Jamey Wright allowed a grand total of four runs in both April and May combined. He’s now started off June with five runs his last two outings and six in the last three.

Wright came in with one on and one out in the seventh and fell behind 3-1 in the count to Carlos Quentin. On the next pitch, Quentin hit his second homer of the game and tied it up 4-4. Ouch!

7:19 p.m.: The White Sox got a run back in the bottom of the seventh but Miguel Olivo took newly-installed reliever Jesse Crain deep with two out in the eighth to give Seattle a 4-2 lead. Crain had just come on to pitch when Olivo greeted him with a blast to left center that got out in a real hurry.

Chicago scored it run on three consecutive two-out singles off Jason Vargas by Brent Lillibridge, Ramon Castro and Gordon Beckham. Vargas comes back out to pitch the eighth.

6:44 p.m.: Seattle finally scored! Three times! Mariners now lead 3-1 in the sixth. Brendan Ryan — who else? — reached on a single, went to third on a single to right by Justin Smoak, then scored on a fielder’s choice grounder by Adam Kennedy. Third baseman Brent Morel had a shot at Ryan going home, but elected to go for the 5-4-3 double play.

They got the out at second, but second baseman Gordon Beckham made a throw to first that Kareem wouldn’t have gotten to.

The run scored. Kennedy stole second, but Miguel Olivo struck out and then Carlos Peguero — after just missing a homer to right that went foul — drew a walk to put two on for the slumping Franklin Gutierrez, down to .194 when he stepped to the plate. Gutierrez fell behind 1-2, but then laced a ball to the left field corner for what became a two-run double that puts Seattle ahead for the first time all series.

The runs ended a streak of 27 straight scoreless innings thrown against Seattle by White Sox starter Gavin Floyd.

6:16 p.m.: Mike Carp doubled in the fifth inning and Chone Figgins followed with a two-out walk. Ichiro came up next, worked the count full and…grounded out to second base.

Still 1-0 for the White Sox.

Carp has reached base twice in two plate appearances.

5:44 p.m.: The Mariners put two on with one out in the third inning after Mike Carp was hit by a pitch and Chone Figgins battled back from 0-2 down to line a 1-2 offering into left field for a single. But the rally stalled from there as Ichiro lined out to left on a pretty well-hit ball. Brendan Ryan then grounded out to second. I thought he beat the throw and have yet to see a replay, but none of the M’s argued.

Still 1-0 for the home side.

5:22 p.m.: Jason Vargas takes the mound as the Mariners hope to salvage at least one game of three on the South Side. Mariners manager Eric Wedge said he expects his team to show a little more “edge” tonight.

Seattle hasn’t shown any edge yet, trailing 1-0 after the first inning. Carlos Quentin went deep to left off Jason Vargas with two out. Not exactly a rocket. The White Sox seem to be getting a whole lot of deep pop-ups to make it over the fence in the hot air.

Would be nice if the M’s could elevate some stuff.

Ichiro lined out to second on the game’s first pitch. Hardest ball I’ve seen him hit all series. Brendan Ryan walked, but Justin Smoak grounded into a 4-6-3 double-play. Smoak really needs to pick it up. As bad as some other guys have looked in front of them, he’s been a liability in the No. 3 spot more often than not of late.

The lineups:

MARINERS

RF Ichiro
SS Brendan Ryan
1B Justin Smoak
2B Adam Kennedy
C Miguel Olivo
LF Carlos Peguero
CF Franklin Gutierrez
DH Mike Carp
3B Chone Figgins

LHP Jason Vargas

WHITE SOX

LF Juan Pierre
SS Alexei Ramirez
DH Carlos Quentin
1B Paul Konerko
CF Alex Rios
RF Brent Lillibridge
C Ramon Castro
2B Gordon Beckham
3B Brent Morel

RHP Gavin Floyd

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Welcome to today’s edition of Starting Blocks TV, hosted by Bill Lubinger.

Well, we are over 20 games into the baseball season and there’s a logjam at the top of the AL Central standings. After having seen the Indians get off to a solid start and the Twins falter a bit early, which team is your pick to win the division? Vote in today’s Starting Blocks poll.

Today’s guest is Plain Dealer reporter Dennis Manoloff, who is sticking with his preseason pick that had the White Sox (8-14) winning the division. Manoloff believes the Tribe will stay in contention throughout the summer.

Manoloff also talks about the impact of starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco’s elbow injury; who the Browns should select — and who they will end up taking — with the sixth pick Thursday night in the NFL draft; and Game 7 Tuesday night in Cleveland between the Lake Erie Monsters and Manitoba Moose.

CLEVELAND, April 3 (UPI) — Orlando Cabrera homered and Carlos Santana started a triple play Sunday in the Cleveland Indians’ 7-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

Cabrera unleashed a two-run blast in the sixth inning to put the Indians ahead for good and finished 3-for-4.

