Sox' Konerko sings praises of Pierre, Beckham

Paul Konerko is in the early stages of his 13th season with the White Sox and is the club's senior-ranking member, just ahead of Mark Buehrle.

Konerko has seen it all on the South Side, and the 35-year-old first baseman's historical perspective is unmatched.

So it was interesting to hear Konerko's take when he was asked about another productive day by the Sox' offense following Sunday afternoon's 6-1 win over a Rays team that is, in a word, awful.

“The two guys at the top of the lineup, if I had to pick one thing, that would be it,” Konerko said of White Sox leadoff man Juan Pierre and No. 2 hitter Gordon Beckham. “Right from the word go this year, they've been getting on base and having good at-bats and making it tough on the other team.

“That makes it easier for the guys in the middle because when you get guys out there and it's happening and you can tell they're feeling good, you don't put a bunch of pressure on yourself in any one given situation because you feel like if you don't get it done you're going to get another shot later in the game or tomorrow or something like that.”

Here is the really interesting part ... throughout the 2005 season, Konerko often talked about the positive tone set by leadoff man Scott Podsednik and No. 2 hitter Tadahito Iguchi.

You probably remember how that year ended.

Pierre was expected to have a good offensive season, considering he came in with a lifetime .298 batting average and the most career stolen bases (527) in the majors.

After going 1-for-4 with 1 RBI Sunday, Pierre's line is good, and there's plenty of room for improvement: .275/.286/.350.

Beckham (.333/.400/.564) has been a huge difference maker, and he homered for the second time in three games Sunday while also making two standout defensive plays at second base.

The White Sox are off to a 6-3 start and they're batting .307 as a team, the highest average in the American League. They also lead the league in runs scored with 62 in just nine games.

Remember last April?

At this point of the season, the Sox were 4-5 and they batted just .223 during the first month, the lowest in the AL. If you were among the masses calling for hitting coach Greg Walker's dismissal, raise your hand.

“We lost so many games early last year, it was almost miserable to come to the park,” Beckham said. “We show up at the park and we are excited to play and we're playing well, everyone is swinging the bat well and pitching has been great.”

Konerko continued to swing the bat well Sunday, hitting solo home runs in the first and fifth innings.

And White Sox starter Gavin Floyd overmatched Tampa Bay's woeful offense, allowing 1 run on 4 hits over 8 innings on a warm, windy day. The Rays (1-8) are batting .163 as a team.

“Even with Adam (Dunn) out, we're still pressing and hitting the ball well and going out and competing,” Floyd said. “It's really exciting as a starting pitcher to know that potentially we can put a lot of runs out there. You just want to go out and do your job and let things happen.”