Series Preview... at Baltimore, April 21-23

The White Sox round out their 10-game road trip with three in Baltimore to face the slumping Orioles. One week ago, the Orioles were fresh off a 7-5 win over the Rangers, pushing their record to 6-2, tied for best in the American League. Since then, they've lost 5 in a row, including a 4-game sweep at Fenway Park. They now sit at 6-7, a game out of last place in the American League East.

SERIES... at Oriole Park at Camden Yards; all three games start at 6:05 PM Chicago time.

TUESDAY'S PROBABLES... Jose Contreras (0-2, 6.97) vs. Brad Bergesen (MLB Debut)

WEDNESDAY'S PROBABLES... John Danks (1-0, 0.75) vs. Jeremy Guthrie (2-0, 4.32)

THURSDAY'S PROBABLES... Bartolo Colon (1-0, 3.86) vs. Adam Eaton (0-2, 11.25)

INJURY UPDATE... Orioles CF Adam Jones, one of their young up and coming superstars, is expected to return to the lineup tonight after leaving Sunday's game and missing Monday's with a tight hamstring. Hamstring injuries can be nagging, though, so I'll believe it when I see it.

The Orioles, however, will definitely be without Melvin Mora and Ryan Freel. Mora was placed on the DL last week with a hamstring injury and Freel was placed on the 15-Day Disabled List today after taking an errant pick-off throw to the head during yesterday's loss to Boston.

WHO'S HOT... Adam Jones. Even with missing a game and a half this past week, he's the only Oriole who has hit multiple HR over the past week and has hit .400/.571/.867.

WHO'S NOT... The O's pitching staff; Overall, the staff has an ERA of 6.69, 2nd worst in the American League but their bullpen has been especially rough, with an ERA of 8.12 this season, again, good for 2nd worst in the American League. The main culprits in the bullpen have been Brian Bass and Radhames Liz, who have ERAs of 11.57 and (not joking here) 67.50 respectively. Liz has allowed 10 earned runs and recorded only 4 outs this season and has a WHIP of 7.500.

WELCOME TO THE SHOW, BRAD... Tonight's projected starter for the O's is Brad Bergesen, who will be making his MLB Debut. He was selected by the Orioles in the 4th round of the 2004 Draft. The 23-year-old righty steadily worked his way up the organization over the years, but broke through last season at AA Bowie, where he started 23 games and posted a 15-6 record with a 3.22 ERA. He had an impressive spring for the Birds, but was sent to AAA Norfolk, where in 2 starts he has posted a 1-1 record and 2.45 ERA, however injury to Alfredo Simon and the massive incompetence of Liz have opened an opportunity for Bergesen.

MacDOUGAL GONE, EGBERT UP... The White Sox mercifully ended the Mike MacDougal Era today, designating the ineffective reliever for assignment. Jack Egbert will take his role in the Sox bullpen. Egbert's been less than great in Charlotte, but at this point, I'm willing to try anything.

ONE FINAL THOUGHT... A lot has been made of Bobby Jenks' struggles with the Orioles, and while it is true that Jenks has been tagged by Baltimore in the past (1-2 record, 8.49 ERA in 13 appearances against them), a lot of that seems to be luck. Jenks' BABIP against Baltimore is a shocking .512. .512!. That is over 200 points higher than his career BABIP of .291 and easily the highest against any team he has faced more than once. The current members of the Orioles, however, have not hit Jenks well historically, the current roster has a total of 5 hits off Jenks in 28 career plate appearances, and 3 of them belong to Brian Roberts (Nick Markakis and Aubrey Huff own the other two).

Hey... Some Good News, Finally!

In this new, Golden Age of White Sox Thriftiness (oops, did I mean "Smarter Spending?"), it's nice to finally get some good news. Though it's not the lead-off man, center fielder, third baseman, second baseman, 5th starter, backup catcher, or 2nd bullpen lefty we could still use, the White Sox avoided arbitration with Bobby Jenks by agreeing today to a 1-year, $5.6 million deal according to Tribune's Dave Van Dyck.

