Winners in 11 of their last 15 games, 5 series in a row without a losing series, a 5-2 home stand, and a TON of momentum. That’s everything the White Sox have been able to accomplish over the past two and a half weeks of the season. The Sox now embark on a tough 10-game road trip to Texas, Toronto, and Boston.

In order for the Sox to continue to build momentum they will need to keep pitching well. The starting pitchers have been outstanding for the most part. Phil Humber has been very consistent and could arguably be the best pitcher on the staff this year so far. Jake Peavy was phenomenal in his last start with a complete game, 3-hit shutout over Cleveland. Mark Buerhle is the same as he has always been, consistent and professional. Even Gavin Floyd, John Danks, and Edwin Jackson have pitched much better.

The offense is still a concern as they consistently struggle to score runs. The biggest concern is Adam Dunn as he hovers around .200 with little power numbers. Alexei Ramirez has been on fire lately helping to carry the load with the always producing Paul Konerko. Ultimately pitching and defense wins, but the offense will need to continue to improve for the Sox to make a full comback on the Indians.

As the season progresses the Sox will need to determine how to manage 6 starting pitchers. The current plan is to use a 6-man rotation, but the likelihood of that lasting the rest of the season is slim. I firmly believe that the Sox need to pick 5 starters and go with them, then attempt to trade the 6th. Edwin Jackson seems like the simple answer due to his inconsistent play and the fact that GM Kenny Williams supposedly only traded for him last year in an effort to trade for Adam Dunn. Don’t be surprised if John Danks’ name is shopped around this summer though. Danks will be up for a new contract soon and the Sox might decide to trade him before they have to re-sign him to a long-term deal. The other priority for Williams should be a leadoff hitter. Juan Pierre is just not getting the job done. Sox fans would love to see a deal for somone like Ichiro Suzuki, but it’s highly unlikely the Sox would add that sort of contract to an already maxed out payroll.

For now though the Sox continue to roll on and need another successful road trip to keep the momentum going, which would go a long way to cementing the Sox confidence that they are truly competitors in the AL Central.

Most people go through life as either an optimist or a pessimist. The age-old adage is that the optimist sees the glass as half full, the pessimist sees that same glass as half empty. The same can be applied to the Chicago White Sox performance so far this season.

The pessimist sees a 15-23 record, including an awful 5-11 record at home which has been a strength of the Sox in the past. A team batting average of .248 and scoring 3.94 runs per game are other stats to encourage pessimism. That same pessimist will bring up poor performances from Alex Rios (.163 in April), Adam Dunn (.213), Gordon Beckham (.219), Juan Pierre (6 of 14 in SB), John Danks (0-6 record), and Matt Thornton (1-6 in Saves) as reasons to be down on the Sox. Not so fast… there are also reasons to be optimistic.

Last year on this date the White Sox were 14-20, only to finish the season 88-74. The Sox are currently on a west coast road trip where they have struggled in recent history. They have managed to win two series in a row and are starting to play better. Jake Peavy made his 1st start of the season and pitched fairly well if not “decent.” If Peavy stays healthy he brings a different attitude and bulldog mentality to the Sox starting rotation. Alex Rios is hitting .300 in May after hitting .344 last May. Adam Dunn is starting to heat up with 2 HR and 6 RBI over his last 10 games. Paul Konerko is following up his MVP type season last year with another tremendous season. The Sox are 10-12 on the road so far this season and no one expects them to continue to play so poorly at home, so one has to believe that eventually things will go back to what we consider “normal.”

White Sox fans are feeling down about the team because of their poor start. Baseball season is a 162-game, six month marathon, not a sprint. Tomorrow starts a 3 game series in Oakland, followed by a 7 game homestand so optimists think the Sox could win 7 of their next 10 - building momentum as the weather heats up. At this point in the season, it is all about perspective.

Which Sox fan are you, the pessimist or the optimist?

The 2011 White Sox have set a record in April, but not one that the team wants to remember. After the 6-2 loss to Baltimore on Saturday the Sox closed out April with a 10-18 record. The 18 losses set a franchise record in the month of April. The most frustrating part is that there is no hint of the trend changing anytime soon. Looking ahead to May, the schedule does not appear to get any easier as the Sox play only 11 of 29 games at home. Included is a 9 game trip to the west coast where the Sox have seemingly never played well.

