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CHICAGO -- Chicago White Sox executive vice president Kenny Williams has hundreds of reasons to extol the virtues of Paul Konerko, but he doesn't feel this is the proper time for it.

Asked what Konerko has meant to the organization, especially since his playing days in a White Sox uniform could be coming to an end, Williams wouldn't go there.

"It's not time to talk about that right now," Williams said. "We're trying to just win ballgames."

There are a number of possibilities for Konerko moving forward. He could still re-sign with the White Sox after this season, although that is not expected. The 37-year-old veteran could also sign with another team this offseason, or he could elect to call it an accomplished career with well over 400 home runs and a World Series title.

And there is also the chance that Konerko could waive his no-trade clause and elect to be traded to a contender if the White Sox want to start a rebuilding process.

Williams just ended a 12-year run as general manager when he took his executive VP post this winter. Of those 12 teams Williams put together as GM, Konerko was the only player to be on all of them.

Their bond is obviously tight and Williams' respect for Konerko runs deep, but he will wait before talking about it.

"If Paul starts talking about that, whenever that is, whether it's this year, next year, the year after, whenever that is, if he starts talking about that, that will be our cue to begin speaking about that as well, but we're not there," Williams said.

Back in early May, when the season was just getting ripe and the White Sox were in the very early stages of finding their new selves, stories surfaced about whether we were about to witness the decline of Paul Konerko.

Read the entire column.

CHICAGO -- The game-tying home run the Chicago White Sox gave up in the ninth got the most attention. But a plethora of other miscues ended up being the biggest problem Tuesday and is a major concern moving forward.

The White Sox have struggled all season to put together a solid brand of baseball, and in Tuesday’s 7-5 defeat to the Toronto Blue Jays in 10 innings all of their issues surfaced.

There was poor base running, untidy defense and shaky play that might have been brushed aside if Addison Reed had been able to put a ninth-inning slider where he wanted. Instead, Reed’s 1-2 pitch with two outs was up in the strike zone and crushed for a towering homer by the Blue Jays’ Jose Bautista.

The White Sox went on to the lose the game when reliever Ramon Troncoso gave up one run in the ninth inning on a wild pitch and another when catcher Tyler Flowers couldn’t handle a throw to the plate to make a tag.

“It’s my job to get those three outs and I didn’t do it,” Reed said. “Offense, pitching did everything to get the ball in my hands in the situation we wanted it. We had the lead and I came in and left with it tied, so I feel it’s all on me, and I’ll take full responsibility for it.”

It was a noble gesture to fall on the sword, but there were plenty of others responsible for what happened.

Alexei Ramirez, Conor Gillaspie and Flowers all made errors. Flowers had a second-inning passed ball that allowed a run to score. There was Troncoso’s wild pitch that Flowers couldn’t corral with a backhand.

There also were baserunning issues galore, including those by Ramirez (doubled off second base on a line drive); and Gordon Beckham (last out of the inning at third base); and Alejandro De Aza (picked off first base); and Dayan Viciedo (thrown out trying to advance on a ball that got away from the catcher).

“It was one of those where we kept shooting ourselves in the foot, running the bases,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. “Any time you lose like that, it doesn’t feel good. You come down and you get the last strike, especially the way it went earlier, it’s one of those for [Reed]. He’s human and it’s going to happen.

“You figure it’s going to happen eventually, but you just never like it when it happens. He should have had a bigger cushion than that. That’s the way it goes.”

The White Sox were poised to break things open in the fifth inning with the bases loaded and nobody out. But Paul Konerko struck out and Dunn lined into a double play, with Ramirez well off the bat at second.

After that a lively White Sox offense began to slumber as Blue Jays pitchers retired 14 of the next 15 batters.

“It’s been worse than that,” Ventura said of all the mistakes. “You do that and you still have a chance to win the game. We’ll address it and come back [Wednesday].”

