Thursday, May 02, 2002
White Sox 9, Mariners 2
The Associated Press
CHICAGO — On a cold, rainy night, the Chicago White Sox and Seattle Mariners did almost as much waiting as they did playing. After four rain delays totaling 2 hours, 3 minutes, Chicago earned a 9-2 victory behind homers from Royce Clayton and Carlos Lee in a game finally called after eight innings.
“It was horrible. Nobody should have to play in weather like that, but it's our job. In the beginning it was just cold and then it kept getting worse and worse,” Chicago's Jose Valentin said.
John Garland (4-1) pitched five shutout innings, allowing just three hits on a wet night at Comiskey Park, where the game-time temperature was 48 degrees with a stiff wind.
“A tough night for both teams. A lot of starting and stopping,” White Sox manager Jerry Manuel said. “We're just glad we got it in and we got a win.”
Gary Glover pitched a scoreless eighth for his first save.
The delays meant Garland had to warm up several times.
“You get loose and then you shut it down and then you get loose again,” he said. “I played some catch in the tunnel and then sat down like it was just another inning.”
The start was delayed for 1 hour, 22 minutes, and the game was stopped again for 16 minutes in the bottom of the fourth just before Sandy Alomar hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to give the White Sox a 3-0 lead.
Three minutes later, before the top of the fifth even began, crew chief Bruce Froemming called for the tarp again. But before the grounds crew could get it unrolled, the rain subsided and Froemming waved them back, a delay of five minutes.
Rain continued to fall the remainder of the night and created muddy footing. Following a 30-minute delay before the start of the ninth after Chicago scored five in the bottom of the eighth, the game was finally called.
“You just have to stay focused. I think I threw the ball well despite the conditions. That's the coldest I've ever been,” said Seattle starter Ryan Franklin (2-1), who lasted six innings in his second major league start.
“It was tough the way the conditions were with the mound when you were coming off your feet.”
Clayton, who entered hitting .198, drove a Franklin pitch to left in the third for his fourth homer of the season.
Magglio Ordonez and Paul Konerko singled in the fourth, and Valentin hit an RBI double before Lee was walked intentionally to load the bases. Then Alomar hit the sacrifice fly right after the second delay.
Konerko's throwing error helped Seattle score two runs in the seventh. After a single by Ruben Sierra and a walk by Mike Cameron, Konerko fielded Carlos Guillen's grounder and threw wildly past shortstop Clayton at second, allowing Sierra to score.
Pinch-hitter Desi Relaford greeted Bob Howry with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-2.
After a double steal, reliever Damaso Marte intentionally walked Ichiro Suzuki to load the bases before Mark McLemore popped out.
Ray Durham hit a two-out RBI single off Shigetoshi Hasegawa in the seventh to push Chicago's lead to two runs.
The White Sox scored five in the eighth off reliever Brian Fitzgerald. Lee hit a two-run homer, Durham had another RBI single, Ordonez hit a sacrifice fly and another run scored on Jeff Cirillo's error.
“It's part of baseball. In the Midwest sometimes you have to play in tough conditions and tonight was tough,” said Mariners catcher Dan Wilson, a native of the Chicago suburbs.
Notes: The announced crowd was 12,735, but by the end of the night there were only about a thousand fans, some chanting “Call the game.” ... Konerko extended his career-high hitting streak to 18 games. ... Franklin allowed three runs and five hits. ... Seattle manager Lou Piniella said DH Edgar Martinez is ahead of schedule in his recovery from surgery for a ruptured tendon behind his left knee and could rejoin the team June 1. ... The Mariners, who started the season 10-0 on the road, lost the first two games at Comiskey Park, meaning they will drop a road series for the first time this year. When they won 116 games a year ago, they lost just one road series all season. That came when they were swept at Oakland in three games Sept. 21-23.
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White Sox 9, Mariners 2