The biggest question that seems to have no answer right now is why is a team with this much talent playing this poorly? This year is the second consecutive season that the team has started off ridiculously slow. Is the problem coaching? Perhaps. At the major league level a coach or manager cannot teach players something “new” to help them improve. What a coach can provide is a new philosophy or idea on how to approach a specific situation. Spring Training is the time when coaches should have the players prepared and ready to play. I believe the slow starts can be blamed on coaching. Ozzie Guillen has been quoted numerous times that the coaches cannot hit, pitch, or field and his is correct. So then is the problem the players? Perhaps. Guys like Alex Rios, Gordon Beckham, and Adam Dunn have been terrible so far. These are all guys that the Sox are depending on to be integral cogs in the offensive machine. The pitching staff has been just as bad. The bullpen could not close out games early in the season, which put pressure on the starters to be perfect. Recently Edwin Jackson has been the second coming of Rick “Wild Thing” Vaughn from Major League. So many questions…. No answers.

In 2010 the Sox rebounded from a slow start by using a 15-3 interleague record to jump back in to the division race only to fade in September. 2011 could potentially be similar if the team can figure out some answers, but right now that feels like a long shot.

For Ozzie Guillen, starting a 4 game series in the City That Never Sleeps must feel only fitting assuming he had not been able to sleep much with the way his team had been playing the previous 11 games. My bet is Guillen slept much better last night thanks in large part to Phil Humber and Sergio Santos. Humber took a no-hitter into the 7th inning before giving up a single to Alex Rodriguez by having control over all of his pitches and keeping the powerful Yankees lineup off balance all night. Santos closed the 9th to record his first save of the season. The save was not textbook or pretty, as Santos gave up back-to-back singles to start the inning before getting Mark Teixeira to ground into a double play. A strikeout of A-Rod one batter later and the Sox were 2-0 victors. At this point though Guillen will take a win anyway he can get it. One victory over the Yankees does not make up for the awfulness we have seen over the past couple weeks, but for one night White Sox fans felt better about their team.

Of course all these good feelings can go down the drain if the team regresses back to how they were playing the previous 11 games. They lost 10 of 11 mostly due to an ineffective offense. Scoring only 16 runs in 11 games will not net you very many victories regardless of who is pitching. Guys like Adam Dunn, Alex Rios, and Gordon Beckham need to get themselves going in order for the Sox to maintain any sort of momentum and climb their way out of the AL Central cellar. Working on the side of the Sox is the fact that Cleveland and Kansas City currently are atop the Central. I have a hard time believing either of those teams will still be there at the end of the season. So that means the division is still wide open. Why can’t the Sox catch fire, win 15 of 20 games or something, and take control of the division?

I had a friend text me after the game saying “This is the first time since the opening series in Cleveland where I felt good about this team.” And maybe that is all it will take for the Sox to get going again. One night where they felt like a good team. One night where they didn’t have a costly error made late in the game. One night where the bullpen came in and protected a lead like you expect of them. One night that could potentially lead to so many more.

A great manager once said “We won a game yesterday. We win one today, that’s two in a row. We win one tomorrow, that’s called a winning streak” Thank you Lou Brown.

The White Sox finally snapped a 7 game losing streak by winning the last game of a 4 game series against the Tampa Rays. During the losing streak the offense seemed to have fallen asleep. After the tremendous start to the season in which the Sox were leading the league in runs scored, they scored a total of 12 runs in the 7 games. Last night they scored 9 runs. Let’s hope that we see more of last night and less of the previous 7 games going forward.

The last week has been quite frustrating as a White Sox fan. The early season struggles of the bullpen haven’t been as bad, but the closer situation is still foggy at best due to no save opportunities. Who gets the 1st save chance when it comes up? My guess is Sergio Santos. The offense that looked so good early is now struggling. Adam Dunn is barely hitting .100 since his appendectomy, Alex Rios is having a terrible start to the season, and Gordon Beckham has cooled off considerably in the last couple weeks. The games just seem like any time the pitching does well, the offense cannot score runs. When the offense scores runs, the pitching or bullpen implodes. On a brighter note, Juan Pierre seems to have come out of his slump. He has been getting on base, stealing bases, and scoring some runs. The White Sox are a better team when Pierre plays well.

