth that we don't automatically have to look outside the organization to feel like we can have improvement," Williams said. "But facts are facts. We are trying to win and we are trying to transition to a team with more speed, better defense, across the board smarter.
"There are some growing pains that are associated with that. I just hope that the learning curve is somewhat quicker so that would allow me to get some sleep at night."
If the White Sox don't wake up soon and start winning games, Williams is likely to start unloading players leading up to the July 31 trade deadline.
"Hard decisions always have to be made, but very clearly, we are in a transitional phase," Williams said. "If this team doesn't pick it up at some point, I'm going to have to do some things that maybe aren't the most popular, but in the best interest of the club. Those things are a little ways away; we've still got some time to right the ship and start playing a little bit better.
"But if we don't, hey, it is what is. You've got to produce in this game, and we have expectations of winning."
Scot Gregor's game tracker
Tigers 2, White Sox 1
Wednesday's grade: C. Sox starter John Danks was almost as good as Detroit counterpart Justin Verlander. But not quite.
Wrap it up: The White Sox end their longest homestand (12 games) of the season this afternoon. They are 3-8 so far.
Tough luck: John Danks has received 1 or 0 runs in 6 of his starts this year.
Comfort zone: Jim Thome's solo home run in the seventh inning was his seventh off Justin Verlander.
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