For all their 14 stranded runners, 13-1 drubbings and 13th-worst batting average in the AL, the Good Guys are somehow only two games out of first place. Under normal circumstances this would be reason for celebration, but a closer look reveals we are not dealing with normal circumstances.

We could, for instance, say that once everyone comes around the team will be more solid and start winning. Unfortunately, the newly-second place Cleveland Indians are the only team hitting worse than the Sox are (.236 average) while at the same time pitching better (3.40 ERA, second-best in the AL). Likewise, their run differential is a robust 168-141, as opposed to the 175-160 the Sox have through last night’s pitiful 2-0 loss to the Angels. What does this all mean? It means that while the Sox may get better, at least one of the four teams they need to reign supreme over stands to get a lot better.

But the losses alone don’t mean much until you start to take a look at what’s going on with them. John Danks holds the mighty Angels scoreless, and it’s not enough. The Blue Jays are held to 12 runs over four games, and for their efforts the Good Guys return from Canada with zero wins. C.C. Sabathia gets a shelling on Opening Day, and the Sox capitalize on this by losing 10-8.

“But wait,” some will say, “we sure kicked the hell out of Detroit.” And that’s true, but going 5-1 against a 16-23 team isn’t really that much of an accomplishment.

Now, it’s only mid-May. There are 124 games left and wilder things have happened. Can Jim Thome really hit .209 for an entire season? Paulie? Uribe? Cabrera? Swisher? Once they come around, is it unreasonable to think either of John Danks or Gavin Floyd could be the real thing? Is the ever-so-slightly improved bullpen strong enough to hold a 4-run lead this time around? Can the rest of the AL Central continue playing a combined .470 while these revitalized White Sox barrel their way through the summer? Is it bad we’ve already started lining up so many “ifs” and “thens” for this team to not totally embarrass us?

More to the point: if one guy does poorly, it’s a slump, but if an entire team isn’t producing that’s just a case of having a lousy team. But at least we know where we stand, and that things can only get better. Can’t they?