White Sox 'achieve' dubious milestones
It was a weekend of milestones for the Chicago White Sox, but not all of them were ones that left the team very excited.
The Sox were swept for just the second time this season, as Kansas City beat them 5-2. With the Royals getting the win, it was also the first time in 21 years that Kansas City has now beat the Sox five straight times, and their record at Kauffman Stadium is now 8-18 since July 4, 2009.
"It's frustrating, it's brutal," catcher A.J. Pierzynski said of the latest loss on Sunday. "We got to play better than that, myself included."
Not that the Sox weren't up against the wall the past few days. Center fielder Alejandro De Aza was held out of the lineup again Sunday with back stiffness, missing his second consecutive game. The hope is De Aza will be able to return on Monday, when the Sox host New York for a three-game series.
On top of De Aza being sidelined, the Sox were without Kevin Youkilis, one game after he reached the 1,000-hit milestone in Saturday's loss.
The Sox have been carrying 13 pitchers, so that obviously handcuffed manager Robin Ventura in what he could do late in the game.
"When you take that step to go with the extra pitcher, you're a little limited on what you can do," Ventura said. "But that's what we need right now, being able to have those extra arms."
Ventura said that the Thursday off day will give the Sox a chance to rethink the makeup of the roster and see if they wanted to make one more change.
With Youkilis out, that meant Ray Olmedo got the starting nod at third base.
"It's one of those things where you try to give (Youkilis) a day off when you can," Ventura said. "We'll let (trainer) Herm (Schneider) mess with him."
Lost in the lost weekend was Youkilis' milestone hit and Adam Dunn connecting on career homer No. 400.
"It's pretty cool for the family and friends," Youkilis said. "But for me, I would tell you I should have gotten 1,000 hits a long time ago by playing better. It's nice to have a number, but I hope it goes way higher than that."
