Torres torched as Oakland drills White Sox

What's been wrong with the White Sox this season?

It's a lengthy list, but Tuesday night's 11-3 loss to the Oakland A's at U.S. Cellular summed up the disappointing year about as well as possible.

Coming off three wins in four home games against the powerhouse Boston Red Sox, the White Sox again proved to be no match for the Athletics, who are last in the AL West.

"I want to know the reason when we play clubs that are pretty strong, we play better," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "At least we have more enthusiasm."

After losing three of four home games to the A's in early June, the Sox picked up where they left off Tuesday.

Carlos Torres started for the White Sox, and the rookie right-hander was looking to build off his last outing, 7 scoreless innings against the Cubs in a win at Wrigley Field last Thursday.

This time around, Torres didn't even make it out of the first inning.

The 27-year-old righty allowed 5 runs on 4 hits and a walk before getting the hook with two outs.

"Carlos didn't give us the start we were looking for," Guillen said after the Sox remained 71/2 games behind the first-place Tigers in the AL Central. "I didn't see any life on his fastball and he was locating real bad. It's strange how in five days people can change."

Of the 22 pitches he did throw, Torres found the strike zone 16 times. But don't be fooled by his accuracy.

"A lot of pitches I threw ended up over too much of the plate," Torres said. "That's what it came down to. Everything I threw over the plate got hit."

Speaking of getting hit, White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski was hit by a pitch from Oakland starter Brett Tomko leading off the fourth inning.

There was some bad blood between the two in 2004, when they were teammates during Pierzynski's one forgettable season with the San Francisco Giants.

It was the first time Pierzynski ever faced Tomko, who accused the catcher of playing cards instead of going over opposing hitters when they were with the Giants.

The pitch that hit Pierzynski glanced off his elbow guard, and that was that.

"He threw a cutter and just yanked it inside," Pierzynski said. "It was a cutter that got away. I couldn't care less."

Gordon Beckham missed his third straight game with a strained right oblique, and the Rookie of the Year candidate isn't expected to return until the White Sox open a three-game series against the Angels Friday on the West Coast.

"I felt it a little bit warming up and we didn't want to take a chance," Beckham said. "I don't want to miss another week because I came back too early."

<p class="factboxheadblack">Scot Gregor's game tracker</p> <p class="News">A's 11, White Sox 3</p> <p class="News"><b>Thanks for coming:</b> Carlos Torres lasted just two-thirds of an inning, the shortest start by a Sox pitcher since Neal Cotts was yanked after one-third of an inning on Aug. 28, 2003 at Yankee Stadium.</p> <p class="News"><b>Remember me? </b>Former White Sox outfielder Ryan Sweeney had 4 of Oakland's 20 hits.</p> <p class="News"><b>Still hot:</b> Mark Kotsay was 1-for-3 with a 2-run homer, and he's batting .500 (7-for-14) with 3 HR and 8 RBI in his last 4 games.</p> <div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=319837">Sox considering options with Peavy<span class="date"> [9/8/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>