Garcia, White Sox win pitchers' duel

[Migraine1]

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASA...=.jsp&c_id=cws

Everett, Podsednik manage RBI singles
By Scott Merkin / MLB.com


Scott Podsednik had a hand in both runs Monday, scoring one and driving in one. (Mark Duncan/AP)
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CLEVELAND -- The thin margin of error that the White Sox have worked with during the first week of the 2005 season might make manager Ozzie Guillen feel more like he's 61 or 71, instead of 41, by the time everything comes to a close in October.
But if Freddy Garcia's first two starts against Cleveland are any indication as to his future performances under pressure, then holding the opposition close in tight games appears to be his bailiwick. It's especially true when those particular games take place during the day.

Garcia simply dominated the Indians on Monday during the White Sox's 2-1 victory before a sellout crowd of 42,461 for the Jacobs Field home opener. The right-hander had pinpoint location and took advantage of a strong wind blowing in to hold the potent Cleveland lineup to four hits over eight innings.

The victory for Garcia was not without a few brushes with defeat. Travis Hafner, the Indians' powerful designated hitter, flew deep to Scott Podsednik in the first inning on a drive that appeared destined for at least the high wall in left. But his blast off a Garcia curve with one out and the game tied at 1 in the sixth had more of the winning home run sound when it left the bat.

Hafner's shot was knocked down by the wind and caught by Aaron Rowand, well short of the warning track. The ball appeared headed for Jermaine Dye in right when it originally was hit.

"I threw a breaking ball to Hafner ...," said Garcia, shaking his head and laughing over the near miss in the sixth. "You have to battle so they can't score. I think for me, I get more concentration, more focus, when I pitch in tight games.

"When we score a lot of runs, you really don't pitch with a lot of focus. When you have tight games, you have to make the pitch. You have to get through the innings 1-2-3."

The Indians actually grabbed a 1-0 lead in the third on Hafner's two-out, run-scoring single up the middle. But the inning could have been much worse. Ron Belliard led off with a walk, and Coco Crisp followed with a hit-and-run single to left.

Belliard had the play in front of him and challenged Podsednik's arm as he sprinted for third. Podsednik came up the winner, firing a strike to Joe Crede for the inning's first out.

"Maybe if he stays on second, maybe they score more than one," Garcia said of Podsednik's throw. "Who knows? They made a mistake and we took advantage. They scored one, we scored two and that's the game."

"After I saw him break, I figured he might try to advance since he was running on the pitch," Podsednik added. "I came up expecting him to run and luckily I got the throw to where Crede could handle it."

While Podsednik took from the Indians (3-4), he gave to the White Sox (5-2). He led off the sixth against Kevin Millwood (0-1) with a bunt single, stole second base and scored the tying run on Carl Everett's single. The White Sox started a two-out rally in the seventh, when Chris Widger, making his first appearance of 2005, singled after Millwood retired the first two batters on two pitches.

Crede worked the ensuing count full, before singling to center, and Podsednik ripped the next pitch for a single to center to score the game-winner. While Podsednik doesn't have much to do with the superior White Sox pitching during the first seven games, his speed and on-base capabilities are essential to the White Sox's new offensive plan of attack.

So, when Podsednik strained his right groin stealing second in the sixth, Guillen didn't take any chances. Timo Perez came into the game in the bottom of the seventh, replacing Podsednik, who didn't seem overly worried in regards to the injury after the game.

"I just strained it a little bit," Podsednik said. "There's no need to go on pushing it and doing further damage to it. We will give it a day or two and then re-evaluate."

Damaso Marte and Shingo Takatsu (third save) closed out the victory, with Marte facing Jose Hernandez, Hafner and Victor Martinez, and Takatsu coming in to fan Aaron Boone with his super-slow changeup. Even a relatively uneventful ninth inning wasn't without issue, as Martinez' hard-hit ball to right was knocked down by the wind before it could do any damage.

Garcia improved to 10-0 with a 2.29 ERA in starts during the day since the beginning of last season. He has not lost during the day since Sept. 3, 2003, at Baltimore. He has grown accustomed to pitching with a lack of run support, after Seattle scored two or fewer runs during 11 of his 15 starts before being traded to the White Sox in 2004.

The big right-hander doesn't seem to mind. As long as the team wins, he's not concerned about the process to get there. Guillen, on the other hand, could be a different story.

"I don't know if I can take this all the way through September, playing the game like this," said Guillen with a laugh. "The batting has not been there, but we had a couple of good swings and some big hits and that's important. Get the hits in the right time."

"You saw two or three balls, hit really good, that the wind really knocked down," Widger added. "But that's part of baseball."

[Migraine1]

Another good but close when by the White Sox. Our offense isnt scoring enough runs for us. But our pitching UNBELIEVABLE so far this year. Great pitched game by Garcia, and Millwood for the indians.