Konerko heating up at right time for Sox

Paul Konerko always has been considered old reliable for the White Sox.

But earlier this season his lack of hitting had some questioning if he was simply getting old.

Konerko has found his stroke again, and it couldn't come at a better time for the White Sox, who have lost leading home run and RBI guy Carlos Quentin while trying to hold off the Minnesota Twins in the AL Central.

Konerko is hitting .421 with 3 home runs in his last 10 games and has raised his average to a season-best .247 from where it was at .212 a few weeks ago.

"He's back now, and you knew he would be," teammate Nick Swisher said before Monday's rain out with the Toronto Blue Jays. "It's the law of averages."

Maybe not everyone knew Konerko would be back to hitting important home runs in September. There were times when the fans at U.S. Cellular Field were booing Konerko, and suggestions were made that maybe it was best if the veteran first baseman took a seat on the bench for the rest of the year.

"With this my first year being on the team, I didn't understand it at all with a guy who has done what he has, winning the World Series and going to All-Star Games," Swisher said.

"For him to get beat down like that was interesting to me. It made no sense for everyone to be down on him like that."

Konerko never complained, and there he was on July 31 saying he would do whatever was best for the team when it appeared he might be out of a job for good following the acquisition of Ken Griffey Jr.

"Him not saying nothing and just going out and playing when things weren't going well says a lot about what kind of player he is," Jermaine Dye said.

Now that things are going well again, Konerko still isn't saying much, putting the team first as always and his personal success out of the equation.

"You just want your good times to come and help the team," Konerko said. "The personal stuff is really irrelevant. At some point in the season everybody has to chip in and help out, whether that's early, in the middle or late."

So what is the difference now for Konerko as compared to earlier in the season? Don't ask.

"You just want to keep doing well and help the team because we're coming down the stretch here," Konerko said. "The reasons for all that stuff is off-season talk; it's nothing that should enter the day here today.

"It's all pointless, whether you're having a great season, a bad season, whatever. It doesn't matter what you did yesterday, let alone five months ago. There will be plenty of time to talk about all that stuff in November and December."

A red-hot Konerko down the stretch certainly would ease the sting of losing Quentin to a fractured right wrist. The Sox are 3-2 without Quentin, which includes taking two of three over the weekend from the Los Angeles Angels.

Konerko, Dye, Griffey and Jim Thome all had clutch hits in the Angels series.

"Carlos has had such a great year and it's tough to subtract what he's done," Konerko said. "But those games are already in the books. We were in first place when Carlos went down and now he's out, probably for the rest of the year, or at least until the playoffs if we get there.

"You have to look at what we have here and you could certainly say we have enough offense to win tonight and for the rest of the season, for that matter. It would always be nice to have Carlos in there because he's such a big bat, but we don't feel were short-handed. We felt were just loaded more with him."

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=233595">Guillen not hopeful on Quentin <span class="date">[9/9/08]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>