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CHICAGO – As they prepare for a series against the first-place Cleveland Indians, the Chicago White Sox sit just 3 ½ games back in the standings. But the South Siders aren’t getting ahead of themselves.

In fact, if you talk to the team’s manager or its hottest hitter both say they are taking it one day at a time.

“That has kind of been preached to us since the start,” said Paul Konerko, who leads the AL in hitting going into Friday’s contest. “We have had a lot of games so far this season that have been tough losses, and we have bounced back the next day. Guys are buying in … and it’s a good attitude to have.”

The underselling of this important series may have worked for the White Sox so far, but at some point, this ball club will have to develop some swagger in order to play with the big boys. Pros like Konerko and manger Robin Ventura do not get excited about a team that is just one game over five hundred in a mediocre division.

”It’s nice when you get the win, but at this point we need to keep grinding and keep working trying to be the best team we can be ,” Konerko said.

The White Sox have won five of nine games against the Tribe this season. After this weekend’s series, they do not play Cleveland again until Oct. 1-3.

“It’s an important series because it’s a team in first place, but there is still a long way to go,” Ventura said. “There is still a long way to go, and it (won’t ) judge the season by what happens this weekend.”

All of that aside, there is already some fuel to this rivalry. Words were exchanged between Cleveland closer Chris Perez and Sox outfielder Alex Rios earlier this month. Perez mouth off to Rios as he made the last out of the game on May 3 and Rios got his revenge with an extra inning home run that beat Perez and the Indians in 10 innings on May 8.

In spite of what Konerko and Ventura say, expect anything but a “normal” series this weekend.

CHICAGO -- Chicago White Sox pitcher Philip Humber and Chicago Cubs first baseman Bryan LaHair disagreed Friday whether Humber intended to throw at LaHair in retaliation for White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko being hit by a pitch.

Konerko was hit in the head by a splitter from Cubs starter Jeff Samardzija in the top of the third inning. Konerko suffered a small laceration above his eye and swelling and was taken to the hospital for testing. He did not return to the game.

After pitching to Samardzija and three other Cubs hitters in the bottom of the third, Humber’s first pitch to LaHair in the bottom of the fourth, a high fastball, soared behind LaHair’s head. The pitch resulted in home plate umpire Tim Timmons issuing warnings to both dugouts.

“That just got away from me,” Humber said. “It’s one of those things that happens during the game.”
LaHair didn’t see the pitch the same way.

“Definitely felt like it was intentional,” LaHair said. “They waited a whole inning and then the first pitch was right at my head. I'm all right with getting hit and stuff like that, I understand, but when you start getting around people's heads that can be scary. It is what it is. Nothing happened. I didn't get hurt or anything so move on from it.

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CHICAGO -- Trying to protect a weakened bullpen led to a major miscalculation by the Chicago White Sox coaching staff and a meltdown in a 10-8 loss to the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday.

Jake Peavy, on his way to what appeared to be his fifth win, had a five-hit shutout through five innings and a six-run lead before losing his command in the sixth. By the time manager Robin Ventura and pitching coach Don Cooper decided to warm up a bullpen pitcher, Peavy had given up a two-run home run to Miguel Cabrera and a three-run blast to Ryan Raburn. The rest of the damage came off left-hander Will Ohman, who had to hustle to get in six or seven warmup throws.

Ohman entered the game with a man on first. He hit the first hitter, pinch hitter Delmon Young, and then served up a three-run home run to Austin Jackson.

“Obviously, the momentum changed rather quickly,” Ohman said. “I didn’t do what I needed to. I had Delmon with two strikes and go in and hit him. Then 0-2 homer . Unacceptable.”

Ventura and Cooper tried to stay away from using their depleted bullpen with their ace on the mound, but the inning and the game got away from them.

“You have seen Jake (get it done) in the past, but you can’t use everybody in the pen everyday,” Ventura said. “Even though you want to win this game you are looking (down the road). There are more games in the season, and you can’t use everybody every day.”

The miscalculation came with not having another righty up due to the fact that right-handed batters are hitting .333 against Ohman coming into the game.

Ventura took responsibility for watching over his tired bullpen.

”Sure, you have to be able to look at the (whole) season in the long haul instead of just batter to batter,” Ventura said. “We have some younger guys down there you want to take care of. It’s one of those for Jake where the sixth inning got him.”

CHICAGO -- The White Sox started three regulars who were hitting under .200 and one hitting .208 on Tuesday night against defending AL Central champion Detroit Tigers.

