CHICAGO -- Ozzie's All-Stars proved no match last night for Big Papi and the Kid.
The Chicago White Sox, a team stocked with seven All-Stars, including last night's starter, Mark Buehrle, manager Ozzie Guillen's hometown choice over Curt Schilling, were taken down a notch by David Ortiz, who hit his major league-leading 30th home run, and rookie lefty Jon Lester, who has shown a knack for living dangerously and emerging without a scratch, in a 7-2 victory here last night.
Ortiz's home run, a two-run shot, came on his first trip to the plate after a ninth-inning grand slam Thursday night in Tropicana Field, and was his seventh home run in a span of just 23 at-bats. No. 30 put him one ahead of Chicago strongman Jim Thome and signaled another tough night for Buehrle (9-6), who gave up five runs in 6 1/3 innings and has allowed 15 earned runs in two starts since Guillen gave him the All-Star nod over Schilling, who pitches here tomorrow, and Twins rookie Francisco Liriano, the league's ERA leader.
``I've made Ozzie look like a jackass picking me over [other] guys," Buehrle said. ``Frustrating. I'll enjoy it as much as I can but it won't be as much fun going on this note, and having to hear people say, `Other guys deserve it more.' "
Ortiz, who also singled and scored in the third and walked twice, even set off for second on an attempted steal after his walk in the eighth, but the pitch was fouled back. Evidence that he was feeling good, or that the manager had lost his mind?
``I don't know that the manager lost his mind, maybe David lost his -- but I think that's a good sign, he feels good enough to run," Terry Francona said. ``They weren't holding him, and it was a breaking ball. I'm not worried about him running, I'm worried about the sliding in. It's like a car accident [when he slides], like a big SUV hitting a curb."
Lester, meanwhile, looked out of sorts early, in part because of what he called a ``lopsided" mound. He walked two and threw a wild pitch in the first, then loaded the bases with no outs in the third. But in both innings, he escaped with a yield of just a run, Jermaine Dye delivering a sacrifice fly on each occasion, then allowed just one more hit in his last three innings to become the first Red Sox rookie starter to win his first four decisions since Aaron Sele opened 6-0 in 1993.
Lester's best work came in the fifth, after he gave up a leadoff single to Alex Cintron. He threw a 3-and-2 cutter down and away to Thome to strike him out, then induced cleanup man Paul Konerko to hit into a double play smartly started by third baseman Mike Lowell.
