(CP)
Tuesday, May 6, 2008

The White Sox couldn’t ask for much more from their pitchers right now.
After a winless road trip, however, Chicago’s hitters have a lot to answer for.

Dustin McGowan outpitched Javier Vazquez in an entertaining duel, and Matt Stairs homered, to help the Toronto Blue Jays beat the slumping White Sox 1-0 last night for a four-game sweep.
Blue Jays’ closer B.J. Ryan walked the bases loaded in the ninth inning, but got Pablo Ozuna to ground into a 1-2-3 double play to end the game—earning his fifth save of the season.
“It was a heartbreaker,” White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. “Everybody got excited a little bit because we finally got something going and all of a sudden, the double play ends it.”
It was Toronto’s first four-game sweep since May, 2003 against the N.Y. Yankees.
McGowan (2-2) gave up just four hits in 7 1/3 innings to win for the first time in three starts. He walked none, struck out six, and retired 16 consecutive batters during one stretch.
Blue Jays’ pitchers have a major league-best 1.02 ERA since April 26, helping Toronto win five in a row after losing eight of nine.
“I’m just trying to pick up where the other guys left off,” McGowan said. “I don’t want to be the one to mess up this string of starts for us.”
Stairs hit a lead-off homer in the seventh off Vazquez (3-3), who struck out nine while throwing 120 pitches in 7 2/3 innings.
Stairs was 1-for-29 against Vazquez before taking him deep, and said he was “praying for contact” when he lifted a breaking ball over the wall in right.
“I got lucky,” he added. “He threw a curveball and probably wanted to bounce it. He kept it up a little and it was down in that hockey swing.”
Outfielder Carlos Quentin said the White Sox know their pitchers deserve better after allowing just seven earned runs against the Blue Jays in the four games.
“They’ve picked us up, kept us in all these games, and given us a chance to win,” Quentin said. “We want to reciprocate, get them some runs and get them some wins.”
Chicago lost twice in Minnesota before coming to Toronto, and now has not won since beating Baltimore back on April 27.
“The thing that makes me sad is the way we’ve pitched,” Guillen said. “We can’t help our pitching staff to win games.
“They’ve kept us in games since we left Chicago and it’s been one week with the same offense, nothing really getting going.”
Yesterday’s loss was Chicago’s season-high sixth-straight and the White Sox have dropped nine of 12 overall. They’ve scored just nine runs in their past six games and have the American League’s lowest batting average at .229.
Guillen tried a new-look lineup yesterday, putting Orlando Cabrera in the lead-off spot, bumping Quentin to second, and dropping Nick Swisher to sixth.
It didn’t help, as Chicago continued to struggle with men on base. The White Sox are 7-for-61 (.115) with runners in scoring position over the past nine games.
“We’ve got to keep moving forward and expect the next day to be better than the one before, expect the next day to be a hot day where everyone hits well,” Quentin said.
“We know we have the potential to do some things offensively.”
Juan Uribe’s single and Toby Hall’s double put runners at second and third with none out in the third, but Cabrera grounded out, Quentin flied out, and Jim Thome struck out swinging.
Those were the first three in a stretch of 16-consecutive outs by McGowan, who didn’t allow another baserunner until Uribe’s broken-bat single with one out in the eighth.
McGowan turned it over to Jesse Carlson, who hit pinch-hitter A.J. Pierzynski with a pitch to put runners at first and second. Shawn Camp replaced Carlson and got Cabrera to ground into a fielder’s choice, then retired Quentin on a fly to left.
Vazquez lost for the first time in five starts at Rogers Centre, allowing eight hits and walking one.
Elsewhere in the AL yesterday, Boston doubled Detroit 6-3, the L.A. Angels blanked Kansas City 4-0, Oakland edged Baltimore 2-1 (10 innings), and Seattle beat Texas 7-3.