Column: Was the Chicago White Sox’s ‘(bleep) week’ a blip or a trend? It’s up to Tony La Russa to get them back on track.

It’s no surprise if you’ve been suffering from a bad case of whiplash over the last week.

One day you’re cranking up the heat. The next day you’re turning on the air conditioner. And then it’s back to winter again.

One day it’s OK to take off your mask. The next day it’s time to mask up again. And who knows what tomorrow will bring?

And if you’ve been following the Chicago White Sox, the whiplash has occurred at a fast and furious pace. The Sox were 6-3 and looking unstoppable in the American League Central on Wednesday morning, only to be swept in a doubleheader in Cleveland that day to begin an 0-6 road trip that ended with a walk-off loss Sunday in Minnesota.

Another brutal injury, putting Eloy Jiménez out of action for up to two months, combined with shoddy defense and a lack of hitting helped void the collective optimism Sox fans accumulated during the opening homestand.

It’s enough to make a grown man cry — or at least cover his eyes.

But just as our one day of spring Saturday eventually will morph into a real summer, the real White Sox are likely to show up sooner or later.

Sooner would be preferable, and a homestand this week against the Kansas City Royals and Los Angeles Angels should help bring them out of their doldrums.

But if not, it’s still a long way to October and the division is occupied by three rebuilding teams and the Sox and Twins. One aggravating week in April won’t mean much if the Sox can limit the damage.

The most concerning part is the unforced mistakes, particularly the league-worst six errors committed by shortstop Tim Anderson. While Anderson is no Gold Glove shortstop, he never has looked so out of sync in the field. Last year he made 10 errors in 122 games, so you have to believe this is just a blip.

It’s reminiscent of a similar fielding slump former Sox third baseman Robin Ventura experienced at the start of the 1995 season, when the Sox also were coming out of a shortened spring training after the end of the strike. Ventura, who had won three Gold Gloves at that point, made six errors in the first five games and had a one-word response when asked about his fielding woes:

“Disgusting.”

The ‘95 Sox, who were prohibitive favorites to win the division, committed 21 errors in their first six games, which obviously affected the pitching. Ventura’s fielding slump continued, and the Sox had the worst record in the majors after 31 games when manager Gene Lamont was abruptly fired.

It was only the second time in 15 seasons Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf had given his general manager the OK to fire a Sox manager. The other one was Tony La Russa, who is now back at the helm and getting the same kind of questions from Sox fans on Twitter that Lamont heard on talk radio during the team’s underachieving start in ‘95.

La Russa doesn’t have to worry about suffering the same fate as Lamont, no matter where he bats struggling Leury García in the lineup or if he lets Byron Buxton beat the Sox instead of walking the Twins slugger with the game on the line in the 10th inning.

This is La Russa’s team, like it or not.

And Anderson won’t take any extended time off to clear his head after an awful week. The Sox can’t afford to take his bat out of the lineup, and he will get another day off when he serves his one-game suspension for flipping off a fan in Cleveland, assuming he loses his appeal. He’ll just have to play his way out of this.

Defense was an issue last year, when the Sox committed 97 errors — fourth-worst in the AL — and they did nothing to improve it in the offseason. So it shouldn’t be a big shock to anyone that the Sox entered Monday tied with the Arizona Diamondbacks with 18 errors, five more than any other team. Other than outfielders Luis Robert and Adam Engel, no position players stand out defensively.

The Sox got by last year with designated hitters and first basemen playing in the outfield, and it wouldn’t be a major concern now if their pitching and hitting had lived up to expectations.

With Lucas Giolito’s return Sunday, the Sox still have a formidable threesome of Giolito, Dylan Cease and Michael Kopech leading the rotation. They can hold down the fort until Lance Lynn’s return. But Dallas Keuchel and Vince Velasquez need to step up, and Johnny Cueto didn’t fare well in his debut at Triple-A Charlotte, serving up two home runs in 2⅔ innings.

The Sox declined to spend on a top-line starter in the offseason after losing Carlos Rodón to free agency. That decision could come back to haunt them.

Jiménez’s hamstring injury, of course, is deflating. His injuries always are tough to deal with because we keep waiting on him to get through a full season. Now that won’t happen until 2023 at the earliest. I’ve always thought the Sox should make him the regular DH to limit the injury risk.

Giolito told reporters after the Sox’s seventh straight loss Sunday that it was a “(bleep) week.” Those things happen over the course of a season, even for the best teams. Even without Lynn, Jiménez and Yoán Moncada for an extended stretch, this team should dominate the AL Central rebuilds and hang with the Twins.

La Russa was hired because he has seen it all, so this is nothing new to him. What will he do to make sure last week is a blip and not a trend?

We’re all anxious to find out.