On the triple play, Santana made a diving catch of a sacrifice bunt attempt by Alexi Ramirez down the first base line in the fourth inning. He got up and threw to first base to Orlando Cabrera, who tagged out Carlos Quentin, and then threw to second to pick off A.J. Pierzynski.

It was Cleveland’s first triple play since May 12, 2008.

Santana and Lou Marson each added a pair of hits and Justin Masterson (1-0) scattered seven hits while giving up one run over seven innings to record the Indians’ first win of the year.

Chicago’s John Danks (0-1) was tagged with the loss despite allowing only six hits and two runs over six innings, fanning eight and walking only one.

By Bob Finnan
RFinnan@News-Herald.com

If the Chicago White Sox rock the Indians’ ace for 10 earned runs, what’s going to happen to their No. 2?

Right-handed Fausto Carmona, the Tribe’s No. 1 pitcher, couldn’t keep his sinkerball down in the strike zone. That led to a terrible outing for Carmona in the Indians’ 15-10 loss to the White Sox before a sold-out opening-day crowd of 41,721 at Progressive Field.

Indians fans hope this isn’t a sign of things to come.

Carmona is going to be counted on heavily this season. He couldn’t have been any worse in his first start. When your best pitcher has a 30.00 ERA, it might be time to reassess.

“This is my No. 1 guy,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “He pitched 210 quality innings last year. He’s not a weak link.

“That was our only fault. Our No. 1 guy didn’t have it today. You can’t fault us for scoring 10 runs and having 17 hits.”

No. 2 starter Carlos Carrasco will pitch against the White Sox at 1:05 today.

The White Sox wasted little time getting to Carmona (0-1). They pushed across two runs on four hits in the first inning. Paul Konerko and Carlos Quentin had key RBI hits for a 2-0 lead.

Adam Dunn and Quentin clobbered two-run homers in the third to seemingly break the game open. Suddenly, it was 6-0. Quentin was 3-for-4 with five RBI on the afternoon. Continued…

Carmona didn’t make it out of the fourth inning. He was given the hook after Dunn’s two-run double with the bases loaded, which made the score 8-0.

Reliever Justin Germano didn’t exactly extinguish the uprising. By the time he got the last out of the fourth, the White Sox had a two-touchdown lead, 14-0.

“(Carmona) was attacking hitters,” Acta said. “He had some strikeouts, but he had to work hard for them.”

Carmona could have had some emotions stemming from his first opening-day start.

“I was excited,” he said.

The Indians, though, refused to roll over. They scored four runs in the sixth. Newly acquired second baseman Orlando Cabrera’s two-run single was the big blow for the Tribe. Travis Hafner lined a shot off the center-field wall, but couldn’t advance because Shin-Soo Choo was standing on second.

They came back with two home runs in the seventh to cut their deficit in half, 14-7.

Third baseman Jack Hannahan led off the inning with a 401-foot solo shot, his first homer since Aug. 26, 2009, vs. Kansas City. He played for Seattle at the time.

Catcher Carlos Santana followed with a two-run homer to left center with Asdrubal Cabrera on board. Santana was 3-for-5 with three RBI in his first game since his serious knee injury last August.

“He’s a young kid who can hit,” Acta said. “He knows the strike zone. He had some quality at-bats. He’s going to be a very good player for a long time.” Continued…

By Bob Finnan
RFinnan@News-Herald.com

If the Chicago White Sox rock the Indians’ ace for 10 earned runs, what’s going to happen to their No. 2?

Right-handed Fausto Carmona, the Tribe’s No. 1 pitcher, couldn’t keep his sinkerball down in the strike zone. That led to a terrible outing for Carmona in the Indians’ 15-10 loss to the White Sox before a sold-out opening-day crowd of 41,721 at Progressive Field.

Indians fans hope this isn’t a sign of things to come.

Carmona is going to be counted on heavily this season. He couldn’t have been any worse in his first start. When your best pitcher has a 30.00 ERA, it might be time to reassess.

“This is my No. 1 guy,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “He pitched 210 quality innings last year. He’s not a weak link.

“That was our only fault. Our No. 1 guy didn’t have it today. You can’t fault us for scoring 10 runs and having 17 hits.”

No. 2 starter Carlos Carrasco will pitch against the White Sox at 1:05 today.

The White Sox wasted little time getting to Carmona (0-1). They pushed across two runs on four hits in the first inning. Paul Konerko and Carlos Quentin had key RBI hits for a 2-0 lead.

Adam Dunn and Quentin clobbered two-run homers in the third to seemingly break the game open. Suddenly, it was 6-0. Quentin was 3-for-4 with five RBI on the afternoon.

