Alex Rios got off to a little bit of a slow start this season for the Chicago White Sox, but his bat started heating up in the end of April and it has been hot ever since.  Rios had a 12 game hit streak end yesterday after failing to get a hit for the first time since April 25th.  Since that time Rios’ average has gone from .277 to .322.  Rios has had four multi-hit games already this month, including a 4/4 effort on Mothers’ Day.  Unfortunately that effort was wasted since Bobby Jenks collapsed in the 9th that day, but Rios has been the White Sox best hitter.  The opposition is aware of the way he is hitting the ball, but they haven’t been able to be too careful with him because homerun leader Paul Konerko is usually waiting in the on-deck circle to drive Rios in.  Rios and Konerko are the only two that have been hitting the ball well all season for the White Sox.  Rios has also been providing the Sox with a great glove out in centerfield and it looks like Rios is much more comfortable with the White Sox this season as compared to last.

Paul Konerko is off to one of the best starts of his career, hitting .296 and leading the majors with 12 homers to go along with his 24 RBIs.  Konerko has been one of the few White Sox players who has been hitting the ball, with Andruw Jones and Alex Rios being the only other players who have been productive at the plate so far this season.  Jones is hitting .274 with 8 HRs and 11 RBIs.  Rios is hitting .277 with 3 HRs and 9 RBIs.  Other than those three, the White Sox offense has been absolutely pathetic.  Their team average is .223, by far the worst in the major leagues.  The Toronto Blue Jays are the second worse so far at .233, 10 points higher than the Sox, showing just how bad the Sox have been offensively.  Guys like Carlos Quentin, Gordon Beckham, Alexei Ramirez, A.J. Pierzynski, and Juan Pierre all have batting averages hovering around, or well below .200.  That is worse than just a bad start, especially when you consider the fact that the power-hitting Quentin has the worst career average out of all them at .250. nearly 80 points higher than his current average.  Beckham hit .270 last year as a rookie, Ramirez is a career .278 hitter, Pierzynski is a career .284 hitter, and Pierre is a career .299 hitter.  So, it seems as if things have to turn around soon since these guys have all proven they are good major league hitters, but this terrible start may be too much to overcome down the stretch of the season for the Sox.

Paul Konerko is one of the few Chicago White Sox players who is actually hitting the ball early in this 2010 season.  The White Sox have started the season off with an offensively challenged 5-9 start.  They need to start hitting the ball or they are going to dig themselves into too deep of a whole in the AL Central, where their rival Minnesota Twins are off to a hot 10-4 start.  Without Konerko’s strong bat, the White Sox would be in even bigger trouble than they are now.  Konerko has a .261 BA (12/46), but it is his power numbers that are making the difference.  Of his 12 hits, 5 of them have left the ballpark and he has 10 RBIs with a .630 SLG.  He has drawn 8 walks, helping his OBP get up over 100 points higher than his BA at .364 OBP.  This is a great sign for the White Sox since Konerko is known for getting off to very slow starts in years past.  Now only if some other White Sox players could start hitting the ball and driving in some runs.  There is only so much Konerko can do, so some other guys on that roster really need to step up.

Just when it looked like the Chicago White Sox offense was starting to come around, they ran into Ricky Romero and his best stuff.  The 25-year-old Romero, who was a first-round draft pick in 2005, was on top of his game against the White Sox last night.  Romero took a no-hitter into the 8th inning, before his former Blue Jays teammate Alex Rios took him deep for a two-run homer.  Other than Rios, the Sox hitters could not figure Romero out at all.  Romero finished the game with 12 strikeouts, and every Sox hitter struck out at least once except for Rios.  Gavin Floyd pitched for the Sox and he battled through an off night, giving up 4 runs on 9 hits in 6.0 innings.  After having two solid games of offensive production, the Sox were nearly no-hit.  You have to tip your cap to Romero though, and hopefully this game doesn’t bring the Sox hitters into another slump.  Either way, the White Sox offense has still been pretty unimpressive so far this season and that needs to change soon since their division rival Minnesota Twins are off to a very good 6-2 start.