The White Sox were so close to their second four-game winning streak of the season. Now they’ll try to start a new streak a day after one of the sloppiest games of the season.

“I think it’s just a matter of winning a few games in a row and not letting this one get us down,” said Matt Thornton, who used an eighth-inning double play to get himself out of a pitching jam. “Get a win (Wednesday), go into the off day and go on the road and play well there.”

“We’re going to lose games the rest of the way,” he said. “But it’s a matter of stringing a bunch of wins together in between those losses.”

CHICAGO -- The signs of a better offense are all around and the fact that the Chicago White Sox got things going against one of baseball’s hottest teams adds credibility to the concept.

A mini offensive awakening began over the weekend when the White Sox were facing the Oakland Athletics and has continued into the current series against the Toronto Blue Jays.

A team that entered Tuesday’s game 13th in the American League in home runs with 60, the White Sox have been heating it up with three consecutive multi-homer games. They didn’t have a single one over the previous 19 contests.

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CHICAGO -- As the big boys in the lineup work on resolving their issues, the unsung heroes took over the Chicago White Sox's 4-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Sunday.

No. 8 hitter Gordon Beckham continued his productive return from the disabled list with an RBI double, while No. 9 hitter Tyler Flowers added a home run, his second of the series, after going over a month without a long ball.

Then there was Conor Gillaspie, who started the season in a reserve role, but has taken advantage of opportunities to become a regular fixture at third base. Gillaspie’s hitting has cooled off of late, although he did drive in a run with a sacrifice fly. In the meantime, his glove made a difference Sunday.

Not known for his glove work when the White Sox grabbed him from the San Francisco Giants in exchange for minor-league pitcher Jeff Soptic, Gillaspie was a defensive highlight reel Sunday. He made three diving stops against the A’s, getting to his feet each time to throw across the infield for the out.

“I saw they gave me the player of the game, but I said, ‘That goes to Conor for sure,’” said starting pitcher Hector Santiago, who picked up the victory.

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CHICAGO -- Chicago White Sox fans who still hold Mark Buehrle in the highest regard won’t have a conflict of interest this week.

Buehrle returns to U.S. Cellular Field beginning Monday with the Toronto Blue Jays, but won’t be pitching against his former team in the three-game series. The veteran left-hander went a solid seven innings for the Blue Jays on Saturday, in a game that ultimately lasted 18 innings.

Buehrle left the White Sox as a free agent after the 2011 season, pitching for the Miami Marlins last season. He was traded this winter to the Blue Jays.

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CHICAGO – When runs are hard to come by, three key ones in the late innings feel like a windfall.

Struggling on offense all season, especially during a run when the White Sox lost 10 of 11 games, clutch hitting has been nonexistent. So when the White Sox put together fundamentals to go along with a little power in the eighth inning Saturday, it was as if the floodgates opened.

“Man, we know these guys are capable of putting up crooked numbers every inning,” said pitcher John Danks, who benefited from the outburst to earn his first victory since May 19 of last year. “We hear what people say about them outside the field, but when they get here as a pitching staff we have full trust in those guys. We know they're capable of busting the game wide open. We were excited to see that.”

Locked in a 1-1 game, the White Sox got their game-winning rally going on an infield single from Alejandro De Aza. That left Alexei Ramirez to do what he couldn’t accomplish less than 24 hours earlier.

Ramirez laid down a successful sacrifice bunt after failing to do the same a day earlier in the late innings. Alex Rios then followed with a go-ahead single to right field to score De Aza. Paul Konerko turned up the heat with a two-run home run, his first since May 22 and his second since April 28.

“It’s nice when you (get a bunt down) and the guy behind you comes in with a hit,” manager Robin Ventura said. “That’s something you have to do to win games and when you do it right, you get to your closer, and Konerko hits a big homer, too. But Rios is big with that base hit going the other way and then you get to Paulie and it kind of puts it away a little bit.”