I like this deal a lot. On the field, he's been a workhorse for the Sox, averaging over 64 IP and 37 saves per season through his first three full years in the Majors. True, his strikeout numbers are a cause for concern, as they have declined steadily over those three years (80 in 2006, 56 in 2007, and 38 last year), but, and not to sound like an apologist, anyone who has watched the Sox consistently during the Bobby Jenks era knows he has grown from simply a flame-throwing, one-trick pony to a more polished pitcher, with other weapons in his arsenal, in hope of extending his career. Yes, the strikeouts have been down, but I remain confident in Jenks because even though opponents are putting the ball in play, he's keeping them on the ground, critical for pitchers who play in a home run-friendly launching pad. Last season, Jenks allowed 184 balls in play; 109 of them were ground balls, almost 60%.

Financially this move is a slam dunk by the Sox. Though Jenks' salary will balloon 10x larger than it was in '07, he's still one of the most affordable, proven closers in the game. As of tonight, with only a few veteran relievers still on the market, Jenks' 2009 salary of $5.6 million isn't even in the top 10 of projected closer's salaries. The list:

1. Mariano Rivera, Yankees - $15 million
2. Francisco Cordero, Reds - $12 million
3. Brad Lidge, Phillies - $11.5 million
4. Joe Nathan, Twins - $11.25 million
5. Kerry Wood, Indians - $10 million
6. B.J. Ryan, Blue Jays - $10 million
7. Francisco Rodriguez, Mets - $8.5 million
8. Brian Fuentes, Angels - $8.5 million
9. Jose Valverde, Astros - $8 million
10. Trevor Hoffman, Brewers - $6 million
11. Bobby Jenks, White Sox - $5.6 million
12. Mike Gonzalez, Braves - $3.5 million
13. Dan Wheeler, Rays - $3.2 million
14. Fernando Rodney, Tigers - $2.7 million
15. Matt Capps, Pirates - $2.3 million
16. Chad Qualls, Diamondbacks - $1.3 million*
17. Aaron Heilman, Mariners - $1.2 million*
18. Joakim Soria, Royals - $1 million
19. George Sherrill, Oriolez - $900,000*
20. Jonathan Papelbon, Red Sox - $775,000*
21. Manny Corpas, Rockies - $750,000
22. Jonathan Broxton, Dodgers - $454,000
23. Carlos Marmol, Cubs - $430,000
24. Heath Bell, Padres - $420,000*
25. CJ Wilson, Rangers - $417,460*
26. Joel Hanrahan, Nationals - $400,000
27. Matt Lindstrom, Marlins - $395,000
28. Brian Wilson, Giants - $392,500
29. Chris Perez, Cardinals - $390,000
30. Brad Ziegler, Athletics - $390,000
    Notes: I took the closers from today's projected closers on the ESPN Hot Stove Reports for all teams. All contract information comes from, of course, Cot's Baseball Contracts. Finally, those salaries marked with an asterik are the player's 2008 salary, since those players are still eligible for arbitration and have not had their 2009 salary determined.

As you can see, there are few better players that combine Jenks' durability and affordability. I would say the only team with a better deal for their closer are the Red Sox and Jonathan Papelbon, but with him eligible for salary arbitration this year as well, his contract will likely skyrocket, and probably surpass Jenks', before Opening Day. In any case, with 117 career saves, Jenks has the 24th most saves of all active pitchers, and is ahead of a couple of guys who will be cashing bigger checks than him in 2009: BJ Ryan (115), Brian Fuentes (115), and Kerry Wood (34).

Finally, on a personal note, I've really come to like Jenks. I think he genuinely enjoys playing for the Sox and is appreciative of the organization for the chance they took on him in 2004 when they plucked him from the Angels in what will go down as one of the best waiver wire steals of all-time. Bobby's personal deamons that nearly cost him his career in baseball have been well documented, but you don't have to look too hard in sports to find guys who still retain a sense of entitlement about their profession, despite their best efforts to waste their talent.

