Sweeping epic: Sox get on a roll vs. Mariners

Posted April 25, 2010 11:00 pm

Scot Gregor

If a White Sox fan would have tossed a broom onto U.S. Cellular Field after Sunday's 3-2 victory over the Mariners, manager Ozzie Guillen likely would have danced with it.

"It's nice, a sweep is a sweep and I will take that thing every time, I don't care how," Guillen said after the Sox won their third straight against Seattle. "But if we don't do those little things, it's going to be very, very, very tough for us to get where we want to get."

Paul Konerko got the White Sox a win Sunday with his solo home run off Mariners reliever Brandon League with one out in the eighth inning.

After back-to-back wins on walk-off home runs from Alex Rios and Andruw Jones in the ninth, it was a little less dramatic, not that Konerko's complaining.

"We'll take it," Konerko said. "It was a good weekend, a lot of close ballgames. It's nice to come out on top."

Guillen agrees, especially after the Sox opened the season at 5-11.

But it was another frustrating offensive day for the White Sox, who were 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position while wasting great chances to take control of the game in the sixth and seventh innings.

"That's a shame we had to wait for Konerko until we took the lead," Guillen said. "We had a couple opportunities out there and we didn't take advantage. I know we're not perfect, but those little things, the way our offense is right now, we've got to do it. If we don't do that, we're not going to win.

"I say that right now, what is it April (25)? If we don't do that as a team, those little things, we're not going to win. We're going to be out of the pennant race quick."

In the sixth inning, Jones led off with a single and moved to third on Konerko's double. After that, A.J. Pierzynski popped out, Carlos Quentin's groundout scored Jones, and Rios popped out.

In the seventh, Mark Teahen led off with a double and never moved after Alexei Ramirez struck out, Juan Pierre grounded out and Gordon Beckham lined out.

"We're not manufacturing and moving guys around as well as we need to right now and that's how we're going to sustain long stretch of games of being good," Konerko said. "You can't hit homers every night."

With a 3-2 lead in the ninth inning, Sox closer Bobby Jenks relieved starter John Danks, who delivered another strong performance (8 innings, 2 runs).

Jenks got the first two outs before yielding a double to Casey Kotchman and walking Eric Byrnes.

With Matt Thornton warming in the bullpen, Guillen visited Jenks on the mound and decided to leave him in the game. Jenks promptly struck out pinch hitter Ken Griffey Jr. on 3 pitches to record his fourth save.

"I was a little bit uncomfortable with him," Guillen said. "I just wanted to make sure he was fine, his (right) calf. And he was. Bobby's my closer. Bobby's my closer until we think he can't do it anymore. I showed him my vote of confidence there.

"If I don't make those decisions, I lose confidence from my players because they don't think I'm going to believe in them."

<p class="factboxheadblack">Scot Gregor's game tracker</p>

<p class="News"><b>Rolling along: </b>John Danks pitched 8 innings for the second straight start. How good has the Sox' lefty been? Despite allowing just 2 runs, Danks' ERA rose from 1.29 to 1.55.</p>

<p class="News"><b>Power play:</b> Paul Konerko homered for the third straight game, and his solo shot in the eighth inning decided the outcome. Konerko leads the major leagues with 8 HRs.</p>

<p class="News"><b>First things first:</b> The Sox recorded their first sweep of the season, and they also won their first game when scoring 3 runs or fewer. They previously were 0-10.</p>

<h1>More Coverage</h1>

<h2>Stories</h2>

<li><a href="/story/?id=376017">Pierzynski can't seem to get out of offensive funk<span class="date">[4/25/10]</span></a></li>

</ul>

</div>