Yesterday, as I was getting my smokes, I saw a little kid - maybe 3 years old - stop a policeman and ask for help finding his mommy. The young man had his mother’s cell phone number memorized (good work there mommy!) and the officer quickly got her on the phone and hung out with the young man until his, wildly frantic, mother arrived. Sometimes we forget how often the men and women in blue really do serve and protect us. Kudos to all on this one.

I also got to sit with a couple of Viet Nam vets who had taken pictures at the Wounded Warrior Run I’d participated in.  They turned over almost 500 images so that we could assemble a more professional looking presentation. Seeing a pictorial representation of all the wounded vets, from WWII to Iraq, who were vociferously appreciative of the free food, a couple of snuck beers and the general bonhomie reminded me that people like me should do stuff like that more often. God knows those men and women have earned our respect and our help. A half a day out of my life meant the world to them. I strongly urge each and every one of you to take that half day when you can. You’ll feel great and they’ll feel even better.

Then the Bears played.

Oh well, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.

A team with a wobbly offense decided to sit the main elements of tis offense because ... um, well, .... hold on, give me a minute here .... they didn’t need the experience? Seriously, that’s what the company line was before the game. They rephrased that by saying Todd Collins needed reps, but he could have gotten those in the 2nd and 3rd quarter just as well as he did in the 1st and 2nd. As I noted before, it’s nice of the Bears to get the season officially out of the way before it even begins. SEAN JENSEN at the Sun Times tries to point out the good while not hiding the bad.

The Bears’ offense—overwhelmed by a complex system and rattled by a shaky preseason—desperately needed some momentum heading into the Sept. 12 opener against the Detroit Lions.

A Fortune 500 company might roll out the red carpet for Dr. Phil or Anthony Robbins.

The Bears’ offense got the NFL equivalent: the Cleveland Browns’ defense.

With the exception of quarterback Jay Cutler, running back Matt Forte and center Olin Kreutz, the Bears’ first string played three series Thursday, scoring a touchdown, avoiding a three-and-out and generally keeping Todd Collins clean.

Many of the starters left the game with a 7-0 lead, just what the preseason doctor ordered.

‘’It’s nice to end the preseason on that note,’’ tight end Greg Olsen said, even though the Bears lost 13-10 on a 36-yard field goal by Phil Dawson as time expired.

The Bears finished the preseason winless for the first time since 1998, when they went 4-12 in the regular season.

‘’We would like to have won a few games—0-4 in the preseason, that doesn’t look good—but there’s a bigger picture,’’ Olsen said. ‘’The bigger picture is, we’ve had a good offseason, we’ve gotten a lot of work done.’’

But how much can be read into the performance?

Bears general manager Jerry Angelo said before training camp that the offensive line was the biggest question mark. About five weeks later, after shuffling the deck (moving Roberto Garza to left guard, Frank Omiyale to right tackle and inserting Lance Louis into the starting lineup), the line remains the team’s biggest question mark.

That they succeeded in Cleveland might be misleading. The Browns had the league’s second-worst defense in 2009. Subtract the team’s most productive pass rusher, Kamerion Wimbley—who, as an Oakland Raider, shredded the Bears for four sacks in the second preseason game—and the Browns’ pass rush has the bite of a grandfather with dentures.

Also subtract three-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman Shaun Rogers, who didn’t dress for the game.

The Browns’ starting front seven for the game combined for a whopping nine sacks last season, with Matt Roth leading the way with four. Overall, the Bears provided Collins a solid pocket and paved the way for Chester Taylor to gain 23 yards on only four carries.

But some things have to be taken with a grain of salt.

The game appeared to start so well. The offensive line didn’t give up a sack on the first series. No Brown was even close. But there was just one pass, and it was a screen that everyone in Cleveland Browns Stadium expected because it was third-and-forever.

And on such a play, the line is supposed to let defensive linemen penetrate into the backfield.

On the next series, the Bears provided Collins enough time to find Olsen wide open in the middle of the end zone from 15 yards out, but the drive covered only 19 yards because the defense recovered a botched snap.

The final drive ended with a fumbled snap on third-and-17 that the Browns recovered.

Before the game, Angelo admitted that the Bears have concerns but added that they’re trying to ‘’figure out who we are.’’

How much help do Chris Williams—who has had a rough preseason at left tackle—and Omiyale need? What can the team’s young receivers handle? And how reliable are the running backs as pass protectors?

‘’These are dress rehearsals, and you’re going to look good at some things and not good at other things,’’ Angelo said. ‘’The bottom line is, when this is all over with, we have to find out who we are, accept who we are, figure out the things we need to be, even though we might have wanted to be something else.’’

Angelo insisted they need to answer some of the questions now, as opposed to when the games start to count.

‘’We’ll just have to see,’’ he said. ‘’We’re having growing pains. That comes with change. We need to figure out who we are, and then adjust accordingly, and I have a lot of confidence in our coaches that they are going to do that.’’

And for all the revisionists who wonder why the Bears didn’t do more to address the offensive line (like trade for a proven veteran such as Logan Mankins), Angelo noted that the unit’s the ‘’toughest’’ to field given the hefty raises for players at every position. Besides, the Bears spent all their money on defensive end Julius Peppers.

‘’In the old days, when you had free agency, they would only pay the tackle,’’ Angelo said. ‘’They’re all making big money on the offensive line now.

‘’There’s a reason. It’s a supply-and-demand business. Offensive linemen are a premium, but it’s not like you have to have five all-stars at the position. You’ve got to get five guys who are good enough to play well together.’’

And the answer to that question will become clearer in the weeks ahead, when the games start to count and the opponents aren’t the Browns.

First off, congratulations to Sean for getting his first mention here at Jay The Joke. Something tells me that we’ll be seeing more of this talented young man. Feel free to click his name and let him know what you thought of his article.

Now, back on point. Every NFL defense just got served notice that, when they play the Bears, they should feel free to blitz on every play. They’ll spend so much time in the backfield the refs may make them change their uniform colors. On offense, every team now knows that 3rd and long really means automatic first down. Every team will be using the old Barry Sanders’ axiom against the Bears this year; “4 seconds left, 4th and 10, 99 yards to go ... it’s a running play.”

Our very own Big Star summed up the post game stuff so well, I have to share his thoughts with you here.

I have to hand it to Lovie Smith.

He is the ultimate con artist.

Sam Rosen - “good things, bad things” bulls**t

Erik Kramer - “good things, bad things” bulls**t

Tom Waddle - “good things, bad things” bulls**t

Jerry Angelo - “good things, bad things” bulls**t

The Players - “good things, bad things” bulls**t

Those post game press conferences over the years have certainly paid off for Smith.

This is what we get to look forward to....

A. “This is just pre-season. Lots of football left to be played.”

B. “This is just the first game of the season. Lots of football left to be played.”

C. “This is just the first half of the season. Lots of football left to be played.”

D. “Things didn’t go the way I expected. We are a lot better football team than that. Lots of football left to be played.”

E. “I’m really excited about next season. Right now we are a lot better football than what we showed. We will work on things for next year.”

And so on....

Are the fans really that stupid about what is really going on here?

The alibis over the years:

A. Injuries

B. Quarterback

C. Defensive Coordinator

D. Offensive Coordinator

E. THIS SEASON - ADJUSTING TO THE NEW OFFENSE

Agh.

CLICK HERE TO TALK ABOUT THE GREAT THINGS YOU SAW

Yessiree Bob, yesterday was a day full of rainbows and unicorns. A day of happy puppies, cute kittens and laughing children. It was kind of day where ugly people hooked up with hot dates, even the married ones found that their spouses looked better. If you walked into your local watering hole you were greeted with a free flagon of your favorite libation. Simply put, it was a good day.

