I'm a heavy sleeper -- I've been known to sleep through nearly anything. Dogs barking, lightning crashing, my alarm ringing, I can sleep through them all -- So too is the White Sox offense.

Bonser and Blackburn barked; the Sox offense caught some Zzzz's. Marcum rang, Litsch crashed; the Sox bats slumbered.

It would have been surprising if they were roused from their hibernation by a perennial Cy Young contender coming off 4 consecutive complete games. And in that respect, the Sox did not disappoint. Roy Halladay breezed through the Sox lineup the first time through the order, perfect through 3.

In the 4th inning, however, the offense showed some signs of life. The Sox sent 8 men to the plate, and pushed 3 runs across. They managed only one baserunner after the 4th inning. The offense was not awake, it was merely rolling over, adjusting before nodding back off. The outburst might have just been gas.

* * * * *

It says a lot about the makeup of the team that when Ozzie needs to shake up the lineup, he turns to Pablo Ozuna, who was always a fringy talent but now has become an outright liability. Ozuna can't play defense, or at least he's below average at all of the positions he supposedly can play. He doesn't have the speed he once did, and he's hit just .239/.271/.313 with 4 stolen bases in the last 22 months.

With numbers like that, it's little wonder that I stoop so low as to bring up the name Jerry Owens. Some have felt vindicated by that mention. But Owens is not a savior. He's not even a good baseball player. He's a 4th outfielder at best. My mention of Owens was an indictment of how bad Jermaine Dye looked at the plate, not praise for the unique skill set of one Jerry Owens.

Still, Owens is on the tip of beat writers' tongues. Joe Cowley has already proclaimed it "Jerry Owens Time," while Mark Gonzales is leading off his recaps with thinly veiled pleas to add Owens to the mix. It's little wonder that Ozzie Guillen has grown tired of all the lineup suggestions.

I can understand all the calls for Owens. I don't agree with them, but I understand them. It's the same reason I was willing to drive Greg Walker out of town at this time last year. When something's not working, you make some changes. Last season, I thought the best move was to can Walker. And while I still think a fresh voice would do a world of good, I've become resigned to the fact that Walker has perpetually renewable contract at least until 2012.

For the sake of my own mental health, I've decided to drop the calls for Walker's head. He's part of the problem, but only a small part of it. This is where I agree with Ozzie.

"[Nick] Swisher, [Orlando] Cabrera, Konerko, [Jim] Thome, [Jermaine] Dye, A.J. [Pierzynski] and [Joe] Crede, they don't need coaches. They need to get their heads out of their asses and start hitting."

Walker or no Walker, Owens or no Owens, that core has to hit. If they don't, the Sox will continue their slide down the AL Central standings. Simple as that.

Orlando Cabrera provided all of the White Sox offense Friday night in Toronto; 2 singles. With a collective 2-for-29 day at the plate, the Sox continued their quest to match the feeble '07 attack, lowering their average to new league low of .237.

The only blemish on Mark Buehrle's night came after what should have been a 1-2-3 first inning. Joe Crede's error extended the inning, and allowed a Vernon Wells double and a Shannon Stewart single --the two hitters entered the night a combined 27-63 against Buehrle-- to provide the winning margin... in the first inning.

I would say Buehrle deserved better, but he should be getting used to this north of the border. He took a complete game loss in his last start in Toronto, allowing only 2 hits, both solo HRs, en route to another 2-0 loss. Buehrle's outing was something of a rarity. It was the first time since late 2003 that a pitcher got a complete game loss while allowing no earned runs and only the 12th since the strike in '94. The last time a White Sox pitcher was handed a similar loss was Mike Sirotka on 7/23/00.

The only time the Sox advanced a runner past first base was in the Seventh when Quentin, Crede, and Anderson worked consecutive 2-out walks ahead of Juan Uribe's weak flyout. In other words, Marcum'd is Canadian for Sonnanstine'd.

Cabrera had himself a day, not only recording the Sox only two hits, but starting a beautiful double play with a sliding stop and glove flip on a Vernon Wells ball back up the middle.

