SOX OUT SLUG A'S IN UGLY GAME

by Clive Dahlton

Oak, CA -- "Sloppy baseball," is exactly what Manager Graham called this game. The A's hit White Sox starter Jon Rauch hard, eight hits, eight earned, and slugged four homers off of him. They had a five run lead in the fifth inning, til' the bullpen imploded right before our eyes, again.

Fyhrie wasn't anymore more spectacular than his opposition, going 5 2/3 inning and giving up five earned on five hits. Fyhrie threw over 100 pitches, his ERA now stands at 9.90. The bullpen was taxed during the game in a desperate effort to neutralize the White Sox balanced lineup. Magglio Ordonez, and the surprising Royce Clayton led the offense charge for Chicago. Ordonez clubbed a three-run shot in the first inning, and Clayton provided three ribbies on his own on a 3-5 performance.

Tejada continued his torrid start, going 3-5 with a home run, two runs scored and two driven in on his big fly in the first. Pena, Giambi and Long all contributed homer's today as well, but in a losing effort, as the A's were downed 13-8 in the series opener.

Graham called it "The worst game we've played all year, period. I can't believe PROFESSIONAL baseball players can't throw strikes and hold a big lead. We walked seven batters, gave up 13 runs, used our whole bullpen practically, i'm speechless. This team is a big pile of warm shit on a summer's day, stinking up the joint." Chad Bradford was charged with the loss, going a 1/3 of an inning, giving up three earned, and also contributing an error to his stellar outing.

The A's got a breath of fresh air in the lineup today, with the return of Jermaine Dye from the DL, the right handed power bat they were desperately seeking. Dye finished the day 1-4. Fyhrie was asked about another atrocious start during a locker room interview: "I fucking suck." That's all he had to report. "It's kind of a shame," Terrence Long said, we finally get a good crowd and we play like next year's Tiger's team. What the fuck."

The Athletic's will turn their hopes to Cory Lidle. Lidle had mechanical problems during a pilot's license training session yesterday morning, and had to make an emergency landing, thank god he's such a good pilot!

BOXSCORE: 2002 Chicago (AL) White Sox At 2002 Oakland Athletics     4/26/2002

  White Sox          AB  R  H RBI AVG     Athletics          AB  R  H RBI AVG
  R.Durham 2B         5  0  1  0 .380     S.Hatteberg DH      3  1  0  0 .212 
  J.Valentin 3B       3  2  1  1 .319     C.Pena 1B           5  2  2  2 .200 
  F.Thomas DH         4  2  1  0 .267     E.Chavez 3B         3  1  0  0 .228 
  M.Ordonez RF        4  2  1  3 .298     M.Tejada SS         5  2  3  2 .411 
  P.Konerko 1B        4  3  3  1 .267     J.Giambi LF         5  1  2  3 .353 
  C.Lee LF            5  1  1  2 .270     J.Dye RF            4  0  1  0 .083 
  K.Lofton CF         4  2  1  1 .200     T.Long CF           4  1  2  1 .256 
  R.Clayton SS        5  1  3  3 .241     R.Hernandez C       3  0  1  0 .157 
  M.Johnson C         2  0  0  2 .242   A-O.Saenz PH          1  0  0  0 .200 
                                        B-G.Myers C           0  0  0  0 .000 
                                          F.Menechino 2B      4  0  0  0 .143 
                     -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---     
         Totals      36 13 12 13                 Totals      37  8 11  8

A-Pinch Hit For Hernandez In 8th Inning
B-Subbed Defensively (C ) For Saenz In 9th Inning

White Sox....... 3 0 0  0 0 2  5 0 3  - 13 12  0
Athletics....... 2 0 3  1 2 0  0 0 0  -  8 11  1

White Sox (14-9)         IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA  SCORESHEET
J.Rauch                   4 2/3   8   8   8   2   3   4  89   6.11  A1 C5
B.Howry WIN(2-0)          1 2/3   1   0   0   1   2   0  20   3.18  C6 D3
D.Marte HOLD(3rd)         1       1   0   0   0   2   0  16   7.88  D4 D7
A.Osuna SAVE(2nd)         1 2/3   1   0   0   1   1   0  26   5.91  D8
Totals                    9      11   8   8   4   8   4

Athletics (12-11)        IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA  SCORESHEET
M.Fyhrie                  5 2/3   7   5   5   3   3   1 104   9.90  A1 C8
J.Mecir HOLD(1st)         0 1/3   1   2   2   2   1   1  16   3.21  C9 D3
C.Bradford L(0-1) BS(1st) 0 1/3   2   3   3   1   0   0  21   5.56  D4 D9
M.Venafro                 1 2/3   1   1   1   0   0   1  14   4.26  E1 E5
M.Holtz                   0 1/3   0   1   1   1   0   0   7  13.50  E6 E7
J.Tam                     0 2/3   1   1   1   0   0   0  15   7.00  E8
Totals                    9      12  13  13   7   4   3

ATTENDANCE- 35,914 DATE- Friday, April 26th 2002 TIME- Night WEATHER- Average
UMPIRES- Bill Welke, Fieldin Culbreth, Andrew Fletcher, Mike Winters
T- 2:54
LEFT ON BASE- White Sox: 6  Athletics: 6
DOUBLE PLAYS- White Sox: 1  Athletics: 2
ERRORS- C.Bradford
DOUBLES- R.Durham(9th), F.Thomas(4th), P.Konerko(6th), R.Clayton(6th),
         J.Giambi(5th)
TRIPLES- R.Clayton(1st)
HOME RUNS- J.Valentin(8th), M.Ordonez(5th), P.Konerko(3rd), C.Pena(5th),
           M.Tejada(9th), J.Giambi(4th), T.Long(4th)
SACRIFICE HITS- M.Johnson
SACRIFICE FLIES- M.Johnson
WALKS- R.Durham, J.Valentin-2, F.Thomas, P.Konerko, K.Lofton, M.Johnson,
       S.Hatteberg-2, E.Chavez-2
HIT BY PITCH- M.Ordonez
STRIKE OUTS- R.Durham, F.Thomas, K.Lofton, M.Johnson, C.Pena-2, M.Tejada,
             J.Giambi-2, T.Long-2, F.Menechino
GIDP- R.Durham, J.Valentin, R.Hernandez
WILD PITCHES- B.Howry
WEB GEMS- Top 1st: Terrence Long robbed Ray Durham of an extra base hit.
          Bot 8th: Carlos Lee robbed Frank Menechino of an extra base hit.