Friday, March 11, 2011
Posted: 4:47 p.m.
By Brett Ballantini
CSNChicago.com
GLENDALE, Ariz.Mark Buehrle suffered through a second straight subpar start, this time at the hands of the Chicago Cubs, as the Chicago White Sox fell 4-3 at Camelback Ranch on Friday afternoon.
Buehrle was hammered for three runs (two earned) and six hits in just three innings of work, burning through 63 pitches and raising his ERA to 7.88. The outing included uncharacteristic wildness (two walks), a rare error by the two-time Gold Glover, and a gopher ball served up to Carlos Pena, his fist round-tripper of the spring.
I was supposed to be building up innings, but my innings are going downhill instead of going uphill, Buehrle said. I was a little more wild than you want to be but its spring training and Im getting pitches in and building stuff up.
This was the first time I saw him a little upset after the game. Maybe it carried over from the last outing, when he was hit pretty well, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. I dont remember Buehrle having too many good springs.
A three-run rally by the White Sox fell short, although the South Siders did notch three late runs, one on a Stefan Gartrell double to deep left-center, two on a 420-foot blast by the following batter, Lastings Milledge.
MLB
Jeffrey Marquez, Will Ohman and Jesse Crain relieved Buehrle and had almost perfect results, Marquez offering up one hit and striking out three and Crain allowing just one runner on a hit batsman. Ohman retired the Cubs 1-2-3 and has had a glistening spring, with four innings of perfect pitching.
There are a few people who have picked it up, Guillen said. Now that Dayan Viciedo is not on the map, Milledge has played pretty well. Alejandro De Aza and Lilly Brent Lillibridge also have had good at-bats.
I said a couple of days ago that nobody has stepped up and I didnt see anything special. Now the players got the message and are swinging the bat betterYou dont need to go 4-for-4 to make this ballclub, you need to play the game well, and I will pick the right guy.
But the story of the gameeven this relatively meaningless one, smack dab in the middle of spring trainingwas Buehrles rough start digging another early hole for the White Sox.
Im more frustrated than I should be for a spring training start, Buehrle said. Being competitive, I dont like getting hit around. Im not overpowering; Im not going to throw the ball by guys, so its like I make a couple of good pitches, and they get hits, and then I miss a spot, and they hit the ball hard. Its frustrating that when Im hitting my spots, theyre putting the ball in play and hitting holes.
I just worry about Mark on April 1, Guillen said. Besides that, the only thing I can wait for is him to be healthy, get out of spring training and be ready for the season.
The White Sox didnt do much to back Buehrle, mustering just two hits (and striking out seven times) in the first six innings off of Cubs starter Ryan Dempster and reliever Sean Marshall.
In the ninth, White Sox reliever Anthony Carter was touched for back-to-back doubles, pushing across the North Siders final run.
10 vs. 10,000
Making his rough effort all the more annoying to Buehrle is that he did it in front of the White Sox biggest game of the season.
Yeah, you get a little more adrenaline going playing in front of 10,000 fans instead of 10 gets you going a little bit more, Buehrle said. It is a spring training game and we were joking around coming into it that its too early in the spring to have a pressure situation, but its good to play in front of a big crowd so it feels more like the regular season.
First: Ozzie on Quade
When asked whether hed have any advice for his new managing counterpart, Mike Quade, Guillen felt it wasnt quite his place to advisethen offered plenty anyhow.
Its hard to predict what will happen in Chicago, Guillen said. Coaching in Chicago before, its different to go through it as a coach than it is as a manager. I know hes not going to lose his hair, thats for sure. I guarantee that, he wont lose his hair. And hes not going to get gray.
I always say Chicago, sometimes Chicago people are like the weather. Sometimes theyre nice, sometimes theyre not. One day, theyre beautiful, the next day they hate you. You have to live with that. Fans in Chicago are pretty tough; media in Chicago is pretty tough; radio is pretty tough. You have a couple of good games, they love you. All of a sudden you lose a game, and they hate you. You have to be prepared and have very thick skin to handle it, take one day at a time and hope for the best. But anybody who coaches or manages in Chicago know they are on the hot seat every day. No matter what you do, you will have more negative than positive. You have to be prepared for that.
Guillen doesnt know Quade too well, but has heard enough to give a ringing endorsement.
This man is a great baseball man, Guillen said. I kind of like that, because a lot of people say he doesnt have a name and stuff. Hopefully he puts that team in a position to win and puts them in a good spot. This guy has been in baseball so long; I know hes happy to have the job. I hope the players play well for him and hopefully he keeps the job. The players are the ones who fire the coaching staff. Its not the general manager, its the playershopefully the players play well for him.
Second: Speechless Ozzie?
Guillen showed writers a letter from Dallas Green that was sitting on his desk postgame, thanking him for his role in Mondays fundraising game in Tucson. The ebullient manager recounted catching the ceremonial first pitch from the longtime executive, whose granddaughter, Christina Taylor-Green, was killed by a gunman in a mass shooting in January. Simply recounting the story of talking with Green before the game was giving the confident manager goose bumps.
Brett Ballantini is CSNChicago.com's White Sox Insider. Follow him @CSNChi_Beatnik on Twitter for up-to-the-minute White Sox information.