* * * * *

No hitter surprised me more over the season's first few weeks than Jermaine Dye. He had a forgettable spring training, and looked terrible doing so, striking out 21 times in 70 at-bats while walking just 3 times. He had the type of spring you'd expect out of a 39-year old slugger trying hang around for one more season. So it was a pleasant surprise to see him sporting a .316/.369/.513 with a 12/6 K/BB ratio after 72 regular season at-bats.

Since he took a few games off with a sore groin, however, it's been back to the old-man, washed up looking Dye. In his first three games back, Dye is 0-12 with 7 Ks, including some swings that had to leave even Juan Uribe wondering why Dye was swinging.

It wouldn't be a big concern if Dye hadn't batted .219/.276/.412 while battling a variety of leg issues over his first 300 plate appearances last season. But since his effectiveness is obviously blunted by nagging injury issues, it might not be such a terrible idea to convince him to take a 15-day DL trip and give Jerry Owens a shot. That is if Dye continues to look like the '05 version of Sammy Sosa, let's say for the rest of the weekend.

There probably would have been a lot of angst following Tuesday's loss to the Yankees would the bullpen had been able to keep the game close in the late innings. I'd argue that angst would be misplaced, and instead should (theoretically) have been directed squarely at the offense unable to put together the big inning.

The White Sox had what looked to be a big scoring opportunities in the 5th, 6th and 7th innings, but could only net 2 runs total in those three frames. Jermaine Dye had a particularly tough day at the plate, stranding 6 runners and striking out twice in key situations to dampen Sox rallies. And when your hopes are riding on Juan Uribe at the plate, well, you don't have much hope at all.

Trying to find some positives in the breezy three hour, forty-four minute game...

• Jose Contreras looked pretty good. He threw over the top for much of the game, though I assume that had more to do with the general left-handedness of the Yankees lineup more than anything else. Still, his velocity is better than last year, and he looks like a guy who can at least keep the Sox in the game every 5th day.

• The Sox offense had a productive game against Wang. It just didn't result in--how do I put this--runs. They left a baker's dozen stranded on the basepaths tonight.
• With his second late-inning, bases clearing (in a bad way) outing in a White Sox uniform, Octavio Dotel probably won't be getting any high-leverage innings for a while.
• It was almost fun to watch Bobby Jenks pitch again... Then I realized it was Joba Chamberlain. I'm sure Bobby's just saving his heat for the playoffs.
• The Sox gave up 5 homers in their first 160+ innings pitched. In the 9 innings since an unnamed poster boastfully claimed the Sox have "some of the nastiest pitches" in baseball, they've given up 3 more. Coincidence? I think not.
• We're due to have a small, two hour (hopefully shorter) downtime on the site tonight, so don't freak out. We should be back to normal in the overnight hours.

Gavin Floyd overcame some early-game shakiness to put together a nice outing Saturday, making a run at a no-hitter and eclipsing his 2007 win total in the process.

It looked like it was going to be a rough one for Floyd in the first inning. He walked The Unsinkable Clete Thomas after AJ Pierzynski dropped a 3-2 foul tip. Thomas would immediately steal second, and move into third on Placido Polanco's flyout. A nice pick and throw home from Joe Crede when Thomas went home on the contact play saved a run from blemishing Floyd's line. Carlos Quentin crashed into the outfield wall to catch a near-homer from Magglio Ordonez to close an eventful, unscored upon first.

The hard outs and walks would keep on coming through the first few innings. Nick Swisher made what is becoming his trademark defensive play, a basket catch on the warning track in the third, and Jermaine Dye had to run one down in the gap in the second. Floyd used double plays to wipe out walks in the third and fourth, so it's little wonder I hadn't realized he had a no-hitter working up to that point.

Floyd might not have known either.

He must have gotten a glimpse of the scoreboard as he took the mound in the fifth, because he started to put hitters away the rest of the game. There was one good drive by Pudge in the 5th, but other than that, the Tigers didn't mount much of anything against Floyd until Edgar Renteria's bloop single broke up the no-hitter in the 8th.

Floyd is now 3-0, with a 2.43 ERA in 37 innings against the Tigers. His two quality starts to begin the season give him 7 in his last 8 starts dating back to last season.

