Nothing much wrong with Greg Hibbard Monday night except Harold Baines.
Baines, who often did some fairly interesting things across the street, had four straight hits off Hibbard-including a three-run homer-as the Oakland Athletics stopped the White Sox 5-3 Monday night in front of 36,341 in Comiskey Park.
Baines, who hit his home run in the first inning to put the Sox in a hole, later doubled once and singled twice. Lifetime against Hibbard, he`s 7 for 7.
”He`s hot against me,” said Hibbard (3-4). ”I`m sure he feels good when he steps into the box against me right now.”
He certainly felt good Monday night.
”It was just one of those days,” said Baines. ”Some days they fall in, some days they don`t.”
Hits by Mike Gallego and Dave Henderson fell in before Baines launched the first pitch Hibbard threw to him over the wall in right-center. It was 3-0-and for the third time in the four-game series, the Sox were down by that many within two innings.
”We seem to be spotting guys too much early,” said Sox manager Jeff Torborg. ”We`ve come back so many times, but you can`t keep coming back.”
They tried.
They came back with a scratchy pair in the second. Oakland starter Joe Slusarski (1-2) helped by walking Carlton Fisk and Robin Ventura to start the inning. Warren Newson followed with his first big-league hit, which drove in his second big-league run. A flyball by Sammy Sosa got Ventura home from third, and it was 3-2.
But in the fourth, Baines led off by slicing a double off Lance Johnson`s glove, a ball that seemed to fool the center-fielder. Mark McGwire`s bouncer got him to third base, and he came home on an infield hit by Lance
Blankenship.
”That fourth run hurt,” said Torborg. ”That was a big lead, that 4-2, and then there was that home run.”
Blankenship hit it, the ball bouncing off the foul pole in left, and it was 5-2.
Melido Perez, in his second relief appearance, followed Hibbard in the eighth and averted further damage.
Fisk`s leadoff homer in the ninth, off Dennis Eckersley, completed the scoring in what was, for a change, a game that wasn`t supercharged with tension.
So the Sox wound up winning three of the seven games on this stand against the Angels and A`s. In a stretch of 24 straight games against those two clubs, plus Boston and Toronto-four of the league`s elite teams-they won 12.
Which, considering some of the bad baseball they played in spots, is remarkable.
What`s encouraging is that the Sox seem to be getting their collective act together.
”We`re playing pretty good baseball now,” Torborg said. ”For awhile, we were really scuffling.
”I don`t think we`re scuffling now. I think we`re starting to play. We`re heading in the right direction.”
They`re heading to Cleveland. At least Harold Baines won`t be there.
He was cheered Monday night by the fans who remembered. They jeered Jose Canseco, and they would`ve booed Rickey Henderson if Tony LaRussa hadn`t rested him.
They can`t boo Harold.
”Yeah, I hear them,” Baines said after his great night. ”I appreciate the cheering that they do.”
But not entirely.
”They don`t want me to win,” he said. ”I`m here to win ballgames.”
Evidently.
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Next: At Cleveland, Tuesday 6:35 p.m., SportsChannel
