White Sox Inept Against East’s Finest

It seems like far too long ago that the White Sox were celebrating a 3-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox.

That was Friday, when Chicago managed just three hits against Tim Wakefield, but those stats are forgotten when you win.

Five losses later, you realize how lucky the White Sox are that it isn’t a six-game losing streak they’re riding.

Gavin Floyd outpitched Wakefield on that Friday night, but the command and ability to execute on display against Boston was nowhere to be found in an 18-7 drubbing courtesy of the New York Yankees.

Derek Jeter had five hits, Curtis Granderson had four hits and five RBIs and Robbie Cano and Eric Chavez (who hasn’t made a splash in about five years) each drove in four.

It started with a pair of bunt singles and a bloop hit, but it snowballed and got ugly quick on Gavin, who was yanked after just 2 1/3 innings.

The Sox mounted a mini comeback, cutting the lead to 13-7 at one point, but the Yankees offense overwhelmed the White Sox all night.

Carlos Quentin hit a three-run shot, A.J. Pierzynski continued his productive year and Alejandro de Aza broke out with four hits to lead the Konerko-less Sox.

Alex Rios was a disaster again. Despite his two hits, he hot dogged it to Curtis Granderson’s bloop single in the first and later let a Mark Teixeira liner go under his glove for a triple. Things are not looking up for the CF, especially considering De Aza’s performance.

Brent Lillibridge pinch-hit for Rios later in the game and took over in center.

Will Ohman was the savior of the bullpen, working a career-high 3 2/3 innings, striking out a career-high five batters. He gave up three runs on six hits, but Sergio Santos was the only White Sox pitcher not to get scored on and Ohman really took the load off the rest of the ‘pen, so it’s easy to look past.

Brian Bruney was ejected very quickly in the seventh inning after facing just two batters, which forced Ozzie Guillen to use Matt Thornton, Jesse Crain and Santos. Bruney probably would have eaten up two innings, which definitely would have given Crain a much-needed breather.

Bruney acknowledged his faux pas and the team will move on without issue, but the larger issue at hand is that the White Sox fell to 6.5 games behind the division-leading Detroit Tigers and have been decimated by two surefire playoff teams over the last five days.

Time is running out on the White Sox, who need to figure out something quick. Less than two months left in the season with every game becoming that much more important.

Phil Humber takes the mound hoping to cool off the Yankees bats on Thursday and the Sox look to avoid a crippling four-game sweep against Ivan Nova.

I’ll be out at the Cell covering the game so follow me on Twitter to get live Yankees and White Sox updates all afternoon and evening.