Scott Linebrink needed just two pitches to erase Renteria's single, recording the White Sox third double play turned of the game. Unofficially, as in I'm not sure this stat is 100% accurate, that gives them 19 on the year in 10 games. I tried querying Baseball-Reference's Play Index in every way I know how to find the Sox season record for DP's turned, but came up empty. Though I do agree with Larry, I remember it being from the 2000 team (189 is my guess). [Update by The Cheat, 04/12/08 6:21 PM CDT ]: Larry found the answer, 190 double plays turned in 2000.

Orlando Cabrera's solo homerun was the offense for most of game. But when Justin Verlander provided some free bases in the form of a walk and two HBPs in the 8th, the Sox demonstrated their renewed ability to break a game open. Pierzynski, Quentin, and Juan Uribe provided the two-out damage to turn a nail-biting pitcher's duel into a laugher, and the third time the Tigers have been shut out this season.

* * * * *

Jerry Owens is scheduled to begin his rehab stint tonight in Charlotte. I'm taking this as good news because Alexei Ramirez hasn't received a start since game 2 -- not that I'm complaining, but I'd rather see him getting regular work in Charlotte. And the quickest way to accomplish that feat is to have Owens taking his spot on the bench.

The Cheat is nowhere to be seen, so I figured I'd jump in with a recap of Saturday afternoon's game.

• Gavin Floyd came up with a performance that will be totally acceptable out of the fifth starter's role for the rest of the year. While not looking great, he didn't look totally horrible. 6 IP, 6 H, 3 ER is a performance that should be good enough to win most games. He got the lead late in the game and held it during his final inning. It seemed like Gavin occasionally ran into problems with two outs, but hopefully that will be something that disappears after getting comfortable.
  
• Is there anyone more fun to watch in the lineup right now that Carlos Quentin? He's taking a starting spot and running away with it. I'm not sure which brought more joy to watch, his RBI single in the sixth inning or his absolute bullet from left field to nail a jogging Edgar Renteria trying to return to first base. Bad news for Jerry Owens supporters.
• Dontrelle Willis couldn't find the plate with a plate-finding machine, and it finally cost him in the sixth inning. Nick Swisher picked up his third walk of the game (and his sixth in this last two games) to start off the action. He may be hitting .200 after five games, but the .478 on-base percentage sure looks sexy. Moreover, he hasn't looked totally overmatched in center.
• After looking like secondhand horse poo in Spring Training, Jermaine Dye has been locked in to start the year, picking up his second home run in the eighth inning for that all important insurance run.
• What's up with Orlando Cabrera in the field? He botched a cutoff throw early in the game that led to an early Tiger run, and he's just looked out of sorts at times. He's drawn some walks but hasn't looked much better at the plate either. Could we start seeing Juan Uribe and Alexei Ramirez starting at shortstop on occasion?
• Toby Hall sucks. Good signing...in theory.
• Boone Logan, Scott Linebrink, and Bobby Jenks. 3 IP, 0 R. Gave up three hits and Jenks was a little off in the ninth, but there's nothing to be worried about yet. Logan still looks good against lefties and Linebrink is still looking worth the money. Hard to say much after five games, but it's still a hell of a lot more encouraging to see them start out hot.

The Sox go for the sweep tomorrow night on ESPN2, as Mark Buehrle faces Justin Verlander on Sunday Night baseball. Smart money says that Mark won't be quite as bad as he was in Cleveland on Opening Day. We may even see Brian Anderson tomorrow as part of the Sunday Getaway Lineup®, since there are rumors around the Sox clubhouse that he does in fact exist.

A real quick recap since most of you have better things to do on the weekend.

• Jose Contreras was terrible, looking almost nothing like the pitcher who filled us with cautious optimism in spring training. He was throwing far too much from his drop-down delivery, was falling behind a lot, and if not for the out-making abilities of Magglio Ordonez and Edgar Renteria plus an unusual double play he might have given up 10 plus runs. He was that bad.

