You may have noticed second baseman Gordon Beckham wasn't in the starting lineup this afternoon when the White Sox shutout the Braves this afternoon 2-0. Although it's believed that Beckham will be back in the lineup tomorrow vs. Carlos Zambrano and the Cubs at U.S. Cellular Field, there's a chance that #15 in silver & black could be watching the game from the dugout a little more often.

According to the Trib's Mark Gonzales, manager Ozzie Guillen is pondering a possible platoon at second where Beckham may have to share the duties with Omar Vizquel in an effort to get more at-bats for Dayan Viciedo, who went 1-for-3 in his second start at third base. The book on Viciedo is that his defense isn't nearly as good as Vizquel.

While Vizquel has been really good with the glove at third and has raised his batting average since Mark Teahen broke his index finger, Beckham has continued to have mixed results. Gordon has been good with the glove making the transition to second, but his 48 K's at the plate has Ozzie very concerned. Beckham's BA is now .199 overall and has been stuck on only 1 homer for quite sometime.

Beckham's fill-ins at second base haven't done much better. Brent Lillibridge, who started at second today, went 0-for-3 with a strikeout. Jayson Nix, who had been played most of the time at third as Teahen's replacement vs. lefties, wasn't much better either, and he was claimed today by the division rival Indians. Unfortunately, there's very little help in the minors either. Brent Morel, who was promoted to Triple "A" Charlotte when Lillibridge was called up to replace Teahen on the 25-man roster, is only hitting .213. C.J. Retherford, on the other hand, is now hitting .253 since getting demoted to Double "A" Birmingham. It's believed neither Morel nor Retherford are Major League ready, but what to do about Beckham's continuing struggles at the plate is easier said than done.