Even finding out that Jay Cutler is being inexplicably benched tonight did nothing to darken the day. As has been noted up here before, any NFL caliber QB can lay on his back and say “ouch” after every play. They don’t need a potential Hall of Famer for that.

So, with my mind singing songs of sunshine and happiness, I bring you today’s blog.

Yesterday the Cubs did something they haven’t been able to do all year. They won a series against the Pittsburgh Pirates. As CARRIE MUSKAT reports, as long as there is some sort of ceremony before the game, the Cubs win. So, here’s hoping they have a lot more numbers to retire and statues to move.

Mike Quade hasn’t gotten around to decorating the manager’s office at Wrigley Field, but he does seem pretty comfortable there.

The Cubs improved to 6-3 under Quade with a 5-3 win Wednesday over the pesky Pirates. Koyie Hill, Kosuke Fukudome and Tyler Colvin each hit RBI doubles as Chicago won the series. However, the Pirates can celebrate winning the season series in decisive fashion with a 10-5 mark.

“We beat them up [Monday] and they beat us up [Tuesday], and it was fun to win a series,” Colvin said. “They’ve handled us pretty well this season, and it was good to win a series this season.”

Quade didn’t ask for any roster help now that teams can go beyond the standard 25-man count, but he will be happy to see Carlos Silva come back after starter Tom Gorzelanny injured his left hand when he was hit by a line drive.

Gorzelanny had a 1-0 lead after Hill’s RBI double in the second and had given up two hits over 2 1/3 innings before facing Jose Tabata in the third. The Pirates left fielder lined the ball right at the pitcher, and he deflected it with his left hand, then fell to his knees on the mound.

He was pulled and taken for X-rays, which were inconclusive but did show no displacement. Gorzelanny will have additional tests on Thursday.

“I thought it hit him in the head,” said Pittsburgh’s Neil Walker. “Fortunately—I guess fortunately—it caught his hand. Tom is a real good friend of mine, so I hope he’s doing OK.”

Silva, sidelined since Aug. 2 because of an abnormal heart rate, was to make his second rehab outing Wednesday for Class A Peoria.

Rookie Thomas Diamond (1-3) replaced Gorzelanny in the third and served up a solo homer to Walker to tie the game. Diamond did give up the Pirates’ other run but was credited with his first Major League win and first Major League beer shower.

“It’s always nice to get the first one,” said Diamond, who has been working on a cutter. “I wish it had happened a little sooner.”

Starlin Castro, in the race for the batting title, singled with one out in the Chicago third and scored on Fukudome’s double. One out later, Fukudome tallied on Colvin’s double to make it 3-1. Castro notched his 34th multi-hit game with another single in the fifth, and is batting .375 in his last 11 games.

Andrew McCutchen hit an RBI double in the Pirates’ fifth to close to 3-2, but Castro was hit by a pitch to open the seventh, Fukudome doubled and Micah Hoffpauir and Jeff Baker each hit RBI singles.

The Pirates had two on and two outs in the eighth when Quade called on closer Carlos Marmol. He walked pinch-hitter Delwyn Young and was ahead, 0-2, against McCutchen but walked him to force in a run.

Everybody contributed. Rookie Darwin Barney made an acrobatic throw to get Tabata at second in the fifth. Hill, starting in place of injured Geovany Soto, has hit safely in four straight games and nearly had his second homer in as many games in the seventh. More at-bats equals more success.

“That’s for anybody,” Hill said. “My sister would be a better baseball player if she practiced every day and played every day. My job is to catch when Geo needs a day off and they ask me to play.

“Your bench is going to play better when they get more at-bats. Just because the manager doesn’t get you more at-bats doesn’t mean he’s doing a bad job. That’s your role. You get an opportunity and you make the most of it, then you go home, hug your family and you’re happy you’re a baseball player.”

Quade is smiling. He did have fans keeping score busy as he made three double-switches in the game.

“I might have set a National League record for two-for-ones, which you don’t want to do,” he said.

In his new office, he has put a photo of his female Rottweiler on the wall—“The pup always comes with me,” Quade said—and has more space for his laptop, but that’s it. He’s been busy getting all the statistics organized the way he wants since taking over for Lou Piniella on Aug. 23.

“I look at Lou when he was here and Dusty [Baker] and [Tony] La Russa and all the veteran managers around, and a lot of it becomes second nature,” Quade said. “You’ve been doing this for so long, and you have a lot of the same players and it’s like recall. At game speed, this is stuff you like to have in hand.”

On Thursday, he’ll host some of his coaches, family and friends for dinner and some college football. Quade will cook. He’s quite the gourmand.

“Everything’s been pretty good so far,” Quade said. “I’m making adjustments and learning on the fly, too. We’ll give it some time and see how things shake out. As long as I’m getting after it and getting myself back into this thing, that’s the main thing.”

I wish I could get an invite to that buffet. I may not be a Cubs’ fan but I do love good food. Nevertheless, in Quade’s 10 game tenure the Cubs are 6-4. If they had played at that clip all season they would have finished with a 100 win record. Sadly, that will be denied them this year. Still, they are now 22.5 games ahead of Pittsburgh and a mere 5.5 games behind the Brew Crew. There’s plenty of baseball yet to be played, so here’s hoping the Cubs can keep things interesting.

On the Southside, the Sox took the field against their arch-nemeses, the Tribe. They also tried to keep their unbeaten streak, since acquiring Manny Ramirez, alive. As ANTHONY CASTROVINCE reports, they managed to pull out a win in spite of themselves.

The White Sox aren’t paying Manny Ramirez simply to stand on deck.

But if this is what happens every time he’s on deck in a clutch situation, then sign them up.

Just as he was Tuesday night, Ramirez was on deck Wednesday afternoon when one of his new teammates hit the game-sealing, three-run homer.

On Tuesday, it was A.J. Pierzynski. This time, the blast came off the bat of Paul Konerko, who, in guiding the White Sox to a 6-4 victory to cap a three-game sweep of the Indians at Progressive Field, provided a reminder that the South Siders weren’t exactly bereft of a big bat before Manny came aboard.

“We’ve been scoring runs and having good at-bats since June 1,” said Konerko, who has 33 homers and 98 RBIs. “Not to take anything away from Manny’s day or what he’s going to do, but our offense has been good for a while, if you check the numbers.”

The only number that truly matters to the White Sox right now is 3 1/2—the number of games they trailed the Twins in the AL Central standings after this win. The Twins were set to face the Tigers on Wednesday night.

As for the White Sox, they boarded their flight to Boston knowing they had done what they intended against the last-place Indians. Though the late innings were an adventure in all three games, they came out on top each time.

“We’ve got to do our part,” Konerko said. “If [the Twins] stumble or somebody beats them, great. But we can’t expect them to lose games. We have to take care of what we’re going to do with our games.”

Before Konerko’s eighth-inning heroics, the visitors didn’t appear on track to win this one. Even with Manny in the lineup, they were confounded at the plate by September callup Carlos Carrasco, and they lost starter Freddy Garcia to lower back stiffness after just four innings.

Garcia, by all accounts, should be fine to make his next start. But this start didn’t go his way.

Though Alex Rios’ solo shot in the first gave Garcia an early run of support, the White Sox weren’t heard from again at the plate until the eighth. Carrasco set down 19 of the next 23 batters he faced.

Garcia, meanwhile, gave up an RBI single to Asdrubal Cabrera to tie the game in the third. In the fourth, Jayson Nix singled and moved to second on a stolen-base attempt on which shortstop Alexei Ramirez was charged with a fielding error. Jordan Brown’s ensuing single brought Nix home to make it 2-1.

