After a shaky performance against the Tigers in which he went just 4.1 innings, the White Sox optioned Dylan Axelrod to Charlotte. With a split doubleheader tomorrow against the Indians, two pitchers will be arriving from Charlotte.

One of those will be the first "taxi squad" player in White Sox history. The new collective bargaining agreement added the ability for teams to add a 26th man to their active rosters for split doubleheaders scheduled at least 24 hours in advance. The other pitcher will be Axelrod's replacement.

We know Eric Stults will be starting the nightcap so he will be one of the call-ups. It will be interesting to see whether he will be the 26th man or a more permanent addition to the White Sox. With the off day on Thursday, a fifth starter would not be needed again until May 15, assuming the White Sox skip that spot's next start. It's unlikely the White Sox would keep Stults in the bullpen because having 5 lefties would be a bit ridiculous. Stults this season: 5 GS, 28.2 IP, 25 H, 10 BB, 26 K.

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White Sox drop the rubber match of a gut wrenching three game set in Detroit.

Adam Dunn hit a monster shot in the 1st inning. Detroit answered when lead off man Austin Jackson tied the game with a blast of his own in the bottom of the frame.

Detroit had a bunch of base runners this afternoon. They even had a man reach in the second after Dylan Axelrod struck out the side. Despite dropped third strikes and balks, none of them managed to cross the plate. The Tigers left 22 12 men on base. That's not a typo folks. 22 12 men stranded, 0-12 with men in scoring position.

The Sox left 14 eight men on the bases themselves. Like the Tigers, any man to reach today was still standing out there when the inning ended.

It all came down to the solo HR. Prince Fielder put his team ahead when he took Alexrod deep in the 3rd. Andy Dirks added an insurance homer off displaced closer Hector Santiago in the 8th.

With so many scoring opportunities dashed, the tension ran high all game. It was an exciting game to watch, it just broke the wrong way and Detroit's first round pick outlasted the guy taken in the 30th round and released by the Padres.

It was a decent start for Axelrod, the former Thunderbolt, but he threw a lot of pitches early and three guys were used out of the pen behind him. It shouldn't be a factor however in tomorrows double header vs Cleveland. Will Ohman only threw 7 pitches, and Zach Stewart tossed 21. Both guys will probably be good to go tomorrow. Santiago is the only guy that likely isn't available tomorrow after working 2 IP and throwing 34 pitches, which might be a blessing in disguise.

Record: 13-15 | Box score | Play-by-play

This week:

• RHP Miles Jaye joined Kannapolis from extended spring training and was excellent in his first start: 5 IP, 4 H, 0 BB, 7 K, 1 HBP. Jaye is the primary piece from the Jason Frasor trade. Like with many pitchers at his level, the 20 year old has a good fastball (low to mid 90s) but his secondary pitches - power slider and changeup - are works in progress. Unlike many pitchers at his level, Jaye has good control of his repertoire. I don't think Low-A hitters are going to be able to challenge Jaye but the primary goal for him right now is to get innings. He may see Winston-Salem later on in the season, where he should find the hitters to be less accommodating.
• 3B Juan Silverio made his season debut for Winston-Salem on Friday, after remaining in extended spring training to rehab an injury to his right arm. Silverio showed some nice offense last season - .285/.335/.453 between Kannapolis and Winston-Salem - but he really needs to move to the outfield. The 21 year old has wasted no time in getting his errors on track to match his previously prodigious totals (39 last season): he's committed three errors at third base in his two games back. Silverio's frame is filling out so he could develop the power expected from a corner outfield spot.

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(Recap courtesy of elgonzo4sox...)

The baseball gods never run out of challenges for those who try to play and manage the game. After a day in which White Sox management triggered the biggest controversy of the season by changing Chris Sale’s role from starter to closer, thereby giving up on rookie closer Hector Santiago in the process, and after Matt Thornton had failed in his chance to change their minds, the gods must have been smirking. "Hmmm," they were saying, "Let’s put the Sox in a save situation and see what they do – this ought to be interesting…"

It was almost not to be. Thanks to some uncharacteristically good pitching from Detroit right-hander Max Scherzer, who entered the game 1-3 with a 7.77 ERA, and some good luck on balls put in play (and less-than-stellar White Sox defense), the Tigers had a 2-0 lead after two innings. That score held up through six.

In the seventh Adam Dunn, who had broken up Scherzer’s perfect game with a fourth-inning single, hit an opposite field fly ball that sent Andy Dirks to the fence where he made the catch. Paul Konerko, watching this from the on-deck circle, decided to teach Dunn how to hit a homer in Comerica Park by pulling the very next pitch over the wall in left. Scherzer exited after seven with the 2-1 lead, and Joaquin Benoit pitched a perfect eighth to put the game in the hands of Detroit closer Jose Valverde.

The 2011 Valverde was perfect in save opportunities last year. The 2012 Valverde, however, is not as good or as lucky. Alejandro De Aza led off the White Sox ninth with a hard hit single into center. He stole second on the first pitch to Alexei Ramirez, and Ramirez moved him to third on a bunt. Up came the Big Donkey, Adam Dunn, who showed he had learned his lesson from Paulie by hitting a massive pull-field home run to right that reached the Comerica concourse (422 feet according to the Fox broadcast, but it looked farther).

This sent the game into the bottom of the ninth with the Sox ahead 3-2, and Nate Jones having pitched the eighth, with Hector Santiago and Addison Reed warming in the Sox bullpen.

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During the 14-inning heartbreaker to Oakland that started this slide into despair, there was a suicide squeeze call that maybe wasn't one. We know Kosuke Fukudome took off from third. We know Brent Morel squared around. But then Morel pulled the bat back as the pitch drifted low and away, which means that somebody didn't understand the call.

