Final
Indians-White Sox Preview
Jun 4, 2009 - 11:49 PM By MATT BEARDMORE STATS WriterCleveland (23-32) at Chicago (25-27), 8:11 p.m. EDT
The Chicago White Sox haven't had much luck this season against pitchers they've faced for the first time. They may do better stepping into the box against one they faced last month.
Chicago opens a three-game set at U.S. Cellular Field on Friday night when they face a struggling Cleveland Indians club that needs another quality start from Carl Pavano.
On Thursday, the White Sox (25-28) lost 7-0 to Oakland and dropped to 1-7 this season when facing a pitcher for the first time. Rookie Brett Anderson held Chicago to six hits over seven innings.
"Maybe we try to acknowledge too much who we're going to face, maybe," said manager Ozzie Guillen, whose team has been shut out twice in the last three games and a major league-high eight times this year. "To me, the philosophy is see the ball, put the best swing on the ball and see what happens."
Chicago is batting just .220 at home this season.
"Some statistics lie - that one doesn't," said first baseman Paul Konerko, hitting .261 at U.S. Cellular Field.
The White Sox will try to get their bats going against Pavano (5-4, 5.29 ERA), who picked up the win over them on May 11 in a 9-4 victory. Making his first appearance against Chicago since June 16, 2004, Pavano allowed four runs and 10 hits.
Pavano went 5-1 with a 3.60 ERA in seven May starts after going 0-3 with a 9.50 ERA in April.
The right-hander nearly became the first Cleveland pitcher to win six games in a month since Chuck Finley in September 2000. Pavano left Sunday's 5-4 win over the New York Yankees with a 4-2 lead, but the bullpen could not hold the lead after he had yielded three runs and seven hits over 7 1-3 innings.
"I left some balls up and got away with some pitches, but the defense did a great job behind me," Pavano told the Indians' official Web site.
Cleveland (23-33) has won six of Pavano's last seven starts.
John Danks (4-3, 4.80) gets the start for the White Sox, who are looking to snap a three-game slide. The left-hander looks for an extended outing after pitching six or fewer innings in his last seven starts. Chicago, though, has won his last three starts.
"Personally, I could be sharper and stay in the game longer and all that," Danks told the White Sox' official Web site. "But as long as we are winning, everyone is happy and I can go from there."
Danks, however, is 1-4 with a 5.31 ERA in eight career starts against the Indians.
In the lineup at third base and batting eighth Thursday just 364 days after Chicago took him eighth in the 2008 draft, Gordon Beckham went 0 for 3 with a strikeout in his major league debut.
"I felt pretty calm up there, as calm as could be," he said. "I swung at a couple of bad pitches. I think that came from the anxiety of having my first at-bat in the big leagues."
Cleveland's Chris Gimenez homered in the seventh inning of Thursday's 11-3 loss to Minnesota for his first major league hit. He added a single in the ninth.
Victor Martinez went 0 for 4 Thursday as the Indians lost for the fifth time in seven games. Martinez is among the AL batting leaders at .346.
Travis Hafner could rejoin Cleveland's lineup Friday after missing the past 35 games with right shoulder soreness following offseason surgery. He is batting .270 with four home runs and eight RBIs.
The Indians have lost eight of the last 10 at Chicago's South Side ballpark.
- AL
FINAL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
CLEVELAND 0 0 3 0 0 2 0 0 1 6 9 0
CHI WHITE SOX 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 (FINAL)
BATTERIES: CLE - CARL PAVANO AND KELLY SHOPPACH
CHA - JOHN DANKS, D.J. CARRASCO (6TH), SCOTT LINEBRINK
(8TH), BOBBY JENKS (9TH) AND A.J. PIERZYNSKI
HOME RUNS: CLE - MARK DERO
Jun 5 10:39 PM - AL
AT CHI WHITE SOX - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY JOSH BARFIELD SCORED TREVOR CROWE.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, J BARFIELD ON FIRST, 1 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: CLEVELAND 6
CHI WHITE SOX 0 TOP, 9TH
DUE UP FOR CLEVELAND: B FRANCISCO (.259, 0-FOR-3, BB)
Guardians 6, White Sox 0 Top 9, 0 OutsJun 5 10:33 PM - AL
AT CHI WHITE SOX - SCORING UPDATE
SOLO HOME RUN BY RYAN GARKO (6) TO CENTER WITH 2 OUT IN THE
6TH OFF JOHN DANKS.
CURRENT SCORE: CLEVELAND 5, CHI WHITE SOX 0
DUE UP FOR CLEVELAND: K SHOPPACH (.206, 0-FOR-2)
Guardians 5, White Sox 0 Top 6, 0 OutsJun 5 9:47 PM - AL
AT CHI WHITE SOX - SCORING UPDATE
SOLO HOME RUN BY TRAVIS HAFNER (5) TO RIGHT WITH 2 OUT IN
THE 6TH OFF JOHN DANKS.
CURRENT SCORE: CLEVELAND 4, CHI WHITE SOX 0
DUE UP FOR CLEVELAND: R GARKO (.248, 0-FOR-1, BB)
Guardians 4, White Sox 0 Top 6, 0 OutsJun 5 9:44 PM - AL
AT CHI WHITE SOX - SCORING UPDATE
THREE-RUN HOME RUN BY MARK DEROSA (9) TO LEFT WITH 2 OUT IN
THE 3RD OFF JOHN DANKS SCORED RYAN GARKO AND BEN FRANCISCO.
CURRENT SCORE: CLEVELAND 3, CHI WHITE SOX 0
DUE UP FOR CLEVELAND: V MARTINEZ (.344, 0-FOR-1)
Guardians 3, White Sox 0 Top 3, 0 OutsJun 5 8:54 PM
Related News
- 2024 South Side Sox Prospect Vote: Round 14 Dec 25
- Today in White Sox History: December 25 Dec 25
- A note from the front while awaiting news of anything resembling a baseball thing at all Dec 25
- Soxivus Week 4 companion: Soxivus Miracles Dec 24
- Analysis of the ZiPS Projections for the 2024 Guardians Dec 24
- Copy of Happy Holidays From the CTC Team: Tell us your Guardians’ Christmas Wish Dec 24
- Sox Populi Podcast 168/Soxivus Celebration Week 4 — Soxivus Miracles Dec 24
- N&N: Padres ink Yuki Matsui for 5 years Dec 24
- Where Are They Now? - Your Favorite Forgotten Players From 2016 - 2023 Dec 22
- News and Notes: Is MLB's Hot Stove About to Burst Into Flame? Dec 22
- 2024 South Side Sox Prospect Vote: Round 13 Dec 21
- 75 Years and Counting: The story of the 1983 Cleveland Indians Dec 21