Peavy eager to stay in rhythm

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Over his last 201/3 innings, White Sox starting pitcher Jake Peavy has allowed just 3 earned runs.

Finally feeling 100 percent healthy and getting more and more comfortable with the old mechanics that helped him win the 2007 Cy Young Award with the San Diego Padres, Peavy also has 23 strikeouts and just 3 walks over the impressive stretch.

Just to make sure he stays in rhythm, the 28-year-old right-hander took the mound at Kauffman Stadium and threw 10 or 15 pitches Friday, a day before he starts against the Royals.

"Mechanically I'm really sound now," said Peavy, who has won his last 2 starts while lowering his ERA from 7.85 to 5.57. "I feel comfortable on the mound. You try to get comfortable enough on the mound where you don't have to think pitch to pitch. You just kind of talk to Coop (pitching coach Don Cooper) and make small adjustments maybe in between innings when you're right.

"And I truly can say the last couple of times when I see fastball away, there's no thought process in that. I see it and you do it, simply because of muscle memory, and I've been doing that for the most part. Am I going to continue to get better? I hope so."

While discussing the return to his old mechanics Friday, Peavy again referenced how Cooper wanted him to "stay tall and stay on top of the ball."

That is how Peavy threw late last season when he finally joined the Sox after missing three months with ankle and elbow injuries. He was 3-0 with a 1.35 ERA.

"The problem was when I came back last year, me having success, I still didn't have the stuff that I have now," Peavy said. "I won those games and I pitched well in those games. So Coop and the people around here that evaluate mechanics, seeing me and getting to know me coming into spring training, they thought that was me. That was me, with just not enough arm strength. That was the whole problem."