Williams not happy with 'underachieving' White Sox

Before reluctantly meeting with a few reporters Monday afternoon, White Sox general manager Kenny Williams said he hadn't talked with anyone in the past 24 hours.

Williams obviously frustrated by Sunday's game at Oakland, where the Sox led 2-0 in the seventh inning before losing to the A's 3-2.

But the GM appeared to be much more dismayed with the Sox' 60-58 record heading into the series opener against the Royals.

After a 58-minute rain deay, the White Sox did manage to hold off last-place Kansas City 8-7 in front of a capacity crowd at U.S. Cellular Field, pulling within 2 games of the first-place Detroit Tigers in the process.

But by his own count, Williams said the Sox have "given away" 17 games this season, which led to this remark:

"(Heck), no, I'm not happy with a lot of what I see," Williams said. "We're underachievers."

Adding key pieces like starting pitcher Jake Peavy and outfielder Alex Rios were obvious signs the White Sox were looking to make the playoffs.

"Yes, we can be a dangerous playoff team, but you first have to play well enough, play smart enough, play intense enough, to where you show you want to be in the playoffs," Williams said. "It can't just be lip service. I don't want to hear it anymore. Get the job done."

The Sox did show some of the fight Williams is looking for Monday after relief pitcher Scott Linebrink had another forgettable outing while serving up pinch hitter Mike Jacobs' 3-run homer in the eighth inning.

That tied the game at 7-7, but Rios drew a walk against K.C. reliever Roman Colon leading off the bottom of the eighth and Alexei Ramirez sacrificed him to second base.

John Bale replaced Colon and struck out pinch hitter Mark Kotsay for the second out, but Scott Podsednik came through with a single to score Rios with the deciding run.

"After Linebrink gave up the home run, I didn't see anybody with long faces," manager Ozzie Guillen said. "As soon as we got to the dugout, everybody was cheering, saying 'Don't let this bother anybody.' That's a good sign."

With two more games against the Royals and three this weekend against the Baltimore Orioles, who are last in the AL East, maybe this is the homestand that finally gets the White Sox rolling.

"I know they want it," Williams said. "We've got a good group of guys here. Nobody would be here if I didn't feel that we had a good group that wanted it. But it's mid-August, it's time to turn it up a notch. If you're going to show you're a playoff team, now is about as good a time as any.

"You have to be on your game. We have a lot of talent out on that field. The fact of the matter is, we are simply not executing to the degree we need to execute to call ourselves playoff worthy. Period."

Guillen also needed Monday night's win to help shake off a foul mood.

"The way Kenny built this ballclub, there's no doubt we're better than .500," Guillen said. "Look at our lineup, look at our pitching staff. Don't look at our defense, please. Don't look at that one, we're horrible. But if you look at the team and say this is a .500 team, you have to be wrong."

Scot Gregor's game tracker

White Sox 8, Royals 7

Monday's grade: B+. The Sox could have folded it up after Scott Linebrink let the Royals back in the game in the eighth inning, but they didn't panic and rallied back.

Still searching: Mark Buehrle wasn't involved in the decision after pitching 6 innings and allowing 4 runs on 9 hits. Buehrle hasn't won a game in 5 starts since his perfect game July 23.

Pierzynski stay shot: A.J. Pierzynski's 2-run homer in the seventh inning was his 13th, matching last year's total. In his last 10 games vs. Kansas City, Pierzynski is batting .568 (21-for-37).

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