Saturday, April 27, 2002

A'S LOSE ON SUICIDE SQUEEZE

by Clive Dahlton

Oak, CA -- The Athletic's got very good starting pitching from Cory Lidle (1-2, 4.11 ERA), who pitched eight innings of one run ball, scattering four hits. Kenny Lofton was a pain for the A's, getting on base, promplty swiping second, then taking third with ease in the eighth inning. Mark Johnson laid down a suicide squeeze and Lidle had no shot at home despite the infield in. The A's lost 1-0 in a frustrating game.

"Plenty of chances," said Manager Graham. "We had plenty of chances, runners on, no outs, couldn't get anything going. We do our best with what we have, but you can only strategize so much and try to get situational matchups before you have to realize that our lineup isn't all that strong right now." Mark Buerhle was equally effective, pitching seven innings of no run baseball. Damaso Marte caused fits for the A's power lefty bats, saving the game. The A's had a runner on third with two outs in the ninth and couldn't get him in. "It's just really frustrating when you think you have a set lineup to give you the best chance, you seemingly make all the right moves, and things just blow up in your face," Graham said after the game.

Graham said the team will be holding PFP (pitcher's fielding practice) as well as bunting drills before tomorrow's game. "I just feel if we could execute a little better on some routine plays, lay down a few bunts, we can get better. We have a few power hitters but very low average and on base percentages, we are going to need to figure out how to manufacture runs before help arrives."

Erik Hiljus (0-3, 7.50 ERA), looks to halt a series sweep for Chicago tomorrow. Best of luck.....Hiljus.

BOXSCORE: 2002 Chicago (AL) White Sox At 2002 Oakland Athletics     4/27/2002

  White Sox          AB  R  H RBI AVG     Athletics          AB  R  H RBI AVG
  R.Durham 2B         4  0  0  0 .365     S.Hatteberg DH      4  0  2  0 .225 
  J.Valentin 3B       4  0  0  0 .305     O.Saenz 1B          4  0  2  0 .231 
  F.Thomas DH         4  0  1  0 .266     E.Chavez 3B         4  0  0  0 .219 
  M.Ordonez RF        2  0  0  0 .292     M.Tejada SS         2  0  0  0 .402 
  P.Konerko 1B        4  0  1  0 .266     J.Giambi LF         4  0  0  0 .327 
  C.Lee LF            3  0  1  0 .272     J.Dye RF            3  0  0  0 .067 
  K.Lofton CF         2  1  0  0 .143   A-D.Justice PH        1  0  0  0 .235 
  R.Clayton SS        3  0  0  0 .233     T.Long CF           3  0  1  0 .259 
  M.Johnson C         2  0  1  1 .250     R.Hernandez C       2  0  0  0 .153 
                                        B-C.Pena PH           0  0  0  0 .200 
                                          F.Menechino 2B      3  0  0  0 .100 
                     -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---     
         Totals      28  1  4  1                 Totals      30  0  5  0

A-Pinch Hit For Dye In 9th Inning
B-Pinch Hit For Hernandez In 9th Inning

White Sox....... 0 0 0  0 0 0  0 1 0  -  1  4  1
Athletics....... 0 0 0  0 0 0  0 0 0  -  0  5  0

White Sox (15-9)         IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA  SCORESHEET
M.Buehrle WIN(3-1)        7       4   0   0   2   6   0 109   4.39  A1 D1
G.Glover                  0       1   0   0   0   0   0   3   8.47  D2 D2
K.Foulke HOLD(3rd)        1 1/3   0   0   0   1   3   0  18   5.40  D3 D7
D.Marte SAVE(1st)         0 2/3   0   0   0   1   1   0  13   7.27  D8
Totals                    9       5   0   0   4  10   0

Athletics (12-12)        IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA  SCORESHEET
C.Lidle LOSS(1-2)         8       4   1   1   2   5   0 111   4.11  A1 D1
C.Bradford                1       0   0   0   0   2   0  11   5.11  D2
Totals                    9       4   1   1   2   7   0

ATTENDANCE- 26,708 DATE- Saturday, April 27th 2002 TIME- Day WEATHER- Average
UMPIRES- Chuck Meriwether, Tim Timmons, Tim Tschida, Greg Gibson
T- 2:16
LEFT ON BASE- White Sox: 4  Athletics: 9
DOUBLE PLAYS- White Sox: 1  Athletics: 1
ERRORS- R.Clayton
DOUBLES- P.Konerko(7th), C.Lee(6th), M.Johnson(2nd), S.Hatteberg(6th)
STOLEN BASES- K.Lofton-2(2nd), C.Pena(2nd)
CAUGHT STEALING- T.Long
SACRIFICE HITS- M.Johnson, F.Menechino
WALKS- M.Ordonez, K.Lofton, M.Tejada-2, T.Long, C.Pena
HIT BY PITCH- M.Ordonez, R.Hernandez
STRIKE OUTS- R.Durham-2, J.Valentin-3, P.Konerko, R.Clayton, O.Saenz-2,
             E.Chavez, J.Giambi-3, J.Dye, D.Justice, R.Hernandez, F.Menechino
GIDP- M.Ordonez, E.Chavez
WILD PITCHES- D.Marte

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