White Sox-Tigers: Game 2

The question still stands – when is Adam Dunn coming back? The answer remains a mystery. Dunn is out of the White Sox’ lineup again tonight, and he didn’t take batting practice. The designated hitter/first baseman has a strained right oblique, not a good injury when you swing a big bat at maximum force for a living. Dunn first strained the oblique at Baltimore in late August and missed two games at Detroit. He played three games against the Twins at the start of the current 10-game homestand and aggravated the oblique again. “That was stupid on my part,” admitted Dunn, who leads the Sox with 38 home runs and 88 RBI. In addition to getting an injection to relieve the pain, Dunn has been getting daily treatment and you hardly see him around the White Sox’ clubhouse. When he does feel good enough to start swinging again – maybe as early as Wednesday – Dunn could be back in the lineup. But obliques tend to nag, and the injury could very well bother Dunn the rest of the season. "I'm not going to sit here and go into it,” Dunn said. “I'm no doctor. You start using that doctor lingo and it kind of tunes me out a little bit. I knew that it wasn't just a nice easy little strain, what I was feeling. “It's one of those things where I don't know what else to do other than time and treatment. I think we gave it a lot of time so hopefully it's ready." Here are tonight’s lineups as the Sox try winning their second straight over the Tigers and open a 4-game lead in the AL Central. WHITE SOX 1. Alejandro De Aza - CF 2. Kevin Youkilis - 3B 3. Dewayne Wise - LF 4. Paul Konerko - 1B 5. Alex Rios - RF 6. A.J. Pierzynski - C 7. Dayan Viciedo - DH 8. Alexei Ramirez - SS 9. Gordon Beckham - 2B SP: Jake Peavy - RHP TIGERS 1. Austin Jackson - CF 2. Andy Dirks - LF 3. Miguel Cabrera - 3B 4. Prince Fielder - 1B 5. Delmon Young - DH 6. Brennan Boesch - RF 7. Jhonny Peralta - SS 8. Alex Avila - C 9. Omar Infante - 2B SP: Doug Fister - RHP