By Gary Brooks
SportsLine Baseball Editor

White Sox pitching carries team to fast start

Who would have figured that after a month, the rotation of Mike Sirotka, John Snyder, Jim Parque, Jaime Navarro and James Baldwin would have led the way for the best staff in the AL. Only the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets have better team ERAs.

Mike Sirotka has one of Chicago's fine young arms.(AP)

Snyder, third in the AL with a 1.64 ERA, has done the most work to keep Chicago in games. The White Sox bullpen has also been outstanding. So outstanding that even though the two veteran starters -- Baldwin and Navarro -- each have ERAs of 6.00, the team is still at 3.83.

The 13-11 record hasn't brought any more fans to Comiskey Park. Those who expected the Sox to be something like 9-15 at this point haven't caught on yet.

The middle infield duo of Mike Caruso and Ray Durham have caught everything hit their way, with Durham making his first error Tuesday and Caruso accounting for only two. They combined to make 53 errors last season but have given the pitching staff a boost this season.

Aside from improved defense, the White Sox can thank the Anaheim Angels for making them better. It was Anaheim that shipped Snyder, Bill Simas (0-0, 1.93) and starting center fielder McKay Christensen to Chicago in 1995 for Jim Abbott. Abbott went 2-18 the next year for Anaheim, and while he then bounced around in Chicago and now Milwaukee, Snyder, Simas and Christensen developed.

Snyder, who won five of his last six starts last season, is now 11-3 in his career. Simas is a capable setup man who can close if needed and Christiansen has struck out only four times in 42 at-bats.

WHILE THE WHITE SOX are succeeding with the delayed benefits of a 4-year-old trade, the Seattle Mariners and Philadelphia Phillies are wallowing in the misery created by a swap they made in November.

The Phillies thought they were getting a left-handed starter who was about to bloom when they sent Mark Leiter to Seattle for Paul Spoljaric. The Mariners thought they were getting a versatile arm who could do anything from close to start.

Seattle had given Spoljaric an opportunity to start in 1998 and he stunk. Mariners management always liked his arm strength and stuff but he never showed any understanding of how to pitch. The Phillies found that out as Spoljaric has gone 0-3 with a 15.09 earned-run average; opponents are hitting .426 off of him.

So, Wednesday, Philadelphia shipped Spoljaric back where his career started, Toronto.

The November deal certainly wasn't a steal for Seattle though. After an impressive first couple of weeks of spring training, Leiter looked like he might be the Mariners' No. 3 starter. Then his arm started hurting. He started the season on the disabled list, came off for two days last week and is now done for the year with a torn rotator cuff.

Sizzlin' ... the countdown

5. Brian Bohanon

There were plenty of heads shaking when the Colorado Rockies made Bohanon their key off-season addition by signing him to a three-year, $9 million deal. Bohanon, a 30-year-old left-hander, rarely passes 85 on the radar gun and hadn't won more than seven games in a season. Now that opponents have beaten his soft stuff into the ground and Bohanon is 5-0, heads are shaking again for different reasons.

4. John Franco

Despite being second in career saves, Franco hasn't been an All-Star selection since 1990. A continued stretch like the one he's on now ... and he'll be impossible to ignore. Franco has given up just one run and saved all 10 chances, helping the Mets keep pace with the Braves in the NL East.

3. Luis Gonzalez

The Diamondbacks free-agent find takes a 19-game hitting streak into Wednesday's game at Cincinnati. Gonzalez's career-best hit streak was a 23-game stretch with Houston in 1997. Arizona is his fourth team in the past four years and by the looks of his .388 batting average (third in the NL), he may have found a long-term home.

2. Larry Walker

If only he could pitch. The Colorado Rockies have gotten everything else out of their Canadian slugger in the past week. Walker had three more hits and three RBI Tuesday, and has driven in 21 runs in his past nine games. That includes the immortal stretch of 17 RBI in four games April 27-30.

1. The Kids Can Play

They won't chase the Indians, but the Chicago White Sox are much better than expected.

Fizzlin' ... the countdown

5. Charlie Hayes

In 28 games, the San Francisco Giants' third baseman has started a bench-clearing incident against the Diamondbacks and Todd Stottlemyre, saying he hates Stottlemyre; gotten suspended and fined; ripped the Mets pitching after New York held Hayes to one hit in three games while sweeping the Giants; and was hitting a whopping .177 through Tuesday.

4. Lefties getting best of Griffey

Ken Griffey Jr., a career .300 hitter, had been remarkably consistent against left- and right-handers prior to the past month. He entered the season with a .301 career average against righties and a .299 mark vs. left-handers. But so far, the southpaws have been fooling Griffey with regularity. He's 5 for 28 against them.

3. Belching up runs

When the Anaheim Angels signed Tim Belcher to a two-year deal for $10.2 million they thought they were getting a durable, 200-plus innings arm who would improve on his .500 record with the poor Kansas City Royals in 1998. Belcher has had the rubber arm … but it's been firing non-lethal rubber bullets too. He's been beat up to the tune of a 9.96 ERA in six starts, in which he's lasted a total of 28 innings and given up nine home runs.

2. No Flash in Sox

Since closer Tom Gordon was put on the 15-day disabled list three weeks ago, the Boston Red Sox bullpen has gone 1-5 with six blown saves. The defining moment of Boston's futility came Monday in Oakland when it blew a 7-0 lead and Tim Harikkala walked John Jaha on four straight pitches to force in the game-winning run. By the way, Gordon's return is not imminent.

1. Worthless trade

At least the Phillies now have a potential closer to replace Jeff Brantley since they traded Paul Spoljaric for Robert Person.