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Say what you want about Ozzie Guillen and how his mouth continues to get him attention on and off the field, but his latest tirade seems to have worked. Despite being in first place a week ago, the White Sox were floundering, generally on offense, and Guillen went off on his lineup, his general manager, maybe even the fabric softener used on the uniforms, who knows? The White Sox haven't lost since, and fantasy owners are certainly pleased.

On Monday the White Sox finished off a four-game sweep of the beleaguered Twins and took all seven games on the home stand. Chicago's pitching has been strong all season, with Gavin Floyd and John Danks emerging, joining ace Javier Vazquez and a rejuvenated Jose Contreras, while the bullpen is a major strength. The offense, however, had basically been Carlos Quentin and not much else.

Nick Swisher entered Monday hitting .221 with six home runs before swatting home runs from each side of the plate against the Twins, while also taking a few walks. Swisher began the day owned in 37.9 percent of ESPN standard mixed leagues, a far cry from his draft position in round 13, but he's hitting .387 during his eight-game hitting streak and is bound to become more popular again. Paul Konerko registered two hits in each of the first three games against the Twins, then capped things Monday with a key seventh-inning home run. Joe Crede was named co-AL Player of the Week (with Milton Bradley) after hitting .611 for the week with 12 RBIs, and twice over the weekend he delivered a multi-home run game. Shortstop Orlando Cabrera got four hits to raise his batting average 12 points, and while Alexei Ramirez went just 1-for-5, he raised his batting average nearly 80 points in a week.

Whether Guillen had anything to do with all this offensive lunacy or not is problematic, but the signs of an offensive turnaround are clearly evident. The White Sox scored 61 runs on the homestand, nearly nine per game, and batted .347 in that span, slugging 19 home runs. Incredibly, only one White Sox regular failed to hit better than .200 over the past week. It was Quentin. He gets a pass though, as he's on pace for 42 home runs and 142 RBIs. Now he's got some teammates helping him out.

And it all started with a tirade.

• Past editions: 6/9: Justin Masterson | 6/8: Damon goes 6-for-6 | 6/7: Felix quiets Sawx

Congrats to Ken Griffey Jr., who launched a Mark Hendrickson 3-1 pitch in the first inning Monday into the right field stands for career home run No. 600, joining only five others in one of baseball's most exclusive clubs. Griffey hadn't homered or knocked in a run in June, and he's on pace for his worst statistical campaign since 2004, despite being relatively healthy -- so don't let this persuade you to deal for him. For more on Griffey, check out last Friday's Out of the Box. … Meanwhile, yet another Reds shortstop is headed to the disabled list. Jerry Hairston Jr., a bit of a fantasy revelation for batting average and steals the past few weeks, broke his left thumb stealing second base in the first inning. Even then, Hairston wasn't done helping fantasy owners, swiping third base and scoring on Griffey's home run, but then he left the game. He's unlikely to play again in June, and will have to compete for playing time with Jeff Keppinger by then. It's always a treat in weekly leagues when you lose a player on a Monday, isn't it? … Paul Bako hit two home runs for the Reds against Florida, though it didn't quite overshadow what Griffey did. Bako now has 21 home runs in 693 career games over parts of 11 major league seasons. … Florida's Mike Jacobs hit his 14th home run of the season, an eighth-inning shot off lefty Bill Bray. Jacobs has already hit five home runs off southpaws this season. From 2005-07 he hit seven of his 48 home runs off lefties. … Richie Sexson singled twice for Seattle, raising his average to .213. May 5 was the last time Sexson's average was over that mark. … Jose Guillen finished off his fine series at Yankee Stadium with a go-ahead home run off Mariano Rivera in the ninth inning. Guillen went 9-for-16 in the series with four home runs and 10 RBIs, and despite his poor April, he's on pace for 28 homers and 124 RBIs. … Rivera entered the series having permitted one run all season for a 0.35 ERA. Then he allowed a David DeJesus home run Saturday and Guillen's shot Monday. His ERA is all the way up to 0.93. I say we blame Joba Chamberlain. … Mike Mussina was overshadowed by the loss, but he threw a season-high eight innings, allowing two runs. Mussina had managed to throw seven innings once all season. … Twins second baseman Alexi Casilla has hit in 11 straight games, but he hasn't walked or stolen a base in eight June games. … Randy Johnson allowed one baserunner the first two innings at Pittsburgh, then allowed runs in each of the next four, culminating in a messy line of six hits and five walks in 5 2/3 innings. Johnson certainly appeared wild, and nearly started a brawl when he yelled at Doug Mientkiewicz during a third-inning at-bat in which the Pirate twice stepped out of the batter's box with a 2-1 count. Johnson has lost two straight starts, and this is the first time he failed to strike out four or more hitters in a start since April. … Justin Upton began play with two hits in his past 57 at-bats on the road. He hit a fifth-inning infield single and walked three times. Upton's been walking all season, but striking out twice as much. … Pittsburgh's Zach Duke won his second straight start, and his five strikeouts were a season high. He entered Monday with 25 strikeouts in 12 starts, barely two per game. His 1.52 WHIP should worry you. … Hopefully you didn't have Dontrelle Willis active for his Monday bloodbath. Willis gave up a Ryan Garko three-run homer in the first inning and five more runs in the second. Willis walked more hitters than he got outs and his ERA is now in double digits, a whopping 10.32 … Opponent Cliff Lee wasn't his April self, as he allowed six hits and two walks over five innings, but he won for the fourth time in five starts anyway. Lee became the first 10-game winner in the AL. Nine-game winners Mussina and Joe Saunders pitched Monday, but failed to join Lee. … Saunders allowed three straight home runs in the second inning, as Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria, Willy Aybar and Dioner Navarro took him deep. Saunders entered with a 2.63 ERA, then allowed eight runs and exited with easily his worst outing of the season and an ERA of 3.32. Ouch!