Shootin' blanks
If you can trust the old adage about good pitching beating good hitting, what is that same good pitching going to do to below average or downright bad hitting?
Good pitching makes bad hitting look silly? Overmatched? Helpless?
How about all of the above.
That's just what the White Sox are finding out during their weekend series against the AL West-leading Los Angeles Angels.
Jered Weaver followed Joe Saunders' gem by blanking the White Sox 2-0 on Saturday in front of a sellout crowd of 38.434 at U.S. Cellular Field.
Weaver continued his mastery of the White Sox, extending his scoreless string to 15 innings this year. No other team is having that kind of trouble against Weaver, who has a 5.36 ERA against everyone else.
"Weaver has dominated us over the last few years," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "We can't figure him out."
After limiting the White Sox to 1 hit in 7 innings in a May 13 start, Weaver pitched 8 shutout innings Saturday, striking out six while allowing just 3 hits and 2 walks.
He's 3-0 lifetime against the White Sox with a 0.34 ERA in 4 career starts.
"He's one of those guys who is very deceptive," Nick Swisher said. "You have to tip your hat to him."
Weaver didn't give up a hit until Jim Thome beat out an infield single in the fourth. Weaver retired the final 11 hitters he faced before Francisco Rodriguez recorded his 21st save with a 1-2-3 ninth.
Even during the Sox' 8-game winning streak that the Angels halted Friday, they haven't been overpowering teams with their bats. They entered Saturday hitting .246 as a team, 12th in the American League.
The White Sox played their second straight game without Paul Konerko, adding to the woes of struggling regulars Thome (.205), Swisher (.209) and Orlando Cabrera (.223).
Guillen said he isn't ready for any drastic lineup changes.
"Right now we are facing some pretty good pitching," Guillen said. "I'm going to continue to play those guys and see if they can break it up."
The shame of the struggles, besides two straight losses, is the White Sox' pitching has been nearly as good as the Angels'. But they have no margin for error.
John Danks (3-4) didn't make many mistakes, but Vladimir Guerrero drove one of them -- a first-pitch change-up in the sixth inning -- 414 feet over the fence in left-center to break up what had been a scoreless tie.
"I put a ball on a tee for him," Danks said. "It was just a bad change-up. I didn't think he would be sitting on it early in the count."
The White Sox get one last chance in this series against good pitching. John Lackey, who recently returned after beginning the year on the disabled list with strained triceps, takes a 1.29 ERA in his 2 starts into tonight's nationally televised game.
"We've got to keep doing what we've been doing," catcher A.J. Pierzynski said. "We've got to keep playing hard and not giving at-bats away."
Angels 2, White Sox 0
At the plate: The White Sox managed 3 hits -- a double by Brian Anderson and singles from Nick Swisher and Jim Thome. They have scored 1 run in the series against the Angels and no runs in 15 innings this year against Jered Weaver.
On the mound: John Danks allowed only 2 runs, but a high pitch count (99) led to his exit before he retired a batter in the sixth. Octavio Dotel walked .189-hitting Juan Rivera and gave up Casey Kotchman's RBI single before striking out the side. Nick Masset, Boone Logan and Ehren Wassermann combined to put six runners on base in the final 3 innings but didn't allow any of them to score.