Robin Ventura didn't offer much clarification:

When asked why Morel didn't make a more concerted effort to make contact, Ventura replied: "It was more of (Morel) was going to get it down first, and if it gets it down, Fukudome is going to run. So it's just a little mix-up."

So it was a safety squeeze?

"Sort of," Ventura said. ''Not really."

So it was a suicide squeeze call?

"Yeah," Ventura smirked. "One got a suicide (signal), and one got the other one. It's my fault."

It wasn't a particularly professional moment, but while Ventura played coy poorly, the consequences were minimal. I would've liked to know what happened, but assuming it was straightened out among the involved parties, the story ended there.

A little more than a week later, Ventura's inability to get a story straight had much larger ramifications. He and Don Cooper announced a shocking decision to move Chris Sale from the rotation to the closer spot. Given another chance to explain a confusing series of events, they once again bungled the story.

There's still too much mystery surrounding these circumstances to make a complete and final judgment. All I know is that I hate the move, and/or I hate the way they broke it. This is really getting ridiculous.

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Prior to the game, the White Sox made the surprising, confusing, depressing decision to take Chris Sale out of the rotation and name him closer, even with elbow tightness or whatever it was.

So maybe Matt Thornton attempted to provide some clarity when he missed on an 0-2 fastball to Jhonny Peralta. A.J. Pierzynski set up inside, Thornton threw it outside, and Peralta took it the other way for a walk-off, two-run homer.

It spoiled a valiant effort by Jake Peavy. So did Robin Ventura, who came out to the mound with Peavy at 117 pitches, two outs and a runner on second in the eighth, with Miguel Cabrera at the plate ... and left Peavy in. Cabrera singled to center to make it a one-run game, setting up Peralta's heroics.

Peavy was outstanding otherwise, throwing strikes, mixing his pitches, and using the low-high approach effectively. Up until the Cabrera single, only Alex Avila really had his number. Avila doubled and scored in the second inning, then homered off Peavy in the fourth.

(Avila had Thornton's number, too -- he scored a broken-bat single off Thornton before Peralta went deep.)

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For all of you who were ripping on Colin for positing that Sale's reduced velocity was possibly due to a health issue, you all can post your apologies below. Chris Sale is being moved to the bullpen due to a "slightly tender elbow area". The White Sox are emphasizing that Sale is not injured but that's really a matter of semantics.

The idea of the move is to get him off a starter's workload. He will apparently serve as the White Sox closer beginning Monday. Frankly, I'm having some trouble seeing how pitching out of the bullpen will help a tender elbow. This may simply be cover for moving him back to the bullpen permanently and "solving" the White Sox closer conundrum. Update: It's confirmed that the plan is for Sale to be the closer for the rest of 2012.

As a starter, Sale had performed very well: 5 GS, 32 IP, 24 H, 8 BB, 29 K, 2.81 ERA.

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After another rough outing on Thursday night, the media is asking John Danks the obvious question -- is he feeling the pressure of living up to the big contract?

Danks is giving the equally obvious answer:

Manager Robin Ventura said Danks "is going to be fine" but Danks wasn’t so easy on himself. One thing he’s sure of is that his performance is unrelated to pressure from the big contract.

"I’ve been asked that a couple times now, and that’s the furthest thing,’’ Danks said. "Granted, I understand the thought and angle of that question, but that’s the furthest from the truth. That’s not a topic.

"The problem is I’m not ­making pitches and I’m getting my ass kicked out there. Got to do ­something."

It's not a very enlightening exchange by itself. Contract pressures are seldom acknowledged at the time, but the story is known to change when the player has some time and distance to re-assess it again -- even if money really played no part in it. We'll never know for sure either way.

That we're reading/watching/having this discussion is what's noteworthy, because the contract totally changes the dynamic of The John Danks Experience. He's the owner of the most lucrative contract in White Sox history. That's his primary identifier now, and it will only loom larger the longer he struggles.

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Stymied early by Justin Masterson, the White Sox were finally able to begin digging out of a 3-0 hole when Alejandro De Aza shot a two-run single off Masterson (literally) in the fifth inning.

The next inning, John Danks gave up a solo homer to Asdrubal Cabrera, because it was the sixth inning, and he's John Danks.

But lo! The Sox came right back with a solid Alex Rios single up the middle, which scored A.J. Pierzynski (by way of an aggressive Joe McEwing send), making it a one-run affair once again.

This time, Danks undid the progress and then some. He gave up three hits to left-handed hitters -- a pair of one-out singles, and a two-out homer by Jason Kipnis that cleared the bases, and also put the game out of reach. The Sox finished the homestand 2-5 in a fittingly frustrating fashion.

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Adam Dunn carried a mini-slump* into Wednesday, especially in the hit column. He mustered just three of them over 23 at-bats the past week, sending his batting average tumbling back towards the Mendoza Line.

(*For anybody else, that would be classified as a regular-sized slump, but Dunn practically redefined the word during his 2011 season.)

But here's what's neat -- while his average dropped from .250 to .222, his OBP rose from .361 to .370 thanks to seven walks.

And here's what's also neat -- after a solo shot, a single and a walk during Wednesday night's loss to Cleveland, Dunn has revived his line to .238/.385/.536, and he leads the team with six home runs, too.

This is the experience Dunn was supposed to provide. It's not without its drawbacks (he's struck out in 24 consecutive games), but we already know that from last year. We're finally getting accustomed to Dunn's fun functions this season. He's also good for a lot of extra-base hits. Moreover, when the hits aren't coming, he's at least working the count and getting on base, so he's contributing something even when not in contributing form.

It's good to have this Dunn, because the three guys who propped up the offense over the first month of the season are finally hitting their first ruts of the season.

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