Magglio Ordonez summed it up beautifully Tuesday night.
“We stink,” he said. “That’s it. We stink.”
No one could argue after the White Sox’s offense took another night off, leading to a 5-1 victory for the Toronto Blue Jays at Skydome.
“There are a lot of games left,” Ordonez said. “But if we keep playing like that, we’ll be in last place.”
Ordonez registered one of the Sox’s seven hits, a leadoff double in the seventh inning against Roy Halladay. The inning ended with Ordonez standing at second.
The Sox continue to fail with runners in scoring position. They went 0-for-6 in that department Tuesday night, lowering their season average to .210.
Last year they hit .290 with men in scoring position.
Manager Jerry Manuel was asked if his hitters were pressing.
“You’d probably have to say that,” he said. “When you’re getting hits, everyone says you’re relaxed. When you’re not, they use the term `pressing.'”
Manuel shuffled his lineup Tuesday, hoping to capitalize on the fact lefties were hitting .312 against Halladay, compared with .219 for righties.
Manuel started Armando Rios and Brian Daubach over Frank Thomas and Paul Konerko.
The result: 0-for-8, two strikeouts, five groundouts, one double play.
“I was hoping to get something out of Daubach and Rios,” Manuel said. “But I didn’t.”
At this point, Manuel probably thinks he could put Barry Bonds in a Sox uniform and he would take the collar.
“When you’re struggling and not hitting, every pitcher is going to throw a good game against you,” Ordonez said. “But we have to keep fighting and see what happens.”
The only highlights Tuesday night came from Joe Borchard, who cranked a mammoth home run off Halladay on a 3-2 fastball, and Bartolo Colon, who threw an eight-inning complete game.
Two of the five runs Colon allowed came in the fifth inning, which featured a maddening mix of subpar defense and questionable calls.
With runners at second and third, Dave Berg hit a two hopper toward the middle.
D’Angelo Jimenez bobbled the backhand but recovered in time to make an off-balance but accurate throw to the plate.
Miguel Olivo appeared to tag Josh Phelps before his foot crossed the plate, but Phelps was ruled safe.
Olivo was so incensed, he allowed Orlando Hudson to sneak into third base while he looked toward the Sox’s dugout to help plead his case.
“I tagged him,” Olivo said. “He was out.”
Manuel, who argued the call, said: “That’s another situation where if things are going your way, you’ll get that call. But that’s where we are right now. Hopefully all these things will even out.”
The Sox could have made things more respectable in the eighth. With two outs and Borchard on first, Carlos Lee sliced a double down the right-field line.
Instead of accelerating around third, Borchard held up before getting a sign from third-base coach Bruce Kimm.
“When he holds up, you can’t try to start him back up,” Manuel said. “That’s why Bruce called him in and told him: `Keep running for me and I’ll stop you. Don’t assume that you’re going to stop.’
“That’s inexperience, not knowing the ballpark.”