The coaching staff sounds uncertain when trying to evaluate the situation. The struggling quartet of Alexei Ramirez, Dayan Viciedo, Gordon Beckham and Brent Morel is obviously hurting the team. But is this an early-season glitch in the offense or a trend of what to expect from these young players?

“You try to have patience with them because this is a mental as well as physical grind,” Ventura said.

The manager and his coaching staff go over their options while supporting hitting coach Jeff Manto on a daily basis.

“Patience is one way (to help young hitters),” Ventura said. “Sometimes you give them a kick, but again it’s not always that easy. I realize how tough it is.

Morel, Viciedo and Beckham are hitting a combined .195 with 5 home runs and 18 RBIs in 307 at bats.

At some point you have to also look at the 33 runs they have scored in 35 games as further indication of how futile the offense has been. Complicating this situation is the sudden flop of Ramirez, who is hitting .156 over the past 22 games (14-90).

“For them they have to realize that they can’t get it back in one day,” Ventura said. “It’s a consistent thing of day in and day out of coming in here having the proper attitude coming in here working at it and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Going into action on Tuesday the Sox were hitting .238 as a team -- the third worst average in the American league.

Chicago has been buoyed by relatively solid pitching. With that, the White Sox sit just two and a half games out of first place as both the Indians and the Tigers struggle to stay above the 500 mark.

“Most of us have played, so we get what (the hitters) are going through,” Ventura said. “I get that but they can’t lose their confidence.”

The White Sox have benefitted from quality contributions by Paul Konerko, Adam Dunn and, until a recent slump, A.J. Pierzynski. All this main group of veterans need is a little help from their younger teammates.

CHICAGO -- Chris Sale paused for a few seconds before settling on the word “terrible” to describe the first inning of his first start since an MRI revealed no structural damage to his left elbow.

Atrocious, forgettable and doomed would also suffice when talking about Sale’s four-hit, two-walk, three-run, 42-pitch first inning that put the White Sox in a hole for good.

If the last two weeks weren’t helter-skelter enough for the 23-year-old Sale, who went from starter to closer then back to the rotation, the lefty redeemed himself in the final four innings of Saturday’s outing, allowing just three more hits while striking out two in the White Sox’s 5-0 loss to the Kansas City Royals.

“Bouncing back from that was big,” Sale said. “I kind of turned the momentum. But my mindset is different. That’s what they needed me for the first inning, too. Three out of the gate is hard for anybody. The way they were throwing the ball over, they just did a great job and I got out-pitched.”

Sale threw 66 of his 103 pitches for strikes. After the rough first inning, he was able to string together consecutive 1-2-3 innings. Sale said he was mentally and physically prepared for Saturday’s start, but ultimately it was his lack of control over his off-speed pitches that burned him. According to MLB.com, Sale began the game with nine straight fast balls before he threw his first off-speed pitch. Sale threw 19 sliders and 10 changeups on the night, a day after saying he’ll need to back off relying too heavily on his slider.

He said command of his off-speed pitches was something to work on during his side session this week.

Manager Robin Ventura said he wasn’t concerned about Sale’s high pitch count in the first inning.

“I mean you are going to let him go until he found it,” Ventura said. “It wasn’t an issue. I think for one inning, getting out there at 40 pitches is a lot for a pitcher. He would learn something out of that, being able to control it and get it back and still finish up five innings. It’s still a good effort.”

Still, Sale isn’t one to make excuses and seemed in no mood to look for a silver lining to his outing. He admitted he’s glad to be back in the rotation and put the last few weeks’ turn of events behind him but added that, “at the same time, this is a job just like it’s a business and I like to think I’m a big boy and can handle all of that and leave that stuff in here, and when I’m out there go about my business. I did that to an extent but I didn’t produce what this team needed.”

CHICAGO -- A few pre-game notes from the White Sox clubhouse:

• To what degree the soreness in Brent Morel’s back affected his play is unknown, but manager Robin Ventura liked what he saw from the third baseman during Friday’s batting practice.

Morel is back in the lineup today after resting the last two games. He’s 0-for-10 in his last four games.

“You could tell even in the way he was moving around and swinging yesterday,” Ventura said. “He was a little freer with everything he was doing.”

• Ventura was pleased with the scoreless inning reliever Jesse Crain threw for Triple A Charlotte on Friday, but wouldn’t commit to what the club will do after Crain’s second scheduled outing on Sunday.

Crain has been out with a strained left oblique since April 21. He struck out one, hit a batter and threw 14 of his 21 pitches for strikes in Friday’s rehab assignment.

“We’re just thinking about today,” Ventura said. “We want to see how he does Sunday before we kind of go into what’s going to happen.”

