Chris De Luca leads off his game recap (tonight’s 13-1 loss to the Twins on the heels of yesterday’s 7-1 victory) in the Sun-Times with the following observation of the AL Central:

There are two ways you can look at the surprising numbers summing up the American League Central Division. Either this was the most overhyped division in baseball or these teams are so good, they are simply beating up on each other too much.

On May 7, it’s tough to fathom that just one team in the division is in the black as far as wins and losses go. Even more surprising is the fact that it’s 17-15 Minnesota. The Sox struggling to stay afloat at 15-17 was expected from the baseball intelligentsia, though the way they’ve gone about it has turned heads (great pitching, but where’s the offense?) Cleveland at 16-17 and Detroit lagging in dead last at 15-20 would make sense if they’d spent most of their schedule playing each other.

Here’s the real test: right now, 3.5 games separate first from last place in the AL Central, easily the closest margin between hero and zero among baseball’s six divisions (the AL East is next, with 5 games dividing the front-running Red Sox from the cellar-dwelling Orioles). Are these five teams bunched together as not-so-great, ala the 2006 NL Central, or could this be shaping up as a repeat of the 2006 AL Central in which three teams won 90 games? Right now we’re only 20% of the way home in 2008, so a ton of stuff can still happen.

Still, while Gavin Floyd delivered a much-needed “pick-me-up” with last night’s performance, I think Mark Buehrle going to town on the White Sox dugout speaks to the dire straits the Sox are in. Walks are fine, pitching’s been good if not stellar almost every night out, but if a team can’t collectively get over .230, it’s going to be another very long summer no matter how mediocre the division potentially turns out to be.

Seeing as it’s now April 29th and the season is officially one month old, let’s take a look at where the White Sox stand:

Offensive Categories:
Team Average: .242 (14th in the AL)
On-Base Percentage: .338 (7th)
OPS (OB+SLG): .755 (5th)
Runs: 130 (5th)

Pitching Categories:
Runs Allowed: 101 (2nd)
ERA: 3.77 (3rd)
BAA: .248 (4th)
Quality Starts: 17 (1st)

The people who tell you the numbers never lie are only half right. Numbers lie all the time. For example, when a team is hitting collectively as bad as the Sox are, the numbers tell you they should stink at scoring runs and winning games. And lately, the Sox have stunk at putting points on the board - and yet they’re sitting in first place heading to May while ranking in the top half of the league in every other significant offensive measuring stick. How’s this possible?

Meanwhile, what was expected to be the most combustible element of this Sox team - the starting rotation - has been outstanding. Gavin Floyd has pitched well enough to win every start. John Danks is 4 for 5 in quality outings, as is Jose Contreras. Javy Vazquez picked up where he left off - the most suspect member of the rotation is Mark Buehrle!

So you’d think things would be looking all the way up, right? Not exactly. The Sox have to start hitting if they’re going to stay a factor. To take a glass-half-full look at it, the poor average is with Nick Swisher, Orlando Cabrera, Jim Thome & Paul Konerko hitting way below where they’re expected to be. On the down side? The poor average reflects the fact that Nick Swisher, Orlando Cabrera, Jim Thome & Paul Konerko are hitting way below where they’re expected to be. Does anybody else feel comfortable just saying, “Don’t worry, they’re bound to turn it on and break loose sooner or later?” Hawk can say it. No way I’m saying it.

One year ago today, Mark Buehrle threw the 16th no-hitter in White Sox history. Little did we know the best was yet to come, as Mark signed a contract extension 10 weeks later to keep him on the Southside through 2011. Here’s to you, Mark. How about an encore performance tomorrow night against the Rays?

As everyone knows the Sox are set to start the season off in Cleveland this Monday, and will return to Chicago for the home opener on Monday April 7th for an afternoon game. In doing some research on where to find tickets for some of these early season games, I’ve decided that TickCo offers some of the best deals.

Their site isn’t the most friendly, and it took approximately 4 clicks just to get to the listing of Sox games, but after arriving there the rest was easy.

All the home and away dates were listed, so I clicked on the aforementioned home opener against the Twins. The cool thing about their site vs. others is that some good deals are front and center (or actually, left and center). I picked some of the “featured” tickets in Section 522. Not the closest to the field but a good vantage point to see the entire field without any obstructions.

The rest of the process was easy, and I got some decent tickets to a Sox/Twins matchup so I’m happy. It’s better than shelling out more at the park to a scalper. It looks like there are plenty of seats available for upcoming games, including the series vs. the Cubs that starts on Friday June 27.. Peace of mind, folks. Peace of mind.

Despite being on waivers (or perhaps not) earlier in the week, Juan Uribe will be with the Chicago White Sox in Cleveland next week, and he will be the first man up for the in-season competition at second base. Think of it like a bizarro version of American Idol - Uribe and Ramirez survived the whining and moaning of the audition phase and finally get to become shallow underachievers once the lights go up. Should we consider it good or bad that not one of the four contenders was able to win the job this spring? (That’s a rhetorical question.)

Uribe’s position is a tenuous one though - Alexei Ramirez, who could wind up as a stopgap solution in the outfield now that Carlos Quentin is banged up and Jerry Owens is on the DL, is knocking on the door with terrific spring numbers and long-term potential with the bat that puts Uribe to shame. Still, never underestimate the power of having to play for your job in professional sports - it could cause Uribe to fold like an accordion and expedite his exit, or it could motivate him to get back to being the player he was before he realize he could hit 30 home runs a year in Comiskey Park.