Bad night for Guillen's DH defense

Tuesday was a perfect summer night for a lot of things.

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen's defense of his philosophy on designated hitters wasn't one of them.

Not when Jim Thome was about to have the game he had.

For Guillen's sake, it would have been just dandy if Thome struck out three times and hit into a double play.

Instead, Gentlemanly Jim wasn't very gentlemanly in the Twins' 12-6 victory in the heat of the Comiskey Park night.

All Thome did was lead off a 4-run second inning with his 15th home run, walk in the middle of a 1-run third and walk near the end of a 2-run fourth.

"He enjoys hitting here," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "We watched him (with the Sox) kill us forever. It was nice to see him have a big day."

This is the same Jim Thome who performed admirably as the Sox' designated hitter the past four seasons and whom they - perhaps mostly Guillen - didn't want this season.

The Sox' manager sounded sensitive before the game. He sounded indignant. He sounded prepared to take on all critics.

"Nobody in this group knows more about baseball than me," Guillen said.

That doesn't mean Guillen is correct on every baseball issue. It also doesn't mean the media is correct on this one.

In fact if memory serves, few local journalists objected much in the spring to letting Thome go and instituting Guillen's revolving DH strategy.

Count me among those who endorsed Guillen's methods. It was getting tiresome watching Thome, Jermaine Dye and Paul Konerko clot the basepaths. Only Konerko remains in the middle of the lineup.

"A lot of people are mistaken about the DH," Guillen roared. "How many DH do we have, and give us the opportunity to play in different places?"

Among the Sox designated hitters this year have been outfielders Carlos Quentin and Andruw Jones, outfielder/first baseman Mark Kotsay, infielder Omar Vizquel, Konerko at times - just about everybody but Nancy Faust.

Kotsay received the assignment in the series opener against the Twins, but his contributions paled next to Thome's: Two singles that turned out to be meaningless.

Comparing DHs in this game, it was like nuclear apples and popgun peaches.

So the problem isn't that Thome wasn't re-signed. It's that the Sox didn't acquire adequate replacements for Guillen to choose from.

The result is the Sox are a quality hitter short. They were a hitter short before the trade deadline, a hitter short after the trade deadline, and they figure to remain a hitter short unless general manager Kenny Williams weaves some waiver-wire magic.

Meanwhile, the Sox' offense was pathetic against pathetic Orioles pitching over the weekend and unable to keep up with the potent Twins on this night.

Guillen tried to make his case by pointing out only Thome and Boston's David Ortiz are full-time DHs. Texas' Vladimir Guerrero was mentioned to him, which he dismissed because Guerrero plays the outfield during interleague play.

Well, Guillen can make all the cases against all other designated hitters in the league, but this wasn't the night for it.

Jim Thome made sure of that by helping hit the Twins past the White Sox into first place.

mimrem@dailyherald.com