Frank Thomas Out For Remainder of Season

The AP has reported that Frank Thomas' season is likely over after it was discovered that he has fractured a bone in his surgically repaired left foot.
The injury does not appear to be career threatening, but he may require additional surgery if it does not heal on its own.
In my opinion, a trade to bring in a bat is likely coming over the weekend. KW has until 3pm on Sunday to figure out whose bat that is going to be.

The USA Today has ranked the Sox radio broadcast team of Rooney and Farmer tops in the American League and second overall in baseball, behind only Vin Scully and the Dodgers radio broadcast team.

Sox Ride Garland to Victory

Jon Garland once again showed the world that he is not the same mediocre pitcher that he has been in years past when he notched his ML leading 15th victory Friday night. He got out of multiple RISP jams in the middle innings, one of which was with runners on the corners and nobody out. He retired 3 consecutive batters on fly outs to escape the inning without any damage.
The game had been tied at 1 in the 6th when the Sox unloaded yet another 2 out barrage. AJ knocked a 3-run shot off of Wakefield and Uribe followed with a 3-run bomb of his own, knocking the Carmine's starter out of the game.
In giving more thought to the Big Hurts return to the DL, I got to thinking about how the Sox managed to earn the best record in baseball without having Franks bat in the lineup until June. With Everett having filled in nicely at the DH spot, I doubt that a bat will be brought in before the deadline, but if one is acquired I'd bet on it being a left-handed hitting utility man to replace Timo or Willie. Common sense would tell you that it would be Timo who would be replaced, as Willie is the only viable back-up option to the Gooch at 2B, and he also can play CF. Timo is only able to play the corner outfield positions, where he is now the only back-up with Carl moving back to being the DH.
As far as a move being made to help us on the pitching front, I think our best option would be to acquire a swing-man starter to fill in for Duque or Contreras as needed. I'd feel best about getting someone who could be acquired for little cost. For example, Ted Lilly, if available, would fit the bill. I'm not impressed with any of the front line guys who are available (if you want to call them that) such as Burnett or Schmidt, and they would come at much to high a price. As I've said before, I have no problem if no move is made at all. Knowing the way KW works, you know he is exploring any and every opportunity that is out there. If everyone's asking price is too high, fine. Stick with who got us where we are and let it ride.

A Big Hurt

As expected, Frank Thomas was placed on the 15 day DL, retroactive to yesterday. He is suffering from inflammation is his left foot, which he had off-season surgery on.
The Sox recalled Ross Gload who is hitting .363 with eight home runs and 20 RBI in 29 games with Charlotte. I wanted Gload to be on the ML roster, but not at the expense of Franks spot. I just hope Gload tears the cover off the ball so that when Frank comes back, it's Timo that gets sent down and not Gload.
I have a feeling that KW might look at Frank's return to the DL as the straw that could break the camels back. (I know this team hasn't depended on any one person to produce in order to win, but w/o his bat in the lineup we lose some serious punch in the heart of the order) A trade before the deadline could now be imminent, and if one were to happen I think that now it would most likely be for a bat and not a starter.

Defensive Woes

As recently as a few days ago, the Sox led the league in defensive efficiency. After committing 4 errors in the past two games, 3 in yesterdays contest alone, I'd doubt that is the case anymore. What makes the errors yesterday sting even more is the fact that they were committed by the most unlikely players. There was a costly double error by the Gooch, the first when he muffed a hard chopper to 2nd and the second on his throw home, which was wide. Then in the 9th, Joe Crede drops a foul ball fly out, giving Manny Ramirez a second chance at the plate, which he took advantage of, hitting a go-ahead solo HR. This came a half inning after Crede had hit a game-tying RBI double off Curt Schilling.
The Sox have still committed the fourth fewest errors in the majors with 52 and are tied with 8 other clubs for 3rd in fielding percentage, at .985. Hopefully that stat holds true because right now is the time the Sox could least afford to be sloppy in the field, especially with news coming out today that Frank Thomas might be facing a trip back to the DL. The offense has not looked very good lately, and losing Franks bat would really hurt. He has been struggling at the plate the last week or two, but we need to get him in his groove, and he can't do that on the DL.
The Sox upcoming schedule is not going to be a cake walk with them playing many games against teams outside the division, or in other words, teams that usually give the Sox a hard time. In the next month the Sox have 6 more games against Boston, 6 vs. the Yankees, 4 against Baltimore and 3 vs. both Toronto and Seattle.