Carmona didn’t make it out of the fourth inning. He was given the hook after Dunn’s two-run double with the bases loaded, which made the score 8-0.

Reliever Justin Germano didn’t exactly extinguish the uprising. By the time he got the last out of the fourth, the White Sox had a two-touchdown lead, 14-0.

“(Carmona) was attacking hitters,” Acta said. “He had some strikeouts, but he had to work hard for them.”

Carmona could have had some emotions stemming from his first opening-day start.

“I was excited,” he said.

The Indians, though, refused to roll over. They scored four runs in the sixth. Newly acquired second baseman Orlando Cabrera’s two-run single was the big blow for the Tribe. Travis Hafner lined a shot off the center-field wall, but couldn’t advance because Shin-Soo Choo was standing on second.

They came back with two home runs in the seventh to cut their deficit in half, 14-7.

Third baseman Jack Hannahan led off the inning with a 401-foot solo shot, his first homer since Aug. 26, 2009, vs. Kansas City. He played for Seattle at the time.

Catcher Carlos Santana followed with a two-run homer to left center with Asdrubal Cabrera on board. Santana was 3-for-5 with three RBI in his first game since his serious knee injury last August.

“He’s a young kid who can hit,” Acta said. “He knows the strike zone. He had some quality at-bats. He’s going to be a very good player for a long time.”

He wasn’t sure it was a home run until he watched it on replay.

Tribe DH Travis Hafner kept a positive outlook.

“Opening day is a special day,” Hafner said. “We were able to put up some runs and make it interesting at the end. That’s the mentality of the team.”

White Sox left-hander Mark Buehrle (1-0, 6.00) threw six innings and allowed four runs and eight hits.

In all, the teams combined for 25 runs and 35 hits.

“We showed a lot of heart,” Tribe reliever Frank Herrmann said. “We came out swinging. We gave them a good show.

“The crowd stayed around, which was cool. You never know. It’s a crazy game.”

BOX SCORE

(Sports Network) – The Chicago White Sox open the 2011 campaign with high expectations and will lift the lid on their season this afternoon against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field.

The White Sox haven’t been to the postseason since 2008, and although last year’s 88-74 record marked a nine-game improvement from the team’s 2009 win total, there is still more work to be done.

The first order of business for general manager Kenny Williams this past offseason was to add another run producer for the middle of the lineup. Enter Adam Dunn, one of baseball’s premier power hitters who had spent his entire 10-year career in the National League.

Williams had tried hard to get Dunn at last year’s trade deadline, but could not meet the Washington Nationals’ exorbitant asking price and eventually acquired Manny Ramirez, who proved to be a major disappointment.

While expectations have been raised, Chicago’s feel-good vibes took a bit of a hit when former Cy Young winner Jake Peavy had to be shut down with rotator cuff tendinitis and will start the year on the disabled list.

There are no concerns when it comes to Mark Buehrle, who will take the hill on Opening Day for a franchise-record ninth time this afternoon. Buehrle, the only pitcher to record at least 10 wins, 30 starts and 200 innings pitched in each of his last 10 seasons, is coming off a subpar 2010, as he went 13-13 with a 4.28 ERA.

“It’s like an All-Star appearance,” Buehrle said of pitching on Opening Day. “A lot of people say it gets old, but I don’t know how it can get old. It’s a build-up from the offseason with all the offseason moves you make.”

Buehrle was 2-1 against the Tribe a year ago, but is just 13-15 lifetime against them. Cleveland is actually the only AL Central team that owns a winning record against the left-hander.

Cleveland, meanwhile, enters the season with a payroll half of that of two seasons ago and a rotation full of unknowns. It’s hard to believe that a franchise that was one game away from the 2007 World Series could be in such dire straits, but here they are on the heels of a 93-loss season.

While expectations are severely low, there are several offensive pieces in place that put together a rather fearsome middle of the lineup, including outfielder Shin-Soo Choo and catcher Carlos Santana. Choo was one of the top players in the majors in terms of wins above replacement and is one of the most underrated players in the game, while Santana, a rookie in 2010, looks to be fully recovered from a gruesome knee injury suffered last August and seems primed to make Indians’ fans think they’re seeing a Victor Martinez clone.

The pitching staff figures to be a trouble spot, but the Indians could have a formidable top of the rotation if Fausto Carmona and highly-regarded Carlos Carrasco pan out.

Carmona will take the hill this afternoon, hoping to regain the form which made him a 19-game winner and an AL Cy Young Award candidate in 2007. After winning just 13 games combined in the two seasons following his breakout campaign, Carmona went 13-14 a year ago for the Indians, while pitching to a 3.77 ERA.

Cleveland split its 18 meetings with the White Sox in 2010.

These clubs staged one of the most memorable Opening Day contests in baseball history back in 1940, when Indians legend Bob Feller tossed the game’s only Opening Day no-hitter. Feller passed away this offseason and will be honored with a video tribute prior to the game.