Here's to another season in the sun, #45. If you could find a lead-off hitter, though, to come with you, that would be great.

Jenks' trade value, Top 10 Prospect Shake-Up, and Farm Team featured on Deadspin

Another pretty quiet day for the White Sox in Las Vegas. The same general rumors are still floating around, Jermaine Dye is available, Jim Thome is available, Paul Konerko is available, but nothing really substantial. The biggest news of the day is that the two best closers available, K-Rod and Kerry Wood look like they've either signed contracts or are close, which of course affects the trade value Bobby Jenks, another asset the Sox supposedly have not been afraid to make available. It's been widely known that the closer market is one of the rare, truly buyer-friendly markets now, as evidenced by the "small" 3 year, $37 million deal Francisco Rodriguez signed with the Mets this afternoon. By no means, loose change, but considering the contract Rodriguez envisioned midseason, its obvious the glut of available closers and relative lack of teams needing closers will affect their value. This, of course means, the Sox will probably not be able to get fair value for Jenks this off-season and at this point, I'd expect him back for '09. Nothing, though, will really surprise me at this point.

Reds manager Dusty Baker weighed in on the ongoing Dye-to-Cincinnati trade rumors and revealed that the biggest stumbling block in the deal was Jermaine's contract, worth potentially $23.5 million over the next two years.

Not terribly shocking from the Red's perspective, they are well known cheap asses, plus it's pretty shitty to lose one of your top prospects (Bailey), rent a guy for 1 year at $10 million and then forfeit your top draft pick in 2010 when he walks as a free agent. This is however, interesting from the Sox's perspective who have repeatedly insisted they're not just slashing payroll for the sake of slashing payroll. If that were really the case, why was it so hard to come to a number everyone liked? I mean, I know it's a business and maybe Williams and Co. are waiting for a few of the other big dominoes to fall before gauging Dye's true current value, but if the real goal of the Sox is to simply get younger and more athletic, then you'd think eating some of Dye's salary wouldn't be such a deal-breaker. This makes me think that either:

1. The Sox are just cutting payroll for the sake of cutting payroll or...
2. The Sox are cutting payroll in anticipation of some other unseen moves later down the line.

Here's something that ought to give you nightmares. Joe Cowley, citing unnamed sources, claims that the Sox might try to reunite with Freddy Garcia. I shit you not,

A major-league source told the Sun-Times not to be surprised to see Freddy Garcia back in a Sox uniform in spring training if his current ''aches'' subside. The Sox know what they get with Garcia, and he'd love to be reunited with Ozzie Guillen.

If one of management's new goals was to rebuild some organizational depth, then consider the past 12 months very, very succesful. According to the Tribune's Mark Gonzales, Baseball America is putting the final touches on their 2009 prospect guides and the White Sox revised (since the Vazquez trade) top 10 will look like this:

1. Gordon Beckham
2. Dayan Viciedo
3. Aaron Poreda
4. Tyler Flowers
5. Clayton Richard
6. Brandon Allen
7. Jordan Danks
8. Brent Lillibridge
9. Chris Getz
10. John Shelby

The bolded names (1/2 the list) are guys who have been in the White Sox organization for less than 1 year. Very unlikely that any of these newcomers will make any, let alone major, contributions at the MLB level in 2009, but considering the complete mess that was the White Sox farm system just 1 year ago, this influx of young talent is very encouraging.

There has been a surprising lack of interest in free agent Orlando Hudson, at least that's what this guy thinks. Considering a few months ago, Hudson was thought to be the prize free agent on Kenny Williams wish list, it is a bit surprising to see those rumors completely vanish. However, the more I think about it, the more this seems to be the KW MO. He was able to snag Dye and Pierzynski for bargain prices before the '05 season because of their injury/character questions and the two have been outstanding, key members of the organization ever since. So even though the Hudson rumors have lulled, I'm not giving up on the thought of him starting at 2B for the White Sox in '09.