Garland (14-4 3.21) goes to the mound tonight to try and get the Sox back on track. He'll be going up against the Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield (8-8 4.12). The Sox have lost back to back games in which Buehrle and Garland started just one time this season, so we've got that going for us.

The Sox record in July now stands at 9-8.

John Roberts' Dissent Regarding ESA Ruling

In his short term serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, John Roberts took a position on one ruling that makes me believe that he may be more reasonable than some liberals might make him out to be. In this particular case, Roberts wrote a dissent suggesting that the Endangered Species Act, at least as applied in a case concerning a California development project, was unconstitutional.
The ESA (Endangered Species Act) was put into law during the 1970's by Richard Nixon. That fact alone should lead one to believe there is more to the act than meets the eye. In reality, the ESA has little to do with the government trying to protect endangered species. It serves basically as a trump card for the government over private landowners concerning the use of their land.
Picture this. There is a river, and on both sides of the river there are spotted owls. Now, on one side of the river, owls are prevalent, outnumbering the owls from the opposite side of the river 10 to 1. On the other side of that river, where there are hardly any owls at all in comparison, the owls would be protected under the ESA. But on the side where owls are prevalent, no protection would exist. The owl would only be considered endangered on the one side of the river where there are fewer owls. So basically, the ESA protects the areas in which a species does not like to inhabit, but not the areas in which the species do like to inhabit. The Act has nothing to do with the general population of any species, just the population of the species in any one given area, whose size is not defined.
If a person were to buy a piece of land and any species protected by the ESA was found to inhabit that land, the federal government would be able to overrule any local zoning enabling that person to build anything on that land.
Half of the species protected under the ESA are not even consedered to be endangered by the scientific community. The ESA in general is a complete farce. Roberts' writing a dissent regarding this issue suggests that he isn't afraid to speak out on behalf of the average citizen when the law of the land violates his or her rights. (This particular case involved a real estate development company and not an individual citizen, but his dissent would apply to both.)

Sox Drop Series

The Sox lost a series to a central division foe for the first time this season when Detroit defeated them 8-6 on Wednesday afternoon. With the Sox down 4-3, Freddy Garcia was sent out to pitch the ninth inning with his pitch count around 105. He led off the inning allowing a solo home run and a single before exiting. Politte and Cotts came on in relief and were not able to stop the bleeding. Detroit was able to put 4 insurance runs on the board in the 9th inning to seal the Sox fate.

Tomorrow the BoSox come to town and will be sending Ex-Scrub Matt Clement (10-3 4.21) to the mound to face Mark Buehrle (11-3 2.58).

Off the subject of Sox baseball....
President Bush recently nominated John Roberts, a white conservative lawyer who has served his only 2 years as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, to the Supreme Court. It should come as no surprise to anyone who pays attention to the politics of this administration, but I can't help but go to off on a rant. Robert's will be taking the seat of the retiring Sandra Day O'Connor, who is regarded as the voice of reason on the Court and whose vote is often the swing vote on the politically split court. Robert's appointment, coupled with Bush likely be making another appointment to the Court in the near future with the looming retirement of the ailing William Rehnquist, will swing the Court in highly in favor of the Bush-type right-wingers. Hopefully Roberts follows the precedent of the past few Republican appointee's, O'Connor among them, and strays more torward the center than the right. I fear that will not happen. I'm not saying I'd feel better with a liberal majority, I'm saying I'd feel more comfortable with a balance. (Not that we aren't screwed either way) Appointments made to the Supreme Court are lifetime appointments, and any made by Bush will be effecting the country for decades to come. This is a perfect example of why I did not vote for Bush in the first Presidential election I was eligible to vote in. In fact, I didn't vote for Kerry either, I voted for an independent. Some might say I wasted my vote. I say at least I didn't contribute to the problem.

Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding father's of this country and a lawyer himself, among many other things, said that we should never allow this country to be run by lawyers. Today, the Congress and Senate are filled with them. They pass laws that are only of aid to their political contributors or their own business interests and ignore the average citizen's who are stuck up a creek without a paddle because of them. The recent Supreme Court ruling regarding eminent domain is a great example. Sandra Day O'Connor (the voice of reason) filed a dissent regarding the ruling, saying that in her opinion it seemed like another instance of the beginning of the government over-exercising their power and manipulating the law.

Another White Sox Comeback

Down 4-1 in the 7th inning the Sox unloaded a barrage of home runs to bury the Tigers 7-5. Konerko led off the inning with a solo shot, Crede followed wth a 3 run bomb to put the Sox on top, and Uribe finished off the inning with a solo shot of his own. For good measure, Frank Thomas added an insurance run with a solo homer in the 8th. Every Sox homer was hit to left field.
El Duque had a decent return from his latest stint on the DL, surrendering 4 runs in 6IP. To make room for Duque on the roster the Sox made an unexpected move by designating Shingo Takatsu for assignment. They have 10 days to trade or release the veteran reliever. The Sox have elected to instead keep the 24 year old fireballer Bobby Jenks on the Major League roster. The Sox logic behind the move is understandable in that Shingo has been hit hard this season and is an aging, soft-tossing pitcher. Jenks is a young, hard-thrower with a 99MPH fastball and snap dragon curveball. He has closing experience in the minors, and in my opinion, his stuff makes him a risk worth taking. It's sad to see Shingo's tenure on the Sox come to and end though. Without him last season the Sox would probably not have contended at all the entire year. He shouldn't be out of work long. There is no doubt in my mind that another team will take a chance and pick him up.
The move made today that I don't agree with was exercising Ross Gloads last minor league option to keep Timo Perez on the roster as a left handed bat off the bench. Why? I have no idea. The Sox already have an abundance of outfielders. JD and Rowand from the right side, Pods and Willie (back up in CF) from the left, and the switch hitting Carl Everett who can play the corners. We have only one true first basemen on the roster. On top off all that, Gload is tearing the cover off the ball in AAA, hitting .375 with 8HR's and 20 RBI in 120 AB's.

Some good news, depending on your point of view. From WhiteSox.com:
All quiet on the trade front: Countless rumors of possible trades involving the White Sox have surfaced as the July 31 trade deadline nears, but Williams said that any trade now is highly unlikely.

"You never say never," Williams said. "But I think what can be categorized as a major deal, I personally don't see that on our radar screen right now. It's pretty evident it would cost us something that I don't think us very prudent."

The trade market has dwindled in recent weeks with many teams still vying for Wild Card spots. Many of the American League teams are not willing to make trades with the Sox according to Williams and he will not do anything to drastically shake up a team that has a 61-29 record.

"When you look at the open market and look at what potentially you can do, it's just not conducive to us getting any better," Williams said. "And if there's nothing significant out there, I think we're better served going with the guys that brought us here."

I could not agree more. I just hope that he's not bluffing.

Sox Bounce Back

The White Sox shook off suffering their first sweep of the season and won 1-0 last night over Cleveland thanks to a 3 hit, 7K performance from Jose Contreras. He had 7IP and walked 3. One sour note was reading this morning that JC couldn't go back out for the 8th due to leg cramps. Hopefully it isn't anything to be concerned about and was just fatigue or dehydration.
In my eyes, the best part of the game was the performance by Damaso Marte out of the pen. Fresh off the DL, Marte came on with one out in the 8th after Politte had faced and retired just one batter, and he proceeded to blow away all 3 hitters he faced (2 in the 8th and 1 in the 9th). His fastball was alive and he had that devastating sweeping breaking ball working.
The game also featured what was perhaps one of the funniest defensive plays the Sox have made all season. On a routine fly-ball hit to straight away left field, Scott Podsednik raised his arms in the air indicating he had absolutely no idea where the ball was. (A sight becoming all too familiar. And to think the Sox considered moving Aaron to left to make way for Scotty in center in Spring Training) The ball hung up in the air long enough for Rowand to come sprinting over to left field to make the catch, behind and to the right of where Pods was standing.
With the victory the Sox moved to 6-0 against the Indians in 1-run games. They are now an unbelievable 27-5 vs. the Central Division with an equally impressive 28-14 road record, best in the bigs.The Sox also gained back a game on Minnesota who lost to LAAAAA last night, and thier lead is now back in double digits at 10 games.