That was Garcia’s final inning, and the Indians extended their lead in the fifth against reliever Tony Pena. Chris Gimenez led off with a double and moved to third on a Michael Brantley single. Cabrera grounded into a double play, but Gimenez scored from third. And after Shin-Soo Choo doubled and Travis Hafner was intentionally walked, Alexei Ramirez’s throwing error on a Nix single allowed Choo to score to make it 4-1.

It looked bleak, but White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said he sensed confidence in his dugout.

“We just needed to get people on base,” Guillen said. “As soon as we have people on base, it’s a different ballgame. Because anybody in the lineup—except maybe two guys, [Omar] Vizquel and Juan [Pierre]—can hit the ball out of the ballpark.”

But first, it was a solo shot that gave the White Sox their first signs of life in several innings. With one out, Alexei Ramirez atoned for his defensive woes with a homer to the left-field porch to cut the deficit down to 4-2.

When Pierre drew a walk, Carrasco’s day was done. After left-hander Rafael Perez retired pinch-hitter Carlos Quentin for the inning’s second out, in came Justin Germano. Rios drew a walk to put two aboard, and Konerko, with Manny looming on deck, pounded Germano’s 1-1 changeup to the left-field bleachers to make it 5-4.

“Ideally, [the pitch] would have been down and on the outer half,” Germano said. “It kind of had that two-seam action and came back over too much.”

How much of an impact did Manny’s presence have on Germano that situation? It was as debatable here as it was Tuesday night. But considering Konerko’s MVP-type season, let’s not get too carried away with talk of the Manny Effect.

“I’ve had Carlos behind me most of the year,” Konerko said. “If you check the numbers, he’s a pretty good run-producer, especially with guys on base.”

The White Sox had more guys on base and took advantage to extend the lead in the ninth. Alexei Ramirez made it 6-4 when his sacrifice fly off Jensen Lewis scored Mark Teahen.

That run proved important, because rookie lefty Chris Sale, in his first save opportunity, labored a bit in the bottom of the inning, walking Gimenez and Brantley in succession with one out.

“It got a little shaky out there,” Sale said. “I lost the fastball for a hitter or so. But [catcher Ramon] Castro came out there and said, ‘I’m not going to say anything to you, just giving you some time. Let’s do this.’ After that, I said, ‘OK, let’s do this, we need the sweep.’”

Sale and the White Sox got the sweep, because Sale got Cabrera to ground into a fielder’s choice (Teahen’s off-target throw to first after stepping on third prevented a double play), then struck out Choo to reward Guillen’s trust.

“I was a little nervous,” Guillen admitted, “because we put this kid in a spot he was never in. He handled it pretty good. This kid has a good chance to be great. His presence on the mound is very positive.”

And things are pretty positive in the White Sox clubhouse right now. They took care of business against a division foe and have a new weapon in tow in the form of Manny, who has made the on-deck circle his lucky spot.

So, the Cubs and Sox both had pitchers go down early in the game (Gorzy, hand & Garcia, back) and both teams managed to win anyway. Oddly enough, that’s a good sign.  Also a good sign was watching Manny walk around the field prior to the game and signing autographs for kids and glad handing anyone wearing Sox gear. No word on whether or not he remembered how to speak English before his impromptu meet and greet.

With both teams off today and me not getting an invite to Quade’s house, I guess I’ll check out the Bears game tonight. Or maybe I can find a Law & Order marathon.

CLICK HERE TO GET HAPPY WITH US!

The Bears appear to be in mid-season form. As ELLIOTT HARRIS reports, Cutler was all over his connection opportunities the other night.

Jay Cutler is making headlines for his play—off the field. Website PerezHilton.com posted Tuesday: ‘’Sources reveal exclusively to PerezHilton.com that Kristin Cavallari and Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler were all over each other, ‘kissing and acting all in love’ last night at the Angels and Kings lounge in Chicago.’’ For the football-absorbed, she’s a reality television personality.

I’m not sure that that’s exactly what Lovie had in mind when he said he hoped that Cutler and his receivers hooked up better. Then again, nothing else seems to be working, so who knows? Throw some lipstick and a sun dress on Hester and you’re good to go.

After all, Cavallari (pictured here) has already had her, obligatory for D-list celebs, lipstick lesbian moment with Paris Hilton, so I see no reason why Jay shouldn’t match her effort.

I just don’t want to see it on You Tube.

No. Really. Don’t send me the link.

Speaking of uncomfortable visuals, the Cubs went back to normal against the Pirates yesterday. One day after welcoming Quade home with a curse busting victory over the Pirates, things went back to the way they were as the Cubs suffered an embarrassing loss at the hands of one of the wort teams in the history of major league baseball. Our old pal, and recipe aficionado, CARRIE MUSKAT reports, this was every shade of ugly you can imagine.

In 34 innings over five starts prior to Tuesday’s game, Ryan Dempster had given up five earned runs. The Pirates nearly matched that in the first inning.

One day after losing by 12 to the Cubs, the Pirates romped 14-7. Neal Walker had four hits and drove in four runs and Garrett Jones knocked in three, both hitting two-run homers, to power Pittsburgh—which now leads the season series against Chicago, 10-4.

“You don’t see Dempster throw like that very often,” Pittsburgh’s Jeff Karstens said. “He usually does a good job of getting guys to chase his pitch, but we laid off and were able to make some good adjustments.”

But Dempster (12-9) couldn’t. He gave up seven runs over three innings, his shortest outing of the year, and took the loss. It was the right-hander’s briefest stint since a 2 1/3-innings start on June 27, 2008, against the White Sox—when he gave up eight runs on seven hits.

Dempster was unbeaten in August, posting a 4-0 mark and 1.31 ERA in his previous five starts. He’s ready to turn the calendar.

“That wasn’t a good job, a good performance by me,” Dempster said. “We should’ve won that game. We scored seven runs but it’s hard when your starting pitcher, being me, puts us in a hole and it’s 7-0. That’s a lot to overcome. I didn’t execute pitches, didn’t get ahead of hitters. No explanation, I just didn’t get it done.”

The loss was just the third in eight games for Cubs manager Mike Quade, who took over for Lou Piniella on Aug. 23. He’d relished the 14 runs in his home debut on Monday but on Tuesday found himself pulling his starter after three innings.

“You’re so used to seeing [Dempster] get through a tough situation like that, and he just couldn’t tonight,” Quade said. “You just turn the page and look forward to his next start.”

Karstens (3-10) picked up the win, his first since June 19. He held the Cubs to two runs, both coming on Koyie Hill’s first homer since May 29, 2009, with one on and one out in the fifth. No, Hill didn’t get the ball as a souvenir.

“Even some of the guys on the other team were telling me ‘Good job,’” Hill said. “I told [Ryan] Doumit, I had one more homer than a dead man—and I was happy to lead my family in homers, which is saying a lot because I have [a 5-year-old and a 2-year-old] little girls with pretty good hands, so I’ll take it.”

Apparently, the Pirates wanted revenge after Monday’s lopsided loss to the Cubs. Jose Tabata walked with one out in the first, reached third on Walker’s single and scored on Jones’ groundout. Pedro Alvarez hit an RBI double, Doumit was hit by a pitch, and both scored on Ronny Cedeno’s double to make it 4-0.

Dempster actually had a chance to get out of the inning earlier with Jones’ potential double-play ball, a comebacker, but he couldn’t turn two.

“You’ve got to put that behind you right away and go out there and make pitches,” Dempster said. “I didn’t do a very good job making quality pitches tonight. I was prepared and I was ready but I didn’t execute. When you don’t execute, you get bad results.”

Tabata added an RBI triple with one out in the second and Andrew McCutchen made it 7-0 with a two-run single with two outs in the third. At that point, Dempster had thrown 70 pitches. And that was it.

