Sox take two Ordonez hits three homers

Sox 10-9 Devil Rays 7-1

The White Sox can hold those thoughts about shuffling the lineupfor more runs.

They beat the Devil Rays 10-7 and 9-1 Wednesday night on the powerhitting of Magglio Ordonez, who drove in six runs with three homeruns, and the pitching in the second game of John Snyder, who hasallowed only two runs in his last 21 innings to drop his ERA to 1.88.A victory today to conclude an eight-game homestand would give theSox a 12-7 record, their fastest start since Jeff Torborg's team went94-68 in 1990 after going 69-92 the previous year."I've been saying all along that this team can hit," Frank Thomassaid. "It's been just a matter of time."Thomas, the only player remaining from the 1990 team, hit a two-run homer in the first game, along with homers by Ordonez and RayDurham, to help Jim Parque overcome wildness.The night, though, belonged to Ordonez, who was in a 2-for-17 skidbefore busting out with homers traveling 420, 411 and 370 feet."I'm seeing better pitches behind Frank," he said last week of anApril 15 move to cleanup. "They've been telling me to be morepatient, and I've made adjustments to put the ball in play."Putting the ball in play, manager Jerry Manuel said, is whatOrdonez does best. He shouldn't try to be the next Albert Belle."I wouldn't call him a home-run hitter, no," Manuel said. "It's alittle too early to start comparing him (to Belle). If I had to putnumbers on him, I'd say 20 homers a year and 100 runs batted in. I'dstill like to see him be more selective."Snyder (3-1) was the beneficiary of Ordonez's first grand slam inthe third inning and his fifth-inning solo shot before 10,300 fans.Both came off Tony Saunders (2-3), who gave up all nine runs in 4 1/3innings."John seems to get the whole team in a good mood when he pitches,"Manuel said. "Most young guys deliberate between pitches, but hegives us good rhythm. He really has evolved into one of the league'sbetter young pitchers."Parque knew warming up for Game 1 that he was in trouble. So didcatcher Mark Johnson."Poor Mark got the biggest workout of his life in the bullpen,trying to catch the stuff I was throwing out there," Parque said. "Iknew it was going to be a long day, but I couldn't say it or think itbecause then it really would have been a long day."His teammates helped by collecting 14 hits off Bryan Rekar (2-1)and three relievers while Parque was getting effective relief fromKeith Foulke, Bill Simas and Bob Howry.They helped Parque get over a poor performance of four walks andfive hits in five innings."I was terrible today, but fortunately everyone picked me up," hesaid. "I can't tell you how happy I am with that. I wish I couldtake everyone out to dinner." NOTEBOOK, PAGE 124