White Sox see light at end of difficult road trip

ARLINGTON -- The words from Jose Abreu following a 9-2 victory for the White Sox on Wednesday night over the Rangers might take some of the most ardent White Sox fans by surprise.

"I think that we have proved during this road trip that we have a very good team," said Abreu, through interpreter and White Sox Spanish language broadcaster Billy Russo, after Abreu homered and drove in three.

It's hard to find a time when a 5-5 run indicates a very good team. But there's little doubt that the White Sox (24-27) could have been buried on this four-city, 11-game road trip, which included a rescheduled doubleheader in Baltimore last Thursday in place of a scheduled off-day.

Instead, the White Sox have remained in shouting distance of playoff contention and answered many challenges along the way. In Abreu's estimation, the team has come together more as a unit during this extended journey.

"We have to battle and fight," Abreu said. "We are not in the best shape that we can get, or we haven't shown our best game yet. But we are in a very good position and we are getting better every day."

Texas inflicted some damage upon the White Sox in a 15-2 victory Tuesday night, but the White Sox didn't let that bad feeling linger. They have a chance to win a series on Thursday, after scoring six times in the second Wednesday and knocking out 12 hits behind Chris Sale's dominance.

And whether it's a 6-5 road trip or 5-6, the White Sox have made it through to fight on into the summer with something important well within reach.

"We're going to go 6-5," said a smiling manager Robin Ventura. "It's a tough road trip. We knew with that doubleheader mixed in there that should have been an off-day, you just start adding games, and where we were and traveling around and the teams you're playing, it can be a tough trip and you can get buried. We've still got some life to us."