Steve Stone

The biggest factor is not the confidence that the fans have in a team or even the coaching staff has in a team.

The biggest factor is the confidence that the team has

has in the team and when you play in a good team and i played on a couple of them we felt when we went out there on a daily basis we were better than the team that we were playing against and we knew that if we could keep the game close they would make a mistake late and we would bury them with that mistake and that's exactly what happened yesterday this team battled to keep the game close they obviously could have given up a few more runs in a couple of different situations but didn't

And because of that, the other team made a mistake.

That mistake was the throw by Rosarena, and this team wound up winning, and the Sox find themselves in a position that a couple of years ago was unthinkable.

Well, I think everybody is going out there with the idea that

they're going to find some way to contribute to a win.

And I remember years ago, the White Sox, when I came here, had a manager who eventually went on to win a world title with Pittsburgh.

His name was Chuck Tanner.

And he would go around every day and talk to the extra men, the guys that were on the bench, the guys who weren't playing a whole lot.

And he would say, I know you want to play more, and eventually you're going to because injuries happen, days off happen.

I need you to work hard each and every day because when I call on you, you have to be 100% ready to contribute to a team win.

He didn't have to pick up the starters, per se, because the confidence that he was showing in them was the fact that they were starting players.

So it's important that it's a 26-man effort.

I think that's what Will and his staff has tried to impart to the team.

He laid down the culture in spring training, and right now this team is doing a whole lot of things right.

Now, look, it's not a great team by any stretch of the imagination.

If this team was in the National League West, well, it probably wouldn't be in contention.

But it's not.

It's in the American League Central.