Sox, Ozzie enjoy talking 'Crash': White Sox 3, Mariners 1; CF Rowand receives well-deserved praise for game-saving play

His teammates stopped calling him "Crash" a few years ago, afteran offseason dirt-bike accident cost him during the baseball season.

On Sunday, the White Sox and manager Ozzie Guillen were callingcenter fielder Aaron Rowand something else.

"Gold Glover," Guillen said, acknowledging the game-saving catchRowand made on Richie Sexson's drive to the wall to end the eighthinning and the only threat the Seattle Mariners mounted against JonGarland. "That was the play of the game."

Rowand, whose 2-for-4 day also boosted the offensive side of the 3-1 victory, thought differently.

"Garland threw a heck of a game," he said. "Jon shut them down andthrew the way he has all season."

In improving to 16-5, Garland held the Mariners to one run andthree hits through seven innings before pinch hitter Dave Hansen andIchiro Suzuki led off the eighth with back-to-back singles. WillieBloomquist lined a bullet that first baseman Paul Konerko stabbed forthe first out, but with left-handed-hitting Raul Ibanez coming up,Guillen summoned Damaso Marte, and Garland walked off to a standingovation from 35,706 at U.S. Cellular Field.

Ibanez flied out, but with long-ball threat Sexson (27 home runs)coming up, Guillen switched to right-hander Cliff Politte.

"You can't make a better catch than that," Politte said ofRowand's sprint to and collision with the center-field wall. "Ithought at first it was gone, but then I saw Rowand going back. Itwas huge."

Rowand collided as the ball fell into his glove, then tumbled fromthe force of the impact.

"I was actually getting ready to jump, but I hit the wall firstand then the ball hit my glove," Rowand said. "I just had the windknocked out of me."

The wind, meanwhile, is back in the Sox' sails, they believe,after taking their first home series since sweeping Tampa Bay a monthago.

"We've gotten some energy back on the bench, and we'll need itgoing to New York," said Konerko, whose 27th homer -- his second two-run shot in as many days -- provided the margin of victory. The otherSox run came on third baseman Joe Crede's 16th homer. All three runscame against Jeff Harris (0-1), who was making his first major-league start.

"It feels like we're back to ourselves," said Konerko, whononetheless was mindful of another game in which the long ball, notsmall ball, led to victory.

"But I don't think we won because of the home run," he said. "Wewon today because of pitching. When you hold a team to one run,you'll usually win."

The Mariners, now 16 games below .500, scored in the third whenGarland walked Chris Snelling and gave up singles to catcher WikiGonzalez and Suzuki. But Marte, Politte and Dustin Hermanson (28thsave) shut down the Mariners in the final 1* innings.

"I'm going to give my starters the best chance to win, but I haveconfidence in my bullpen," Guillen said of his eighth-inningmaneuvers.

Garland picked up his American League-best 16th victory in histhird try, after a no-decision in Kansas City and a poor outing in aloss to Toronto.

"We don't have to worry about too many [long] losing streaks withthose two guys," Guillen said of Garland and Mark Buehrle (13-4)."Regardless of his last outing, I knew he'd be good. That's how youlearn. He turned the page. He's ready to be one of the best pitchersin the American League."

Garland again credited his teammates as much as his performancefor the outcome.

"We've played solid baseball all year long," he said. "We measureourselves by the guys in here, not other teams. It's fun to be aroundthese guys. We started on a roll, and it's taken off from there."

Rowand was happy to assist.

"It's nice to help out the pitching staff," said Rowand, whoappreciated his manager touting him for a Gold Glove. "That'sprobably the ultimate compliment for me. I enjoy playing defense, andany time you can help the pitching staff and get that kind ofcompliment from your manager, who was a pretty good player himself,it's a good feeling."

The victory was the 72nd of the season for the Sox, equalingCarlton Fisk's number on the day the Hall of Fame catcher had astatue of himself unveiled at the park.

"That number has been pretty lucky in Chicago," Guillen said.

WHITE SOX RECAP:

Seattle AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

ISuzuki dh 4 0 2 1 0 0 .304

Bloomquist 2b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .273

Ibanez lf 4 0 0 0 0 0 .293

Sexson 1b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .266

Beltre 3b 3 0 0 0 1 0 .255

Reed cf 4 0 1 0 0 1 .255

YBetancourt ss 3 0 0 0 0 1 .226

b-Spiezio ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .057

Snelling rf 2 1 0 0 1 0 .211

Gonzalez c 2 0 1 0 0 0 .294

a-Hansen ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 .190

Torrealba c 0 0 0 0 0 0 .167

Totals 32 1 5 1 2 4

SOX AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

Podsednik lf 4 0 0 0 0 1 .281

Iguchi 2b 4 0 0 0 0 2 .287

Rowand cf 4 1 2 0 0 0 .289

Konerko 1b 4 1 1 2 0 2 .265

Pierzynski c 3 0 1 0 1 0 .274

Dye rf 4 0 0 0 0 0 .268

TPerez dh 3 0 0 0 1 1 .217

Crede 3b 2 1 1 1 1 0 .250

Uribe ss 2 0 0 0 0 0 .242

Totals 30 3 5 3 3 6

Seattle 001 000 000 -- 1 5 1

SOX 000 210 00x -- 3 5 0

a-singled for Gonzalez in the 8th. b-flied out for Betancourt inthe 9th.

E--Beltre (10). LOB--Seattle 6, SOX 7. HR--Crede (16), off Harris;Konerko (27), off Harris. RBI--ISuzuki (43), Konerko 2 (73), Crede(48).

Runners left in scoring position--Seattle 3 (Ibanez, Sexson,Snelling); SOX 4 (Podsednik 2, Konerko, Crede).

Runners moved up--TPerez.

Seattle IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA

Harris L, 0-1 5.2 5 3 3 3 3 96 2.53

JMateo 1.1 0 0 0 0 2 15 3.00

Sherrill 1 0 0 0 0 1 8 0.00

SOX IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA

Garland W, 16-5 7.1 5 1 1 2 3 89 3.29

Marte H, 14 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 3 3.12

Politte H, 15 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1.88

Hermansn S, 28 1 0 0 0 0 1 15 1.64

Inherited runners-scored--JMateo 3-0, Marte 2-0, Politte 2-0.

HBP--by Harris (Uribe).

Umpires--Home, C.B. Bucknor; First, Phil Cuzzi; Second, Ed Hickox;Third, Jerry Crawford.

T--2:29. A--35,706 (40,615).

How they scored

MARINERS THIRD Betancourt flied out. Snelling walked on fourpitches. Gonzalez infield single to short, Snelling to third. Suzukisingled to center, Snelling scored. One run. Mariners 1, White Sox 0.

White Sox fourth Rowand singled to left. Konerko homered to lefton the first pitch, Rowand scored. Two runs. White Sox 2, Mariners 1.

White Sox fifth. Crede homered to left on a 1-2 count. One run.White Sox 3, Mariners 1.

PENNANT FEVER:

39 MAGIC NUMBER: Combination of Sox victories and Indians lossesneeded to clinch the AL Central.

39 KEY STAT: The Sox' major-league-leading victory total as ofSunday, the day Carlton Fisk -- who wore No. 72 -- was honored with alife-size statue at U.S. Cellular Field.