Elsewhere, a few other former Sox making news. The shortstop-less A's aren't thrilled at the prospect of signing Orlando Cabrera and forfeiting their 1st round pick in next year's draft. Don't expect OC to sign anywhere until Rafael Furcal, who was not offered salary arbitration by the Dodgers and carries no draft pick compensation, lands somewhere. Also, Jon Garland's name has been popping up. His most previous employer, the Angels, don't seem to keen on bringing him back, and while there were some rumors about him signing on with the Cardinals, the Orioles may also be in the mix.

Finally, the White Sox's newly renamed A-ball affiliate, the Winston-Salem Dash were featured on Deadspin today, the king of the sports blog world. Reason?

The team's new phallic-inspired logo.

I'll probably still just call them the Warthogs.

A Very Special 3 Up, 3 Down... From Sick Bay

I hope you all don't think I've been conspicuously absent these past few days because the Sox have been taking lumps from the Twins and I'm only back because they walloped Minnesota, 8-3 tonight to assure that, at very worst, they will leave the Little Dome of Horrors with sole possession of 1st place. Nope, just been a busy week; caught the Peoria Chiefs game tonight and no, there was no onfield brawl/felonious assault this time (Editor's note: Drats).

Anyways, let's get down to the nitty gritty...

1 UP - Bobby Jenks' Shoulder

While I have no formal evidence to back this up, I don't believe there's much of a coincidence by the fact that as soon as Bobby Jenks landed on the D.L. and the comfortable positions the rest of the bullpen had settled into became disrupted that everything fell apart. While I can't say if Boone Logan would be struggling, or Scott Linebrink would be hurting, or that Ehren Fucking Wassermann would be back up (Seriously!), but at least since his return Jenks hasn't missed a beat. While he's only pitched in 4 games since the All-Star Break, he's been lights out, allowing a single hit and single walk in those 4 innings for an Opponents' OBP of .143 and 3 saves in 3 chances. True the rest of the bullpen is in various stages of "tatters" right now, at least Jenks has firmly reestablished himself as the rock in the 9th inning that everything builds on from there.

1 DOWN - Joe Crede's Back

On a personal level and team level, Crede's recent stint on the D.L. is very disheartening. For Crede, this injury probably cost him a fortune and perhaps his time in Chicago is truly winding to an end. When he erupted for a sizzling open to the season, there were shouts for a contract extension, but now that Crede's durability questions have raised from "troublesome" to "ORANGE ALERT," the megadeal he was looking to cash in on may never come. Added that, the Sox still have Josh Fields in the background, lurking and waiting to take over at third base, no matter how little sense that seem to make. You really have to wonder if they'd consider talking to a now oft-injured Scott Boras client who still can probably sucker some team into giving him more than he's realistically worth.

However, at the team level, Crede's injury sucks ass because now Fields and his lack of defense will patrol the hot corner (or it will be Juan "No Bat" Uribe). Though Crede says it's no big thing, that's awfully hard to fully believe. We need you back, Joe.

2 UP - Carlos Quentin's Shoulder

Though Quentin has had no injury problems in Chicago, his durability was one of the reasons he was shown the door in Arizona and why he almost missed the bus ride north from Tucson (at this rate, Jerry Owens' groin should be enshrined in the White Sox Hall of Fame). Regardless, Quentin's been a beast all season long, his first full one at the Major League level and shows no sign of letting up. Even before tonight's 3/5, HR, 4 RBI performance that paced the Sox to this important victory, Quentin's been hitting .302/8/18 over his last 16 games with a .397 OPB and a .746 slugging percentage.

Quentin's durability concerns have always been in the back of my mind, especially considering he's been plunked 14 times now, tied for the most in the American League, but his steady hitting has been one of the few constants for the White Sox this season.

