White Sox remake themselves at home

It's still early enough in the season that one good week can change the scope of the whole season.

And we got to see what one great week can do.

After a somber start, the White Sox ultimately abused the Twins and Indians to win five of six games on the homestand. They scored at least nine runs in four consecutive games for the first time since 1938, which makes it much easier to ask fans to show up.

The bad news is that the Sox head to Tampa Bay for three games. The good news is that, after the little jaunt to Florida, the Sox come right back to U.S. Cellular Field for a nine-game homestand -- three apiece with Seattle, Toronto and Houston.

It's highly possible that the Sox can keep rolling, but let's take a look back at some of the biggest improvements that took place over the last week.

Home record

• Entered: 7-12, 2 1/2 back
  
• Left: 12-13, 1/2 back

Not only do the Sox own the only positive run differential in the division (+30), but it's also the second-best in the American League. They're also the league's hottest team, and it'll be interesting to see how much weight the national experts give their recent play when the power rankings come out later today.

Dayan Viciedo

• Entered: .248/.271/.426, 7 HR, 15 RBI
  
• Left: .268/.291/.484, 10 HR, 25 RBI

And to think -- Viciedo began the homestand by going 0-for-7, but made up ground with four consecutive multi-hit games. Along those same lines, he also hasn't struck out in any of the last four games. He hadn't gone more than two games without striking out coming in, so he's on the cusp of solving half the plate discipline battle right there.

Alex Rios

• Entered: .272/.331/.374, 10 XBH, 15 RBI
  
• Left: .281/.339/.433, 15 XBH, 24 RBI

After owning a pretty balanced spray chart for the first two-thirds of the month, Rios is back to pulling all his ground balls. But that's not a bad thing when 1) Rios is hitting that many grounders, and 2) he pulled three homers over six games (and he would've had one to center if it weren't for that meddling Michael Brantley). It doesn't do much good to use the whole field if the contact isn't hard. This Rios is fine. Don't change a thing.

A.J. Pierzynski

• Entered: .301/.338/.485, 12 XBH, 27 RBI
• Left: .312/.352/.539, 17 XBH, 32 RBI

Pierzynski had returned to career-average mode for most of May, which was only a letdown in relation to his sensational April. Four straight games with an extra-base hit (including a triple!) puts him back squarely in "best year ever" territory.

Paul Konerko

• Entered: .367/.453/.604, 17 XBH, 23 RBI
• Left: .399/.476/.681, 24 XBH, 33 RBI
  

Updating the numbers from last week, Konerko is now hitting .355/.429/.933 after falling behind 0-2, which includes six of his 11 homers on the season. There's little more that can be said about the man.