R&R paid big dividends for Rios

The White Sox' offense took another snooze during Thursday night's 2-0 loss to the Blue Jays.

Alex Rios was 1-for-4, which extended his hitting streak to eight games. The 6-foot-5, 205-pounder was 0-for-3 before reaching on a one-out double off shortstop Alex Gonzalez's glove in the ninth inning.

Not only has Rios hiked his batting average to .306, he's lived up to the big expectations that accompanied him from Toronto last summer.

"I have no clue," Rios said when asked about the surge that actually started 20 games ago. "I'm hoping that it stays like this the whole way and we'll see what happens. I guess I'm putting good swings on the ball, and I'm swinging at good pitches. I just want to keep doing the same thing, putting good swings and hitting the ball hard."

Rios batted .199 in 41 games with the Sox last season after being claimed off waivers from the Blue Jays. Hitting coach Greg Walker immediately recognized a problem.

"He came to an impossible situation," Walker said. "He struggled, we all know that, but the problem originated in his brain. At the end of the year, we just told him to go home and relax and that fixed a lot of the problems. He had two or three things he wasn't doing right when he came over last year and they just naturally came back.

"His mechanics up there are great and he looks like the Alex Rios we thought we were getting."

Konerko sidelined: Paul Konerko, who leads the major leagues with 12 home runs, sat out Thursday night's game with a sore neck.

"He missed a lot of swings (Wednesday)," manager Ozzie Guillen said. "You see him swinging the bat yesterday? He never seen the ball."

Konerko, 1-for-8 in the three-game series against the Royals, is expected to be back in the lineup tonight.