Sox' offense struggles against rookie Talbot
CLEVELAND - It's still early. That's what the White Sox keep saying. So why is manager Ozzie Guillen already feeling stressed out?
"I just tried to make the lineup a couple of seconds ago, and I was scratching my head a little bit," Guillen said.
Guillen was feeling about as good as possible Wednesday after the Sox put up 11 runs in a win at Toronto, which came just two days after they scored 8 in the series opener.
But after being limited to 3 runs against the Jays in Thursday's finale, the Sox arrived at Progressive Field on Friday night and were shut down by Indians rookie starter Mitch Talbot in a 6-2 loss.
"Not right now, not really," Guillen said when asked if he's frustrated with the White Sox' spotty offense. "I know they're trying. I know what they're going to do. They're going about it the right way."
With No. 1 starter Mark Buehrle opposing Talbot, the Sox had to be feeling pretty confident when Paul Konerko opened the scoring with a solo home run leading off the second inning.
From there, the White Sox managed just 3 hits and an unearned run, and Talbot coaxed 17 groundball outs while earning a pair of firsts - a win and complete game.
"Watching the tape from his first start, he walked a lot of guys and wasn't right on the plate," third baseman Mark Teahen said. "Tonight he was using both sides of the plate. He doesn't have elite stuff, so we could have done something with it. But he was effective with his pitches, didn't waste any and threw a good game."
Cleveland rallied against Buehrle (2-1) and was clinging to a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth when a Teahen error led to 3 unearned runs.
"We've been playing on softer surfaces and (the ball) just hopped more than I thought it would," Teahen said. "It definitely didn't help."
The more the season progresses, the more it looks like Sox general manager Kenny Williams is going to have to find some outside offensive help.
After Friday's loss, the White Sox are batting .220, and second baseman Gordon Beckham (.256) has the highest batting average among the projected regulars.
"It's easy when you have two or three guys in the lineup struggling," Guillen said. "When you have nine guys struggling it's 'Why me?' I'm just trying to get the best lineup out there and hopefully it works. It seems like on and off, on and off, on and off. We're just not consistent.''
<p class="factboxheadblack">Scot Gregor's game tracker</p>
<p class="News">Indians 6, White Sox 2</p>
<p class="News"><b>Where's the offense?</b> The Sox' plan to put the ball in play and force the action is not working so far. Paul Konerko's solo homer and an unearned run was all they could muster vs. rookie starter Mitch Talbot, who picked up his first big-league win (and complete game).</p>
<p class="News"><b>Streak's over:</b> White Sox starter Mark Buehrle had a 172/3-inning scoreless streak going against the Indians until Austin Kearns delivered a run-scoring single in the fourth.</p>
<p class="News"><b>Streak's still going:</b> Matt Thornton and Bobby Jenks each pitched 1 scoreless inning, running the Sox' bullpen's scoreless streak to 191/3 innings.</p>
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