Hard-nosed play in seventh costs Sox

07/20/2006
DETROIT -- Losing five of their six games on a road trip to New York and Detroit to start the 2006 season's second half certainly wouldn't fall into the category of embarrassment for the White Sox, according to Ozzie Guillen. The White Sox manager did consider the results a major disappointment.
But even following Detroit's 2-1 victory Thursday afternoon before a Comerica Park sellout crowd of 41,075, the defending World Series champions didn't show the slightest bit of panic or worry, for the matter.
Sure, the Tigers (64-31) reinforced their case as a true playoff contender, claiming the final two games of this three-game set, and increasing their lead in the American League Central to a season-high 5 1/2 games.
The White Sox (58-36) also didn't help themselves by neglecting to put the offensive end of their game and the pitching together at any time on this trip but Tuesday. Over the final two games in Detroit, the first four hitters in the White Sox lineup combined to finish 0-for-29, serving as just one example of temporary offensive futility.
Yet, the White Sox high level of confidence remains unchanged and unbowed in the face of one of those many runs of inconsistency expected during a 162-game season. They also fully realize a better brand of baseball needs to begin this weekend back at home against Texas.
"I don't want to be negative about my team," said Guillen of his squad. "Detroit outplayed us. They kicked our butt. They pitched good, and when you play the game right, you deserve to win. Hopefully, we turn it around and play better when we get home."
"You go through down points in the season, and this is one of the lowest points," added White Sox starter Jose Contreras, through translator Ozzie Guillen Jr. "You always play bad when you lose, regardless of how you lose the game. Losing is losing. When you are winning, little mistakes aren't looked at as much."
Contreras (9-2) lost for the second straight start, after setting a franchise record with 17 consecutive winning decisions. But it was not so much Contreras' shortcomings, allowing two runs on six hits in seven innings, as it was Detroit's aggressive style of play leading to the Tigers' one-run victory.
With the game tied at 1 and with one out in the seventh inning, Contreras issued his only walk of the game to Marcus Thames. Craig Monroe followed with what looked to be a tailor-made double-play grounder to third baseman Joe Crede, but Crede double-clutched ever so slightly as he tried to get the ball out of his glove.
Crede's throw to Tadahito Iguchi at second was in time to nail Thames and turn the double play, but the throw brought Iguchi inside of the base, and Thames flipped Iguchi into the air with a tough breakup slide. Guillen and the rest of the White Sox, though, had absolutely no problem with Thames' hard-nosed style of baseball.
It's the sort of intensity Guillen has preached for his team since taking over in 2004.
"That's the way people should play the game on the big-league level," Guillen said. "I think when you do that, you show intensity. I expect my players to do the same stuff. I don't want anybody to get hurt, but keep it up."
Paul Konerko said after the game that he didn't think Iguchi would have doubled up Monroe even without the slide, judging from the second baseman's position on the throw. But the slide kept the inning alive, and two pitches later, Chris Shelton's double into the left-center-field gap brought home Monroe with the game-winning run.
Joel Zumaya (5-1) earned the victory, as the right-hander with the 100-plus mph fastball threw two scoreless innings in relief of starter Kenny Rogers. That effort included an inning-ending strikeout of Crede in the eighth, followed by a demonstrative fist pump toward the White Sox dugout.
Crede looked at Zumaya as he walked back to the bench, but the White Sox didn't really have any direct criticism of Zumaya's exuberance.
"I think we've gotten used to it," said Konerko of Zumaya. "He's got a great arm. I guess if he, the only thing you can say about that is if it ever works the other way, you can't take offense to what happens. I don't think we have guys that would do anything there ..."
"If you throw that hard and you are throwing strikes and locating, which he was doing, you can do nothing but tip your cap to him," Crede added.
There was a collective tipping of the cap by the White Sox to the Tigers, but there certainly was no concession speech or talk of focus on the Wild Card. Not with 10 games remaining against Detroit and close to two months left in the season.
Having watched a 15-game lead over Cleveland on Aug. 1 dip to a precious 1 1/2 games late in September last season, the White Sox understand this division race is a marathon more than a sprint. But a 2-7 record over their next nine games, as they posted in the last nine, won't get the job done.
"We have a better ballclub than this. We should be playing better," Guillen said. "Everybody on this club is disappointed with the way we're playing right now. Not against Detroit, [but] period, since the All-Star break, we haven't played good."
"I don't think anyone in here is going to panic," Crede added. "I still think we have a great run in us in August and September. We know we are going to have to play great baseball, and Detroit is going to have to keep it up as well."

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