Healthy Konerko makes for happy Sox camp

If you were concerned about Paul Konerko last season - really, really concerned - you're not alone.

There's a man at SoxFest this weekend who admitted he also wasn't sure anymore about Konerko.

Early last season, as Konerko tried to play through a hand injury, and looked bad doing it, this particular White Sox player wondered if Konerko was on the downside.

His name is Paul Konerko.

"I finished the season well, and that was big," Konerko says now. "Early on (in 2008), I'll tell you what, my hand was bad and I tried to play through it, and I couldn't hit a fastball.

"That's never happened before. That's something that no matter what was going on during my career, good season, bad season, no matter what hurt, I've always been able to hit a fastball.

"And there was a question in my mind. Is it my hand or is it that time that happens in a player's career when you can't catch up to the fastball anymore? I didn't know."

Having never been on the disabled list, Konerko was adamant about trying to play through it, something only months later he realized was a monumental mistake.

"I kick myself about it because I did more harm than good, and it really kind of set the tone for my season," Konerko said. "I didn't want to go on the DL and I was fearful of it, but if I had it to do over again, I'd sit out for a week - or two - and get it back to normal.

"Instead, it was just bad all the time. I tried everything. I changed bats, gloves, grips - anything. Nothing worked. There was a 25-game block where I just had no chance.

"It just buried me. That's something I kick myself about."

When his hand finally healed, there was an oblique injury in mid-June that landed him on the disabled list for the first time, and Konerko didn't find his swing again until August when he hit .333, only to hurt his knee in September just when he was catching fire.

Nevertheless, Konerko blasted 9 homers with 15 RBI in the final month of the season, and finished with a .313 average in the postseason, including 2 homers in 4 games against Tampa.

"I felt like myself again and the numbers show that,'' Konerko said. "You just wonder what the season's like if you sit out with that problem early and let it heal."

Instead, Konerko finished with some ugly stats compared to his healthy seasons, hitting just 22 homers with 62 RBI and a .240 batting average.

"The good thing is I finished strong and mentally I got to take that into the winter," Konerko said. "I remember one year, about five or six years ago, when I had huge numbers in the first half, not much of a second half, and even though the stats looked good for the year, I felt terrible going home with that and had to sit on it all winter. It was like being in the Twilight Zone.

"This year, I regained my confidence in the second half and I've had a really good winter as far as working out and getting ready."

While there will be those who still wonder what to expect from Konerko in 2009 after his numbers fell off in '08, Sox general manager Kenny Williams is not among them.

"There was a year (2003) he wasn't as good as usual, and he bounced back and hit 40 (homers) the next year,'' Williams said, insisting it could happen again. "Paulie got in a rut last year and couldn't get out until August and September.

"I file that under: stuff happens. These guys are not robots. A guy like Paulie puts too much of the load on himself sometimes and he pays the price for that.

"But he's bounced back before and I expect him to do it again, and then everyone will love him again, and so on and so on."

Several of his teammates expressed similar confidence in Konerko, and the three-time all-star is optimistic.

"I can't wait,'' Konerko said. "No matter what you did the year before, good or bad, you start from zero again. It's just a question of the confidence you take with you from one year to the next.

"Your work doesn't change and you go into spring training with the same intensity and butterflies you always get right before you start.

"There's always a little fear before you get going and you have that anticipation of wanting to go out and have a good year.

"I feel good about it. I just need to stay healthy and get my normal at-bats and I expect to have a good year.''

No one was more pleased to hear that than Ozzie Guillen.

"We can be a good team without Paulie, but we can't be a great team without him,'' Guillen said. "We've seen the difference he makes when he does what he's capable of."

And Guillen paused for a moment, before echoing the sentiments of every White Sox fan when he concluded, "I'm glad Paulie feels good and he's ready to go. That makes me feel good, too."

brozner@dailyherald.com