Jones hit his 20th homer in the fourth and Walker launched his eighth into the center-field juniper bushes in the sixth, both off Marcos Mateo.

The Cubs gave the fans who stuck around something to cheer about in a five-run eighth. Starlin Castro hit an RBI single, pinch-hitter Micah Hoffpauir hit an RBI double and scored on Xavier Nady’s single, and Alfonso Soriano hit an RBI single to close the gap.

“I’m thrilled they keep playing, but I expect that,” Quade said.

So far, the Cubs players have responded well to Quade.

“There’s been a lot of communication and a lot of positive things coming out of every game,” Dempster said. “Even in our losses and tough times, he’s been very supportive and it’s been a lot of fun. We’ve been having a good time playing for him.”

“We all respected Lou and everything he brought, and everything he did for the game,” said Hill. “But Quade’s done a great job. We’ve always enjoyed being around him. He’s a baseball guy first, a personable guy, a good communicator. I think it’s been a good transition.”

There are now 29 games remaining in what has been a long season.

“The job’s still the same,” Dempster said. “You come to work and try to do your job the best you can. It doesn’t say in your contract, ‘I’ll try as hard as I can as long as we’re in it.’ You try as hard as you can every day.”

I felt bad for Demp. A victory last night would have given him his 100th for his career. It would have also marked the fist time in his career that he’d won 5 in a row. While he was magnanimous in accepting the blame for the loss, the truth is the defense did him no favors. Watching players wave at ground balls as they went by and other players trotting to miss catchable fly balls combined with lackadaisical throws around the horn, Dempster’s lucky that the score wasn’t 20 to nothing in the 3rd when Quade mercifully pulled him.

On the Southside, the Sox welcomed Manny Ramirez, let him sit because he was “tired” and then busted him out as a pinch-hitter late in the game. But, last night wasn’t about Mannywood or its attenuate weirdness, nope, it was all about Edwin Jackson who the Sox got for the stretch run and who had his throwing mechanics corrected by Don Cooper before his first Pale Hose start. ANTHONY CASTROVINCE got to enjoy another night in Cleveland (gee, how did Merkin miss that thrill?) as the Sox survived their bullpen once again.

Manny Ramirez was on-deck, ready to deliver the kind of game-changing hit the White Sox acquired him for.

But it was A.J. Pierzynski at the plate with two on and one out in the ninth, and Manny’s services were quickly rendered unnecessary.

Pierzynski ripped a three-run homer to right off Frank Herrmann, delivering the big blow to back up a strong effort from Edwin Jackson in a 4-3 win over the Indians at Progressive Field.

Manager Ozzie Guillen had said Ramirez’s mere presence could have an impact on opposing pitchers. He was quickly proven right.

“I told [Ramirez], ‘I finally got some protection,’” Pierzynski joked. “He got a standing ovation just for going out on deck, which is awesome.”

But the guy the Sox thought was really worthy of an ovation was Jackson, another recent acquisition whose impact on the Sox has been immediate.

Though unable to preserve all of a three-run lead afforded him in the ninth, Jackson worked overtime to try to nail down another important win. His 129-pitch effort fell one out short of a complete game but was impressive, all the same. And it was particularly beneficial to a Sox team that is currently battered and short-staffed in the bullpen.

“As a starter, you want to go as long as you can anyway,” said Jackson, who is now 3-0 with a 1.47 ERA in five starts for the Sox. “Regardless of if the bullpen is fresh or beat up, you want to be on the field as long as you can, until you can’t go any longer. That’s the mind frame I’ve been going out with.”

For six innings, Jackson was nearly untouchable. Unfortunately for both him and the Sox, so was Tribe starter Justin Masterson.

A pitcher’s duel erupted, and even when trouble loomed—such as when right fielder Carlos Quentin made both a fielding and throwing error to allow Jayson Nix to reach second to open the second, or when Lou Marson doubled and moved to third on a groundout in the third—Jackson didn’t blink.

“Jackson was very impressive,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “He’s got a tremendous arm and he did a fantastic job. “

Masterson, meanwhile, allowed just three hits through seven innings.

Somebody had to score at some point, and the Indians finally did it against Jackson in the seventh. Shelley Duncan led off the inning with a lined shot onto the left-field porch to give the Tribe the 1-0 lead. It didn’t even appear to be a bad pitch by Jackson. It was a slider low in the zone that Duncan was able to punch out.

Jackson, however, didn’t seem affected by the blast one bit. After it cleared the fence, he quickly gathered himself to retire the Tribe’s Nos. 7-9 hitters in succession and end the inning.

At that point, it was up to the Chicago hitters to bail Jackson out of a jam. They did so immediately in the eighth. Mark Kotsay drew a leadoff walk, the first issued by Masterson all night. And after Alexei Ramirez moved pinch-runner Brent Lillibridge over with a sac bunt, Mark Teahen came through with a single to center. Lillibridge motored home and slid in ahead of the throw from Michael Brantley.

Just like that, it was a tie game. And Jackson remained in it to pitch perhaps his most impressive inning yet, mowing through the top of the order by striking out the side in the eighth.

“I think Jackson, besides pitching tremendous game, helped us regroup for the next couple days [in the bullpen],” Guillen said. “It was huge. I never like to take a chance when a starter throws that many pitches. But in the meanwhile, we need help in the bullpen, and he did it.”

In the ninth, it looked as though the Sox would need the help of Manny’s bat. Though Guillen was leery of using Ramirez at all after the quirky slugger made the cross-country trip to join his new teammates, Ramirez, at the start of the inning, was in the Sox dugout, getting loose and swinging a bat. And after reliever Joe Smith walked Alex Rios to open the inning and Quentin with one out, Ramirez stepped to the on-deck circle.

The Indians made a pitching change, bringing in Herrmann to relieve Smith. Ramirez was on-deck to bat for Lillibridge, but it was Pierzynski’s turn in the order. He fouled off the first-pitch fastball, then deposited Herrmann’s slider into the right-field seats to put this one away.

“It’s been so long since I hit a home run,” said Pierzynski, who last homered July 9, “I kinda forgot what to do.”

Manny didn’t forget what home-run hitters do. As Pierzynski circled the bases, the 4-1 lead in tow, Ramirez retreated to the dugout, doling out high-fives to his new teammates as if he had hit the blast. While he didn’t deliver the homer, he did deliver the scare.

“I’m not going to say A.J. hit a home run because of Manny,” said Guillen, “because that’s unpredictable. But when you see Manny’s presence, whoever is going to hit in front of Manny is going to look at better pitches.”

It was the Sox receiving a scare in the ninth, when Jackson gave up singles to Nix and Trevor Crowe, then, with two out, gave up a two-run single to Jason Donald. Closer Bobby Jenks was summoned to try to get the final out, and pinch-hitter Matt LaPorta reached on a single to make it especially dicey.

But Jenks got Brantley to ground back to the mound to end the game and preserve the win for Jackson, who might not have arrived with Manny’s flair but has definitely given the Sox a lift.

“Edwin Jackson was the story,” Pierzynski said. “We really needed that in the bullpen. For him to go out and pitch like that was amazing.”

So, Jackson, who was washed up in Arizona is now a Cy Young candidate with the Sox. That seems about right to me.

In summation, the Bears are showing that they’re playahs, but not really players. The Cubs are back to normal with the Pirates despite the best efforts of Super-Quade and the Sox are, once again, finding ways to win.

