There are still 52 days remaining until Bud Billiken Day, the date White Sox manager Jerry Manuel recently pointed to as a day of reckoning for his young club.
If the Sox still are playing the same brand of high-quality baseball on Aug. 12, Manuel said, they’ll have proven they have what it takes to accomplish the goals that once seemed impossible.
Until then they’re still learning what it’s like to be the American League team wearing a target on its back.
Cleveland showed again Wednesday night it will not let the Sox go quietly into the dark, dark night, jumping on James Baldwin early and holding on for an 8-6 victory before 23,516 at Comiskey Park.
“I know I didn’t have my best stuff,” Baldwin said. “I was just trying to go out there and keep the guys in the game. Any time you go out there with that kind of effort, you’re going to lose ballgames. And we lost.”
Indians first baseman Jim Thome cranked two long-distance home runs and drove in three on the night, leading Cleveland to its second straight triumph in the series after losing the opener. Frank Thomas hit a pair of home runs as the Sox lost two straight for the first time since May 28-29.
The Indians moved within 6 games of the Sox in the American League Central Division.
Baldwin (10-2) suffered through his shortest outing of the season, giving up six runs on eight hits in only four innings to go down to defeat for the first time since a May 25 loss to the Yankees.
After once trailing by five, the Sox cut the deficit to 8-6 by the ninth on a home run by Paul Konerko, who went 4 for 5, and Thomas’ pair. With two on and two outs in the eighth, and the Sox down three, Ray Durham hit a line shot to right-center field that fell just short of being a game-tying home run.
“Just missed it,” Durham said.
The Sox stranded four runners in the seventh and eighth innings and 10 overall.
“That shows me we keep bringing the tying run to the plate regardless, and that’s a good feeling,” Manuel said.
Baldwin was roughed up from the start, giving up a leadoff triple to Kenny Lofton in the first and an RBI double to the next batter, Omar Vizquel. After a sacrifice bunt, Thome hit a towering two-run homer to right-center to make it 3-0.
The Sox put up two in the bottom of the inning on run-scoring hits by Magglio Ordonez and Konerko, but Alex Ramirez homered leading off the second to make it 4-2.
Baldwin was removed with no outs in the fifth after three hits, including Sandy Alomar Jr.’s triple and Lofton’s RBI single.
“You have to think he’s somewhat human too,” Manuel said.
If the White Sox finally have begun to show signs of slowing down, it’s only natural. They’re in the middle of their toughest stretch of the season, beginning with the emotional series against the Cubs and continuing with the string of 14 straight games against Cleveland and the Yankees.
“Everyone said the Cubs are not playing well,” Manuel said. “But any time you play your [local] rival, emotions are spent. And then you go play your divisional rival that’s chasing you and then you go play the world champions. That’s a tough stretch. Then you come back with your divisional rivals again and the world champions again. It has been real emotional.”
WHITE SOX LOSING STREAKS
The White Sox have been remarkably consistent this season with only one four-game losing streak and one of three games. At the other end of the American League spectrum, Kansas City and Texas have had nine-game losing streaks and Detroit lost eight straight.
Games Dates
4 May 5-7 at K.C., May 8 at Boston
3 April 30 at Detroit, May 1-2 at Toronto
2 April 3-4 at Texas
April 15-16 Anaheim
May 10 at Boston, May 12 Minnesota
May 24-25 New York
May 28 Cleveland, May 29 at Seattle
June 20-21 Cleveland
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