Loyal and resourceful reader Sandee sent this wondrous article from the Chicago Sun Times.

Changes in wind for sockless Sox

May 16, 2004

BY TONI GINNETTI Staff Reporter
Pathetic. Embarrassing.

And time for changes.

Those were the words from White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen Saturday after watching a second consecutive meek and meager offensive effort against the Minnesota Twins lead to a 4-1 loss.

Worse, the feeble effort came against a pitcher, Seth Greisinger, who hadn't won a game since May 19, 2002, spent last season at Class AAA in the Detroit organization after having elbow surgery in 1999 and walked onto the U.S. Cellular Field mound carrying a 6.87 ERA.

"It's hard for people to come here and see day-in and day-out the same stuff,'' Guillen said, vowing changes in the lineup today. "If our hitters don't start changing, there will be some changes because I have to do the best I can to make the White Sox winners.''

The rival Twins are the ones who keep winning, notching their fifth consecutive victory overall and their seventh in a row against the Sox dating to last season. They are riding high in the AL Central, with a 14-6 record against division opponents and a three-game lead over the second-place Sox.

"It was a great baseball game again,'' Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "The pitchers for both sides were good.''

Greisinger (1-2) was the victor over Esteban Loaiza (4-3), who turned in one more solid performance (eight innings, six hits, three runs, five strikeouts, one walk) but took his third consecutive defeat.

"I'm feeling good about the way I'm throwing the ball and my velocity,' Loaiza said. "All I can do is try to throw strikes. You never know what's going to happen. Our starters and relievers are doing the best we can. They got more runs than we did, and we'll have to try to get one [today].''

If they don't, the Twins will leave town with a sweep of the teams' first three-game series.

"Loaiza threw the ball well --the best since he faced Tampa Bay [April 23],'' Guillen said. "You're not going to win games scoring one or two runs. We're not hitting to support the pitching staff.''

Loaiza was touched for two runs in the fifth before Torii Hunter hit the first of his two home runs in the sixth, the other coming in the ninth off Cliff Politte. It capped a 4-for-4 game for the Twins center fielder, who was hitting .125 (2-for-16) in his last five games.

The Sox can only hope their hitting fortunes will turn the same way after giving the crowd of 32,360 only a home run by Frank Thomas, his seventh, to celebrate.

"I knew [the pitch to Thomas] was a mistake,'' Greisinger said of his first-pitch cut fastball in the fourth inning. "It's a lot easier to forget about because it was a mistake pitch, and he did what he was supposed to do with it.''

Thomas' last two at-bats were strikeouts, including a called third strike to end the sixth that had him railing at umpire Fieldin Culbreth.

"I don't know if I fooled him as much as I got a pretty favorable call,'' said Greisinger, who allowed four hits before relievers J.C. Romero and Joe Nathan (12th save) finished the job. "It was a pretty big out considering what he did the previous at-bat.''

Guillen's patience clearly had run out watching the final two innings.

"The pitchers are doing their job, but we have bad at-bats,'' he said. "If you have a good at-bat and make an out, I can live with that. But swinging at bad pitches, not concentrating on what they're supposed to do or trying to do too much, I guess, or not doing nothing at all. It's pathetic.

"I know people get sick and tired of seeing the same thing. If we continue to swing the bats like that and wait for something to happen, we'll be in trouble. You will see.''

The coming changes to the lineup seem likely to at least put infielder Juan Uribe in action again. The utility infielder is the Sox' leading hitter at .352, seventh-best in the American League, but he didn't play in the first two games of the series.

"I'm not going to say anything now,'' Guillen said. "I'll have to think about what I'm going to do.

"If we didn't have the offense, it's a different matter. But we have people who can hit. We have players who can do some damage, and they're not doing it.

"It's time to maybe stop taking batting practice, stop swinging in the cage and do it in the game,'' Guillen said. "It's time to perform [in games].''

Posted by Batgirl at May 16, 2004 10:34 AM