Tonight Freddy Garcia (8-3 3.53) goes up against the Tribe's CC Sabathia (6-5 4.50).

Somebody at MLB.com seems to think very highly of our Pale Hose.

Elsewhere in sports: The Golden Bear, Jack Nicklaus, polished off his illustrious career with a birdie on the 36th hole of the British Open this afternoon. He shot an even par 72 to finish 3 over through 2 rounds, coming up just short of making the cut in his final Major tournament on the PGA tour.
Lance Armstrong is still wearing the yellow jersey with his 38 second lead in the Tour de France, despite many complaints from the French. They say Armstrong has an unfair advantage over them because he still has one of his testicles.

Some Good Pieces On The Sox

I've decided to skip doing a mid-season report card on our Pale Hose. Instead, here's a few links to some good reads regarding the Sox.

WSI's Hal Vickery has some pointers in this piece for the people jumping onto the Sox' bandwagon.

WSI's Patrick Ferrini's "You May Be A Sox Fan If...."

Cubune columnist Rick Morrissey wrote this article stating that Frank Thomas is a Walking Dead Man whom is still one of the most prolific hitters of modern time.

Southtown columnist Nathaniel Whalen explains how the Sox have used the sacrifice to help lead them to the best record in baseball, and have done so without the benifit of a single hitter batting over .300.

A Good Review

At the end of yesterdays post I brought up the Robert Plant show that I saw on Saturday night. In this mornings Sun-Times Jim Derogatis had a nice review of the concert. His description of the rendition of "No Quarter" hit the nail right on the head. That was only Zep song that they played that sounded drastically different from the original. As far as him knocking Plants voice now compared to what it used to be.... I wasn't around to hear what his voice sounded like back in the day, but regardless of whether or not he had the aid of enhancers, which I'm sure he did, I thought he sounded great for a 57 year old rock God. Like I said yesterday, if you ever have a chance to go see him live before he hangs 'em up, do it. You will not be disappointed.

Oakland Continues to Own The White Sox

The Sox suffered their first sweep of the season at the hands of the A's over the weekend. The Southsiders threw their top 3 starters out to the mound in Garland, Buehrle, and Garcia, respectively, and were beaten handily.
I attended both Friday night and Sunday afternoons ballgames and unfortunately saw my first Sox losses of the season. The Sox record with me in attendance now stands at 5-2. As far as which loss was less painful, I'll take Rat Pack night on Friday. The Sinatra "stylist" that sang after the game/before the fireworks was pretty damn good. He was so good that his voice could fool my young ears into thinking that I was actually hearing Ol' Blue Eyes himself sing.
Sunday's game was a scorcher, and I was sitting in the sun on the 3rd base line Club Level. I'd bet that I lost about 5 pounds in water weight by the time I left. Freddy Garcia's dominance in day games did not hold true in this contest as he labored through 6 IP and was lucky to have only surrendered 4 runs on the 9 hits he gave up. He threw 25 pitches in the 1st inning and was nearly at 50 after 2. The loss for this one should be attributed to the bullpen and not Freddy though, as Cotts came on to give up 3 runs, 1 of which was walked in, and Hermanson gave up a 9th inning solo HR to double the Sox deficit. After the Sox came back to score 2 in their half of the ninth to force extra innings, Vizciano eventually took the loss in the 11th when he gave up the final run of the game. Sox pitching did not record a 1-2-3 inning until the 8th.
On a brighter and off subject note, on Saturday night I managed to go see Robert Plant at The Auditorium. Great show. I was blown away by the acoustics in that place, they're unbelievable. I saw him play at the Riv a couple of years ago, and the sound this time around is no match for The Riv. (I also saw him open for The Who a couple summers ago, but that was at Tweeter. You can't compare the sound at an outdoor venue like Tweeter to a small, indoor venue like The Auditorium or The Riv.) If you have an opportunity to go see Plant live, I'd highly recommend checking it out. His new stuff is pretty good, the live renditions of old Zeppelin songs are for the most part great, and he can still get his voice up there.

