Mark Buehrle didn’t look at the trajectory of Torii Hunter’s go-ahead home run Sunday, just as the White Sox shouldn’t bother glancing at the American League Central standings after losses as tough as their 3-2 setback to the Los Angeles Angels.
“It’s not looking good,” Buehrle admitted after the Sox fell six games behind Detroit with 18 games left. “Mathematically, we’re in it until we’re mathematically out, even though the majority of the people who watch baseball know what goes on, how we’re playing and how the other teams are playing.”
The Sox don’t play the first of their six games against the Tigers until Sept. 25, and they acknowledged time is running out to mount a significant winning streak in time to catch the Tigers.
“We had an opportunity to get closer because they had a bad week, but also we had a bad week,” manager Ozzie Guillen said. “That’s not easy. We had to take advantage when they were playing bad, and we didn’t. That’s why we are where we are right now.”
It’s also getting late for struggling hitters such as Jermaine Dye (8-for-72) and Alex Rios (5-for-64) to snap out of slumps and help carry the load for a team that fell to 6-52 in games in which it has scored three runs or fewer.
“We just didn’t get the big hits,” said Guillen, who watched Rios’ deep drive caught at the left-field wall in the second and Dye’s line drive caught by third baseman Maicer Izturis to end the seventh.
“I’m not disappointed with the way we swing the bats, but I’m disappointed that we lost.”
Gordon Beckham ignited the Sox’s two-run first inning with the first of his two doubles.
He and Paul Konerko scored on Carlos Quentin’s single.
The Sox failed to expand their lead or snap a 2-2 tie in the first six innings against left-hander Scott Kazmir and are 4-for-48 with runners in scoring position in their last seven games.
Despite Buehrle’s dependable seven innings, the Sox wonder if they have any resources left to run off a season-high seven-game winning streak, as they did in late June and early July that vaulted them within striking distance of the Tigers.
“I don’t know,” said Buehrle, who yielded Hunter’s homer, which snapped a 2-2 tie in the seventh. “We’ve got to get a little consistent for that to happen. Obviously, it’s getting a little too late for that.”
Should the Sox get mathematically eliminated soon, the only drive may be to push third baseman Beckham for AL rookie of the year.
“I never doubted this kid would be a big-league player,” Guillen said of Beckham, who leads AL rookies with 37 extra-base hits, 25 doubles and 53 RBIs despite not joining the Sox until June 4.
“I doubted how good he was going to be and how important he was going to be for this ballclub this year. This kid has a great chance to be a great leader.”
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mgonzales@tribune.com