The Chicago White Sox team batting average is only at .225 so far in this young season, and the offense was looking pretty ugly after having a nice 6-0 win over the Cleveland Indians in their season opener.  They went on to lose their next four games, averaging only 6 hits per contest during that losing streak and a measly 2.5 runs.  Well, in the past two games the White Sox bats have come alive and they have brought them two straight wins.  They beat the Twins on Sunday with 5 runs on 9 hits, including 2 doubles and 3 home runs.  They followed that with an extra-innings win last night against the Toronto Blue Jays.  Mark Teahen’s hitting is the reason the Sox won against the Blue Jays, as he was a double short of the cycle and drove in the game-tying and eventual game-winning run.  Teahen had only one hit coming into last night’s game, so it was a breakout game for him.  It looks like the Sox might start to reel off some wins with Teahen looking like he is out of his slump, Paul Konerko with 3 home runs and 7 RBIs already, and a few other White Sox hitters coming around.  This is a very good sign for the White Sox, especially since their pitching has looked very strong so far with a team ERA of 3.39, 1.30 whip, and 4 quality starts already.  The Sox got off to a slow start, but it looks like they are finally getting into a rhythm.

The Chicago White Sox started their 2010 season on the right foot, winning 6-0 against the Cleveland Indians.  In their opening day win, the White Sox got a homerun from Paul Konerko, a homerun and a diving catch from Alex Rios, and one of the greatest plays ever made by a pitcher.  In the top of the fifth, Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle kicked a grounder up the middle with his left foot, where it caromed off towards the first base line and in to foul territory.  Buehrle raced behind the ball and in one swift movement, he gloved and tossed the ball backwards and between his legs to first baseman Paul Konerko, who barehanded it just in the nick of time to beat the base-runner.  Words don’t do the play justice, so watch the clip here:

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Along with his great play, Buehrle pitched a very good game going 7.0 innings with 0 earned runs on 3 hits, 1 walk, and 3 strikeouts.  This was a great start to the White Sox season and see if they can make it two in a row tonight against the Indians, with former Cy Young Winner Jake Peavy making his season debut for the Sox.

Frank “Big Hurt” Thomas  finally announced his official retirement a few days ago at the age of 41.  He hasn’t played since the 2008 season, when he was with the Oakland Athletics.  His last three seasons were spent with the Toronto Blue Jays and the A’s, but it was his 16 years as a member of the Chicago White Sox where he did most of his damage.  Thomas is arguably the best player in White Sox history, with the club records for Home Runs (448) and RBIs (1,465).  He is also one of the greatest and most imposing hitters of his era.  The five-time All-Star finished his career with a .301 average, 521 home runs (18th all-time), 1,704 RBIs, 1,494 runs, 2,468 hits, 295 doubles, 1667 walks, .419 OBP, .555 SLG, and a .974 OPS.  He won back-to-back MVP’s in 1993 and 1994, which put him on a very short and elite list of players to accomplish that in the American League.  That list includes Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Hal Newhouser, and Jimmie Foxx.  Thomas also won a batting title in 1997.

Thomas was injured for the majority of the 2005 White Sox World Series season and missed the entire postseason.  Despite all of that, he stated that World Series Title was the best memory of his career.  He did contribute some that year, as the team got a big power and momentum boost from Thomas in the middle of the season.  He played in just 34 games in the 2005 season, but hit 12 home runs and had 26 RBIs.  He did spend a lot of his career as a DH, but he was a very capable 1B and finished his career with a .990 fielding percentage in 706 games played at 1B. People seem to forget just how dominant he was, as some are questioning whether or not Thomas will be a first ballot Hall-of-Famer.  I don’t think there should be any doubt, as his numbers speak for themselves.  What makes Thomas’ career even more impressive is that he was seen as a clean player in an era overshadowed by steroid use.  Thomas was calling for performance enhancing drug testing long before others were, as he publicly advocated for PE drug testing as early as 1995.  He was also one of the only players to get mentioned in the famous Mitchell Report in a positive way.  Thomas did have an ugly and bitter departure from the White Sox, but those bridges have been mended.  The “Big Hurt” truly was one of the best hitters to play the game and is a White Sox legend.

The Chicago White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle won the AL Gold Glove award for pitchers, the first of his career.  Buehrle is the first White Sox player to win a gold glove since Robin Ventura won it in 1998 at 3B.  Buehrle is the first White Sox pitcher to win the award since Jim Kaat, who won it in 1975.  Buehrle finished the year with only 1 error on 55 chances.  He also had eight pickoffs this year, which led the league.  This capped off a memorable 2009 season for Buehrle, who went 13-10 with a 3.84 ERA.  Buehrle had the best game of his career on July 23rd, when he pitched a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays.

The White Sox are prepared to make lefty Matt Thornton the closer which means that they want to move Bobby Jenks. GM Kenny Williams might be in the mood to roll the dice and trade Jenks to the Rays for Pat Burrell. The only problem with this trade is that Burrell did not do well in his first season as a DH. The White Sox would probably have to play Burrell some in the outfield but that wouldn’t be a problem as Carlos Quentin needs some time off once in a while. The Rays would likely jump at this if it were offered to them as they are desperate for a closer.