Ozzie Guillen took his shots, and now, his hitters are taking theirs.
Nick Swisher and Alexei Ramirez homered, and Joe Crede had another big day at the plate as the White Sox routed the Minnesota Twins again, 12-2 on Sunday for their sixth straight win. The latest outburst came exactly one week after Guillen lashed out at his struggling hitters. Since then? Fifty-four runs during this streak. They’ve scored 10 or more in three consecutive games for the first time since July 15-17, 2000, against St. Louis and Milwaukee. The 15 hits Sunday gave Chicago at least 15 in three straight games for the first time since July 23-24, 1932, against Cleveland. The most important number, though, is this: zero. That’s how many losses the White Sox have since Guillen’s tirade in Tampa Bay, and their lead over second-place Minnesota in the AL Central is now 5-and-a-half games. "You want to pull your own weight, individually or as a unit," Chicago’s Paul Konerko said. "You don’t have to score 10 runs every game. We should be able to score four to six runs a night on average to give these guys a chance to win. … We’ve got to have some easy games, and the offense has to pull their weight on that." The hitters did just that, and Guillen was in a much better mood than he was a week earlier. "I said in spring training I think this team can be special," he said. "I don’t know how far we’re going to get, but this team has a chance to be special." After winning the first two games of this four-game series 10-6 and 11-2, the White Sox quickly jumped on the Twins, who dropped their fourth straight and matched their longest losing streak since Sept. 12-16. Swisher’s three-run homer off Kevin Slowey (2-6) in the second made it 3-1 and Chicago broke it open with five more in the third, with Paul Konerko’s two-run double highlighting that rally. Ramirez added a two-run shot in the fifth, giving Chicago 16 homers in this streak. "Another day of not being able to get through the first part of the ballgame," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Slowey, I think he tried everything. Good pitches, bad pitches, they seemed to be hitting just about everything we threw up there." That was more than enough for Gavin Floyd (7-3), who struck out a career-high nine and walked one while allowing two runs and six hits in seven innings. He had plenty of support from an offense that roughed up Slowey for eight runs in three inningsû after the start was delayed 89 minutes by rain. "They hit just about everythingûwhether it was a good pitch, medium pitch or a very poor pitch," Slowey said. "It’s tough. I’m sure some of the older guys will tell you and they’ve said it to us young pitchers, that you’ll go through stretches and it’s sometimes inexplicable." Swisher, whose average has hovered around .200, has a seven-game hitting streak. He pumped his fist after rounding first on the homer and had more to celebrate in the fifth when he added an RBI double. Crede, meanwhile, continued his surge. He is 10-for-15 with 12 RBI in his last four games after going 2-for-4 and driving in two runs on Sunday. After hitting homers in three straight games for the first time in his career, including two each on Friday and Saturday, Crede doubled and singled and scored twice. One week earlier, Guillen unleashed a tirade that seemed to be aimed at general manager Kenny Williams and hitting coach Greg Walker after watching his team go 5-for-39 with runners in scoring position while dropping three of four at Tampa Bay. Guillen called for roster changes while saying his job and Walker’s could be in jeopardy. There were no major roster moves, but there is one noticeable difference. The offense is producing. That it’s doing so on the heels of Guillen’s outburst is probably a coincidence, but the change in demeanor over the past week is noticeable. Guillen joked that whenever Crede, in the final year of his contract, gets a hit "it’s cha-ching." But the manager wasn’t smiling a week earlier. Nobody was. "We knew we had it in us, and we knew it would come," Konerko said. "You feel good to get some runs, where it helps out your teammates. It makes it feel a little more like everybody’s contributing." AP ______ Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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