For Sox, Focus is Now on Standings
The White Sox' 11-game win streak came to an end against the Cubs Sunday. Leading up to the streak team captain Paul Konerko had said repeatedly that the idea was to get to .500 and then look at more lofty goals. At 39-35 and just 1.5 games behind the Twins for first place in the AL Central, the Sox can finally aim for more than just getting out of the cellar.
"When you think about the last time we lost before today was that Sunday night game," Konerko said after the game. "That seems like a long time ago--which is good. It's getting to that point where you don't really care about the winning streaks or anything like that. You're looking at the standings and 'Did we pick up a game, did we lose a game?' You know that's kind of where the time of season it's starting to get to."
That's certainly the case for the Sox. While Ozzie Guillen and Kenny Williams kept pointing to the end of June as a critical stretch of baseball for the team, you can make the argument that the next 13 games could be just as key. The criticism of the Sox' win streak was that it came against the National League. Next up for the Sox is a relatively tough stretch: three at Kansas City, three at Texas, four at home with Los Angeles and another three at home with Kansas City.
That takes the Sox to the All-Star break and, if they continue to play the kind of baseball they've been playing over the last two weeks, to a point where Williams may look to add a player or two instead of subtracting.
