The White Sox enjoyed a 13-run outburst Sunday, but they may have to play Monday night without leadoff man Kenny Lofton, who sustained a strained right hamstring in the fifth inning.
Lofton, who is hitting .291, pulled up lame after he beat out a bases-loaded fielder’s choice grounder to prevent a double play.
“I think I tweaked my `hammy’ a little bit, but that’s part of [the game]. I’ll just see how it feels [Monday] and we’ll go from there,” Lofton said. “Little things happen all the time.”
Manager Jerry Manuel said Aaron Rowand likely would start in place of Lofton if he is not able to play Monday night against the Mets.
On the right track: Manuel believes the new program installed by hitting coach Gary Ward will continue to bring positive results such as those displayed Sunday by the Sox. Ward empathizes with the recent problems his hitters have experienced.
“It’s a little frustrating, but being in baseball for as long as I have been in the game, I understand because I went through it myself for the 13 years I played in the big leagues,” Ward said. “You just have to make sure you stay focused and do a lot of hard work to get your concentration and focus back. The confidence part comes in when you focus. It’s tough to go out there day in and day out and hold the focus each and every day. It’s mentally draining.”
Sox hitters were batting .224 over their previous 13 games before Sunday’s outburst. Ward believes many of the problems will be worked out in the batting cage.
“Everybody has a certain time to be out there and they have been out there each and every day since I have been here,” he said. “They are working hard and we are going to come out of this.”
‘Roid rage: General manager Ken Williams says he is disappointed in the manner former Sox designated hitter Jose Canseco is going public with the steroid abuse issue in baseball.
“If in fact there is this problem to the level he has made the accusations, there are better ways to try to affect change for the betterment,” he said.
Manuel admits to being uninformed about the possible effects of excessive steroid use.
“If it does affect family and health, then we need to deal with it,” Manuel said. “That’s what we need to do as an industry.”
Williams added: “That’s why, when we bring people in during spring training, we talk about such things as tobacco usage and any kind of performance enhancement that potentially could be damaging to them. … That’s about all we can do, try to educate people.”
No sympathy: Sox closer Keith Foulke spoke to the media for the first time Sunday after giving up a ninth-inning home run Saturday night to Vladimir Guerrero in a 2-1 loss to Montreal.
“All I can do is throw him a better pitch. It was a bad one; it was a fastball,” said Foulke (0-4). “That’s what they pay me to do. I’m not looking for any sympathy.
