Best yet to come for White Sox ace Garland

In racing out to an 8-1 start with a 2.56 ERA -- he led the American League in victories entering the game, was second in complete games and ranked third in ERA -- Garland finally has taken flight.

"Every start I make, I'm taking a step," he says. "It's not a matter of a certain year. I have more time under my belt and more confidence on the mound. I can see it. My teammates can see it. I'm making good pitches when I need to."

Guillen said after Monday's game that Garland threw as well as he has all season. It wasn't a hollow statement. He allowed 11 hits over seven innings -- including several bloops and bleeders -- and still held the Angels to three runs during his time on the hill.

It was an unusual sight for 2005, watching Garland lose. But the game also served as Exhibit A for Guillen's observation that, where the tall right-hander would have turned a one-run inning into a five-run rally earlier in his career, he's now holding things together much better.

The Sox have seen it all season with Garland, starting with his first assignment this year against Minnesota. Pitching with a 3-0 lead, Garland served up a game-tying home run to Shannon Stewart -- and quickly stared down further trouble.

"You could see it in his face," catcher A.J. Pierzynski says. "He still believed in what he was doing."

Pitching in Toronto on May 6, Garland reached deep into his bag of tricks and discovered nothing but a couple of onions and an old potato. It was the only time this season he's had nothing, yet despite allowing six runs in 5 2/3 innings, Garland battled long and hard enough to run his record to 6-0.

Probably his most impressive moments this season, though, came in his two starts leading up to Monday's against the Angels.

Facing a first-and-third situation with two out and the Sox clinging to a one-run lead in the eighth inning against Baltimore on May 12, Garland threw a beautiful full-count change-up to whiff Miguel Tejada.

"We knew it was his last hitter and we hadn't thrown a right-handed hitter a change-up the whole game," Pierzynski says. "So we decided, what the heck.

"If he didn't believe in it, he couldn't have thrown it."

Very next start, against Texas, on May 17, the Rangers had runners on second and third with one out in the sixth and the Sox again holding to a one-run lead. Garland shocked Alfonso Soriano with another knee-bending change-up for another strikeout.

"That's just something you don't see guys do unless they have the confidence to be able to do it," Pierzynski says.

Says Konerko: "I think A.J. has helped out as far as having a feel for what to call. And when you're confident, you have no fear of throwing any pitch at any time. I see him throwing them all, and making good pitches."

The White Sox also have upgraded their defense this season, and Konerko sees the effects of that, too. Garland is not a strikeout pitcher. He relies on placement, on coaxing the batters to hit the ball in the general vicinity of where he wants them to hit it, rather than where they prefer to dump it.

He's fanned only 31 batters this season in 66 2/3 innings, which pretty much tells you that he'd better have defenders behind him who can cover lots of ground and catch everything hit to them.

"I don't think he'd admit it in the past, but our defense wasn't always the best behind him," Konerko says. "On nights he was pitching, I can remember games where we let him down."

Now?

"I think he feels a lot more confident throwing strikes," Konerko says.

Says Cooper: "He's always had the physical stuff. Now his approach is different. He's more confident. He's coming at people. He's dictating counts. He's getting early outs. Because of that, his walks are down. (His pitches) are down when they need to be down, in when they need to be in."

The results are evident in the fireworks that now accompany each of Garland's starts. The questions have been replaced by exclamations. A 12-game winner in each of the past three seasons for the White Sox, Garland has learned the art of balancing on his own. The training wheels are off.

"He's grown up before our eyes," Pierzynski says. "People expected so much from him so soon. Heck, he's just 25 and he's got five years in the majors already."

Ah, but now, when people say the best is yet to come, they're saying it with confidence.