Sox get busy on basepaths in time to rattle Zambrano

Posted June 28, 2009 11:00 pm

Scot Gregor

"I kind of figured he'd probably hit me there. That's Zambrano being Zambrano. You just move on. We won the ballgame. That's the most important thing."

Dewayne Wise

Ozzie Guillen and Carlos Zambrano are native Venezuelans and close friends.

But when the White Sox and Cubs square off in interleague play, the bond is broken.

Which leads us to the sixth inning of Sunday's game at U.S. Cellular Field...

"To beat Carlos, whoever gets on base needs to try to move around," Guillen said.

With the Sox already leading 3-0 in the bottom of the sixth, Chris Getz led off the inning with a double to snap an 0-for-24 slide. Maybe that annoyed the Cubs' high-strung starting pitcher.

"We are trying to score runs, trying to rattle the other pitcher no matter who he is," Getz said. "I know that he has a lot of fire in him."

When Gordon Beckham sacrificed Getz to third base, Zambrano's flammable temper seemed to rise a few degrees more.

It reached a boiling point after Getz stole home on an 0-1 pitch to Dewayne Wise, all but sealing the Sox' eventual 6-0 win over their North Side rivals.

"If you don't try to move people around, try to make stuff happen, it's not going to happen," Guillen said. "You saw earlier in the game, we had men on second and third and he struck out a guy (Paul Konerko).

"He's so good, he can kill the rally right away. That's why you have to make him do stuff."

Getz stealing home made Zambrano angry, and Wise paid the price. Zambrano's next pitch hit the White Sox center fielder's backside, nearly starting a brawl in the process.

Wise had some words for Zambrano as he headed to first base, and Guillen, Jim Thome, A.J. Pierzynski and other Sox players trickled out of the dugout just in case the bad blood escalated.

"With his history, I figured he'd hit me," Wise said. "I just told him that wasn't right, and moved on from there."

Zambrano said the pitch simply got away from him, and he didn't seem to care for Wise's dialogue.

"It was a cutter that cut too much," Zambrano said. "In that situation, I don't want to get more in trouble. I don't know why he was like that. I wasn't even looking at him, and he was saying some kind of stuff.

"I heard what he said, but I didn't understand what he said. I heard he was talking to me. And then I turned around and said, 'You said what?' The umpire (Brian Runge) was good because I was starting to get a little hyper."

Wise wound up stealing second base, and Scott Podsednik, who Zambrano hit in the third inning, walked. That was it for the Cubs' starter, but the Wise did come around to score when shortstop Ryan Theriot dropped Jermaine Dye's pop in short left field for an error even though it was ruled an infield fly.

White Sox starter John Danks evened the score in the top of the seventh inning, hitting Cubs leadoff man Ryan Freel on the left arm on a 2-0 pitch. That prompted Runge to issue a warning to both benches.

"That's baseball," Danks said. "It's a part of the game. Obviously, it's not something you like to see happen to our guys, but at the same time, it happens."

Freel mockingly blew on his arm as he ran to first base.

"To be totally honest with you, I didn't even see him," Danks said. "He went to first base, and fortunately we were able to strand him."

Leave it to Wise to sum up another interesting game between the Sox and Cubs.

"You look up in the stands and people were fighting," Wise said. "I couldn't believe fans would fight over a game. But it's two teams that hate each other, and the fans feel that way, too, and it gets rowdy out there."

Scouting report White Sox vs. Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field TV: Comcast SportsNet today and Tuesday; Channel 26 Wednesday Radio: WSCR 670-AM Pitching matchups: The Sox' Gavin Floyd (5-5) vs. Carl Pavano (6-6) today; Clayton Richard (2-1) vs. Cliff Lee (4-6) Tuesday; Jose Contreras (2-7) vs. Jeremy Sowers (2-5) Wednesday. All games start at 6:05 p.m. At a glance: The White Sox have won six of their last eight and finished interleague play Sunday with an 11-6 record. The Indians lost for the 10th time in 12 games Sunday and are last in the AL Central. Trading Mark DeRosa to St. Louis on Saturday night officially signaled Cleveland is throwing in the towel. The Sox are 2-4 vs. the Indians this season. Next: Kansas City Royals, Thursday-Sunday, at Kauffman Stadium

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