CLICK HERE TO CELEBRATE THE SAMENESS

I had to go to the store yesterday and pick up some food. Yes, I know, how do I handle the thrills? Anyway, this lady walks up to me and asks if I like baseball.  I admit that I do. She then wanders into a 10 minute monologue about why she hates baseball. Somewhere after her insertion of Barack Obama and space aliens into the spiel, I excused myself and paid for my meager groceries. As I was leaving the store I realized that she was following me and still talking. Before I could motion for security a young man walked up to her and said “Mom, it’s okay. Some people just like baseball.”

She shut up and I left.

Yep. That was different.

The Cubs tried to do things differently yesterday as well. First off they set up a peanut free zone where people could watch the game without having their lives threatened. All for just $50.00 per person. They also retired Andre Dawson’s number before the game and then took the field against the dreaded Pirates. But this is the Quade era and the Pirates don’t seem as dreaded anymore. As CARRIE MUSKAT reports, the Cubs did something different this time by actually quashing the Pittsburgh curse.

Mike Quade celebrated his homecoming with a win.

Carlos Zambrano belted a two-run homer to help himself, Aramis Ramirez drove in four runs and Starlin Castro had three hits to power an 18-hit attack as the Cubs posted a 14-2 victory on Monday over the Pirates.

“Pick your guy,” Quade said. “Zambrano settles down, takes care of business early in the game, we put a few runs on the board, and everybody’s happy. That’s a formula we like to see every evening. It was important to get off to a good start here, and they did a good job.”

The Cubs had averaged 2.58 runs in the 12 previous games against the Pirates, and had beaten Pittsburgh only three times. It was a different story on Monday. Chicago now is 5-2 since Quade, the third-base coach, took over one week ago for Lou Piniella. Monday was “Q’s” first game at Wrigley in the home whites.

“I guess it’s an Opening Night,” Quade said earlier on Monday, then admitted that at some point during the game he would stop to soak it all in.

“I try to take a minute every game, even at third base, to go, ‘My gosh, how lucky am I?’—whether it’s the rooftops or whatever, that brings stuff back to you,” said Quade, who grew up in the Chicago area as a Cubs fan. “You want to keep some perspective. There will be a really nice glow until the first pitch is made and then we have to get after it.”

When was that moment Monday?

“During the anthem,” Quade said. “When you’re at third base, you have lots of moments. When the place is packed on a Sunday afternoon and somebody’s here, and the roof tops are full, that’s different. Tonight, it was the anthem.

“It’s not just about being here, but it’s about where I’ve been—and I’ve been [darn] near everywhere—and this is a pretty good place to end up now.”

The Cubs made him feel right at home. Castro doubled with one out in the first and scored on birthday boy Marlon Byrd’s single, and Byrd tallied two batters later on Alfonso Soriano’s double to make it 2-0.

Zambrano got some help from his defense, too. Garrett Jones singled to lead off the Pirates’ fourth and tried to stretch his hit into a double, but right fielder Tyler Colvin threw a perfect strike to second for the out. It was an appropriate play on “Andre Dawson Day.” The Hall of Fame outfielder, who was honored before the game, would regularly make throws like that when he patrolled right field for the Cubs.

“Everybody contributed to a nice win,” Zambrano said. “When we play as a team, we can do some damage.”

The Cubs sent 11 batters to the plate in the fourth and scored seven runs. Koyie Hill hit a RBI single, Jeff Baker hit a two-run double, and Byrd added an RBI double to chase Paul Maholm (7-13). Ramirez greeted Sean Gallagher with a two-run single and then scored on Xavier Nady’s double. The last time the Cubs scored seven runs in an inning was Sept. 8, 2009, in Pittsburgh.

Maholm said he couldn’t get ahead of hitters.

“[I wasn’t able to throw] my sinker like I can,” he said. “It goes back to being able to do that, and establish down and away, and not missing over the middle. I know what it is. I need to fix it.”

Quade and pitching coach Larry Rothschild considered taking Zambrano out a little earlier because of his pitch count but knew better.

“I think he wanted the at-bat, to be honest with you,” Quade said.

Chicago sent nine batters to the plate in the fifth, and scored on Zambrano’s home run, his first of the season—21st of his career—and Ramirez’s two-run double. Ramirez now is 12-for-19 with two homers and 11 RBIs in his last five games.

Since returning to the rotation on Aug. 9, Zambrano (6-6) is 3-0 with a 1.84 ERA in five starts. On Monday, he gave up four hits, walked four and struck out seven over 5 1/3 innings. He credits his success to a more consistent arm slot and being on top of the ball with better movement on his pitches.

“He looked real good tonight—four-seamer, two-seamer, his slider was breaking late,” Byrd said. “You didn’t know if it was coming at you 94 [mph] straight or 92 with sink.”

Zambrano had gone home to Venezuela after his last start because his 11-year-old nephew was ill. He called his brother on Monday and got encouraging news.

“My nephew is getting better every day,” Zambrano said. “It’s a miracle. He’s not out of intensive care yet, but he’s doing much better compared to four, five days ago when he was diagnosed with a five percent chance of getting out of what he has alive.”

Both he and Quade can celebrate. With the 14 runs, Quade now holds the Cubs’ modern-day record for most runs scored in a home managerial debut. The new Cubs manager had a few family and friends among the crowd of 29,538. He’s managed in the Minors, including four years with the Cubs’ Triple-A Iowa team. This was different.

“To be honest, I wish I was playing for somebody doing what I’m doing, because I’ve always wanted to play here,” Quade said. “Did I think it would come to this? I had always hoped I would someday manage at this level. This is more than my mind can handle.”

Well, here’s hoping his head doesn’t explode. One thing is for certain, Quade is managing as though the team is in the hunt. Your first clue that things were going to be different with him was when he asked Baker to bunt. That is something he’s never done at the pro level. And, judging by the result, it’s easy to see why. Even so, it’s clear that business as usual will not be tolerated under Quade. Whether or not he gets the Cubs’ job next year I’m hoping he does end up coaching at the major league level.

On the Southside, the Sox faced the dreaded Tribe without their new, dread-locked, designated hitter. No worries, he’ll be in the lineup tonight. Nevertheless I’m not sure how much help he could have provided last night unless he can pitch as well. To be polite, this was a VERY sloppy game. MLB.com’s newest scribe, ANTHONY CASTROVINCE seems pretty sure the Sox won, but he’s not as sure as to how.

Manny Ramirez will arrive to try to help out the White Sox on Tuesday. In the meantime, it was Brent Lillibridge, of all people, delivering the game-changing homer Monday night.

After Bobby Jenks blew a three-run lead in the ninth, in part because of a Lillibridge throwing error, the Sox needed a savior against the Indians. Turns out it was Lillibridge, who redeemed himself with the two-out, 11th-inning solo shot that sparked a four-run outburst in a 10-6 win at Progressive Field that took four hours, 11 minutes to complete.

Not bad from the guy who is an option to be optioned out when Ramirez joins the roster.

“This was a long game,” said Lillibridge, who was in the game because of the bruised right hand suffered by Gordon Beckham on a hit by pitch in the seventh. “To just beat on them in the 11th was big.”

This is a big 10-game trip for the Sox, and Manny’s arrival only adds to the intrigue.

Trailing the Twins, who were idle Monday, by four games in the American League Central standings, the White Sox might not publicly state that this is a make-or-break swing through Cleveland, Boston and Detroit. But with the Twins playing in the comforts of home this week and the schedule hitting its home stretch, this is obviously no time for the Sox to continue the road woes that have hampered their second half.

So this was, indeed, a big win. Even if it was an ugly win.

“I felt like I was in Tucson,” said Ozzie Guillen, referencing the rough-around-the-edges atmosphere of Spring Training. “I felt like I was in Electric Park. It was a very bad game. Thank God we won it.”

