Vazquez does his part in defeat

09/22/2006

CHICAGO -- White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said he was embarrassed after Thursday's loss to Seattle. For some reason, starter Javier Vazquez said he felt the same way.
"Personally, I was going to use that exact word," Vazquez said. "I feel embarrassed. We shouldn't be playing this way and I feel embarrassed."
These comments came following a superb start by Vazquez that was undone by errors and a lack of timely hitting.
The first error came with two outs and runners on first and second in the second inning. Vazquez got Chris Snelling to hit a high popup in the infield, but the ball glanced off of Juan Uribe's glove and the Mariners had their first run of the game.
The second error came with one out and a runner on first in the top of the eighth. Ichiro Suzuki hit a ground ball to Paul Konerko, who made a wild throw to second that pulled Uribe off the base. Everyone was safe and Adrian Beltre followed with a single to load the bases.
Vazquez then walked Kenji Johjima to bring a run home and bring Guillen out to make a pitching change.
"Javy had great command until the last inning," catcher A.J. Pierzynski said. "He was 125 pitches in and that's tough."
Two more runs were charged to Vazquez when Raul Ibanez hit a ball by Konerko for a two-run single. Guillen said the play should have been an error and the runs unearned.
"He deserved better and he deserved that error on Konerko on that play," Guillen said. "I don't know what kind of game [the official scorer] was watching."
Konerko said he couldn't have fielded the ball because the Seattle runner was in his line of sight.
"I got blocked out, but it was my mistake for positioning myself where I did," Konerko said. "So, my mistake was not that I didn't make the play when it was happening. My mistake was where I stood before the pitch was thrown."
The White Sox couldn't do anything right at the plate, either, going 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position against Seattle's Jake Woods.
The end result was Vazquez (11-10) taking the loss after giving up five runs -- three earned -- on seven hits and a walk in 7 1/3 innings. He struck out 12 Mariners and allowed one homer -- Ibanez's 29th in the top of the seventh.
"I think they should look themselves in the mirror and feel embarrassed the way they played today," Guillen said. "It's a shame seeing Javy pitch the way he pitch and we don't do anything right."
But little has gone Vazquez's way over his last eight starts. Despite having a 3.44 ERA during that time, Vazquez has not recorded a win.
Vazquez has also had double-digit strikeouts in three of his last four starts.
"He's been great his last three or four outings and it's a shame we can't score any runs for him," Pierzynski said.
So with performances like that, why does Vazquez feel embarrassed? Because the White Sox are a long way from the postseason with virtually no time to catch up.
"I was trying to help this team make the playoffs and that's what I was working for," Vazquez said. "Just try to make the playoffs and that was the most important thing in my mind and the other guy's minds

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