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Buehrle, White Sox ride power surge to victory

Sep 6, 2008 - 5:54 AM By Gene Chamberlain PA SportsTicker Conributing Writer

CHICAGO (Ticker) -- The Chicago White Sox knew they had to pick up the pace after the loss of injured slugger Carlos Quentin. At least for one game, they did.

The White Sox got two home runs Friday from Juan Uribe and another from Paul Konerko, while Mark Buehrle threw six scoreless innings in a 10-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

"Our lineup, if we never had Carlos on our team and you looked at our team, you'd say this is a pretty good offensive club," Konerko said. "But you're always going to think about what you could have when a guy's hurt."

Quentin, the American League home run leader and one of the top candidates for league MVP honors, is out at least two to three weeks, if not the entire season, due to a broken right wrist. He suffered the injury on Monday by striking it against his bat in anger after a foul ball.

"They know they have to step it up to give us what we're missing," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "They go out there and they know Quentin is not there, but they swing the bats well. That should give them more fight, that should give them more enthusiasm to go out there and show people how good we can be even without Quentin."

Buehrle (12-11) made it easier for his offense to make up for Quentin's absence, as he struck out seven and held the Angels to just three hits and two walks.

"He kept the ball down, he made the big pitch," Guillen said of Buehrle, who gained his fourth victory in five decisions. "I think the Angels approached him in a different way. I've never seen anybody taking so many pitches against Buehrle. He was making big pitches when we needed to strike out certain guys. That's the Buehrle we know."

Uribe hit a two-run home run to left in the second to give the White Sox a four-run cushion, then added another two-run shot in the third four batters after Konerko led off the inning with his 14th home run of the year.

Konerko, Jermaine Dye and Orlando Cabrera had three hits each in Chicago's 15-hit attack.

The White Sox struck early against Angels spot starter Dustin Moseley (1-4), scoring two first-inning runs thanks to a quirky bounce and a two-run single by Ken Griffey Jr.

"When you get the runs, you can go out there and make mistakes and not have to worry about losing the game or losing the lead," Buehrle said. "That's nice."

Konerko's two-out tapper down the third-base line struck the edge of the grass and hopped back into fair territory, to the surprise of third baseman Robb Quinlan, for an infield hit to load the bases. Griffey then singled to center for a 2-0 lead.

"I've seen balls spin and I've seen balls hit the lip that come back fair," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "That was strange."

Alexei Ramirez singled in two runs in the sixth off reliever Darren O'Day and Brian Anderson's infield grounder drove in an eighth-inning run.

Moseley, who allowed six hits, two walks and four runs in 1 1/3 innings, started because Jered Weaver suffered finger cuts in the dugout earlier in the week and had to miss a start.

The Angels scored in the seventh off reliever D.J. Carrasco on Garret Anderson's RBI single and an outfield error against DeWayne Wise that let Gary Matthews Jr. come home.