Early on, the win seemed all but ensured. The Sox wasted no time ripping into Tribe starter Mitch Talbot, who had dominated to the tune of a 3-0 record and 1.75 ERA in three previous starts against them this season.

Paul Konerko’s double to center scored a pair in the first. In the second, Alexei Ramirez’s leadoff single set up an RBI double from Mark Kotsay. Beckham followed with a single to put runners on the corners, and Juan Pierre was hit by a pitch to load them up. With two out, Alex Rios punched a single to right that scored a pair to make it 5-0.

“I didn’t feel that they hit a lot of balls hard,” Talbot said. “They just kind of found some holes. They hit them where our defense wasn’t.”

As a result, Mark Buehrle had a nice cushion to work with against a struggling Tribe lineup. And he needed it. In the fourth, he gave up a leadoff double to Travis Hafner, then hung a 3-2 fastball to former Sox utilityman Jayson Nix, who lifted it into the left-field bleachers for a two-run shot. In the fifth, Hafner’s one-out double to right scored Asdrubal Cabrera and made it 5-3.

Suddenly, Buehrle’s cushion didn’t seem quite so cushy. Fortunately for Buehrle, Rios’ two-out solo shot off reliever Justin Germano in the sixth provided a little more breathing room.

Not enough breathing room, however. The Indians put two on with two out against Sergio Santos, and Guillen summoned Jenks for the four-out save opportunity. Jenks had just pitched 1 2/3 innings against the Yankees a day earlier, so Guillen, working with an injury-depleted bullpen, is riding his closer hard.

“Going out and throwing 30-40 pitches the last couple days, that’s not easy for him,” Guillen said of Jenks. “But he fights. He fights his way through it.”

The fight initially went Jenks’ way, as he struck out Cabrera to get out of that jam. But he still had three outs to get in the ninth, and it proved to be an uphill battle.

By the time the third of those outs arrived, the lead was gone. Jenks walked leadoff man Shin-Soo Choo, who moved to second on defensive indifference. Shelley Duncan’s single drove Choo home, and Hafner’s third double of the game put two runners in scoring position. Luis Valbuena sent a chopper to Lillibridge, as Duncan motored home, and Lillibridge’s throw to first was errant, allowing Hafner to score the tying run.

“It was an in-between play, whether I should have thrown it or not,” Lillibridge said. “I think that’s still worth taking a chance on and being aggressive. It was just a barehand, awkward throw. I was just trying to get Bobby an out. It was a rough inning.”

Jenks got out of it without giving up the winning run, and to extras it went. The Sox tried to put it away against Chris Perez in the 10th. But they didn’t take advantage of having Pierre, who reached on a leadoff single and moved to second on a wild pitch, at second with none out. Nor did they take advantage of a bases-loaded opportunity with two out. A.J. Pierzynski popped out to end the inning.

Scott Linebrink got the momentum swinging back in the Sox’s favor by pitching a perfect 10th. And just when it seemed the Sox would go scoreless against Rafael Perez in the 11th, Lillibridge connected on a 1-2 slider and launched it into the bleachers. It was just his second homer of the season for Lillibridge, who was 2-for-26 coming into the night, and it was a big one.

“I know everything’s there,” Lillibridge said. “It was just a matter of continuing to swing it out and keep doing what I’m doing. It was a relief to at least get that one run.”

But the Sox weren’t done. They built off that blast. Pierre walked, and Omar Vizquel doubled him home. Rios followed with an RBI double of his own, and Konerko singled him home to make it 10-6.

That lead proved to be safe in Linebrink’s hands. His 1-2-3 11th capped a victory that had its ugly side but ended up all right.

“We won the game,” Lillibridge said. “And tomorrow will be a very interesting day.”

After Beckham got hit he was sent to see an X-ray tech supplied by the Indians. The tech, whimsical pixie that he is, told Beckham his wrist was broken. He quickly corrected that to a “mild bruise” but you can imagine that Beckham wasn’t laughing.

One thing is for certain now, the post game interviews of Ozzie and Manny should be must-see TV. After all, when Boston won the World Series he invited the entire city over to his house for drinks. God knows what he’d do here if the Sox win it all.

CLICK HERE TO DARE TO BE DIFFERENT

Did you ever see that commercial with the little kids who get pizza after every game, even when they lose? Somehow I think the same motivational techniques are being used for Chicago’s professional baseball teams. While the “just do your best” philosophy works wonders with children, fans expect just a touch more out of their pro teams. Yet, somehow, this season has seen more than it’s fair share of “well, they tried...” press releases.

How about this instead”? “Well, we won ...” Could we try that one on for size?

Pretty please?

CARRIE MUSKAT takes a look at the little league team on the Northside.

There’s something you should know about new Cubs manager Mike Quade. He’s a little greedy.

Winning four out of six on the road trip wasn’t good enough, even though it was the team’s best of the season.

“We’ve gotten some big hits on this road trip and needed a couple more,” Quade said after Sunday’s 7-5 loss to the Reds. “The kids played and it was a good road trip, today not withstanding, because I am a greedy guy.”

Kosuke Fukudome hit a game-tying two-run homer in the top of the eighth but also made an error in the Reds’ eighth that led to Cincinnati’s victory over Chicago.

With one out in the bottom of the frame and the game tied at 5, Chris Heisey singled and reached third on Ramon Hernandez’s single to right. Fukudome fired to third to get Heisey, but his throw was off the mark and Heisey scored on the error. Pinch-hitter Jonny Gomes added a RBI single.

“I did the best I could to throw to third base,” Fukudome said. “It may be my mistake, but if I’m afraid of throwing, there’s nothing I can do.”

Chicago third baseman Aramis Ramirez said the throw was difficult for him to handle.

“I tried to keep it in front of me, but it was a tough hop,” Ramirez said. “I tried to block the ball and at least get a glove on it, but I couldn’t do it.”

“That to me is baseball,” Quade said of Fukudome’s throw. “It’s not like he fired it into the first row. There’s always stuff in games like this that you need to clean up and to that end, we’ll work to clean things up.

“The overall tenor for me was that we battled back, we set the tables so often and didn’t score,” Quade said. “I would rather take that out of this and head home and try to find a way to beat Pittsburgh.”

It was the Reds’ 37th come-from-behind win, and they closed the season series against the Cubs at 12-4.

Quade will put on the home whites Monday night for his first game at Wrigley Field as the Cubs manager. He’ll have the tough assignment of beating the Pirates (the Cubs are 3-9 so far) and finding enough tickets for family and friends.

“I look forward to every day,” Quade said, “but [Monday] will be something special. Opening Day, when I first got the job with Lou [Piniella] was special.”

That was in 2007, and Quade was the third-base coach. Now, he leads the team home after its first winning road trip since July 5-11 against Arizona and Los Angeles. Quade has brought some energy to the Cubs, although it could simply be because he moves in fast-forward.

“We’ve taken it upon ourselves [to finish strong],” Cubs rookie reliever James Russell said. “We would’ve liked to have done it for Lou and it just didn’t work out.”

Rookie Casey Coleman tried on Sunday. He gave up eight hits, including Jay Bruce’s go-ahead home run, his 17th, in the sixth. The right-hander did not get a decision.

“It’s always good to face a team like that,” Coleman said. “I tried to attack the zone like I did last time. I gave up one run [each inning] and against a tough team like that, those runs can come back to hurt you.”

The Cubs stranded 10 in the game and missed an opportunity in the first when they loaded the bases with one out. Cincinnati starter Travis Wood struck out Xavier Nady and got Alfonso Soriano to fly out to end the inning. In the Reds’ first, Drew Stubbs doubled, advanced on a sacrifice and scored on Joey Votto’s groundout, RBI No. 93 for the first baseman.

