The Associated Press

PHOENIX - Angered with Chicago's inconsistency and refusing to concede the division title, White Sox general manager Ken Williams is again looking to Roberto Alomar for help.

The White Sox acquired Alomar from Arizona on Thursday, the second straight year Williams has traded for the 12-time All-Star second baseman for the stretch run. For Alomar, the White Sox gave the Diamondbacks a player to be named and cash.

"Obviously, you've got to deal with the fact that we're six games back. But I do not accept that we don't have enough talent to win this thing," Williams said. "Robbie's a smart pro and one who's not afraid of the August and September heat - and I'm not talking about the temperature outside.

"As we go down the stretch here, you simply have to play smart baseball," Williams added. "You cannot give away games. We need to pick it up."

Alomar, 36, batted .309 with three home runs and 16 RBIs in 39 games for Arizona. He missed 56 games with a broken right hand after being hit by a pitch in Milwaukee on April 20.

Williams said Alomar will be used at second base and designated hitter, and might also play some third base.

"I don't know how I'm going to do that, because I've never seen him play third," Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen said. "I think Robbie is going to come here as a DH and second baseman. How much he's going to play here, we're going to see what kind of shape he's in.

"I'm not going to guarantee that he's going to play every day until he earns a spot to play every day."

Alomar, who will be reunited with his older brother, Sandy, is expected to be in Chicago for Friday night's home game against Cleveland.

"I always enjoy being able to play with Robbie," Sandy Alomar said. "He's playing real good baseball these days. He brings a lot of experience at the top of the lineup. He knows how to make the pitcher work. He knows how to play the little game, but he can also play the big game."

Arizona has the worst record in the majors, and Alomar had been mentioned previously as a possible trade candidate as the Diamondbacks looked to unload some veterans. Steve Finley and Brent Mayne were traded to Los Angeles last weekend, although ace Randy Johnson remained with the team.

"I think that he's happy," said Sandy Alomar Sr., the Colorado Rockies' third-base coach. "He's probably going to have a chance to play more over there.

"He was bored and he's hungry to play. He was playing good over here at Arizona, unfortunately, though, they just didn't play him."

Alomar's best game with the Diamondbacks was his last. He went 4-for-5 and drove in three runs Tuesday night against Florida.

Diamondbacks manager Al Pedrique explained to Alomar that the front office was committed to developing young second baseman Scott Hairston.

"With the direction we're headed right now, we need to find out from these kids what we've got," Pedrique said. "I told Robby it's a great situation for him going to the White Sox. He's going to be playing with a veteran team."

With power hitters Frank Thomas, Magglio Ordonez and Carlos Lee, solid pitching and energetic new manager Ozzie Guillen, the White Sox were preseason favorites in the AL Central. Williams boosted the team's chances by trading for right-hander Freddy Garcia in June.

But Thomas and Ordonez are on the disabled list, the pitching has been sketchy and Chicago has lost eight of its last 10. An 11-0 drubbing by Kansas City on Wednesday night dropped the White Sox a season-high six games behind Minnesota.

A similar scenario cost the White Sox the division last season. After taking a two-game lead in the AL Central on Sept. 9, they lost 10 of their next 15 and wound up four games behind Minnesota. The collapse cost manager Jerry Manuel his job.

"The players are the ones that are going to make us all succeed or fail," Williams said, defending his coaching staff. "Sometimes you've got to look in the mirror, and we are simply not getting it done on the field."

Williams said he isn't questioning his team's desire, heart or talent. But the White Sox are making mistakes that infuriate him and have cost the team games.

In Alomar, the White Sox get a proven leadoff hitter who can also bunt and do the other little things Williams wants. The switch-hitting Alomar is a career .301 hitter with 209 home runs, 1,126 RBIs and 474 stolen bases in 17 seasons with San Diego, Toronto, Baltimore, Cleveland, the Mets, the White Sox and Arizona.

He hit .253 in 67 games for the White Sox last year, but they didn't offer him arbitration.

"We are going to get back in this to a greater degree and we needed more depth," Williams said. "We've got to rethink about how we go about our offensive attack. We've got to be smarter. We've got to be that much more on top of our game in order to pull this thing out."

Gonzalez glad he had surgery; eyeing next year

Luis Gonzalez decided to have surgery when he realized the pain in his right elbow was affecting his hitting as well as his throws from the outfield.

The Arizona Diamondbacks slugger, who bats left-handed, noticed about a month ago that he was having trouble pulling the ball.

"There was balls that I would normally get to hitting that I couldn't get to," Gonzalez said Thursday . "I was hitting balls to left field where I had situations with a guy on second where I'd normally try to hook a ball and get 'em over, and I told (trainer) Paul Lessard, 'You know what? Something's not right.'"

Gonzalez, released from the hospital Tuesday, appeared for his first post-operation session with reporters. His arm was in a sling and protected by a soft cast, which he said he would have to wear for 10 to 14 days.

On Monday, local orthopedists transplanted a tendon from Gonzalez's wrist to his right elbow, replacing the torn ulnar collateral ligament. Gonzalez began the season with a 50 percent ligament tear, but the operating team found the tendon was fully torn from the wear and tear of 105 games in left field.

During the operation, they repositioned a nerve and the replacement ligament.

"They moved the tendon over," he said. "So, hopefully, now it'll alleviate a lot of the problems. These last couple of days I've been a little sore, but it's been a great relief for me."

He said he ignored the pain since initially tearing the ligament sometime last season, especially after the Diamondbacks acquired slugger Richie Sexson from Milwaukee in the offseason. But Sexson's season-ending shoulder injury left Gonzalez pointing for next year.

"I thought going into this season there was going to be a great chance for us to get to the playoffs, and when you win, you don't think about anything else," he said.

Gonzalez expects to be almost healed by the start of spring training and 100 percent for opening day, preserving a string of first-day games he's been available for since his 1991 rookie season with the Houston Astros.

But he said his competitive nature left him with ambivalent feelings about being out of the lineup, even though the Diamondbacks have the worst record in the majors.

"I didn't want to get Wally Pipped," he said, referring to the New York Yankees first baseman until Lou Gehrig began his string of 2,130 consecutive games.

Gonzalez was hit .259 with 17 homers and 48 RBIs this year. Going on the disabled list snapped his string of five consecutive seasons with at least 26 homers and 100 RBIs.