These five Sox players can turn this season around

The general rule of thumb in major-league baseball is wait until mid-June before either renewing your season tickets or dumping them.

There is still a month to go under that formula, but most White Sox fans probably have at least one eye on the trash can.

As they take a break today and prepare for a challenging four-game series under the dome at Toronto, the Sox are sitting at 15-18.

Guess what? That's the same record the White Sox had through 33 games last season, but they recovered, went 74-56 the rest of the way and won the AL Central.

Can they do it again? And can they do it without more established talent like Orlando Cabrera, Javier Vazquez, Joe Crede, Nick Swisher and Juan Uribe?

Time will tell, but the White Sox need to get much more production from these five players:

Alexei Ramirez

Before the season started, one local newspaper dubbed Ramirez the best baseball player in Chicago. At the time, it wasn't overly outrageous.

Suffice to say, Ramirez has to take a lot of the blame of the Sox' slow start.

He's been good, not great, at his new position - shortstop - but the 27-year-old import has generally looked lost at the plate.

Ramirez did manage a 3-for-3 in Wednesday's shutout loss at Cleveland, boosting his average to .223.

Maybe that's a sign he's snapping out of it. But so far, Ramirez has looked a lot like Uribe at the plate. He's consistently chased pitches out of the strike zone and paid the price.

Gavin Floyd

The big curveball is still there, but what good is it when Floyd can't consistently throw his fastball for strikes?

So far this season, there has been a lot of speculation about Mark Buehrle being a physical liability. If Floyd continues struggling, his health is going to start coming into question.

He's big and strong, but the 26-year-old righty logged 2061/3 innings last season, by far the most in his pro career.

Floyd also pitched on short rest down the stretch, and he admitted to being "exhausted" after the Sox were eliminated from the playoffs.

Josh Fields

Everybody knows the 26-year-old third baseman isn't going to play defense like Crede, but where's the offense?

Batting just .235 with 2 home runs, 12 RBI and a .318 on-base percentage, Fields has already been dropped from the top of the order to the bottom.

The change of scenery hasn't helped much - Fields is batting .216 in May and he has struck out 13 times (1 walk) in 37 at-bats.

Bartolo Colon

He's been about as good as expected so far (2-3, 4.88 ERA), but as Colon approaches his 35th birthday, is he going to continue to be a "5-and-dive" guy?

With Floyd off his game and the demoted Jose Contreras trying to find it one more time at Class AAA Charlotte, the pressure is on Colon to deliver even more.

Carlos Quentin

His power numbers are good (8 HR, 18 RBI), but the White Sox' left fielder doesn't seem to be nearly as dangerous as he was a year ago.

Expected to return to the lineup Friday after being held out of the starting lineup the last two games with a sore heel, Quentin is consistently being pitched away, and that's resulting in a lot of lazy flyouts.

Quentin should return to his old form, however, as long as he stays healthy and doesn't get hit by too many more pitches.