White Sox a bit punchy after Beckham's heroics

It seems like whenever FOX televises a Cubs-White Sox game on Saturday afternoon at U.S. Cellular Field, A.J. Pierzynski finds himself involved in a punching incident.

But unlike the fabled May 2006 brawl when Pierzynski served as then-Cubs catcher Michael Barrett's punching bag, the Sox catcher was guilty of throwing the blows this time.

At his own teammate.

To celebrate Gordon Beckham's game-winning single with two outs in the ninth that earned the White Sox an 8-7 win in front of a revved-up sellout crowd, Pierzynski led the team's charge toward second base to congratulate the suddenly backpedaling rookie.

"I got a little worried when I saw A.J. and (Jim) Thome in full sprint," Beckham said.

As the Sox jumped around Beckham for several long seconds, Pierzynski kept firing rabbit shots into the third baseman's kidneys.

"It comes with the territory," Pierzynski said. "It's all in good fun. I'm happy for the kid."

Yes, good times were had by all on a sunny and breezy afternoon on the South Side.

Even Cubs manager Lou Piniella, who watched his team fritter away leads in the fifth, sixth and eighth innings leading up to Beckham's walk-off liner over right fielder Milton Bradley's head, had pleasant things to say.

"It was a good ballgame," Piniella said. "Back and forth. Exciting for the fans and well-played by the players."

Well, it wasn't always well-played. The Sox made things hard on themselves with three errors (two by shortstop Alexei Ramirez and one by Beckham) that led to 3 unearned runs.

Sox starter Mark Buehrle cost himself another run when he balked in the fifth. With Cubs on first and second, Buehrle had to hold a pickoff throw to first when Paul Konerko was nowhere near the bag to receive it.

"We still made a lot of mistakes," said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, whose team has committed 12 errors in the last 7 games and leads the American League with 43 unearned runs.

"Defensively, we have to be a little bit better to help our pitching staff."

All of those miscues led to a 7-6 Cubs lead by the middle of the eighth. But, as Cubs fans and employees have learned repeatedly this year, nothing's over until their bullpen says it is.

Carlos Marmol started the eighth and Beckham greeted him with a bloop single over third. Beckham stood at second with two outs when Ramirez reached for a low and outside slider and somehow grounded it through the hole past a diving Ryan Theriot to bring in the tying run.

After Sox closer Bobby Jenks (2-2) fired a perfect ninth, the Cubs sent in lefty Sean Marshall to try to get to extra innings.

Marshall allowed a one-out single by Paul Konerko, then pinch-runner Josh Fields moved up to second on Pierzynski's groundout.

Piniella wheeled in Jose Ascanio, who walked pinch-hitter Jayson Nix to bring Beckham to the plate.

Beckham rifled Ascanio's first offering over Bradley's head in deep right. Most Sox were well on their way toward Beckham before Fields touched home plate with the game-winner.

"It was a fastball," Beckham said. "And usually, in big situations, I like to swing early if it's a strike because you never know if you're going to get another good pitch to hit.

"So I went early and it worked out. What a moment."

Beckham's professional highlight gave the White Sox (36-38) five wins in their last seven games while handing the Cubs (35-36) their fifth loss in the last six.

"Every time we seem to feel we're putting something together the way we like it, something happens," Piniella said. "It's the damnedest thing."

The Cubs send Carlos Zambrano to the mound today against the Sox' John Danks. Someone will break this year's 2-2 series split as well as the all-time 35-35 knot.

"We need to have a run of 10-5 or something like that where we can really get it going," Pierzynski said. "We feel like we're close. It just comes down to pitching."

And punching. And winning.

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Photo Galleries</h2> <ul class="gallery"> <li><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=303362">Game 2 images </a></li> </ul> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=303378">White Sox a bit punchy after Beckham's heroics</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=303389">A 24-hour spin cycle in life of Milton Bradley</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=303386">With each game, Beckham's bright future becomes now</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=303390">Cubs say its time for them to become the grinders</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=303384">Guillen: Sox defense not helping our pitching staff </a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=303383">Piniella: 'Nobody's immune from struggling' What was that Lou? </a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=303391"><b>Mike Imrem:</b> Mind games confuse issue for Bradley </a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=303385">Scot Gregor's game tracker </a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=303388">Bruce Mile's game tracker </a></li> </ul> <h2>Blogs</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="http://blogs.dailyherald.com/blog/18">Bruce Miles | Scot Gregor</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>