Ken Griffey Jr. may be a Hall-of-Fame calibur name, but he cannot help the White Sox in the two areas they need the most help – defense and pitching.  To be frank, I think the Sox need a team psychologist more than a new slugger.  I look forward to seeing Griffey in Sox black, but unless this team picks up the ball, hits with 2 outs consistently, and pitches better out of the bullpen, they will not win this division – not even close.  I think what ails this team more than anything is an inability to concentrate 100% for three hours.  The Twins seem to be better able to do that than the Sox.  I believe the Sox beating themselves has to do with their heads.  Their heads are not in the game for the entire game.  They look like they are trying, but not 100% focused.  The Twins are.  That is why they are going to win this division and why the Sox will be sitting at home in October.

Hawk Harrelson’s man-crush on Mauer increased to feverish levels as he and Morneau killed the Sox tonight as Sox pitching has let them all series long.  Apparantly Sox pitchers didn’t have the ability to make adjustments to them over a four-game span.  All they did was continue to let them beat them – all series long.  If the Sox want to compete with this team, they will have to get their heads together.  They are a headcase now, with or without Griffey. 

I’m not entirely sure how to feel about either event – the acquisition of Griffey and the win over Minnesota last night.  I will talk about the win first.  One of the most positive outcomes of the win is the fact the White Sox are guaranteed to leave Minnesota in first place no matter what happens tonight.  Still, I’m hoping for the split, which is what I hoped for coming into this series.  If the White Sox can do that, I will be happy.  What I’m most happy about was the outing from Gavin Floyd.  I have to admit…I was not counting on a good outing from him.  I expected more wild pitches, lots of hits and runs, but what the Sox got from him was a much needed dominating performance, giving up just 1 earned on 5 hits over 7 2/3 innings.  He needs to continue this, expecially with the question marks that have recently reared their head in the White Sox bullpen.

Speaking of the bullpen, the Sox traded Masset and Richar to the Reds for Ken Griffey Jr., a man who was a great player and did great things, but I’m not sure how much he has left in the tank.  I don’t like the idea of surrenduring pitching for old hitting, even if it is a Hall of Fame calibur name, but Kenny Williams knows what he’s doing and is clearly going for it this year. I’m not sure how they will work out the first baseman/ outfielder logjam, but I would bet it will be a platoon situation with Konerko being the ‘odd man out’ with Swisher getting the majority of the first base playing time with Griffey in center field, even though he hasn’t played the position since 2006.  It is a risk, but I guess Kenny believes Carrasco will fill Masset’s old role of long relief out of the pen.  I believe there will be more bullpen help on the way – possibly Huston Street from the A’s.  The Sox need one more piece out of that pen I think, but today’s acquisition of Griffey definitely caught me by surpsirse…

No errors showed up in the box score, but Paul Konerko’s inability to throw the ball to the inside part of the bag on a pickoff loomed large.  Brian Anderson throwing home when he had no chance to get the runner allowed another runner to move into second in the garbage 5th inning in which the Sox were essentially put away.  I could get mad at Clayton Richard for allowing the hits, but his defense didn’t help him out, and it was just his second outing. 

It’s amazing to me how often the Twins with two outs and two strikes get the key hit, and how often the Sox do not.  It’s almost at the point where the Sox can just write these games off in Minnesota as losses and do their best against the Twins at home.  While I watched this garbage baseball game, it dawned on me what ails the Sox.  They try to do everything big.  Instead of concentrating on the small things and doing them well, they always try to do the ‘big’ thing, like hitting the home run or trying to nail the guy at home instead getting guys on base and stringing together hits, hitting the cutoff man to keep the runner from moving into second. The Twins play exactly the opposite.  They do many little things well to result in wins.  This beats the Sox every time, year after year, and it is no surprise the White Sox won the division in ’05 when they actually did the little things more consistently than they ever had in ten years. 

I have heard it said many times the team we see now is the team we will see for the rest of the year.  If that is the case – with not so good pitching, an ineffective Paul Konerko, and shaky defense, the Sox will not win this division.  That is a virtual guarantee.  Unfortunately, I don’t count on anything changing…except the Sox’ place in the standings…

Errors, bad pitching, no offense…all of it was in play tonight for the White Sox who managed to do nothing well tonight.  Buehrle was not helped out by bad defense behind him, but he was unable to pitch over mistakes.  He has to be able to do that, and could not tonight.  This was the best shot I thought the Sox had to win one in Minnesota with Buehrle’s pitching history against the Twins.  He, like the whole team was terrible today.  If the White Sox want to win in Minnesota, they have to play near flawless baseball, which is virtually impossible with the numerous holes in the Sox’ game.  Their holes are never more pronounced than when they face this team in the dome.  Their defensive weaknesses are absurdly pronounced.  It also didn’t help the Sox made Slowey look like Cy Young.  Many a pitcher has looked like the second coming of Cy Young when facing this team.  It doesn’t matter who has the better talent.  It’s all about who beats themselves less.  The Sox always manage to beat themselves more than the Twins do.  This will be a very long series if things don’t change…but I don’t see that happening.