Big Frank Leads Sox To Victory

Last night the Big Hurt came to the plate in the 8th inning with the Sox trailing 4-3 and hit a towering 3-run homer that still hasn't landed yet, putting the Sox on top for good, 6-4.
With the victory the Sox moved to 30 GAMES ABOVE .500, or a record of 56-26 record after just 82 ballgames, which is one game past the half way point of the season. The Sox also gained back a game on the Twins who lost to Anehiem last night, making their lead in the central 9.5 games..
Tonight Contreras (8-3, 3.29 ERA) will face off against Fossum (3-6 4.04).
Elsewhere in Baseball: Esteban Loiaza outpitched Pedro Martinez last night in the Nationals victory over the Mets. He went 8+ IP while surrendering just 1ER on 8 hits, lowering his ERA to 3.61. He walked one and struck out 8. After receiving little run support early in the season, Loiaza has raised his record to 5-5 for a Nationals team that has allowed as many runs to score (340) as they have scored on the season (340).

Sox Rebound to Defeat D-Rays 10-8

A five run 1st inning, highlighted by a Jermaine Dye grand slam, led the White Sox to their first victory on the 4th of July in 4 years. (I don't know if anyone else remembers this, but there was a game 2 or 3 seasons ago on the 4th when the Sox played the Rays in Tampa and had a lead in the 9th, only to see it blown on a HR surrendered by Koch.)
A 4 run 5th inning turned out to be the difference in the game, as the D-Rays refused to go down quietly. They chased McCarthy out of the game in the 4th before he was even able to record an out in the inning. He was unable to hold leads of 5-0 and 6-1 that he was provided with. Following the game the Sox sent the Kid back down to AAA Charlotte and called up Bobby Jenks up from Birmingham.

Yours truely came up with last minute tickets to the game 20 minutes before the 2 hour rain delay ended. I got to the park right as the top of the 1st was ending and I was walking through the parking lot when sPod led the game off with a hit for the Sox. Hearing the sound of the sold out crowd erupting from outside the park sent chills down my spine.
About 75% of the crowd stayed for the fireworks after the game, which ended at about 11:30. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed with the show after the game. It was kind of weak for a 4th of July fireworks show. I think it lasted about 10 minutes at most. It seemed more like your average Saturday night firework show than a 4th of July display. Maybe their supply was depleted because the fireworks for the HR's in the game were much better and more plentiful than they normally are. I think I was spoiled by LaGrange Country Club's fireworks on Sunday night. The finale in that show was unbelievable.

Tonights Matchup: Hendrickson (3-5, 6.06 ERA) vs. Garcia (8-3, 3.29 ERA)

Far And Away the Worst Games of the Season

On Friday Sox pitching issued 10 BB's. 2 with the bases loaded. JC had 3 WP's and at least one with a man on 3rd. He refused to use his fastball throughout his 5, 5+, or however many innings pitched, and this was after Ozzie decided to "let the "kid" throw his own game and see what happens". Rather than throw the heat, JC thought it would be wise to throw splitters for around 90% of his pitches, 10% of which were for strikes.
What a great trade by the Sox. An $8M dollar headcase in exchange for a guy who has thrown QS's in 80% of his starts this year, and by the way he is making about $2.5M this season and it's paid by a team without an owner. It'd sure be nice to have Loiaza pitching the way he has this season for the Sox instead of the Nationals. At least he isn't afraid to throw strikes and challenge the hitters, somewhat.
Then on Sunday, a costly and uncharacteristic throwing error by Mark Buehrle led to 4 A's runs after the Sox had been leading 2-0 in the 6th inning. Need I say more?
The question for Sox fans everywhere is, which game was harder to watch? My money goes on Friday's game. No doubt.
BTW, the lone bright spot coming out of the Sox hell hole, otherwise known as the Oakland Collesiuem, is that Jon Garland won his ML leading 13th game on Saturday.