Ultimately the year is still very early with the Sox sitting at 8-11 and heading to Detroit for a weekend series. All of these issues can be completely forgotten about if the Sox go on a winning streak over the next week. Like Lou Brown said, a streak has to start with just one win.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.  White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen watches his starting pitcher go deep into the game and put the team in a position to win.  Guillen goes to the bullpen to close out the game only to see a 9th inning lead evaporate and his team eventually lose the game.  For the third time on the current homestand the bullpen has been unable to close out a game in which the White Sox had the lead in the 9th inning.  Guillen must feel like he has somehow ended up in a baseball version of the movie Groundhog Day.  See Ozzie’s post game press conference and notice the look of utter confusion on his face and in his voice.

Through 12 games of the season the White Sox are leading baseball in runs scored (73) and have held a lead in all 12 games played.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is the bullpen is now 1-7 in save opportunities.  Matt Thornton himself is 0-4. He’s only the 3rd pitcher since 1990 to have 4 consecutive blown saves (courtesy of Elias). That’s really bad.

Looking forward the Sox will welcome the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (I still think that’s the dumbest name ever) to the Cell for a 3 game weekend series. The Sox are currently 4-3 on the homestand, but could easily be 7-0 if not for the already discussed bullpen woes. Phil Humber, Gavin Floyd, and Mark Buehrle are the scheduled starting pitchers for the Sox. The Angels will send Jered Weaver, fresh off his 15K performance in his last start, to the mound on Friday. The starter for Saturday has yet to be named, but Dan Haren will go on Sunday. Weaver and Haren are off to incredible starts this season at a combined 6-0 with a 0.79 ERA.

Overall White Sox fans are feeling the same frustration as Ozzie right now. It’s so exciting to see the offense scoring a ton of runs after the horrendous start that they had last season. But ultimately baseball is a game of pitching and defense, both of which the Sox have struggled with so far this season. The season is only 12 games in and there’s plenty of time to fix everything with the bullpen, but let’s hope that it is sooner rather than later.

Mark Buehrle was brilliant last night for 8 innings versus the Oakland Athletics in limiting the A’s to only 2 hits and 3 total base runners.  No base runner advanced past 1st base through those 8 innings.  Dallas Braden and Tyson Ross were nearly as good for the A’s only allowing a solo HR to light hitting Brent Lillibridge.  With the Sox leading 1-0 and Buehrle only having thrown 99 pitches, manager Ozzie Guillen decided to bring in closer Matt Thornton.  Thornton proceeded to give up a lead off double to Andy LaRoche off an 0-2 slider that was smoked into the left-center gap.  After another very hard hit ball was snared by Paul Konerko at 1B, Daric Barton hit a deep fly ball to LF Juan Pierre that should have been out #2 in the inning.  Pierre dropped the ball allowing the run to score and tie the game.  Ultimately the Sox ended up losing the game 2-1 off a Kurt Suzuki solo HR in the 10th off of Jesse Crain.  Definitely a tough no-decision for Buehrle.

Two things stick out in this game:

• 1) Matt Thornton is now 0-3 in save opps as the new closer.  As bad as Bobby Jenks was, it at least took him a month or so to blow 3 saves and rarely if ever did he blow 3 straight.  Overall the entire bullpen has struggled mightily in the first week and a half of the season.  The talent is there with Thornton, Sale, Santos, and Crain all capable of having dominating stuff.  Perhaps Thornton is just not the guy as a closer and needs to move back to the set up role where he was phenomenal the last couple of season.  Either way, unless the bullpen starts getting guys out consistently this is going to be a long season on the South Side.
• 2) Juan Pierre’s defense is becoming a liability.  This is the 2nd time since Friday that he’s dropped a fly ball allowing the opposing team to either start a rally or keep one going.  He’s not good enough offensively to be a poor defender.  If he put up Adam Dunn type numbers, then you just live with the poor defense.  But he’s getting on base at a .280 clip right now and obviously has little to no power.  If he’s not getting on base, causing havoc on the base paths, and playing good defense, then he is basically worthless to the Sox.

Currently the Sox sit at 6-4, but could easily be 8-2 or 9-1 if not for the troubles of the bullpen.  It will be interesting to see how long the always ready to pull the trigger Kenny Williams will sit by and watch more magnificent efforts like Buehrle’s go to waste.