Memorial Day approaches. The Minnesota Twins gain steam while the White Sox continue to tread water.

This does not bode well for Jerry Manuel, the American League's Manager of the Year in 2000 and one of the classiest men in baseball. Barring a sudden reversal of fortune -- unlikely given the Sox's 9-21 record against the teams that currently have winning records -- he will soon become the second manager of the year to be fired.

	Jerry Manuel was 414-395 as the Sox's manager coming into this season.

One Chicago newspaper ran a story this week quoting sources as saying that general manager Ken Williams is prepared to fire Manuel if the White Sox miss the playoffs. There's not much doubt about that. The real question is whether Jerry Reinsdorf and Williams will allow the season to slip away before they take action.

Since the January day that Williams traded for Bartolo Colon, Manuel has understood that he's under a mandate to deliver. He lets others make his excuses.

"That's always part of it,'' Manuel said about the report in the Daily Southtown. "I hope we make the playoffs. I think we will. I feel very confident we will.''

This begs a question: Where was Manuel last weekend when the Twins swept the Sox at the Metrodome?

Dismissing the Kansas City Royals is one thing. But there has been no real comparison between defending AL Central champ Minnesota and the Sox over the last two years. The Twins finished 13½ games ahead of Chicago in 2002 and would be approaching double digits this season if not for having gone 0-7 against the Yankees.

Minnesota, which is 29-15 against the White Sox since the start of 2001, pounded home its superiority in the recent series. The Twins, built around pitching and defense, scored 18 runs in the opener and then stifled Manuel's frustrated hitters the next two games, winning 3-1 and 3-2.

It was the Sox who needed to send a message but they missed their chance. As they limp along at 22-24, seemingly beating only bad teams, how much more time can Reinsdorf give Manuel?

The White Sox aren't drawing fans. Their attendance is once again in decline, this time despite the addition of a 20-game winner and the chance to market themselves as hosts for the All-Star Game. They face serious economic issues after the season, with Colon reaching free agency, Magglio Ordonez's contract jumping to $14 million on the threshold of free agency, and starters Mark Buehrle and Jon Garland getting their first crack at salary arbitration.

	Mark Buehrle Starting pitcher Chicago White Sox Profile
	2003 SEASON STATISTICS GM IP W-L BB SO ERA 11 67.2 2-7 27 29 5.19

Nothing would revitalize this franchise quicker than a trip to the playoffs in 2003. With the 1-2 punch of Colon and Buehrle (who must collect himself after a 2-7 start), they could do something no Chicago team has done since 1917 -- actually win a postseason series.

But while the Cubs cause the imagination of their fans to run wild, the Sox are stuck in neutral because of an unproductive lineup that is averaging 4.2 runs per game. That ranks 12th in the American League, ahead of only Cleveland and Detroit.

Manuel's survival might depend on beating up on those teams in the next 10 days. The Sox play host to the Tigers for three games this weekend and then travel to Cleveland for four games at the end of an eight-game trip that begins in Toronto.

Williams doesn't have to look too far for an intriguing replacement. Double-A manager Wally Backman is considered a top managerial prospect.

Backman is the anti-Manuel. The former New York Mets second baseman is a tough-talking old-schooler who manages like he played. That is to say, his teams lead the league in feistiness.

His Birmingham Barons won the Southern League title a year ago with catcher Miguel Olivo as the lone prospect in a very ordinary lineup. They were eighth in a 10-team league in home runs but third in runs, in part because they ran wild, stealing 63 more bases than anyone else. Olivo, who has rarely tried to run playing for Manuel, was 29-for-42 in stolen-base attempts for Backman.

The 2002 Barons scored exactly five more runs than they allowed yet were 18 games over .500 during the season. The White Sox, by contrast, outscored their opponents by 58 runs yet lost as many games as they won.

Backman's '03 team at Birmingham has even less firepower than the one that won the championship. There are no prospects in the lineup, which is why the Barons are last in the league with 15 homers and an average of 3.6 runs per game. Yet somehow they are 23-20 and tied for first in their division.

	Paul Konerko First baseman Chicago White Sox Profile
	2003 SEASON STATISTICS AB BA HR RBI OBP SLG 148 .230 3 15 .229 .345

The Sox have hardly been as efficient. Manuel's lineup is loaded with station-to-station baserunners and lacks balance. This is nothing new, of course, as right-handed hitters Frank Thomas, Paul Konerko, Carlos Lee and Ordonez have played together in the middle of the lineup since 1999.

Williams' efforts to land a proven left-handed bat such as Brian Giles and Darin Erstad have been foiled. He operates with financial limitations that force Manuel to deal with some less than ideal situations, such as a revolving door in center field and error-prone Jose Valentin at shortstop.

There are some cards Williams can play.

It's time for Joe Borchard, the switch-hitting former Stanford quarterback, to justify the $5.3 million bonus he received three years ago. He's the obvious answer to the center-field question, but is mired in a 4-for-39 slump that has dropped his batting average to .224 at Triple-A Charlotte.

David Eckstein clone Aaron Miles is hitting .353 at Charlotte after winning the Southern League MVP for Backman in 2002. But Miles plays second base, where D'Angelo Jimenez has established himself. Jimenez could be shifted to shortstop, but that would require that Valentin be traded or moved into a third-base platoon with Joe Crede, who is scuffling after 36 homers and 100 RBI between Triple-A and the big leagues last year.

Thus far, the Sox have made only one move -- firing hitting coach Gary Ward earlier this week. That's the oldest trick in the book. How long until the next shoe drops?

Phil Rogers is the national baseball writer for the Chicago Tribune, which has a Web site at www.chicagosports.com.