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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
CHICAGO (AP) -- If the Seattle Mariners want the best record in
the AL, they're going to have to find another way to get it.
Because the Chicago White Sox sure aren't about to give it to them.
|  | | Frank Thomas is letting his bat do the talking this year, as evidenced by Wednesday's two-homer, five-RBI outburst. |
With Chicago's lead in the AL down to a half-game over the
Mariners and bragging rights at stake Wednesday night, the White Sox responded with an offensive outburst led by Frank Thomas, who homered in his first two at-bats as
the White Sox routed Seattle 19-3.
Tony Graffanino hit the first grand slam of his career, and Ray
Durham homered and drove in another run for the White Sox, who
scored at least once in each of the first six innings.
"This year's a special season and we want to let it continue,"
said Thomas, who came close to homering a third time with a double
off the center-field wall. He had five RBIs, one shy of his career
high, and finished 3-for-4 with a walk.
"We have a very explosive offense," he said. "When it's
clicking, it's very dangerous."
Tell the Mariners something they don't know. The 19 runs were a
season high for the White Sox, topping the 18 they scored against --
guess who? -- the Mariners in April. The team also had a season-high
24 hits.
The White Sox battered Jamie Moyer (11-5), who'd won eight of
his last 11 starts, for a career-high 11 earned runs and 13 hits in
3 2/3 innings. His ERA ballooned from 4.50 to 5.30.
It was his shortest outing for baseball reasons since he went 3
1/3 on June 21, 1997, against Texas. Moyer went one inning on July
4, 1998, against the Rangers, but that was because of a rain delay.
"If last night was long, tonight was longer," Mariners manager
Lou Piniella said, referring to Tuesday's doubleheader. "They just
put a whipping on us."
Almost lost in his teammates' offensive outburst was a solid
outing by Mike Sirotka (10-9). Sirotka allowed three runs and eight
hits, and he gave Chicago's weary bullpen a much-needed break by
going seven innings. He pitched four shutout innings before giving
up a leadoff homer to Chris Widger in the fifth.
A victory over Houston on June 2 gave the White Sox the best
record in the AL, and they've held it ever since. But losses in 12
of their first 25 games after the All-Star Game and a surge by the
Mariners -- they've won 16 since the break, including a sweep of
Tuesday's doubleheader -- whittled Chicago's lead to .005 percentage
points.
And with the Mariners in town for another two games, that lead
was looking very precarious, indeed.
"Wake up! Wake up! Let's win some ball games around here!"
pitcher James Baldwin yelled as he walked into the clubhouse before
the game, smacking a bat on the metal picnic table.
His teammates were obviously listening. Thomas, batting third,
hit a two-run homer to left practically one-handed in the first
inning. It was his 78th career first-inning home run, and third in
the last five games.
And Thomas wasn't done. With two runners on, he homered into the
backdrop in the second inning to give Chicago a 7-0 lead. He hit
another solid ball to center in the fifth, but settled for a double
instead when it dropped at the wall.
"Frank looks like he's heating up," manager Jerry Manuel said.
"If he continues to do that, he's a guy who can carry us for a
period of time. ... Hopefully, he's in one of those streaks where
he hits home runs in bunches."
Durham hit a solo homer off Moyer in the third. Moyer gave up
three more runs in the fourth on Herbert Perry's RBI single and
Chris Singleton's two-run single before Piniella finally took him
out.
"We were a little upset after last night, because we had
(Freddy) Garcia on the ropes and let him off," Graffanino said.
"It's something we've talked about, when we've got a pitcher down
on the ropes, we want to knock him out and pound him."
After pounding Moyer, the White Sox did the same thing to his
replacement, Robert Ramsay, knocking him for seven runs -- four of
them earned -- in the sixth inning alone.
Ramsay walked Durham to load the bases and then gave up the
grand slam to Graffanino. After Paul Konerko, Carlos Lee and
Singleton drove in runs to give Chicago a 19-2 lead, Piniella had
enough, replacing Ramsay with Jose Paniagua. Charles Johnson popped
up to third, finally ending the inning.
"We got banged around pretty good last night and we showed,
once again, that we're a good team," Konerko said. "I don't think
we ever doubted ourselves, but you want to nip things early.
"We're not giving up. We're planning on winning this thing."
Game notes
The Mariners are in discussions with the Orix Blue Wave to
send a team of minor leaguers to Japan for exhibition games when
the season ends. ... When Joe Oliver entered the game in the fifth
inning, the Mariners had three catchers on the field. Starting
catcher Dan Wilson was playing third and Widger moved from first to
behind home plate. ... With a crowd of 24,497 Wednesday, the White
Sox surpassed last season's total attendance of 1,338,851. ...
Widger, acquired from Montreal in a waiver deal Tuesday, made his
Mariners debut.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Seattle Clubhouse
Chi. White Sox Clubhouse
RECAPS
Cleveland 6
Texas 4
Baltimore 5
Detroit 2
NY Yankees 12
Oakland 1
Tampa Bay 5
Minnesota 4
Chi. White Sox 19
Seattle 3
Kansas City 5
Toronto 3
Boston 4
Anaheim 2
Florida 5
St. Louis 3
Colorado 4
Pittsburgh 3
San Francisco 9
Milwaukee 3
Cincinnati 10
Atlanta 6
Philadelphia 3
San Diego 2
NY Mets 12
Houston 5
Montreal 4
Arizona 3
Chicago Cubs 5
Los Angeles 4
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Jerry Manuel says Frank Thomas can carry the White Sox.
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