Last night at 12:01, I caught The Dark Knight (go, by the way... It is a tremendous film), so I was exhausted at work all day today and I basically came home at 5 and passed out for a few hours. To make a long story short, I haven't seen much of the Sox's 9-5 win over Kansas City, but it's nice to see that the Sox hitters jumped out on Greinke, who owned the White Sox last Thursday in the Royals 4-1 series salvage. 6 runs in the first inning, Buehrle with another good outing moved his record to 7-8 and the longer than usual 4-day All-Star Break was all worth it.
B-R Box Score/Play-By-Play | Chicago Tribune recap | Sun-Times recap | MLB recap | Soxmachine.com recap
Elsewhere in the Central, Minnesota shut out the Rangers at the Metrodome, 6-0, to keep pace with the Sox and stay 1½
Harold Baines will be honored in Sunday's series finale, when the White Sox will unveil a Baines statue in the outfield concourse. Though he spent a lot of time away from the South Side in his career, the #1 pick of the 1977 Draft is still prominent on the franchise's all-time leaderboard. Some notable highlights include:
- Tied for 6th most games played with Hall of Famer Eddie Collins (1,670)
- 4th most Career At-Bats (6,149)
- 7th most Runs Scored (786)
- 5th most Hits (1,773)
- 3rd most Home Runs (221)
- 3rd most RBI's (981)
MLB.com surveyed all of its writers and Jermaine Dye got the 2nd most 1st Half AL MVP votes, behind (of course) Josh Hamilton. Nice to see that the guys that cover the game have noticed Dye is having another tremendous year and nice to see that Dye recovered from that terrible first half he had last season that really torpedoed his entire season. Barring injury or a complete 2nd-half meltdown, Hamilton will win the AL MVP, but I'm glad that Jermaine is getting some props for what he's meant to the Sox so far this year, especially considering Carlos Quentin has probably been the most talked about member of the team for his break-out season (and rightfully so).
Kyle Long, one of the pitchers I really liked from June's draft, looks like he's headed to college. I remember reading something on Long (of the football-playing Longs... Howie Long is his dad and recent NFL 1st round draft pick Chris is his older brother), that said he would need to be blown away by an offer to reconsider dropping his scholarship to play at Florida State University next year. The Sox took a flyer on him in the 23rd round, but Mark Gonzales reported tonight that Long told Sox scouts that he's going to Tallahassee. A power throwing lefty, I would have liked to see him develop for a few years in the Sox system, but oh well. The two other players I really like, Beckham and Danks, are good bets to sign by August 15, and considering how well the Sox's 2 Rookie ball teams have started this season, hopefully this draft will go a long way to replenishing the Sox's farm system.
As it stands right now, Long would be the 5th draftee who will not ink a deal with the Sox; 16th round pick Brett Basham will return to Ole Miss for his senior season, 31st round pick James McCann will attend the University of Arkansas, 35th round pick Harold Riggins will attend North Carolina State, and 43rd round pick Cory Farris will be attending the University of Kentucky.
Thanks to their 3-3 road trip to close out the 1st half, the Sox dropped 3 spots in ESPN's Power Rankings. They are now ranked the 4th best team in the Majors, behind the Cubs, Red Sox, and Angels. Yeah, they don't mean shit, but it's nice to see the Sox get all the national attention they've deserved. I'm going to try and keep track of the Sox's progress in the power rankings over the 2nd half, just to keep a finger on the pulse of what the World Wide Leader thinks of the Beloved.
Although the White Sox haven't expressed much interest, Freddy Garcia and his agent are targeting a September comeback for the former Pale Hose. The article is from New York, so it specifically mentions the Yankees and Mets as teams that are interested and could use Garcia, but Garcia's name has been a popular hit on MLB Trade Rumors, and I think at last count at least 1/2 of the 30 teams in the Majors have been looking at or expressing some interest in the rehabbing righty.
The White Sox have owned the Royals at home. I know, that's not really news, but the Kansas City Star noted in it's post-game coverage of tonight's win that Zack Greinke personally dropped to 0-6 in his career at U.S. Cellular Field and the White Sox have only lost 18 of the last 70 times the Royals and Sox have played on the South Side. Intra-division dominance... Yes!
Both Joe Cowley and the White Sox blog each published a Top-5 Wish List for the final 70 or so games of the 2008 and season. Both are worth a read and make some pretty good points, though they do mirror one another a bit. So, in the spirit of things, here's my Top 5 Wishes for the 1/2 Half of 2008.
- Long term contract extensions for Carlos Quentin and Bobby Jenks - Quentin especially has been a diamond that Kenny Williams unearthed from Arizona and not only has been the best offensive player the Sox have had all first half, he's quickly become a fan favorite and gotten a lot of media attention. Jenks, on the other hand, has proven his worth as a closer, both when he's on the field and when he's off (I think we all remember the Misadventures of the Bullpen in Bobby's absence). With the current core of this team aging, the Sox would be well advised to follow in the footsteps of many other teams in locking up their young stars. Along with Buehrle, Floyd, Danks, Alexei, and Josh Fields, I think the Sox have a great core of talent to build around in the next few years.
- Not overpaying for another starter - In lieu of Contreras and Vazquez's struggles, the Sox have been mentioned as a buyer in this year's Trading Market. While some intriguing names out there are still possibly available such as A.J. Burnett or Justin Duchscherer, one of the pillars of the last few years of the Williams era has been making smart acquisitions, especially in terms of starting pitching. While I wouldn't mind some insurance for Contreras or Vazquez, we've seen this before out of the streaky starters. While in a perfect world, they would both get their heads screwed on straight and take the pressure off the front office, I'd rather see the Sox buy low on another project starter rather if they make a move at all by the trading deadline.
- Some Individual Hardware - If the season ended today, the Sox would obviously be in the play-offs, but they'd also be shut out of the major awards. OK, I'd take a division title over a sweep of the MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, and Manager of the Year, but this is a wish list. Unfortunately, barring injury or unexpected collapse, it looks like Hamilton is in control of the MVP race, Evan Longoria is the prohibitive favorite to win the Rookie of the Year, and smart money is on Joe Maddon to be named Manager of the Year, and while these are all good choices, well, I'd like to see Dye/Quentin, Ramirez, and Ozzie steal one of these. I'd like to think Mark Buehrle, John Danks, and Gavin Floyd would be in the conversation for a Cy Young Award, but the fact that none of them were selected to the All-Star Game should let you know what kind of competition they're going to be dealing with.
- Twins Collapse - Even though everyone points to the 2nd half surge by the Indians in 2005 as a critical reason the Sox were able to tear through the play-offs in 12 games, I wouldn't mind seeing the Twins fall off the pace and leave the Sox with some breathing room by September. There are simply more concerns with this team than in '05, especially in the rotation. I think Ozzie Guillen is a good enough manager and the veteran core of this team is experienced and hungry enough to be able to stay competitive even if the Sox are essentially playing meaningless games the last few weeks of the season, but I'd like them to be able to rest young starters like Floyd and Danks and possibly work with Contreras in the last few weeks of the season, so they're all fresh and ready to go come October.
- Paul Konerko revival - Ok, I've got to mention this like the two other lists I linked to. If Konerko can find his swing in the last 2½ months of the season then the Sox will have added another big power bat in the middle of their lineup at no cost, which would do wonders in making the Sox one of the more potent offensive teams in baseball and take a lot of pressure off the Sox's already excellent pitching staff.
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