The Sports Network

By Scott Merkin / MLB.com | 12/11/10 5:20 PM EST

CHICAGO — It was about three years ago when Ken Williams uttered the famous words to MLB.com about how he didn’t want to acquire a player like Carlos Quentin during that 2007 offseason, but instead wanted “the Carlos Quentin.”

That’s right, Williams was staking his claim behind a young outfielder with a .230 average, 14 home runs and 63 RBIs in 395 career at-bats for Arizona who was picked up in exchange for Chris Carter at the previous Winter Meetings. White Sox fans snickered and made this comment the target of message-board derision. By the time the 2008 All-Star break rolled around, Quentin stood as a prime American League Most Valuable Player candidate and fans were buying up T-shirts featuring that “The Carlos Quentin” slogan. Williams’ faith hasn’t lessened in his intense right fielder, even with Quentin’s last two years dotted by injuries and a lower level of production compared to his 2008 revelation. So, when the Sun-Times reported via Twitter Friday how the White Sox were “actively looking to trade Quentin” for a package including bullpen help, the White Sox general manager showed that confidence by stating how Quentin was not on the block and remained an important part of the franchise’s future. “I did not have one single conversation about Quentin at the Winter Meetings,” Williams told MLB.com on Saturday afternoon. “I have not had any discussions with anyone about Carlos since the General Managers Meetings, and it could never have been described as we were shopping him. “That’s incorrect. I fielded some phone calls, but that was it. I’ve not had a single conversation about Carlos, and I don’t plan to. I’ll listen, but I’m not terribly interested.” Quentin’s name has almost naturally come up in trade talks because of the White Sox recent spending splurge. Adding Adam Dunn and bringing back Paul Konerko and A.J. Pierzynski raised the White Sox 2011 payroll to $105 million, and with John Danks, Tony Pena and Carlos Quentin set for raises as arbitration-eligible players, that total could reach near a White Sox-high $120 million. But here’s the major problem. The White Sox still are lacking in proven bullpen arms behind Matt Thornton, Chris Sale, Pena and Sergio Santos, and if 2007′s relief debacle proved anything, it would be how they need another two reliable relievers to help make ’11 an elite campaign. With Williams having stated how the payroll is tapped out as of the end of the Winter Meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., a trade becomes the only option available. On Saturday, though, Williams presented a small hint how that spending increase might possibly extend into the free agent bullpen pool including plus-arms such as Kerry Wood, Jesse Crain and Matt Guerrier, to name a few examples. “I’m encouraged by the excitement from our fans,” said Williams, who reiterated how he is not looking for a pure closer as much as a versatile late-inning type like the role J.J. Putz held in 2010. “Perhaps if that excitement manifests itself into turning out to more ticket sales, perhaps that might free up some more cash to do something. “I’ll listen to anyone,” added Williams of trade possibilities. “But I said it right there up on the podium [for the Konerko signing], how I’m not really motivated to take anything away from what the Major League roster looks like, from what the everyday roster looks like.” Everyday would be the key word in Williams’ above analysis. Quentin and even starting-rotation staple Gavin Floyd would qualify in the everyday category. Dayan Viciedo and Mark Teahen would not, at least at this point. Teahen, who is owed $10.25 million over the next two years, would be infinitely valuable to the White Sox as a super utility player. He could also free up the money needed to bring back a quality reliever, subtracting $4.75 million in 2011. Viciedo, who will earn $1.25 million in 2011, is blocked by Konerko and Dunn at first and designated hitter, respectively, for the next three years. Brent Morel also has moved past him at third base, but Williams doesn’t seem inclined to move the 21-year-old with the powerful presence at the plate. “Again, I don’t really like to talk about these types of things because it can change in the matter of a phone call,” Williams said. “I’m not really interested in moving Viciedo either for a reliever. It doesn’t work for me.” One other problem in exploring a trade for Quentin is finding a natural right-field replacement. Jordan Danks seems to be the next internal option, with his defense more than Major League-ready but his offense not quite there. When asked if there was anyone in the organization who could take over for Quentin if he was hypothetically traded, Williams simply responded, “No.” Despite finishing with 110 hits and a .243 average in 2010, Quentin produced 87 RBIs and scored 73 runs. He also featured a .342 on-base percentage, down from his .394 finish in 2008, but up from .323 in an injury-plagued 2009. “Carlos Quentin is going to have a big year,” Williams said. “He has big talent, and even in a down year average-wise, he is very valuable. “No matter what his average is, he picks it up with on-base percentage. Then, if he has a good year, it becomes a great year. “He plays hard and has the ability to set the tone for a game with a hard slide into second base or taking first to third aggressively. There’s much more to Carlos’ overall game than just hitting for average.”