Kings of Kauffman – How do you explain the White Sox struggles at home against the Royals at home but being successful largely in Kansas City?

Matt Adams– Mostly chance. This team, as is the case with most, go through hot and cold streaks.  It just so happens that some poor games have been strung together against the Royals.  It would be nice to have some extra consistency against a less experienced team but the White Sox haven’t exactly been able to turn that into an advantage.

Jeremy Guthrie will face the White Sox for the second time in just over a week on Sunday at the K. Photo Credit: Peter G. Aiken-US PRESSWIRE

KOK – What is the team’s plan for Chris Sale at this point of the season? 

MA – The idea at this point is to keep him fresh through the year so that he’ll be primed for a playoff run.  It’s tricky with a guy who hasn’t even approached this sort of workload before.  You want to protect him but at the same time you don’t want to miss out on the value that he provides.  Sale is arguably this team’s ace, and you feel much better about winning games when your ace is on the mound.

KOK – On a scale to 1-10 how surprised are White Sox fans with Robin Ventura at this point?

MA – I’d put it at maybe a 2.  Nobody knew what to expect out of Robin before the season started so there isn’t much to be surprised about.  Everybody is psyched about the job he’s done.  The team is in first and the players appear to be pretty relaxed out there.  There are some gripes about his x’s and o’s here and there but overall he’s got the fans feeling good.  A manager doesn’t really need to change his style for fan opinion of him to change.  All that has to shift is the team’s record and the fan opinion will go along with it.

KOK – What’s happened in the brief time since these two teams met last week at the Cell?

MA – Since last we met there was a bit of a moral victory to accompany some big wins.  The White Sox had been notoriously bad playing in the Rogers Center and managed 3 of 4 there.  Again, likely it was just a timing thing along but feels good to not have that hanging over the team.  Paul Konerko has missed the entire week after hitting the 7-day DL from a concussion inadvertently delivered by Jarrod Dyson.  He’s available for the series for the first time since the two teams last played.

For the other side of the conversation check out Southside Showdown

Probable Starters this weekend –

Friday 7:10 pm, Chris Sale (14-3, 2.60) v. Luis Mendoza (6-8, 4.37)

Saturday 6:10 pm, Jake Peavy (9-8, 3.04) v. Bruce Chen (8-10, 5.56)

Sunday 1:10 pm, Jose Quintana (5-2, 2.77) v. Jeremy Guthrie (5-12, 5.75)

Late in his career, but that swing's still beautiful. Mandatory Credit:

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Jose Guillen leads the team with 11 homers, but when he’s slumping, like he has been over his last nine games (5-32), the homers become scarce. Alberto Callaspo has been a welcome surprised in the power department, as he’s hit 7 homeruns, but he hasn’t hit a homerun since May 20. A surprising third on the team in homers is Billy Butler, who has only 5 on the year. It’s surprising because he’s hitting .342 on the season, so he’s obviously seeing the ball well. Beyond those three, where will the power come from? Whenever Rick Ankiel comes back, he’ll be a source of power, but he’s been out for more than a month and was slumping before that. Mike Aviles and David DeJesus have some pop, but nobody would expect them to contribute more than 10-15 dingers in a season. The rest of the team has no track record or scouting expectation of power.

It comes down to Butler. The hitting is great, but when’s the power going to come around?
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