Konerko believes Sox' bullpen will come around

Paul Konerko is the White Sox' veteran first baseman and also the captain.

He quickly shifted into his second role after Thursday's 7-4 loss to the A's in 10 innings.

Like just about everybody else in the Sox' clubhouse, which was predictably quiet after yet another late-inning meltdown by the bullpen, Konerko had a look of near disbelief.

That didn't stop him from trying to pick up the pieces.

“You need to have the bullpen,” Konerko said. “Obviously, winning teams that get to the playoffs have that, and I believe we will. When you're on the team, I know the outside world, they're going to go to the negatives and they're going to harp on them. That's what they do. That's kind of what's fun, I guess. When you're on the team, you have to try to spin things.

“It's kind of like if you're getting a bunch of guys on base and you're not getting them home, you have try to spin that into a situation where you're saying, ‘At least we're getting them out there and it'll come.' It's the same thing right now.

“We're getting to those situations with the lead. That's not an easy thing to do. Just keep grinding. I think everybody thinks it's just going to be one of those games where we have a 2-3 run lead and we go out there and get three outs in a row, three popups, and from there on it'll probably be fine. But until that happens, the page can't be turned and that's kind of how these things go.”

Konerko referenced last season, when the White Sox' offense was in the doldrums for the opening two months.

“When we couldn't score a lot of runs, the pitching staff held in there as best they could and didn't say a word about the fact we couldn't score runs,” Konerko said. “They were behind us the whole time and that's the way you have to do it as a team. They did it right then. Those guys have scuffled a little bit, but you just stay behind them, try to encourage and be as positive as you can.

“I know as a winning team you're going to have to have tight situations and you're going to have to close them out, and we will. Once we get that one, I think we'll turn the page and string a bunch of good ones together.”

Wasted effort:

White Sox starter John Danks pitched 8 strong innings Thursday, allowing 1 run on 5 hits, and he had nothing to show for it.

Danks was also on the mound last Friday when the Sox couldn't protect a 7-4 lead in the ninth inning, losing to the Rays 9-7.

“Obviously, these are games we should win and we feel like we're going to win,” Danks said. “It (stinks) now, but we're going to win these games.”

Danks threw 108 pitches over 8 innings. Could he have come back for the ninth?

“No, I was done,” Danks said. “If I hadn't have gotten the double play in the eighth I'd have been out of the game anyway. There wasn't even a thought of me going back out in the ninth.”

More boos:

Already the target of boos and mock cheers after dropping flyballs Friday and Monday that led to White Sox losses, Pierre got another earful Thursday afternoon for his poor performance on the bases and another error.

After singling in the first inning, Pierre was picked off by Oakland starter Brett Anderson. He also singled in the third inning and was caught leaning again.

Pierre also made his third error of the season, bobbling a single that allowed Cliff Pennington to advance a base.

Manager Ozzie Guillen gets it when fans voice their displeasure with bad baseball.

“That's why they pay,” Guillen said. “I don't criticize the fans when they boo because they should. I (am) the same way and I'm not paying. They pay me. I get really mad when we don't play defense.”

Guillen is fine with the boos, but he isn't a fan of the sarcastic cheers when Pierre and/or his teammates actually do make a catch or good play.

Said Guillen: “Everyone should be proud ... if you're a White Sox fan and you see Juan Pierre play every day, you got your money's worth. This kid plays very, very hard for us. He doesn't deserve that. I will be behind him.”