Slumping sluggers slowing Sox down

The White Sox dropped a tough one to the Tigers on Saturday night, and it was Miguel Cabrera delivering the key blow with a 2-run homer off Jesse Crain with two outs in the ninth inning.

You can blame manager Ozzie Guillen for that one, considering Cabrera has long been one of the most dangerous hitters in the game.

But after the 4-2 loss, Ozzie said he didn't want to intentionally walk Cabrera because another dangerous hitter — Victor Martinez — was on deck.

So there you have it.

But let's continue on with the “dangerous hitter” theme.

More specifically, Adam Dunn and Alex Rios can start doing some damage any time now.

There were a lot of Detroit fans on hand Saturday, but the second-largest crowd of the season (31,037) showed up at U.S. Cellular Field.

Dunn and Rios were miserable again for the Sox, and they were loudly booed while combining to go 0-for-8.

Dunn came in with the lowest batting average (.182) among the American League's 92 qualified hitters. Rios was No. 89 at .202.

We'll update those numbers after the Tigers snapped the White Sox' four-game win streak: Dunn is batting .178 after going 0-for-4 with 3 strikeouts. Rios is down to .199 after going 0-for-4 and grounding into 2 double plays.

Bring on the boos, and you really have to wonder if the White Sox can ever become legitimate contenders if Dunn and Rios remain such easy outs.

“I say if Rios and Dunn don't start hitting, I don't say we're going to lose, but it's going to be hard,” Guillen said. “PK (Paul Konerko), (Carlos) Quentin, right now the Missile (Alexei Ramirez) is swinging the bat good, but they need help.

“I think we should be better. We've got Rios and Dunn not doing anything yet and we're scoring some runs. When those guys come out and help us offensively, this ballclub can be very dangerous.”

Dunn has not looked right at the plate all season, and playing first base and being dropped to No. 7 in the lineup have not helped at all.

The left-handed slugger is obviously pulling off just about every pitch, and Rolling Meadows emailer Mike Sidor offered this observation:

“Dunn has an terrible stance. He rests the bat way back over his shoulder. The barrel of the bat is pointing toward the ground. He gets into a swinging position just as the pitcher starts his throw and he misses the ball because by the time he decides to swing it is too late.”

The flaws are obvious to all, but Dunn's confidence is at an all-time low and that's another hurdle he must overcome.

As for Rios, his frustration reached a boiling point during Friday night's win over Detroit.

After yet another miserable at-bat, Rios took his anger out on a Gatorade cooler in the Sox' dugout.

Saturday afternoon, he was called into Ozzie's office.

“I talked to him about it,” Guillen said. “I never criticized my players for making outs, for being mad. I criticize my players by bad at-bats and bad body language. And the body language he had (Friday) night wasn't the best one for us. Rios is a tremendous ballplayer. He can contribute a lot. And we discuss it in a nice way. We promised each other it's the last time we talk about it.”

sgregor@dailyherald.com