2 DOWN - Whatever the Hell is Wrong with Paul Konerko

It's been a rough year for Konerko. From that mysterious thumb injury that he tried to play through for way to long to whatever physical and/or mental ailment is bringing him down now, Konerko's having a season to forget on a personal level. Do you realize now that he's slugging worse than anyone who is still in the White Sox organization and has more than 20 at bats? .351, yikes. As a means of comparison, here's the production the other division leaders in baseball are getting from their first basemen:

• Carlos Pena, Tampa Bay Rays: .236 (eww)/.340/.447
• Casey Kotchman, Los Angeles Angels*: .287/.327/.448
• Carlos Delgado, New York Mets: .263/.347/.497
• Derrek Lee, Chicago Cubs: .298/.359/.495
• Connor Jackson, Arizona D'backs: .321/.404/.507

*I know Kotchman was just dealt to Atlanta, but he played 100 games for LA this year, so he still counts as "the regular."

Anyway, my point stands that the Sox are getting shortstop-quality production out of a premier power position. I don't know what Paul's problems are. Is this still all physical, or does coming up to bat and seeing that .213 season batting average on the JumboTron make you press a little harder than you should? Its seriously time to question whether or not the Sox would be better off placing Konerko on the bench for a little bit, moving Swisher to 1st (in the time he filled in for Konerko at 1st, he hit .256/.366/.474 with 4 HR and 15 RBI in 24 games) and play Anderson or Wise in CF everyday. It's really come to that; Konerko or Anderson/Wise.

What a cruel, cruel bitch this game can be.

3 UP - Jose Contreras' Elbow

No, I'm not celebrating the fact that Contreras has been on the D.L., I'm just wishing that his struggles as of late have been caused by a sore elbow he wasn't telling anyone about. We all know that when Jose is feeling good and mentally sound, he's downright dominating. His run that stretched from '05 to '06 was incredible and for a while this season, he was arguably the Sox's best pitcher, but since June 10, he's not been able to get anyone out, allowing a .366 BAA in 7 starts.

I don't know if Jose has reached the end of his line, but I can hope that there's still a few more games left in his tank.

3 DOWN - Scott Linebrink's Shoulder

Linebrink's been on the disabled list since July 23rd, but he's only pitched a handful of ineffective innings in about a month now. In the same way Jenks' abesence seemed to reek havoc on the state of comfortable predictability that pervaded the Sox's bullpen, the same can be said for the loss of Linebrink. Truthfully, the answer may be the no bullpen can truly recover from simultaneously losing their set-up man and All-Star closer, but the White Sox bullpen has been really, really bad as of late. Hopefully some extended R&R is what Linebrink needs to come back ready as ever for the final push for the pennant.

Jenks Update #2

That's more like it! Bobby Jenks pitched 1 inning for the Birmingham Barons tonight and well, he did all right. His line:

1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K

Yep, he struck out the side, including fizzled megaprospect Rocco Baldelli, who is spending some quality time with the Montgomery Biscuits in hope of returning to the Devil Rays before this season ends.

Anyways... Box Score and Game Recap, both courtesy of the Barons' official website... Oh, the Barons lost 7-5, in case anyone was wondering.

Players 16-23 should find their way on down to Birmingham Monday, the 21st, as the White Sox and Barons will team up and host a Tryout Camp. Notable alumni of this program include Ehren Wassermann. Damn, you know you're old when you can't even try out for the team any more. I guess I won't be playing baseball as a career.

And for those of you who can't decide what to do with that extra $5,000 you have laying around, you can purchase the 8-1/2 foot tall White Sox-style Statue of Liberty replica. The statue was on display in New York City for some sort of "Statues on Parade" (think Chicago's Painted Cows in the Loop a few years ago).

Anyways, MLB Auctions is taking bids now for the statue that spent the last few weeks outside a CVS on Manhattan Island. The auction ends in about 2 weeks, there have been no bids yet, and the winner also gets the honor of forking over an extra $500 just to have it shipped to you.