Coleman was on first with two outs in the second and moved up on Jeff Baker’s single before scoring on Starlin Castro’s bloop single. Baker rounded second and was caught in a brief rundown for the third out.

The Reds opened a 2-1 lead on Hernandez’s one-out RBI single in the second. Scott Rolen added a sacrifice fly in the third.

But the Cubs tied the game at 3 in the fifth. Marlon Byrd doubled to lead off, and one out later, Nady singled. Soriano hit a RBI double to score Byrd, and Nady tallied on Geovany Soto’s groundout. Cincinnati then took a 4-3 lead on Bruce’s solo shot in the sixth off a changeup from Coleman.

“It was a good piece of hitting,” Coleman said. “The ball was up in the zone a little bit, and he made me pay.”

Chris Valaika added a RBI single in the seventh. But Fukudome tied the game with his home run, a two-run shot, in the eighth off Arthur Rhodes, driving in Soto, who doubled. It was Fukudome’s 12th homer, his second in as many games, and a personal high in the U.S.

The outfielder got a rare start against a lefty. Piniella stuck to more of a platoon.

“It doesn’t matter who the manager is,” Fukudome said. “The only thing I need to do is prepare myself for the game.”

The players are still getting to know Quade’s style. He asked Baker to bunt, and Baker hasn’t been asked to do that all season.

“Everybody’s trying to do their job,” Ramirez said. “Everybody knows Quade’s situation. They want to do a good job so they can consider him for next year. The young guys here are playing for their future. Even though we’re out of the race right now, but everybody has something to play for.”

Including Ramirez.

“We get paid to play,” he said. “The way I look at it, there’s [30] teams and only eight go to the playoffs. The other ones go home the same time we go home. We’ve got 30 plus games to go, just show up and play as hard as you can and try to win as many as you can.”

Yes they do, and they get paid more than just a couple of slices of bad pizza.

Things aren’t much better on the Southside. While the ceremony honoring Frank Thomas, and retiring his number, was very nice I don’t think it was supposed to be the highlight of the day. The Sox had a chance to win a series from the Yankees and didn’t quite do it. I am getting to believe that the team treats close games like the slow kid trying to master the alphabet; “gosh darn that “R”, why do they keep putting it where I can’t member it?” They try, they scrunch up their faces, loll their tongues out of their mouths and look very earnest. However, none of those things turn into hits. Or runs. Just a lot of wasted effort. SCOTT MERKIN also wonders why the Sox continually get stymied by rookie pitching.

The American League Central-leading Minnesota Twins lost four of their seven games played on the road during this past week, but watched their division advantage drop from 5 to just 4 1/2 games.

Meanwhile, the White Sox begin a 10-game road trip in Cleveland on Monday night, a potentially make-or-break journey also taking them to Boston and Detroit, coming on the heels of two straight losses to the Yankees (80-50) at U.S. Cellar Field. Even the excitement and emotion of Frank Thomas Day on Sunday, with his No. 35 being retired, couldn’t give the White Sox an extra push in their 2-1 loss before the ninth sellout of the season.

Their offense has produced double-digit hits in 12 of the past 15 contests and posted nine runs in each of the first two games against Major League Baseball’s best team. There’s also the little matter of a Manny Ramirez deal potentially being worked out with the Dodgers, a decision needing to be arrived upon by 11:30 a.m. CT on Tuesday.

So, with basically one month remaining in the 2010 regular season, this particular question is offered up to the White Sox fan base. Is your playoff cup still half-full or is it starting to lean toward half-empty?

“We’ve got to win,” White Sox second baseman Gordon Beckham said. “We know what time it is and September is around the corner. We have to make a push and be all in for these last 32. Win or lose, put everything we got into the pot, and hopefully we come out ahead of the Twins.”

“You just have to focus on Cleveland,” said White Sox starter Gavin Floyd, who suffered the loss in Sunday’s series finale. “Anything could happen. Definitely I feel like we can still be in the game.”

Sunday’s setback becomes an especially tough one because the Twins (75-56) lost a seventh-inning lead against the woeful Mariners and were stopped short of completing a three-game sweep at Safeco Field. The White Sox (70-60) also punished A.J. Burnett on Friday night and stopped CC Sabathia’s streak of 16 straight quality starts on Saturday but couldn’t do much with rookie Ivan Nova (1-0) on Sunday.

It was of little surprise to Ozzie Guillen.

Prior to Sunday’s contest, the White Sox manager was asked if he knew anything about the hard-throwing right-hander.

“No, nothing,” Guillen responded. “But watch: We’ll be talking after the game how he shut us down.”

Guillen clearly has seen this show before. An unknown hurler takes to the mound, or some sort of unheralded rookie, and shuts down the White Sox offense. Nova followed that pattern perfectly, giving up one run on five hits over 5 2/3 innings, striking out seven and earning his first career victory.

“He had good stuff, so it doesn’t matter if it’s your first time facing him or not,” said Beckham, who doubled with two outs in the fifth and scored the White Sox lone run on Juan Pierre’s single. “He throws 95 or 96 and has two different breaking balls and a changeup. He was pretty good today.”

“That might the best pitcher they had in the last three days, to be honest with you,” said Guillen of Nova, who gave way to Boone Logan after 88 pitches. “This kid came out and threw the ball well. Sometimes you don’t know the guy and you wonder why he’s there, but he had a very good arm.”

Logan, Kerry Wood, Joba Chamberlain and the legendary Mariano Rivera (27th save) kept the White Sox from evening the score over the final 3 1/3 innings. But it’s not like they absolutely shut the door on the White Sox.

On the contrary—the White Sox had runners on base in each of the final four innings. In the sixth, Mark Teahen grounded out against Wood with the bases loaded. Paul Konerko reached on third baseman Eduardo Nunez’s error to start the eighth against Chamberlain and was promptly pinch-run for by Brent Lillibridge. But Lillibridge was caught stealing second by catcher Francisco Cervelli on the first pitch to Andruw Jones.

“I was ready,” said Cervelli of nailing Lillibridge. “It was the right throw at the right moment.”

Jones singled but was stranded at second when Alexei Ramirez grounded out to second baseman Robinson Cano. Floyd (9-11) gave up Marcus Thames’ home run leading off the second, his third blast in two games, and another single run in the third, but controlled the Yankees over 6 2/3 innings.

“There’s some different kinds of games in this [series],” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “A lot of runs scored the first two days, and this was a pitchers’ duel. In a park like this, where you have two clubs that can hit the ball out of the ballpark, you don’t expect three runs to be the total.”

“We scrapped and tried to get on base and had some chances,” Beckham said. “It doesn’t always work out. They didn’t score much either. It’s a shame we couldn’t have got a couple of more.”

A 3-3 homestand isn’t devastating for the White Sox, but it certainly doesn’t help their cause with so little time remaining. With 13 losses in their past 20 games, the team needs to turn its fortunes around quickly or that half-full playoff cup might flat out spill.

“If we play well, I think we can still control our fate because we do play Minnesota again-- if we play well against these others teams,” Konerko said. “But it’s getting to that point where going into September, you can’t expect them to fall on their face. They’re too good of a team. We know they’re not a team that’s just going to forget how to play the game.”

US Cellar Field? Methinks Scott is getting just as frustrated as the fans are.

The Sox now embark the road trip from hell. But, because they like to keep things entertaining, it appears that they will make that trip with Manny Ramirez who got booted out of a game in Colorado yesterday and now the Dodgers are just releasing his contract.

If nothing else, the Ozzie/Manny post game show should be fun.