• Addison Reed has had a smooth first month in the big leagues. The rookie reliever hasn’t allowed a run through 10 innings this season and has struck out 13 batters in his last seven innings. Reed said the White Sox’s closer-by-committee doesn’t affect his approach one bit.

“I could come in the fifth or sixth inning and I’d still have the same mindset if I was closing,” he said. “To me, it doesn’t matter what inning I’m throwing. I’m just trying to put up zeros.”

CHICAGO -- A month into his first season as the manager of the Chicago White Sox , Robin Ventura seems to have found a level of comfort in the dugout. The 46-year-old former star third baseman appears to be making up for lost time, having never managed or coached before accepting the job in October.

“It’s a month into it and I think you get a routine going with your guys , who you’re playing and all of that,” Ventura said. “The baseball part, I feel is the same, as far as what is going on and who you are facing , I (am fine ) with.”

Ventura is the polar opposite of former manager Ozzie Guillen who loved to talk to the media for hours before games .

The South Side’s current subtle skipper always kids the media about timing his sessions, so they are under five minutes. He admitted handling people for the first time can be a little tricky.

“It’s different because I haven’t done it before,” Ventura said. “You are learning about different people and you want to put them in successful situations. It’s not always that easy to get them to be positive and get them in the right spot to be good.”

The White Sox were in a tie for first place on Wednesday, and the division they play in may be up for grabs this season -- unless the Tigers decide to get their act together. Ventura will keep his eye on the 24 players who are not named Paul Konerko while he pushes his club to keep pace with the rest of the league.

“Paul gets treated different than everybody else,” Ventura said. “I treat everyone fairly, but he gets treated differently because he has a track record. I don’t feel I have to watch him on a daily basis. Younger guys you have to watch, and you get a feeling one way or another about them.”

Karl Ravech and John Kruk discuss how Robin Ventura has done so far as manager of the White Sox.

CHICAGO – Chicago White Sox manager Robin Ventura will turn to his bench Thursday in the final day of their four-game series with the Baltimore Orioles.

As the White Sox attempt to split the series, Ventura will give A.J. Pierzynski, Gordon Beckham and Brent Morel the day off and provide Brent Lillibridge, Tyler Flowers and Eduardo Escobar a chance to see the field.

Flowers and Escobar have made two previous starts this season, and Lillibridge has made one.

"You're going to a day game after night game, making sure you get some guys playing time, and they're good enough to be in there," Ventura said prior to Thursday's game.

The White Sox will face Orioles starter Jason Hammel (1-0, 2.08). Here's the entire White Sox lineup for Thursday:


1. Alejandro De Aza – CF
2. Brent Lillibridge – 3B
3. Adam Dunn – 1B
4. Paul Konerko – DH
5. Alex Rios – RF
6. Alexei Ramirez – SS
7. Dayan Viciedo – LF
8. Tyler Flowers – C
9. Eduardo Escobar – 2B
SP – Gavin Floyd -- RHP

CHICAGO -- Buck Showalter has seen the managing side of baseball change over the past 20 years to the point where big market clubs like the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs have hired new dug-out bosses with little or no experience.

“It’s still the same game between the lines,” the Orioles manager said before his team took on the White Sox on Wednesday night. “As a manager it is still about us as managers adjusting to the players. It might not have been that way in the 1950s or 60s but that’s the game from a coaching standpoint. With the Internet and instant reporting, a manager has to be aware of the reflection that your words carry to the media and the players.”

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The early-season struggles of Gordon Beckham and Brent Morel continue to be focal points, and some of the Chicago White Sox coaching staff are throwing extra batting practice every day in an attempt to get them out of their slumps.

Part of the solution is to get the two young infielders set with a plan of attack in each and every at-bat.

“I think when you go up to the plate you have to have a plan,” manager Robin Ventura said. “It’s been said before, it is better to have a bad plan than no plan at all. It is [about] an approach of a guy going up there -- you can’t swing at everything and hope something is going to happen. That is a part of practicing and becoming more comfortable with what they are trying to do to you.”

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CHICAGO -- Phil Humber didn’t know how many days it’s been since his last start.

“I haven’t been counting,” he said.

When Humber takes the mound Monday against Baltimore he will have gone 12 days in between starts; he threw five innings in an April 4 exhibition game against Houston then missed his scheduled season debut on April 10 due to rain. But Humber, who is entering his second season with the Sox, doesn’t seem to mind.

“For whatever reason it doesn’t seem to affect me as far as being able to command a baseball,” he said. “That’s one thing you worry about when you have time off like that. For me, for some reason I’m able to still feel pretty comfortable no matter how much rest I’ve had.”