No Golden Spikes for Gordon, Ozuna wants no part of Charlotte, and Clayton Richard wins a free trip to China

Unfortunately, Gordon Beckham did not bring home the Gold(en Spike Award). The award went to Buster Posey, a catcher from Florida State University who was picked fifth overall by the Giants in June. Sucks for Beckham, but hopefully he'll heed this consoling word: Rashaan Salaam won the 1994 Heisman Trophy over some guy named Steve McNair and, well, we know how that turned out.

Pablo Ozuna officially cleared waivers and decided not to play ball in AAA Charlotte and is now a free agent. According to the Tribune's Mark Gonzales, the Blue Jays are interested in Ozuna's services, but so far that is just a baseless rumor. I wish Pablo the best of luck, he wasn't the most important piece to the 2005 Championship puzzle (not even a "vital piece"), but he was a quality utility player who actually appeared at every position for the Sox except pitcher and catcher. He never seemed to fully recover from that nasty ankle injury last year and was the 26th man on a 25-man roster.

The Daily Herald Sports Department is apparently stuck somewhere in last weekend, and ran an Op-Ed today celebrating the fact that both Chicago teams are in first place at the All-Star break. I don't know if they're aware in Arlington Heights, but I assure you that story has been beaten into the ground already.

By the way, why don't more of these stories reference the fact that the last time both the White Sox and Cubs went to the All-Star Break in first place was 1977, a year in which both teams failed to make the post-season? The Sox were 54-36 at the break in '77, 2.5 games ahead of the Royals and the Cubs were 54-35, 2.5 game better than Pittsburgh, yet the Sox were lapped by Kansas City, who went on a tear in September winning 26 of their final 32, including a 16-game win streak and the Cubs simply collapsed, going 27-46 after the All-Star Break.

This is still Chicago, everyone. Don't tempt fate.

Bobby Jenks will pitch tonight in Birmingham, though when and how long but according to the report on the Barons' official site, Jenks will pitch tonight and head to Chicago to join the Sox on Friday so everyone remember to adjust your fantasy line-ups.

A few days after starting for Team USA in the Futures Game, Sox farmhand Clayton Richard continued his ascent from obscurity and was named to the final US Olympic Team to compete in the Beijing Olympics next month (of course, baseball will not be returning as an Olympic sport in 2012).

The Triple-A All-Star Game is on ESPN2 live from Lousiville. The Knights/Sox are represented by Jason Childers, Brad Eldred, and Chris Getz. Childers is on the wrong side of 30, Eldred has AAAA Player written all over him, but Chris Getz is an intriguing middle infield prospect for the Sox.

Ooh, and there's a Ryan Wing sighting. Wow, how many former Sox prospects do the A's have in their system?

Bobby Jenks in A-ball, some Arizonans would like a mulligan on the TCQ trade, and what flavor of ice cream is Joe Crede, really?

I don't know if this is a Sox-only thing, but in Bobby Jenks' 1 inning of rehab work for the Warthogs last night the big guy was sporting his normal White Sox road gray. Though he did don a Warthogs hat, I wonder how common this practice is? I know when Paul Konerko and Frank Thomas did rehab in Charlotte, they wear Knights jerseys, but they were also there for more than one game. I know that when the Cubs send a player to Peoria for a rehab start, they wear Peoria Chiefs jerseys, even in the case of pitchers making only one start.

The Fort-Wayne Daily News really has its hand on the pulse of the Chicago baseball scene. Jeez, guys you're the last folks in the Midwest to wax poetic about a potential Red Line World Series.

The Arizona Diamondbacks were the toast of baseball after they won 28 of their first 44 games, but since then they've posted the 2nd worst record in the Majors, 19-32, and are breaking a game under .500 (albeit, in first place in the ludicrously mediocre NL West). Their primary corner outfielders, Eric Byrnes and Justin Upton, are batting a combined .228 with 17 home runs and 54 RBIs. The Arizona Republic wonders whether or not the D'backs could use a left fielders whose hitting .276/22/70. I wonder where they could find one of those? Anyways, Quentin handles the questions about his departure from Arizona with grace, but you know there's at least a small part of him that's enjoying watching the organization that blocked him behind Shawn Green and Luis Gonzalez have to wipe the egg off their face when discussing trading an All-Star for a first baseman in A-ball.