Mired in last place, the White Sox still haven’t lost hope.

“We’ve dug ourselves a hole,” Konerko said. “It has been a tough go here early. There’s a lot of good teams out there. I’m not going to sit here and say we are the 27 Yankees, but we are a lot better than what we have shown.

“I think the main thing is trying to get to that level, try to sustain it for a little bit, see where we are at then and see how that unfolds with the rest of the division and all that. That’s the main thing, just look inward and try to get better here as a player and as a team and let’s do that for a month and see where we are at and see how we roll with that. We haven’t come close to that yet.”

CHICAGO – The Chicago White Sox’s 4-1 victory Saturday was their first over the Oakland Athletics this season in six tries. The teams meet for the last time in 2013 on Sunday.

How it happened: Alex Rios delivered the go-ahead single in the eighth inning and Paul Konerko followed with a two-run home run to put the game away. A day after he failed to get down a key sacrifice bunt, Alexei Ramirez was successful Saturday to set up Rios’ RBI hit. White Sox starter John Danks went eight innings in his fourth start of the season to pick up his first victory since May 19, 2012. Adam Dunn hit a home run in the second inning, his 14th of the season.

What it means: Danks gave the White Sox the lift they needed with his first outing of at least eight innings since a complete-game shutout Aug. 27, 2010 against the Seattle Mariners. He threw 96 pitches before turning things over to closer Addison Reed for the save. With Gavin Floyd lost for the season and Jake Peavy on the disabled list for up to two months, Danks’ emergence is key moving forward.

Outside the box: The ESPN Stats & Information department tracked Dunn’s home run as traveling 435 feet to center field. Since 2006, Dunn has 61 home runs traveling at least 435 feet or more, easily the most in baseball. Mark Reynolds has 52 such home runs, while Prince Fielder has 49 and Matt Holliday has 45.

Off beat: Things haven’t been going well for Dayan Viciedo on the offensive side, but he managed to hang tough on defense in the eighth inning. Viciedo not only fought off the sun to make a catch on a fly ball from Seth Smith, he ended the half inning by making a sliding catch just off the top of the grass on a line drive from Adam Rosales.

Up next: The White Sox will send left-hander Hector Santiago (1-4, 3.35 ERA) to the mound Sunday in the finale of the four-game series. The A’s will counter with right-hander A.J. Griffin (5-4, 3.67) in the 1:10 p.m. start from U.S. Cellular Field.

CHICAGO -- Adam Dunn knows that complaining about an unforgiving ballpark won’t get him anywhere, but after two years and two months on the South Side, he sees no advantage to hitting at U.S. Cellular Field.

That cozy little bandbox that everybody always talked about is a thing of the past, as far as he’s concerned. He won’t put it among the best hitting ballparks any time soon.

“I’d like to throw the challenge flag on that statement,” Dunn said Friday. “I played in two pretty god hitting parks in Arizona and Cincinnati. Obviously I heard the ball really carries here and it’s a good hitter’s park and all that good stuff.”

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CHICAGO -- Paul Konerko was not in the Chicago White Sox's lineup Friday, but the team captain said his day off was not injury related.

Konerko suggested it had more to do with playing in 14 innings of Wednesday’s 16-inning game at Seattle and the team wanting to get him some extra rest. He did leave a game on the most recent road trip with a stiff neck, but said that injury is behind him.

Acting manager Don Cooper said Konerko would be available for pinch-hit duties.

Cooper is taking over as manager for the day with Robin Ventura back in California for the high school graduation of his daughter. Bench coach Mark Parent managed Thursday’s game, but he also is not on the bench Friday as he departed for the high school graduation of his son.

Ventura will return to manage Saturday’s game. Parent will return as bench coach Sunday.