As much as I hate to say it, I had a feeling the Sox were in trouble when I saw it was Javier Vazquez who was doing the pitching today.  I suppose it brought back memories of then-Tiger Craig Monroe taking a slider by Vazquez deep a couple years back.  The Tigers would ultimately go on to win that game.  I have no doubt the Sox have heart and want to win.  That is not in question.  What is in question is the strength or lack thereof of the White Sox starting staff.  To be frank, the only guy I trust to be as close to lights out as possible in the starting rotation is Mark Buehrle.  Danks has been good all year, but has shown some cracks in the armour.  I trust none of the righties, one who is on the DL, and the other two unable to consistently command their breaking pitches.  I just don’t get a good feeling about the pitching, and while the offense has picked it up, bailing the Sox out in the first two games of this series, slugging to victory doesn’t generally win in the postseason.  I like the series win.  It is what the Sox needed to do.  I just don’t like dropping the last game, especially to a team following you that could have pretty much been buried with a sweep.  As is, the Tigers are still breathing. 

Javier Vazquez remains the most overrated, overpaid .500 pitcher I’ve seen.  I’m sick and tired hearing about ‘stuff’ and all the rest of this unquantifiable mumbo-jumbo.  If ‘stuff’ is all it took to be a great big-league pitcher, a lot of minor leaguers would be in the big show.  When it comes right down to it, Javier just cannot keep it together mentally over the long haul, which is why he is a career .500 pitcher.  This is a guy everyone says ‘should’ be better but never is.  Six earned over seven innings is simply not good enough.  Sure, Vazquez ate enough innings to essentially give the bullpen the day off, but the team needs seven strong, not seven mediocre/weak.  If Vazquez wasn’t so bad so consistently, I might judge him less harshly.  For now as it stands though, the Sox will be in trouble if he and the rest of the righties don’t step up and get the job done. 

There are still two months to go.  Lots of baseball left to be played.  I like our chances with Buehrle going for the Sox tomorrow night against the Twins.  I like this matchup  very much for the Sox.  Still, crazy things tend to happen in that dome, and the Sox will have to play near-flawless baseball to win there.  Errors against a team that makes very few never bodes well.  The Sox will have to avoid playing the sloppy defensive baseball they have played of late if they want to win or split this extremely important series…

Another nailbiter tonight.  The Tigers were in a position in the bottom of the ninth inning with a runner on to turn the tables on the White Sox before the largest crowd in Comerica Park history with a walk-off win as the Sox did to them the night before.  Fortunately for the White Sox, that did not happen.  Instead, the White Sox knocked another game off the schedule while maintaining their lead over the Twins and extended their lead by another game over the Tigers, who tried to scratch and claw their way into this game all night.  Since the Sox had stopped scoring after the fifth inning and the Tigers continued to score a run in the sixth and seventh innings, it looked like the Tigers would come back to win.  I’m happy to see Dotel got the strikeout after the wild pitch got the Tigers within a run.  It was great to see that guy battle back.  He could have let that rattle him, but he fought back.  This team, even not at full strength continues to win.  Bobby Jenks got his first two outs in the ninth on two pitches, but the third took a little longer.  Still, he earned his 21st save on the season.  Excellent job tonight. 

Even though the Sox won this ballgame, I’m still concerned about the pitching situation.  I’m not sure the Sox need to make a trade.  I think they just need to get healthy.  If they are certain Contreras, even when he returns will not be quite good enough, then they will probably need to make a move for another pitcher.  Still, with Crede struggling with his back issues, currently on the DL, it makes the prospect of trading Fields essentially impossible.  What they would give up for whom is a difficult question.  I’m glad I’m not Kenny Williams, but I trust him. 

I would have expected the White Sox to have been defeated after Masset gave up the go-ahead homer to Guillen in the 8th.  Normally, that is what I would have expected to happen.  Not last night.  Carlos Quentin continues to prove why he was an All Star by keeping the game alive with 2 out hit in the top of the 9th against Detroit’s closer Todd Jones.  When Jermaine Dye hit his is two-out homer and Bobby Jenks looked fantastic slamming the door shut, I was most impressed with the win and the manner in which they won it.  It was the kind of win good teams can produce.  I am very impressed with the way the Sox battled back in this game, and very happy with Jenks performance in the ninth.  Still, I am troubled with news of Linebrink and Thornton’s potential injury problems.  The Sox absolutely need these guys.  Whenever guys are forced out of their roles, they tend not to do well.  Whether it’s asking Linebrink to close, or Nick Masset to be the setup guy for Jenks, it doesn’t seem to go well.  These guys need to pitch in their place, but that is not possible with injuries unfortunately. 

