Dunn, Konerko solid 1-2 punch for White Sox
This is a fun time of the season for contending teams.
In the White Sox’ case, they’ve already added third baseman Kevin Youkilis and veteran pitcher Brett Myers through trades.
Ultra-aggressive general manager Kenny Williams also checked in with Seattle on Ichiro Suzuki before Suzuki was traded to the Yankees on Monday, and he reportedly is in dogged pursuit of Brewers starter Zack Greinke.
It’s a fun time, without a doubt, but the Sox still are going to sink or swim with their core stars.
That conveniently brings us to the heart of the batting order: Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko.
Both veterans were slumping last week as the White Sox were losing five in a row and falling out of first place in the AL Central.
But Dunn and Konerko flipped their switches back on in Monday night’s 7-4 victory over the Twins while each hitting home runs and combining to go 4-for-8 with 5 RBI.
The duo did even more damage in Tuesday night’s 11-4 win over Minnesota in front a second straight capacity crowd at U.S. Cellular Field.
Dunn was 3-for-5 with a 2-run homer (No. 30) and 2-run double, and Konerko was 4-for-4 with his second home run in as many games.
Thanks to their offensive exploits, the Sox (52-45) are tied with the Tigers for first place in the division.
Dunn became the fourth-fastest player in franchise history to reach 30 home runs in a season based on team games played, and he became the White Sox’ fourth left-handed hitter to go deep 30 times.
“He’s a monster right now,” Konerko said of Dunn. “There have been a lot of nice stories in here with the guys that are having those years, the redemption years, where you have the year last year that no one likes and everything went wrong. He handled it as well as he could handle it last year.
“I know he doesn’t want to talk about it, but he earned a lot of respect with everybody last year with the way he got through that. So to see what he’s doing now, my job is to try to be as tough as I can so they don’t walk him.
“If we can get him pitches to hit, he’s doing a lot of great things right now.”
Konerko is 7-for-8 with 2 home runs in the first two games against the Twins.
“We’re not going to go anywhere without Paul doing what he does,” Dunn said of Konerko. “People think Paul is struggling — everybody’s all over him for reasons I don’t know why — but he’s still hitting .330.”
Actually, Konerko is hitting .336. But what’s a few digits between teammates?
With Alejandro De Aza thriving in the leadoff spot, followed by a productive Youkilis, Dunn, Konerko, Alex Rios and A.J. Pierzynski, don’t expect Williams to trade for anymore bats.
Dunn said the big crowds at the Cell are sparking the offense.
“I can’t emphasize it enough, to play in front of your home fans who are into it, it seems like pitch by pitch the last couple days, when big situations come up and 35,000 people get into the game, you get a little extra adrenaline hitting,” Dunn said. “It seems like the pitcher wants to make the perfect pitch and sometimes they overdo it and leave something up.”
sgregor@dailyherald.com