Friday’s complete White Sox lineup against Oakland Athletics right-hander Jarrod Parker:

Alejandro De Aza, LF
Alexei Ramirez, SS
Alex Rios, RF
Adam Dunn, 1B
Dayan Viciedo, DH
Conor Gillaspie, 3B
Gordon Beckham, 2B
Jordan Danks, CF
Tyler Flowers, C

Chris Sale is the White Sox’s starting pitcher.

CHICAGO -- If Adam Dunn had just another foot or two on his deep drive Thursday night, the Chicago White Sox would be talking about a renewed sense of purpose.

But that drive ran out of steam at the base of the left field wall with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning and Alejandro De Aza standing at third base as the White Sox fell 5-4 to the Oakland Athletics.

It made nine defeats in the past 10 games and although the season has practically four months remaining, players are now talking about drastic changes could be right around the corner.

Do the White Sox need to win now?

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CHICAGO -- The game inside the game Thursday for the Chicago White Sox will be how they take on the Oakland Athletics while recovering from Wednesday's 16-inning marathon at the same time.

Acting manager Mark Parent said closer Addison Reed is definitely not seeing any action after throwing 55 pitches a day earlier. Jessie Crain will handle the closer duties if necessary.

Parent took over from Robin Ventura, who will be in California for the next two days attending the high school graduation of his daughter.

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The numbers, especially on offense, have been brutal for the Chicago White Sox, and seven runs over 16 innings to end an eight-game losing streak Wednesday won't change that.

Other than notching their first victory in more than a week with the 7-5 triumph over the Seattle Mariners, what also was of note was the fact that the White Sox failed to score for the first 13 innings and were nearly shut out for the fourth time since May 27. Their own bullpen and the Mariners' futility helped to prevent that.

The White Sox averaged just 1.75 runs per game during their losing streak, scoring more than three runs in a game just once when they got four runners to cross the plate Tuesday.

Depending on how you look at it, it's either easy or extremely difficult to assign blame for what has gone wrong. The easiest way is to assign blame to every single White Sox player who had a bat in his hand over the past week and a half. The hard way is to figure out who is most at fault.

Instead, it’s probably best to present the recent numbers for all of the White Sox regulars. Here they are in all their glory (consider yourself warned):

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OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Chicago White Sox shuffled their roster Sunday, placing outfielder Dewayne Wise on the 15-day disabled list and recalling outfielder Jordan Danks from Triple-A Charlotte.

Wise strained his right hamstring on May 25 while scoring the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning from second base. He has appeared in one other game since then, going 0-for-2 Wednesday against the Chicago Cubs.

"It just hasn't gotten any better," Wise said before Sunday's game against the Oakland A's. "I told them yesterday that at this point I can't be myself out on the field. I can't do the things that I do. It was pretty much my decision to tell them I think it's best for the team to go ahead and put me on (the DL) because I can't pinch run and do stuff like that."

Wise said he was worried that if he tried to push his hamstring now he would tear it.

"That was a concern, too," Wise said. "I just felt like doing running stuff ... with our strength coach, I just felt like I couldn't get up to top speed. Every time I felt like I tried to push myself to do it, it felt like it was going to pop. I definitely don't want to do that. I thought the best thing to do was take it slow, put me on the 15 and see what happens after that."

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OAKLAND, Calif. -- To Chicago White Sox manager Robin Ventura, something didn't smell right Friday night at the O.co Coliseum when his team was shut out 3-0 by 40-year-old Oakland Athletics right-hander Bartolo Colon.

"Yeah, it stinks," Ventura said.

Ventura was talking about his slumbering offense.

"It needs to get better," he said. "If you're not scoring runs, it looks a lot worse. It just needs to get better. I don't think it's approach. When you go over offensive stuff and give them information, it's sound stuff. It's just a stretch that stinks."

The White Sox opened a three-game series against the A's after losing three straight to the Chicago Cubs. They scored a combined six runs against the Cubs before being shut out Friday for the second time in four games.

Entering the game, the White Sox were hitting .243 as a team, next to last in the American League. Now they're hitting .238.

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