The White Sox Report

By Andrew Reilly

The White Sox won a low-scoring, close game Saturday without hitting a home run. This is perhaps the single biggest moment in recent franchise history.

It's not that they got by through super-timely hitting or well-executed baseball savvy, and it's not that they didn't so desperately need the long ball, but prior to Saturday's showing the Good Guys have been, shall we say, ill-suited to such endeavors. How ill-suited? So ill-suited they've won a meager two others in such fashion - one against the Mariners and the other against the Rangers, of all teams. Expanding the Sox' means of attack must be an AL West thing.

But with Jose Contreras' demotion to Charlotte reducing the Sox to three effective starting pitchers, it's hard to start thinking about things like bunts, sacrifices, advancing runners and mere single-base hits when simpler questions like "When will every fifth day no longer mean automatic loss?" insist on presenting themselves day after week after month after year. More importantly, the past few weeks have punctuated time and again that the 2009 Sox are more deeply flawed than anyone could have imagined.

A rotation once touted as a 1-2-2-5-5 has been exposed as a 2-2-4-5-5 at best, and the strongest part of the Sox' pitching staff - the relief corps - is about to get one degree weaker thanks to Clayton Richards' move to the number five spot in the rotation. Last season proved Richards as a fine fifth starter and all, but the Sox don't really need a bottom-of-the-rotation arm at this point.

Actually, they need exactly that, but by now it's just a footnote on the ever-growing shopping list, right there alongside a center fielder. And a leadoff hitter. And some well-placed bunts. Until those come along, let's all just sit back and say it together: the home run will save us from all of this mess and some day, those Rangers shall perish.

Week in Review: KC: Lost. Tigers: Washed out. Texas: Lost. Any week against the dregs of the American League ending with a 2-4 record is an ugly one to say the least.

Week in Preview: The Cleveland Indians. What a terrible team. What a nice time for a theoretically easy, long overdue, much-needed series win prior to the Sox' four-game set with the inexplicably good Toronto Blue Jays.

The Q Factor: Carlos Quentin had two doubles in Saturday's win and went 1-for-8 the rest of the weekend. When Carlos Quentin wins, everyone wins.

Senior Citizen Report: If Jose Contreras had not returned until June, as originally planned, he would have exactly as many wins to his name as he currently does from actually pitching. How depressing.

Cubs Snub: Third place in a terrible division. It's Gonna Happen Again.

Center Stage: Scotty Pods' .231 is a comparative raking next to Brent Lillibridge's.164.

The White Sox Report: Read 'em all.

The Cub Factor: Know your enemy.

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