Cabrera flexes his muscles

Orlando Cabrera's role with the White Sox isn't complicated.

The veteran shortstop was brought over from the Angels in an off-season trade for starting pitcher Jon Garland for his leadership on the field, his Gold Glove defense and his proven ability to make things happen at the top of the batting order.

In Monday night's 13-5 mauling of the Mariners at U.S. Cellular Field, Cabrera stepped out of character and flexed some muscle.

Cabrera fit right in while hitting a 2-run homer in the fifth inning that put the Sox in front for good at 5-4.

"This is the way this team has been built - guys that can hit the ball far," Cabrera said after hitting his first home run since June 19. "Every time the offense steps up, we have a chance to win."

The White Sox' offense has taken its game to the highest level of the season, and the surge continued against Seattle.

Nick Swisher also hit a 2-run homer off Mariners starter Jarrod Washburn, and Alexei Ramirez (3-run HR) and Carlos Quentin went deep against reliever Jake Woods.

"We swung the bats good as a group," manager Ozzie Guillen said. "I think we had good at-bats. I think we got big hits with people on base.

"That's big right now. It seems like we're in a good stretch. You look at the games, it's a 3-run homer, grand slam, 3-run homer. At least when we're hitting the home runs, there are people on base."

The Sox have 182 home runs, by far the highest total in the majors. They've hit 109 at home.

"Once we get in our own ballpark, we feel comfortable," said right fielder Jermaine Dye, who happily settled for a pair of doubles and 2 RBI against Seattle. "I don't think guys are trying to hit home runs. We're just trying to make the pitcher make mistakes, and we're all strong enough to drive the ball out of the ballpark."

Seattle pecked away at White Sox starter Mark Buehrle, scoring 3 runs on 3 hits in the first inning and adding single runs off the left-hander in the fifth and sixth.

"Mark threw well," Guillen said of Buehrle, who allowed 5 runs on 11 hits in 5 innings. "In the first inning we made a couple mistakes, two mistakes in the field, and it cost him 3 runs.

"He pitched well, and our offense just carried on from (Sunday, a 13-1 win at Oakland). We came down here and faced a good pitcher and swung the bats the way we know we can. Coming back was nice. It's nice to see those guys go out there and fight no matter what happens on the field."

The Sox pulled 1 game in front of the Twins in the AL Central after Minnesota lost to Oakland at the Metrodome.

"We know what's going on," catcher A.J. Pierzynski said. "But we feel like if we win it doesn't really matter. We feel like we're getting better, getting stronger."

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