Guillen has found his lineup vs. lefties
Jones likely to get more at-bats while Kotsay sits out
- Perfecto lives on in Buehrle's memory
- Williams won't talk trades this early in season
- Floyd sees need for more aggression
- Third to first
CHICAGO -- The starting nine sent to the plate by manager Ozzie Guillen for Tuesday's 4-1 win against the Rays looks as if it will be the White Sox lineup against left-handed pitchers for the foreseeable future. Guillen explained before Tuesday's first pitch how he plans to go with a set lineup against right-handed hurlers and southpaws.
"Maybe one change, if [Omar] Vizquel is playing or someone like that," Guillen said. "Besides that, I'm going to stick with the same lineup so that I can sleep better.
"When I tried making the lineup last week, I ripped up like 30 pages and got the same result. Why worry about wasting my time moving guys up and down when I got the same results? Hopefully this will work. I believe the guys out there have the credentials to play good. That's why I'm going to stick with one."
Andruw Jones figures to start either at designated hitter or in the outfield against left-handers like Tampa Bay's David Price, while Mark Kotsay probably will get the at-bats against right-handers. Of course, Guillen reserves the right to change his mind as needed or if a player or two goes on a much-needed offensive hot streak.
"Last year, I had like 165 different lineups. I didn't have 165 lineups, I had like 300 and I just ripped them up before I printed it," Guillen said. "When they don't produce, when the offense doesn't work the way you want, you have to make a different lineup.
"One day I remember saying, 'I'm not going to make myself anymore headaches. Josh Fields is playing third base, and Brian Anderson is playing center field until they say, "I'm done."' I did. That's what I'm going to do now. That's going to be my lineup and hopefully I pray those guys get hot. Then we have a good season."
Perfecto lives on in Buehrle's memory
CHICAGO -- Mark Buehrle has pulled off some amazing individual accomplishments over the course of his stellar decade-long Major League career.
He no-hit the Rangers in 2007. He hit a home run against the Brewers last season, which might be the most stunning achievement considering his swing. And in his last start against the Rays, before Wednesday's trip to the mound, Buehrle threw the 18th perfect game in baseball history on July 23, 2009.
So, of the three highlights mentioned above, which one does Buehrle think is the most likely to happen again?
"'D,'" said Buehrle with a laugh, meaning none of the above. "What's next? Hopefully a win. I'm going to say none of those will happen again, but we'll see."
Of course, Buehrle predicted there would not be another no-hitter on his resume, let alone a perfect game, after he made history against the Rangers. But there was Buehrle, facing 27 Rays and setting down 27 Rays, on a warm Thursday afternoon at U.S. Cellular Field.
His perfect game was aided by Dewayne Wise's amazing leaping catch to take away a Gabe Kapler home run for the first out in the ninth inning. But, according to Buehrle, all of the little moments from that contest live on in his mind -- even though he has never watched this unbelievable effort from start to finish.
"I've seen replays of the 27 outs. I haven't seen much other than that," Buehrle said. "But I remember everything, the whole game, the way it happened. I saw someone say the other day about a ball landing just foul in the seventh or eighth inning, but I forgot about that. I haven't seen the whole replay to think about all of that.
"I expect to throw a perfect game every time I go out there. I know it's not going to happen. I'm not going to be thinking about the last time I faced them, what happened. It's a new year. They have a great team, and they are on a hot streak. I'm going to try to hold them down."
Williams won't talk trades this early in season
CHICAGO -- White Sox general manager Ken Williams is not one to wait for the July 31 non-waiver Trade Deadline to start making moves. It was late May last year, in fact, when Williams originally tried to pry loose Jake Peavy from San Diego.
But even with Williams' aggressive nature, he understands it's too soon to start contacting teams about possible roster maneuvers.
"Probably not. I haven't explored anything, simply because most clubs think I'm nuts when I start calling in May," Williams said. "If I start calling in April, it's 'Really? Seriously?'"
Floyd sees need for more aggression
CHICAGO -- It might be hard to stay positive after giving up seven runs on six hits over the course of just 13 batters, as Gavin Floyd did during Sunday's 7-4 loss in Cleveland. But the White Sox right-hander certainly didn't appear to be crushed on Tuesday because of this most recent debacle.
"Everything felt good," Floyd said. "I felt like I made good pitches, but maybe not always the right ones."
In looking at game film from the loss, Floyd felt as if he wasn't aggressive enough in putting away hitters after getting ahead in the count. He also wasn't sure what to make of a 6.57 ERA over 22 career April appearances, greatly elevating his 4.77 lifetime ERA.
"Honestly, I don't know," Floyd said. "I feel great in spring. I come into the season pretty sharp, you know. For whatever reason, the past few years have been like that.
"But I feel like I get better with every start. Actually, it can't be much worse than my last one. You just put it behind you, because I probably have 30 more starts the rest of the season."
Third to first
CHICAGO -- General manager Ken Williams expressed his condolences over Tuesday's passing of Rockies president Keli McGregor, the 48-year-old who was found dead in his Salt Lake City hotel room. "What a shame. My prayers are out to his family," Williams said. "It's another lesson for all of us. You got to value your time while you're here and your family." ... Ozzie Guillen went home on Monday's off-day to watch his youngest son, Ozney, play high school baseball in Florida. But the game was rained out. "I just wanted to spend every day off I can [with the family], get out of Chicago," Guillen said. "Especially the way we're playing now. I don't want people to see me in the streets. Over there [in Miami], not too many people know who I was."
Scott Merkin is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.



