White Sox Week In Review: Forget '07, Next Year Is Here

The warning signs are all there.

Hawk Harrelson's moody silence and repeated calls of "Dadgummit!" have you worried.  DJ is looking for something, anything, to point out as a positive.

Jay Mariotti is smiling in his sleep, and every Cubs fan you know is literally singing the praises of Kosuke Fukudome on your answering machine.

One week ago, the White Sox looked set up to compete for the summer.  The weather had been lousy, but the Sox were sitting in first place after splitting the six games over the last full week of April.

Nothing was going as the experts had predicted: the Tigers and Indians were fighting to get out of the mud at the bottom of the division, while the Royals were surprising everyone with hot bats and decent pitching. 

The Twins were sub-par yet again, and our Sox were getting it done with good starting and relief pitching, along with solid hitting and a great on-base percentage.

What a difference seven days makes.

Now, after scratching out a measly two runs in today's loss to Toronto, the Sox are tied in first place with those same mediocre Twins, who never have a great cast of characters (aside from the M&M kids Mauer and Morneau) but always find some way to win.

The Sox bats have fallen silent, Alexei Ramirez can't even cross the border, and Bobby Jenks' beard is getting ever longer as he sits in the bullpen, wondering when he'll blow his next save. 

Adding insult to injury, the Sox are near the top of the league in home runs, but  lately each one is a lonely, one-man trip around the bases.  The solo homers are killing you.

With all this, I offer these words: don't panic.

Not only is the baseball world off its axis (Hello? The Rays are in first place?), but it's way too early to push the panic button.  Things change from week to week, day to day, even pitch to pitch in this sport. 

So the Sox are 0-2 in May; they started April 0-2 and finished the month 14-10.  Not that that's going to keep the Sox in first place; after all, the big boppers of the AL Central are beginning to figure it out. 

Remember, there's always those lousy Twins to worry about.  But the Sox have a solid five in the rotation.

Gavin Floyd looks almost unhittable these days, Jose Contreras and Javier "VazKKKKez" (Man, I love Nick Swisher's dance on that commercial) are solid, and John Danks is giving the best that a fifth starter can give.

Even Mark Buerhle is making a comeback from last year's dreadful campaign. He just hasn't had the run support.

Here's the three keys for the Sox to win in May:

1: Patience at the plate.  Even though everyone is hitting in the .200s, the White Sox have a team on-base percentage of .326, right around the middle of the pack.  Early on, the Sox were benefiting from walks, errors, and some infield hits.  Now, batters are flailing at the plate.

Get Swisher to keep setting the table, let the pitcher throw a lot of pitches and keep swinging the bat.  A lot of base hits were taken away in Minnesota because of their speedy outfield (not to mention that darn Astro Turf.)

2: Defense wins championships.  Remember the Year of Our Sox, 2005?  All the film clips of Aaron Rowand, making play after play after play in Yankee Stadium, robbing batters of extra bases.  Juan Uribe's Jeter-like dive into the stands at Minute Maid Park.  Joe Crede's old leather glove, scooping up scalded grounders.

The defense was great the first few weeks of the year, but now Crede has six errors.  Swisher did a great job filling in at first yesterday night, but the Sox as a whole have to keep potential runs off base and limit extra bases to singles.

3: The young guns.  Carlos Quentin looks like a young Alex Rodriguez at this point in the season: with nine home runs and an average close to .300, he's a spark for the Sox.  Moving him up to the second spot and giving Orlando Cabrera a chance to figure it out in the seven hole might not be a bad idea.

Brian Anderson also needs to take advantage of his opportunities. The Sox have been waiting three years for him to reach his potential, and he needs to make every at-bat count.  He was the hero a week ago at home against the Orioles, but more extra base hits and stolen bases would give Anderson a solid footing with the big club.

Momentum is a word tossed around by all the experts and writers in sports.  Momentum, they say, can carry a team through the summer and right into the fall.  The funny thing is, momentum can come in a variety of ways: the manager getting tossed, the ball bouncing on the right side of the chalk, a baserunner beating out an infield single.  Anything can turn around a skid.  We fans are just waiting for that anything, and I guarantee it will come.

The Sox have two more rounds with the Blue Jays, and things don't get any easier with Roy Halladay on the mound tomorrow.  But breathe easy, Sox fans, and repeat the words of John Belushi from Animal House: "Nothing is over until we decide it is!"