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White Sox Wed May 13 2009
Buehrle Suffers First Loss, Sox Continue to Slide
Mark Buehrle was beaten by the long ball in Cleveland Wednesday afternoon. They lost 4-0. The White Sox ace surrendered a solo home run to Indian's catcher Victor Martinez in the first inning. With the big blow coming in the fourth off Indian's DH Ryan Garko. He hit a two run homer and the Indians would later added their final tally in the fifth.
And that was all she wrote. Buehrle pitched seven strong innings and struck out six despite surrendering a pair of home runs he fell victim to a lack offense. The Sox had no answer for Cy-young Award winner Cliff Lee as they were 2-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base. They failed to score twice with the bases loaded.
Carlos Quentin would sit out for the second straight game to rest up his sore left heel. However, he would come into the game in the bottom of the sixth after Jermaine Dye was ejected for arguing balls and strikes. Which resulted in him slamming his helmet to the ground after taking a 2-2 pitch from Lee. He argued briefly and after slamming his helmet, he was tossed. Dye's batting helmet made contact with home plate umpire Mike DiMuro.
White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen was ejected as well. Major League Baseball will be sure to look into the exchange between Dye and the home plate umpire. This coming after yesterday MLB fined closer Bobby Jenks for throwing behind Texas Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler on Saturday night in Chicago.
Jenks was fined $750, which is mere pocket change, after saying he threw behind Kinsler to send a message. Usually when teams throw at one another they deny any ill intent. Jenks, however, blatantly came out and said he threw at him on purpose.
The Sox are now 15-18 and three games back of Detroit and Kansas City who are tied for first. This is the second time this month they've dropped back-to-back series and it is the fourth series they've lost this month. They are 4-8 in May.
As a result Jose Contreras, who has failed to post a win in six starts, was moved to Triple-A Charlotte. It is possible that he rushed back too quickly after suffering a season ending Achilles injury last year. Until Contreras figures it out, Clayton Richard will assume his spot in the rotation.
The Sox will have an off day Thursday as they travel to Toronto to take on the first place Blue Jays Friday night. John Danks(2-2), who got a no-decision against the Rangers Saturday, will take the hill for the Southsiders. Danks will look to build upon his last start, in which he struck out a career-high 10 batters. He will be opposed by Toronto's Brett Cecil (1-0). Game time is 6:07pm CT.
