No room for dissent on Sox

White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper was so annoyed at my line of questioning Tuesday that he started sounding like Lovie Smith.
How confident are you in the back end of your rotation with two months to go?
"I'm confident in everybody," Coop said. "I'm always confident. I always believe we're going to get it done."
Is is a legitimate concern to wonder how much gas Freddy Garcia has in the tank?
"It would be for anybody in baseball. Can they close out? No matter what team you're on, that's a question for anybody."
Ozzie says it's important to keep Garcia fresh down the stretch.
"We do that with everyone."
On paper, Garcia is most effective when his pitch-counts are down.
"Anybody who has a lower pitch count usually pitches pretty good, all right? I mean, if you throw a low pitch count, you're usually doing pretty well."
So giving up five runs in less than two innings is nothing to get anxious about?
"That's the media's concern. It's usually not the good things. We're not talking about the good stuff right here. We're talking about, "Can Freddy last? Is he out of gas? You're more concerned with the negatives."
Aren't you ever concerned about one of your pitchers?
"I'm always concerned about everybody every day. But I don't take the approach that they're crashing. I take the approach that they're going to get it right."
Let the record show that the only person who said anything about anybody crashing is Don Cooper. Clearly, he was in no mood to engage in a healthy discourse on Garcia and Daniel Hudson and the importance of the fourth and fifth starters in the final two months of a pennant race.
Ozzie Guillen, on the other hand, not only was willing to engage in the debate, but he made good points. "What team has a legitimate fifth starter?" he asked. "Like where you say, "Wow. This guy's out there, we're going to win today!"
"The Red Sox? They're in third place. Nobody in baseball has a fifth starter. I think this kid [Hudson] will come up after the bad game on Sunday. And we've got four good ones. Yes, we can make it."
Cooper doesn't suffer cynics so gladly. He has too many pitchers throwing well to dwell on -- at least publicly -- what could go wrong. And he's got a point. His pitching staff is one of the best in the American League -- fourth in ERA (3.92), third in strikeouts-to-walks (2.34-1). Sox pitchers have allowed the fewest home runs in the AL (74) -- pretty good for a team that plays in a park where the ball carries. In fact, Sox pitchers have allowed 38 homers at U.S. Cellular Field, while Sox hitters have hit 72 homers. The differential of plus-34 is the second best in the AL (behind Toronto's plus-42). The league average is plus 2.8.
So while I'm not backing down from concerns about the back end of the rotation, the White Sox have much more going for them right now. Here's a look at the brightest of the bright spots:
1. Gavin Floyd -- The hottest of the Sox's hot starters. After pitching seven scoreless innings against the Mariners on Tuesday night, Floyd (6-8, 3.66) is 4-2 with a 1.04 ERA in his last 10 starts, with a batting-average-against of .202.
2. John Danks -- The left-hander is 7-2, with a 2.83 ERA in his last nine starts, with a batting-average-against of .186. Danks (11-7, 3.23) has allowed two runs or fewer in 14 of his 20 starts, three or fewer in 16 of 20.
3. Ozzie Guillen -- The week of the trading deadline is a good example of Guillen's impact on the team and why this team in particular wins because of him. He stands up for his guys and absorbs the distraction of trade-talk at the same time. More importantly, he has a keen awareness of the importance of keeping his pitchers fresh down the stretch.
4. Alexei Ramirez -- After going 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBI in the Sox's 11-0 victory over the Mariners on Tuesday night, Ramirez is hitting .367 (40-for-109) in his last 29 games to improve his batting average from .254 to .288. And the hotter he gets at the plate, the better he has played in the field.
5. Mark Buehrle -- In early June, Buehrle was 3-6 with a 5.40 ERA. But in his last eight starts, he's etch6-2 with a 2.20 ERA to improve to 9-8, 3.96 overall.
6. J.J. Putz -- Part of the hottest lefty-righty set-up combination in the league. In his last 26 appearances, Putz is 5-0 with a 0.00 ERA, setting a team record for consecutive scoreless appearances. That can be deceiving for a relief pitcher. But in that span Putz has allowed only one of 10 inherited runners to score.
7. Matt Thornton -- The All-Star left-hander has a scoreless streak of his own -- he hasn't allowed a run in 13 1/3 innings over his last 16 appearances. He's allowed three of 10 inherited runners to score in that span.
8. Gordon Beckham -- He had two doubles and two RBI against the Mariners on Tuesday night to break an 0-for- skein. In his last 25 games, Beckham is hitting .345 (30-for-87) with three homers and 13 RBI to raise his average from .199 on June 25 to .239.
9. Paul Konerko -- A steadying force in the clubhouse and on the field, Konerko is hitting .297 with 23 home runs and 69 RBI. After hitting one home run in a 22-game stretch through Sunday, Konerko has homered in his last two games.
10. Omar Vizquel -- Since replacing the injured Mark Teahen at third base, Vizquel not only has given the team an upgrade defensively that appears to have affected the entire infield, but he's hitting .302 (37-for-123) -- pretty good for a 43-year-old who hit .246 in his last full season in 2007.
Mark Potash

