Guillen comes out swinging in support of Walker

All evidence to the contrary, Ozzie Guillen does not actually believe he knows everything.

But there is one thing of which the White Sox manager is absolutely certain.

"Greg Walker ain't going nowhere. I can promise you that," Guillen said of the team's embattled hitting coach. "I know every time something goes wrong, people want to see someone get fired, but Greg Walker isn't getting fired."

Prior to Thursday's 6-2 victory over Minnesota on the South Side, the White Sox had a league-leading 40 home runs through 33 games, but were only eighth in RBI and last in batting average (.233).

"It's not fair to blame Greg Walker," Guillen said. "Maybe some players need to look in the mirror and realize what they're doing, and how they're approaching their at-bats.''

Mired now in a little difficulty, Nick Swisher went 0-for-4 and saw his average fall to .200, but he took a big cut at the critics of his hitting coach, and his impassioned defense of Walker was impressive.

"What, is Walk supposed to come in the box and hit for me?" Swisher laughed. "I don't get that. It's ridiculous. The man is really good at what he does, but ultimately the responsibility's on us.

"Anyone wants to put this on him, have them come and talk to me."

Their approach was a hair better Thursday, as the Sox managed 8 hits and 5 walks off six Twins pitchers, but the first 3 runs again came off 2 home runs, and the first was a solo shot by Jermaine Dye, the last in a streak of 11 straight blasts with no one aboard.

"We don't have a bunch of kids here. These are guys who have a history of hitting, and they've got a job to do," Guillen said. "I don't worry about Greg Walker. He comes here and works hard. He cares and he worries about them. He tries to help them with the mental side and he's doing all he can do. It's up to those guys to do their job."

At least on Thursday there was a blatant attempt at putting the ball in play, as opposed to merely hoping to hit it over the Dan Ryan.

Maybe that's why Walker, for one, believes this lineup is going to hit, and that it's going to happen soon. That's not just whistling past the graveyard, which Walker admits to doing in 2007.

"Last year, I knew we were in trouble, but you can't say that out loud,'' Walker said. "We had some injuries and it wasn't a good team.

"That's not the case here. What people on the outside don't realize is how different this is. This is a good team and we're close to the division lead and no one's running away with it.

"We got some guys that are really close to busting out. But the important part is mentally they haven't quit and they're working.

"This is the strongest team I've ever been around mentally and from an accountability standpoint."

Walker went so far as to compare this team's make-up to the one that captured the flag in 2005.

"I'd be worried if I saw any give in this team but I don't. I see them every day and I see what's in their eyes," Walker insisted. "It reminds me of '05 in some ways. I'm not predicting a World Series in May, but I'm excited about how tough these guys are mentally. I know how much they care."

Mark Buehrle made that statement on behalf of his teammates Wednesday night when he clobbered a defenseless dugout heater with Juan Uribe's often-defenseless bat.

Buehrle unplugged the device when he saw it begin to smoke, and Thursday he autographed it.

"The guy who broke it has a lot of money. Maybe we'll get a better one,'' Guillen chuckled. "I'm glad he took it out on that and not one of his teammates, or a wall and break his hand.

"It's good for his teammates to see he cares.''

Despite Buehrle's troubles (1-4, 5.31 ERA), the Sox are third in the league in team ERA after finishing 12th last year, which leads Guillen to believe better days are ahead.

"I'm really optimistic, the way we're pitching," he said. "I know we're going to hit."

The best hit of the day wasn't Uribe's 2-run blast in the fifth that gave the Sox a 3-2 lead. It was Uribe's thunderous take-out of Twins second baseman Brendan Harris in the eighth on what should have been an inning-ending double-play. As a result, the Sox picked up a pair of big insurance runs.

The dugout exploded in delight, and Guillen was first out of his seat.

"That's the best thing that happened today. We've been missing that,'' Guillen said. "When we don't do the little things, our offense is just a bunch of home runs with nobody on base.

"But that play gets the whole team pumped up."

It helped the Sox leave for a 10-day West Coast trip in second place, only a game out, but with only a couple games separating the entire five-team division.

"It's way too early to get caught up in this slump or that slump, or this win or that loss," said Paul Konerko. "There's about 130 games left. That's a lot of time for us to hit, and we'll hit our share before it's over."

And it ain't over until the last dugout heater's been destroyed.

Or something like that.