Everyone in Bristol, rejoice! The White Sox and BriSox agreed to extend their affiliation for 2 more years, meaning Rookie-level White Sox minor leaguers will get to straddle the Virginia/Tennessee state line and play in a high school ballpark until at least 2010.

Here's a real brain-buster op-ed courtesy of the Michigan City News Dispatch. What flavor of ice cream would Joe Crede and Carlos Quentin be? Isn't that supposed to be one of those self-evaluatory (I think I just coined a new term) questions you get asked at a psychiatrist's office? Some highlight: Joe Crede as vanilla? Why not rocky road due to his long road back from back surgery? Carlos Quentin as baseball nut? What the hell flavor is that? I don't understand, are you actually trying to pair the players with the actual flavors of ice cream, or are you just using the names? If so, I have a new flavor for you, I call it "Fleeced from Arizona." It's cream, ice, sugar, a shredded fleece blanket, and some sand. Mm Mm... Delicious! Kosuke Fukudome as World Class Chocolate? How about Totally Overrated Ice Cream that actually sucks balls?

And, to continue a story from yesterday, Gio Gonzalez is on a roll. SportingNews.com ranked Gonzalez the #8 prospect in baseball, up from 27 before this season started. While Nick Swisher has been a welcomed personality in the clubhouse, his mixed results on the field make trading away MLB-ready Ryan Sweeney, and a good starting pitching prospect in Gio for him less and less desirable, especially given the White Sox's lack of starting pitching in the organization and the possible need to make a move for another starter by the trading deadline.

For what it's worth, it doesn't appear the Sox have any players on SP's Top Prospect list, but that's hard to gauge, since the author only goes over some highlights of the list and I'm not paying for a subscription to the site.

Enjoy the All-Star Game, and hopefully someone tapes Ichiro's pre-game pep talk.

Jenks Update

1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

Numbers aren't great, but it's a rehab start so it's more important he pitch pain-free. Still, it wouldn't have been the end of the world had he shut down some A-ball hitters. Tomorrow is an off day and Wednesday he's set to throw an inning in Birmingham.

Here's the game recap (Bobby pitched the first) and here's a box score.

Unfortunately, Games on Field Still Need to be Finished

Play-off Prognosis... Good: According to both AccuScore.com (as reported in the Sun-Times) and Baseball Prospectus the White Sox enter the second half of the season with a better than 80% chance of making the post-season, which isn't too shabby for a team that wasn't picked to contend at all in 2008. Not that I'm trying to gloat, I also had the Sox out of the play-off hunt (though I did pick them to finish 2nd behind Detroit), it's nice to see them get respect of both commentators and computers alike.

Not that this is news, but Bobby Jenks should be back with the Sox on Friday before their game with Kansas City. Jenks is scheduled to pitch tonight in Kannapolis and then Wednesday in Birmingham. Though any time a critical pitcher misses time with an injury, it's scary, but at least Jenks' problems have been of the "non-throwing shoulder" variety. Anyways, hopefully Dotel, Linebrink, and Jenks fall back into their 7th, 8th, and 9th inning groove again.

Don't look now, but Gio Gonzalez, is on a roll. 4 of his last 5 starts have been outstanding, and there's some rumbling that if the A's deal Joe Blanton, Gonzalez may be wearing white shoes sooner than later.

Enjoy the Home Run Derby, everyone. I'll pop in and out, but I find it brutal to watch live. It's the potent combination of its ridiculous length plus incessant chatter by Chris Berman makes for a cocktail I'd rather not drink for a couple of hours. Plus, say what you will, but I really couldn't give a crap about "sending off Yankee Stadium." The park was renovated in the 1970s, I hate the Yankees, and I'm already sick and tired of all this.