Closer Bob Howry isn’t used to be taken out with the game on the line, so his reaction to Wednesday’s ninth-inning hook by manager Jerry Manuel was one of shock.
“I felt really good out there,” Howry said. “The slider was working well and I was locating my fastball good. Except for the walk to the last guy, you couldn’t ask for much more.”
But the two-out walk to Gregg Zaun with a man on first was the reason Manuel went with Keith Foulke to close it. Asked if he was surprised to be removed at that point, Howry repled: “Kind of.”
Asked to elaborate, Howry hedged.
“It’s [Manuel’s] call,” he said. “I don’t know. I don’t have anything to say about that.”
Howry later said he didn’t mean to criticize Manuel’s decision-making and thought it best to keep his mouth shut. But he was obviously upset with the decision, making the closer controversy something to keep a close eye on in the coming days.
Turn of the tide: In the upcoming trip to Anaheim, the White Sox will face three pitchers who are at .500 or worse in Brian Cooper (4-4), Ken Hill (5-6, 6.15 ERA) and Kent Bottenfield (6-8, 5.49 ERA). That’s bad news for the Sox, who seem to have the most trouble against the least likely pitchers.
“We have to dominate the mediocre pitching, which is what we haven’t done lately,” Manuel said. “In the early part of the year, anyone who was a sub-.500 pitcher, we seemed to put a lot of runs on the board. Lately it’s been somewhat of a struggle.”
No panic zone: The Sox have lost five of their last seven games, but have only lost a half-game in the standings to Cleveland.
“I don’t think there’s any panic in here,” Herbert Perry said. “You [media] guys can do what you want to do. We’re just playing baseball. We lost today but we had a chance to win. Every time you do that, it’s not like you’re going out there and giving games away.
“We’re a good team. We’re still 10 games in front. I don’t even want to think about that. If we win 40 out of the next 60, we’re in good shape and we’ll win this thing. Our job is to go out and win games and don’t worry about what anyone else did. We’ve been very fortunate this year not to have lost more games in situations like today. A one-run lead is a tough thing to hold, and we’ve been excellent this year holding leads.”
The recent skid could turn up the volume from those who demand the Sox make a big trade, but Frank Thomas said the Sox can win with who’s in the clubhouse.
“We’ve got ourselves to this point,” Thomas said. “We’ve got to continue to fight and keep it going together. No one said it was going to be easy. You expect days like this every now and then, and we got one today. Hopefully we can go on the plane [to Anaheim] and look each other eye-to-eye and say, `Hey it happens.'”
Sox files: James Baldwin was hit for two-run homers by Jermaine Dye in the first and Mark Quinn in the fourth but lasted long enough for the Sox to fight back into the game. Baldwin and K.C’s Jeff Suppan are tied for the league lead in most home runs allowed (28)
