El Duque knocked out early in loss

CHICAGO -- The tone in Ozzie Guillen's voice sitting at the podium after Tuesday night's game said it all.
Although his team has only lost two games in a row, for Guillen and everyone else it seemed more like 20, as the White Sox were handed their second straight thorough defeat at the hands of the Arizona Diamondbacks, 10-4, at U.S. Cellular Field.

"It feels like we've lost 20 games, but it's not," Guillen said. "The way we perform, the way we are pitching, the way we were playing was not good, so a little slap in the face is not bad at all. The last two games we really just have not pitched good."

Guillen wasn't lying when he said that the pitching was lacking in the first two games of the series against Arizona. The White Sox have relied on quality starts from their rotation all year and that hasn't happened in the club's two straight losses.

One night after Jose Contreras gave up eight runs in six innings, Orlando Hernandez (7-2) only lasted 4 2/3 innings, allowing six runs off eight hits, walking three and striking out three. The loss was Hernandez's first since April 14 against Cleveland.

Hernandez could not say much but shake his head at his performance. The right-hander has not quite been the same since his shortened outing before he was put on the disabled list. In his last start, he picked up a win in Colorado, despite giving up four runs in six innings.

When asked what he thought was different in his most recent performance, El Duque could only lament his lack of strong outings recently.

"I think the last start was no good, too," Hernandez said. "The last four starts, to give up four runs or more in the game is no good. I don't know. Today was just no good."

For Guillen, he knows the White Sox have gotten used to strong starts every time from their starter, but acknowledges that these rough outings are going to happen.

"We've been getting spoiled by the pitching staff all year," Guillen said. "The best thing we've been doing all year is pitching, and we haven't done it the past two nights.

"The rough pitching, it's going to happen. It's a long year, hopefully it happens sooner and not later."

Though the White Sox starters have struggled, facing a potent offense like the Diamondbacks doesn't make it any easier. The past two nights Arizona's offense has put up 24 hits, 18 runs, and six home runs.

The D-Backs may not have been hot coming into the series, but first baseman Paul Konerko said it should be no surprise that Arizona is putting up the numbers when you look at the strength in their lineup.

"There are a lot of All-Stars in a row right there and if all of them are clicking like they are right now, it's going to be tough," Konerko said. "That's basically it. They took over that game offensively and didn't look back."

The Diamondbacks started the scoring run when they got to Hernandez in the fourth. Troy Glaus led off with a solo homer to bring Arizona within one, 2-1. Royce Clayton would hit a two-run double later in the inning to give the Diamondbacks their first lead, 3-2.

Arizona added three more runs off Hernandez in the fifth. Chad Tracey led off the inning with a double and was brought home by a Glaus single for a 4-3 lead. Shawn Green hit a 371-foot home run, his ninth, to score two runs and put Arizona up 6-3.

That strong offensive output early may have helped starter Javier Vazquez to feel a little more comfortable. Vazquez delivered the team's second straight quality start.

Vazquez navigated eight innings, giving up three runs on seven hits, striking out a season-high 10 and walking one. Vazquez's dominating performance came one night after Shawn Estes pitched a complete-game gem.

Arizona's two wins in the three-game series marks the first time this season that the Sox have lost a home series. Though it may seem that the White Sox offense is in a slump, getting defeated pretty handily two days in a row, even Guillen had to acknowledge that the production is not much different than the beginning of the year.

"It's a funny thing, we used to get four hits, five hits and we won," Guillen said. "Now we get seven, eight hits and we lose."

The loss also cut the White Sox's lead in the American League Central to four games, as the Twins pulled off a 4-3 win over the San Francisco Giants. While the team is paying some attention to what is going on with the Twins, Konerko was quick to point out that this race is not going to be won between the teams any time soon.

"This is going to go down to the end," Konerko said of the division race. "I expect that, and I hope this team does. It would be nice to walk away with the division, be up by 10 games two months from now, but realistically it's not going to happen. We just have to make sure we keep doing our job."

Source: http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/