CHICAGO -- All of those critics who believe the White Sox offense stands as too home run-centric have gone silent during the month of August.

The team's 39 homers in August, raising the White Sox Major League-leading total to 188, have contributed mightily to a 13-6 record during the month and a perch atop the American League Central. In Ozzie Guillen's opinion, it's not about how many home runs hit, but when they hit them.

"As long as you hit them with people on base," the White Sox manager said. "It's all about scoring runs and not letting the other team score runs. That's baseball.

"How you're going to score, no matter how you score, as long as you do it. Earlier in the season, we were criticized because we just didn't hit, and we left a lot of guys on base. This is different what we're doing right now.

"Every time we see people on base, we drive them in," Guillen added. "If you get on base, we're going to drive you in."

Or to use another phrase Guillen has thrown out quite frequently of late, any White Sox hitter who steps to the plate finds himself in scoring position. Home runs from Ken Griffey Jr., the 609th of his career, Alexei Ramirez, A.J. Pierzynski and Nick Swisher on Wednesday marked the 10th time this season the White Sox have hit four or more in a game.

That total leads the Majors, with Texas ranking second at six. The White Sox also have six games of at least four home runs in August alone, setting a franchise record for one month. Carlos Quentin leads the Majors with 35 home runs, while Jermaine Dye (29), Jim Thome (26) and Swisher (20) all have at least 20.

Swisher's blast on Wednesday was the 100th of his career, leaving him just 509 behind Griffey and Sammy Sosa for fifth place on the all-time list.

"So I have my work cut out for me," said Swisher with a laugh. "I have to keep pushing along."

Having a power-packed lineup from Nos. 1-9 could make the White Sox a dangerous team come October, if this attack gets going during a short series. But the important thing for the White Sox is that they can win games without the sole benefit of the home run, despite their 65-29 record when they hit a home run and 42-14 mark when they have a multiple-homer output.

The home runs set off the fireworks consistently at U.S. Cellular Field. It's the strong pitching and airtight defense that ultimately will produce the postseason shares for the South Siders.

"It's nice to hit home runs, but you gotta find other ways to score," Pierzynski said. "Today we did that. We scored a bunch of runs without the home run early. We strung a bunch of hits together. We just gotta keep doing what we've been doing and have good at-bats and get good pitches to hit."

"We just have to make sure that we approach the game like it's gonna be a pitchers' duel and play that type of game," White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko added. "If it winds up being a slugfest, we feel like we can play that, too. But this is a team that is about the pitching and playing those close games."