"Jake Peavy talks about those 12 to 18 months, the time period doctors tell him it will take for a complete recovery.

In the meantime, he goes about his business of trying to win games for the White Sox with stuff he's not accustomed to and more dead-arm and sore-body issues than he cares to deal with.

These are the cards Peavy has been dealt in 2011, and he's happy to have enough to play them every six days and do what he can to help the Sox make a run at an American League Central title while keeping an optimistic eye on 2012, when he hopes to be near or at 100 percent.

"Things are not normal for me,'' Peavy said. "I expect this winter to regroup and have a normal offseason, get strong and find out what I can offer. At my age [30] and the way I'm going to work, I'm excited to get back to where I once was. As of now, I'm just trying to piece it together post-surgery and contribute to this team. The only thing I care about is winning a ballgame.''

That's why Peavy stood at his locker after a 4-2 loss to the Royals in an unsettled mood. The Sox (47-50) need to get on a hot streak and soon, and the Royals (39-58) look like a good place to start.

"We're going to have to do it,'' Peavy said. "There's no doubt. With the position we're in [4½ games behind Detroit and Cleveland], we're going to have to get hot. To get hot, you need five or six games where you outscore the other team. And with games like tonight where we score two, you have to have a pitcher come up big — and we've done that in the little runs we've had. But I had to be pretty good to win tonight with two runs, and I just wasn't good enough. I take full responsibility for that."

Peavy gave up three runs and seven hits and had five strikeouts and one intentional walk in six innings. That's not great, but it was good enough to win, which is no consolation for Peavy."