• Carlos Quentin may be in the process of playing his way into the lineup more regularly. He put the White Sox up early with a 2-run homer in the second after Contreras provided foreshadowing of his poor outing in the first. Though I expect Ramirez and Anderson to see some action this weekend in Detroit.

  "If [Quentin] keeps playing like that, he'll be in the lineup and we'll figure out the rest," Guillen said.

• AJ Pierzynski is off to great start. He already has 2 HR and 7 RBI, which is greater than the output from last seasons back-up catchers, and I'd be willing to bet that it exceeds the production of Toby Hall for the rest of the season. With that in mind, AJ has to stay healthy. He's the batter the Sox can least afford to lose.

• Jermaine Dye has surprised me with his fast start. He was terrible in spring training, and looked like his bat speed and reaction time was way down. But since the games started counting, his swing is much more direct and he's been pounding the ball. He even closed the game with one of those awkwardly good catches that he seems to make on balls in front of him.

• Scott Linebrink has looked fantastic in his two innings of work the last two days. The velocity isn't quite what it used to be, but the curveball he's shown the last two days more than makes up for it.

  Linebrink combined with Logan, Dotel, and Jenks for 4 innings of scoreless relief. They allowed just one hit, and with the exception of Jenks, who needed 25 pitches to get through the 9th, made quick work of the Tigers.

Yes, that headline is definitely tounge-in-cheek. I thought it was funny that both Gonzo and Cowley posted about it the 5th inning at about the same time Pete and Option27 were sounding off in the gamethread. That was about the same time I was able to tune in (fast game), so I could just as easily be blamed for the jinx.

I was able to catch a little bit of good John Danks, a little bit of the wild Danks, and too much of Jermaine Dye costing him runs in the outfield. Good Danks seemed to have his cutter working pretty well, actually he had everything working pretty well.

I think Danks GO/FO ratio of 12/6 would have been his best mark of all of last year, but the no-longer-available MLB.com 2007 gamelog and the differences between GB/FB and GO/FO make that difficult to say with absolute certainty. What we can say for sure is that, at least after one start, it appears that Danks has matured a little bit and his new cutter has allowed him to shift from being such a predominately flyball pitcher.

Allowing fewer flyballs will be key for Danks if he hopes to reduce his homerun rate (28 in 139 IP) from last season. As a general guide, about 11% of flyballs go over the fence. Danks HR/FB was 13.8% last year, allowing 28 HR in 203 flyballs. If he's able to increase his groundball rate, while simultaneously regressing to the more normal 11% HR/FB rate, he'll take a huge step forward to becoming an asset to the staff.

As an example of Danks homer-proneness, in his 26 starts last season, he had just one in which he pitched more than 6 innings and gave up 0 HR, as he did on Thursday.

In the field, Danks was helped by a good play from Nick Swisher catching a long drive as he smashed, almost Rowand-like (not enough broken bones), into the left center field wall on one of the two really well hit balls against him on the day. The other well hit ball flew just over the outstretched glove of Jermaine Dye -- that's two outstretched gloves of Dye vs. three Crede pops it up on the young year -- allowing Travis Hafner, who walked on 4 pitches (bad Danks), to score from first on Ryan Garko's double.

Later in the inning, Dye and Swisher would collide on a routine pop-up, which surprisingly yielded a disagreement in the Sox television booth. DJ thought it was Jermaine's ball, with Hawk arguing, correctly, that the center fielder is the field general, and if he calls you off you back off.

Ozzie made one of those moves that looks smart when it works, but could have lit up the phone lines had it backfired, bringing in Octavio Dotel to face Casey Blake, who took Dotel deep in Opening Day's pivotal at-bat. It was as if Guillen was saying to Dotel, 'I believe in you' as he made the call over Scott Linebrink, who was also working in the pen and worked a perfect eigth.

Offensively, the Sox still have me worried. Joe Crede and Juan Uribe provided all of the the offense on two solo homers. Carlos Quentin got his first start of the year, going 1-4, but grounding into a double play one batter after AJ Pierzynski's poorly executed sacrifice attempt.

I'll reserve railing on the offense for another day. For now, it just feels good to get that first win out of the way.

*** CSN will replay the game at 7pm and 1am ***