"Konerko appreciates that Sox have aimed for the playoffs every year since 2000

Paul Konerko's first season with the White Sox was a success, but for the wrong reasons.

"That was my first year here where we knew it was a rebuilding year," Konerko said of the 1999 season in which he hit 24 home runs and drove in 81 runs for a Sox team that won 75 games and finished 21½ games out of first place in the American League Central.

"But every year other than that, it's been playoffs or bust. There have been a few times we've made it. One time we went all the way (in 2005)."