Thornton, Pierre share blame for Sox’ loss

Trust me, I’m kind of an expert on the blame game.

Having coached boys and girls basketball for the last seven years and also witnessed hundreds of baseball, football and soccer games on the youth level, it is there. Everywhere.

“He did it.”

“She did it.”

“I didn’t do it.”

Learning to accept blame — and learn from mistakes — is a difficult part of growing up, and it helps to have some adult guidance along the way.

If you can relate to any of this, meet relief closer Matt Thornton. And meet left fielder Juan Pierre.

Assuming you are a White Sox fan, you probably know where this is heading.

With the Sox clinging to a 1-0 lead over the Athletics on Monday night at U.S. Cellular Field thanks to another no-hit bid by starting pitcher Mark Buehrle and a solo home run by Brent Lillibridge — which was No. 10,000 in franchise history — Thornton came on in the ninth inning looking for his first save of the season.

He didn’t get it, and the Sox were stung with another tough loss, 2-1 in 10 innings.

So let’s start the blame game.

Thornton raised his hand first for allowing Andy LaRoche’s double leading off the ninth. On an 0-2 pitch, Thornton left a slider right over the middle of the plate.

“I made 3 good pitches and then made a (bleep) fourth pitch and he drove it for a double,” Thornton said. “I don’t care what happens after that, you can’t do that with a leadoff guy in a 1-run game.

“I’ve got to bury that slider. Left it in the zone, and he was able to do what he did with it.”

Pierre trumped Thornton’s mea culpa for dropping Daric Barton’s one-out flyball to left that allowed pinch runner Cliff Pennington to score the tying run.

He made a similar error against Tampa Bay on Friday that wound up costing Thornton another save and the White Sox another game.

“I missed the ball,” a somber Pierre said postgame Monday. “I just flat-out missed it. It basically cost us two games on the schedule so far.

“I can handle the booing, but when you’ve got a guy like Thornton out there closing for the first time, busting his butt, and you play that way behind him, I feel worse for him as well as the team.

“I missed my share of balls before, but I can’t recall two in one week in the ninth inning to basically cost us the game. It’s a tough one to swallow. The only thing keeping me sane is my faith.”

The White Sox have held the lead in all 10 games this season, and they could easily be 9-1 if not for some shaky pitching from Thornton and shaky fielding by Pierre.

The fingers have been pointed, and it’s admirable the pitcher and outfielder are blaming themselves instead of each other.

That will have to do for now.