White Sox poised for another shot at getting above .500
The White Sox are back to being officially mediocre.
Sunday’s 6-2 victory over the Royals at U.S. Cellular Field improved the Sox’ record to 60-60, and they also picked up some ground in the AL Central and now trail the first-place Detroit Tigers by 4 games.
So why was the postgame mood so somber?
Maybe the White Sox were gassed from playing 17 straight games. Maybe they were irritated for having to head right back to the field after beating Kansas City for a mandatory autograph session and picnic.
Or maybe they just don’t believe they can get over the hump. If they can beat the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday following a needed day off, the White Sox will have a winning record for the first time since April 15, when they were 7-6.
After winning for the eighth time in 10 games, manager Ozzie Guillen was asked if he expects the Sox to keep climbing.
“Nope. Not at all,” Guillen said. “I’ve been sitting here for like three times in a row saying, ‘Yes, we’re on a roll,’ all the sudden we go backwards three steps. We’ve got to continue to play the way we did.”
The White Sox swept a three-game series at Minnesota to begin their latest run, and they followed with 3 wins in four games at Baltimore and 2 wins in three games with the Royals.
Sweeps always are welcome, but the Sox are being more realistic with 42 games to play.
“I mean, it would be nice,” Paul Konerko said of going on an extended winning streak. “You can’t force something like that. You just try to come out and take it an inning at a time, a game at a time, and put together a win.
“Then, do the same thing the next day. If you try to get greedy and do it all in one day and it doesn’t work, you can set yourself back.
“There are enough games left. Play good baseball and we’ll have our crack at the teams in front of us.”
The White Sox get three cracks at the second-place Indians beginning Tuesday. They also play three more at Cleveland in September and have six games left against Detroit.
They scored 11 runs in the 2 wins over Kansas City, and maybe they will get over the .500 mark if the bats keep producing.
Konerko was 3-for-3 Sunday, and Brent Lillibridge came through with a 3-run homer in the first inning off Jeff Francis to get the Sox off to a good start.
“I think we talked about it, just win series,” Lillibridge said. “Kansas City always gives us a hard time. They play hard and they’re a good team. They’re always going to grind, they have a lot of talent out there, and their pitching’s getting a lot better.
“We were able to win the series. Two out of three, that’s what we have to do. Today we scored early and then we got those 2 extra runs in the middle on sac flies, which is the baseball that we’ve been kind of missing.
“We were able to get those runs in and that was enough for us.”
It was more than enough for starter John Danks, who allowed 2 runs in 6 innings.
“I think .500 is a little overblown,” Danks said. “Obviously, we didn’t expect to be .500 at this point coming into the year. We’re looking more at Cleveland and Detroit than being .500. That’s just a reality. We have to win ballgames.
“We have to finish ahead of Cleveland and Detroit. If that puts us above .500, so be it. Our focus is more on being ahead of them and being in first than being above .500.”
sgregor@dailyherald.com