Humber threw a bullpen session on April 11 and another one two days later. Because the Sox had a six-man rotation last season, Humber often went six or seven days between starts. He went 13 days between his last two starts in July, the latter of which he allowed four runs on six hits in 4 2/3 innings of the Sox’s 10-2 loss to Boston on the last day of the month.

• Manager Robin Ventura has stuck to his plan of playing his reserves on a regular basis. Both Kosuke Fukudome and Eduardo Escobar will make their second starts of the season on Sunday. Escobar will start at second base in place of Gordon Beckham; Escobar made his first start at third base and can also play shortstop. His only hit of the season was a triple.

“From seeing him last year to this year, he's just matured, he has a better approach at the plate,” Ventura said. “In spring training, when he was in games stuff happened. For me, that's nice. He was doing a lot of positive things for the lineup and defensively, he showed he can play anywhere in the infield. It's nice to get him in there and see what he can do.”

CHICAGO -- After four straight wins, all over Central Division foes (including two in a row against the favored Detroit Tigers), go ahead and be cautiously optimistic about the Chicago White Sox's start to the season. But don’t hold your breath for any extra reassurance coming out of the team’s clubhouse.

Leave it to veteran Paul Konerko to bring perspective to the Sox’s early success.

“The start is two months of the season, so that's a long way away,” Konerko said. “But I think we're doing it right, we're going about it right. We're taking it inning by inning. We're not really thinking too many big things out there. The thoughts are small, and I think that's a good thing. We're just trying to get through. It's the way it should be. We're not putting any added pressure on anything, but at the same time everybody's got a job to do and have taken upon themselves to do it right. I think most teams this time of year are doing it right, and certainly we are. But as we get into the season here, it starts to get into that grind, that starts to be the test and we got to make sure we're up for that.”

With Saturday’s 5-1 victory the Sox have won two of three series to begin the season and are a win away from matching last season’s longest win streak. The Sox went 5-13 against Detroit last season, the most losses to the Tigers since division play began in 1969.

“It’s nice to start off that way,” Sox manager Robin Ventura said. “It is April, though. But it’s better than losing those games and trying to say it’s still a long season and we hope that doesn’t carry. But for right now, I like the feel of the team and the way they come every day prepared to play and that’s the most important thing for me. It’s nice to be 4-0 in your own division, but it’s more important for me how we are approaching it day in and day out.”

Ventura said before the game that he’s liked each player’s approach so far, which is why he said it’s too early to raise any cause for concern regarding individual performances. Two Sox players who struggled mightily last season, Adam Dunn and Gordon Beckham, have already totaled 21 strikeouts through seven games. Beckham struck out once on Saturday and Dunn fanned twice, although he also crushed an RBI double to right-center field in the sixth. Dunn has continued to hit in the No. 3 spot and, except for one game, Beckham has hit ninth, so not until that changes will Ventura have much more to say about them.

And for what it’s worth, Sox players seem to appreciate Ventura’s approach.

“We all know him, he's a little more laid back than most but he's jumped on us a few times when we need to be jumped,” catcher Tyler Flowers said. “You don't feel much pressure with him. You go up there and you succeed, pat on the back. You don't succeed, still a pat on the back. You can tell he still trusts in you no matter what happens.”

CHICAGO -- Veteran first baseman Paul Konerko and first-year manager Robin Ventura missed being teammates on the Chicago White Sox by one year. They will get to share a home opener, after all.

Ventura's decade-long run as Chicago's third baseman ended after the 1998 season. Konerko, who's in his 14th season with the White Sox, joined the team in 1999. They will be in the same dugout at U.S. Cellular Field on Friday when the White Sox play their home opener against Detroit.

"You always have butterflies when you go out there in the home opener," Konerko said. "I still get them. If you don't, that's probably when it is time to get out."

Detroit's Max Scherzer (0-0), who allowed seven runs on eight hits in 2 2-3 innings in his first start against the Red Sox, will face White Sox right-hander Jake Peavy (0-0). Chicago comes home with a 3-2 record after starting the season in Texas and Cleveland.

Ventura, a surprise choice to succeed Ozzie Guillen as the team's skipper because he no prior managerial experience, is typically low key in what will be his first Chicago home opener in 12 years. He wrapped up his playing career with the Mets, Yankees and Dodgers and last played in 2004.

"It sounds corny, but there's a little bit of Americana when everybody comes out for the opener," Ventura said after the White Sox took both games against the Indians.

"We're sure glad to be going home. It was a long spring training, then two tough series on the road," he added. "It has been a long time since we've seen Chicago. It is always fun to go out and get your ovation. Things are always positive, where everybody is eager to get off to a good start."

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