Sox' Guillen not upset after 'pretty good game'
After rallying from a 4-0 deficit Thursday to beat the Dodgers, owners of the best record in the majors, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen aired a laundry list of complaints about his team.
A day later the Sox came up short against the rival Cubs at U.S. Cellular Field. Squandering a great chance to complete another late comeback and stick the North Siders with their fifth straight loss, the White Sox fell short 5-4.
So it was an odd postgame scene.
Guillen walked out the interview room with a bounce in his step and a smile on his face, while Cubs counterpart Lou Piniella shuffled past with another Milton Bradley incident obviously weighing him down.
It was tough to tell the winner from the loser, but the White Sox weren't overly upset about wearing the latter tag for a day.
"We had our opportunity, but we didn't take advantage of it," Guillen said. "If you're a fan or you're Lou Piniella or Ozzie Guillen, you should enjoy this game more than anyone. I loved it. There were a lot of strategies, a lot of things going on the field.
"It was a great ballgame. We just come up short offensively once again. They got a big hit. The home run for the catcher (Geovany Soto) I think was a key, but we never rolled back. We kept fighting. It was a pretty good game."
The Sox were set up for a great game in the eighth inning.
After Soto hit a 3-run homer off Jose Contreras in the seventh to put the Cubs in front 5-2, the White Sox went to work against Carlos Marmol in the eighth.
Gordon Beckham drew a leadoff walk and, after Scott Podsednik flied out, Alexei Ramirez also walked. A Jermaine Dye single loaded the bases, and the Sox appeared to be in business.
Jim Thome followed with a double past Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee to score a pair of runs, and Paul Konerko was intentionally walked to load the bases.
"Things in the eighth there," Konerko said, "we had it going."
A.J. Pierzynski came on to pinch hit for Ramon Castro, and left-handed reliever Sean Marshall replaced Marmol.
"You are looking for a strike, something up," Pierzynski said. "He threw it up and I just missed it. I wanted to get something in the air. I hit it hard, but it just went to the wrong place."
On Marshall's first pitch, Pierzynski hit the ball to Lee, who easily completed a 3-2-3 double play to end the inning.
"I hit it to him, and what can you do?" said Pierzynski, who had 2 clutch hits in Thursday's 13-inning win over Los Angeles. "Pinch hitting is tough. Marshall has a good curveball and he threw it high. Look at the replay. It's high, right down the middle. I hit it good. Sometimes stuff happens."
And sometimes it doesn't.
Guillen wasn't upset with the loss, but he wasn't crazy about Pierzynski going after Marshall's first pitch.
"Bad at-bat," Guillen said. "I think it was a bad at-bat. He might have been looking breaking ball, but the breaking ball wasn't a strike, and it ended up the wrong way for us."
Scot Gregor's game tracker
Power ball: The White Sox hit 2 more home runs, giving them 15 in their last six games. Both were solo shots Friday, Jermaine Dye's in the first inning and Jim Thome's in the fourth.
Contreras cools off: Sox starter Jose Contreras pitched 71/3 innings and allowed 5 runs (4 earned), the most since he returned from Class AAA Charlotte on June 8.
Streak's over: First baseman Paul Konerko committed an error in the seventh inning, his first since July 13 of last season.
Full house: Friday's crowd of 39,015 was the Sox' second sellout of the season. They also sold out Opening Day.