Regardless of last night’s numbers for Gavin Floyd, 3 earned runs over 6 innings pitched, he has still not looked good over his last few starts.  His overall inability to consistently command his breaking stuff has been his downfall. Last night he tried to get a breaking ball down and is went for a wild pitch.  The next one he tried to get up and it hung for a shot by Ordonez.  I think it might be good for Floyd to command his fastball and use his breaking stuff more sparingly.  I know AJ is calling the pitches, but Gavin needs to execute, and like all the right handers, I’m not too happy with these guys lack of command. That will have to improve for the Sox to be competitive down the stretch.  They must create more distance between themselves and the Twins and Tigers.   

Another thing the White Sox are going to have to do much better if they want to remain in first place is pick up the baseball.  Two more errors on the night, one of them a double play not turned by Josh Fields continues the sloppy play of the Sox of late.  I know Josh was just called up for the injured Crede, but that is a big league play that has to be made.  He needs to field that ball cleanly, and in some ways I would rather have Uribe there at third, as he was when Jenks was in the game.  I think the best defensive team on the field with Crede out is Swisher at first, Anderson in center, and Uribe at third.  Apparantly Ozzie Guillen agrees with me since that is the defense that was out there when Bobby Jenks came into the game in the 9th to close the door. 

The good news is the Sox keep winning with these pitching and defense problems, Crede now on the shelf, and Konerko remaining a non-factor.  It makes me wonder where this team would be if these guys weren’t so banged up and playing to their potential.  I believe they could not only win the division, but go deep in the playoffs.  Some have said Paul Konerko is going to have to matter for the Sox to contend.  If that is the case, then I’m a bit leery of the Sox’ chances.  I’m not sure Konerko at this point will ever be right this season, now two-thirds over. He wants to win and he will never quit, but he’s not helping the team too much right now by being in there.  It’s hard to know how long you stick with a guy, but as a veteran and World Series hero, he has earned that right to work his way out of it.  I only hope he does so as soon as possible because the Sox could really use him.  They will go for the series win tonight…

I was unable to watch this game today, but it sounds like it was entertaining, even if it was sloppy, with 4 errors, and lots of runs given up on both sides.  Alexei Ramirez’ amazing scoop play to the barehanded Konerko is something I’ve never seen in my life in the almost 30 years I’ve been watching baseball.  Incredible.  Quentin continues to prove why he is an All Star with a two-homer performance, including the game-winner with 2 out in the bottom of the 8th.  Clayton Richard hung in there for 4 innings, surrenduring 4 earned on 7 hits.  Given this was his rookie start, that’s not too bad considering the monster lineup he had to face.  Good to see Jenks and Dotel getting it done again, but Boone Logan is a guy I have never been too high on, as he gave up 2 runs on 2 hits in one inning.  This guy seems to always have control problems and then he’s forced to throw the fastball down the middle only to get knocked around.  I sometimes think his control issues has to do with his sidearm delivery.  Whatever it is, he is honestly the last guy I want to see out of the Sox pen. 

The Sox will have tomorrow off, then it’s back to work on a very critical road trip to Detroit then Minnesota.  This division race could get very interesting to say the least, over the next week or so.  The Sox faced their early tests quit well against their interdivision rivals.  I hope they pass the test again…

The Chicago White Sox are back to 1 1/2 games over the Twins with their win tonight, and the Twins getting ripped again by the Yankees.  Buehrle was fantastic tonight, with just 1 earned run over 7 1/3 innings.  That is really something against an offense as good as the Rangers.  The Sox got some offense of their own, with Jermaine Dye looking great at the plate coming off his injury to the knee after being hit by a pitch.  Dye hit them right back, going 3-for-4 with 2 runs scored.  Alexei Ramirez continues to prove why he won the starting job at second base with his first Major League grand slam.  Steve Stone believes Ramirez will be good for about 25 homers per season when it’s all said and done.  I agree.

Still, the White Sox will have to continue to pitch well and keep picking up the baseball.  I was glad to see an error-free ballgame tonight.  I will be most interested to see what they get from Clayton Richard tomorrow night. 

At the risk of sounding like the voice of ‘doom and gloom’ I cannot see this story ending happily for the Chicago White Sox in 2008.  Sure, the Twins got slaughtered by the Yankees tonight and the Sox are still 1/2 game in first place, but the White Sox are doing nothing well lately.  They didn’t hit tonight, didn’t pitch in relief, although Vazquez was pretty good.  Two more errors on the night exposes this team for the sloppy and sleepy team they have been lately.  They look terrible.  I have a bad feeling this could be the season with the upcoming road trip while they play on the road in Detroit and Minnesota.  I believe after the road trip the White Sox will find themselves in second place, and possibly third. I hope not, but all signs point to a decline, not an ascent.  I hope I’m wrong.