CLICK HERE TO GRAB A SLICE

I guess It’s nice of the Bears to get their season out of they way this early. Now we can all concentrate on the THE INTERNATIONAL TUNA TOSSING contests in Australia. Or, you can join our very own THICK McRUNFAST for the open wheel racing series. He has beer and makes a wonderful Goulash. For the more adventurous among you, there’s also a series of nude sports (just Google the phrase) that have events on Sunday. Whatever your choice, it’s kind of freeing to be able to ignore football for an entire year. Because only a psychopathic masochist would follow this team this year.

The offensive line looked like freshly greased turn-style at Wal-Mart, the defense appeared to be doing a repeat of last year’s Ginger Rogers impression (backwards and in heels) and Special Teams looked like they were Special Ed when they got off the short bus wobbling. The only bright spot was watching Dan LeFevour looking sharp as he played against the scrubs. RICK TELANDER of the Sun Times feels pretty much the same way.

It couldn’t be, could it? Is Jay Cutler a bust? Is Mike Martz a has-been?

Is the Bears’ offense as dead as AstroTurf?

Are we preparing for a regular season that will seem endless?

They say the third preseason game is the big one, which makes the offensive production by the Bears’ starting unit Saturday against the Arizona Cardinals almost too wretched to ponder.

‘’That’s not how we planned it,’’ coach Lovie Smith said after a zero-point first half.

God, let’s hope not.

Cutler, the man who was to be the savior of the Bears when they acquired him 1½ years ago, was terrible during his slightly more than two quarters of play.

He looked tentative at times. He looked indecisive.

Worst of all, he looked as though he is ready to continue his astounding habit of throwing interceptions.

Cutler finished the first quarter with a miserable 49.2 passer rating—Peter Tom Willis territory.

Then he got worse.

In the second quarter, he went 3-for-7 for 22 yards and an interception. That brought his rating down to 31.0—Jonathan Quinn turf.

For the game, he was 10-for-20 for 129 yards and two interceptions and seemed to display little leadership or judgment.

After his exit, Cutler spoke on the sideline of ‘’a few misalignments’’ and some ‘’helmet problems.’’

Well, if that’s all it is—some bad wiring in the ear holes—call in the Geek Squad, pronto, and get it fixed.

But that isn’t all it is.

Martz, the man who was brought in during the offseason to make everyone forget about former offensive coordinator Ron Turner, might be wondering what happened to the game he once knew. And Turner, now with the Indianapolis Colts, might be chuckling just a bit.

Funny how well things worked for Martz when he was with the St. Louis Rams and his pinball game was being run by future Hall of Famers Kurt Warner and Marshall Faulk.

This is what’s left of ‘’The Greatest Show on Turf’’?

The Bears could mount almost no attack during Cutler’s time at the helm.

Two missed field goals (one blocked, one off the upright) didn’t help, nor did an anemic running game. Nor did four sacks, even though two of them seemed to be Cutler’s own fault.

All week long, you could hear talk-radio experts telling us how horrible Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart was, how he was about ready to be kicked out of the profession.

Golly, Leinart finished with a 135.0 passer rating.

He split time with supposedly washed-up starter Derek Anderson, who finished with a 111.1 rating.

The only reason we’re emphasizing quarterback ratings here is that Cutler is extremely susceptible to the vagaries of that mathematical equation. Indeed, when he has a rating higher than 100 as a starter, he is 15-0—the only active quarterback in the NFL with such perfection.

The depressing part of Cutler’s performance, other than his inability to get rid of the ball rather than taking some of those sacks, is that his interceptions were bad ones.

Interceptions kill drives, kill spirits.

The first interception was far behind receiver Johnny Knox on a long out pattern, and the ball easily was pulled in by cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie.

The second interception was behind receiver Devin Aromashodu and easily was snared by cornerback Greg Toler.

There is no offense anywhere that counts on unintended underthrows for its success.

Which brings us to Martz.

What is great or unique about the alleged genius’ offense, the one that worked so well back in the late 1990s and early 2000s?

Maybe nothing.

Maybe the game has changed, passed him by.

Maybe the Bears don’t have the talent to make his thing go.

None of it matters, if this is a portrait of what the Bears will bring to their real schedule, their real foes.

Right now, you can sum up the Bears’ attack in a single word: impotent.

Impotent is not a mispronunciation of important, just in case you’re confused.

Ever since Ron Rivera was “let go” the defense has looked lost. Half a decade of cluelessness does not get erased overnight. Whatever it is that Ron Turner did to the offense seems to have left irreparable damage. New schemes do not overcome entrenched mediocrity.

Can Cutler be the QB who takes the team to the promised land? At this point I would say only if he becomes a tour guide in Israel. He is learning his fourth new offense in 5 years. He has never had true success at any meaningful level and he is being asked to save a team that allows him to spend more time on his back than a $5.00 hooker.

Some people state that Lovie hasn’t forgotten how to coach, it’s the circumstances that he’s in that have lead to this dilemma. I say that he’s never been successful when he’s been surrounded by “yes” men and that is all he wishes to employ. Think of it this way, Lovie’s the abuser and Angelo’s the enabler. The whole team makes sense if you take that view. But that still doesn’t mean you have to watch them.

Yep, Tuna Tossing is looking better and better.

CLICK HERE TO TELL US WHAT YOU’RE GOING TO DO WITH YOUR SUNDAYS

I woke up this morning and nothing bad happened. Right there I was ready to call the day a success and move on. But, time doesn’t work that way. So, instead, I checked my emails (always fun since I am now on an email list that wants me to increase my bust size), went through the potential new members, deleted them all and then fed my cats.

I know, I know, how do I stand the excitement? Well, I once spent a week or so with Motörhead, so I’ve learned how to deal with these situations.

But, enough about me. Yesterday, at the Cell they brought out trophies from all 4 major sports teams from the last 25 years. Just as ELLIOTT HARRIS said they would.

Representing the Super Bowl XX champion Bears will be Richard Dent with the Vince Lombardi Trophy, from the game played in 1986.

Representing the NBA champion Bulls will be Scottie Pippen with the 1991-93 and 1996-98 Larry O’Brien Trophy.

Representing the White Sox will be pitcher Mark Buehrle with the Commissioner’s Trophy given the 2005 World Series champion.

Representing the Blackhawks will be coach Joel Quenneville with the 2010 Stanley Cup.

As you may, or may not, know, Chicago is the only city to have won a championship in each sport during that time. Yes, I know, the Fire won too, but they did so without a parade so no one cares.

In fact, the presentation was so cool that ESPN took 5 seconds out of promoting the YES Network to mention it. Well, not the full five seconds, but close enough.

Since we’re already talking about the doings at the Cell, we may as well start with what the White Sox did last night against the first place Yankees. As SCOTT MERKIN reports, they won.

Credit the Blackhawks, the Bulls and the Bears for contributing to the White Sox 9-4 victory over the Yankees before 38,596 Friday at U.S. Cellular Field.

All four teams were represented in an electric pregame ceremony, recognizing Chicago as the only city to have won championships in all four major sports over the past 25 years.

The trophies for each title, including the White Sox 2005 World Series crown, were brought out in front of the seventh sellout this season. And the festivities ended with Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville throwing out the first pitch and United Center’s national anthem singer Jim Cornelison performing his world-renowned version.

Little did the crowd know how their raucous cheering and screaming through the anthem, a Blackhawks’ tradition at the United Center, would only warm them up for vocal support of the White Sox on this night.

“I’ve been wearing this uniform for a long time, and I don’t remember not even the World Series, playoffs, last game with the Minnesota Twins, people got so pumped up with the national anthem,” White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. “That’s special. Being here for that long and seeing people get into the game that way was outstanding.

“If you don’t get motivated over that, you don’t get ready for any game,” Guillen said.

Even with that extra motivation and the palpable buzz, Freddy Garcia (11-5) and the White Sox (70-58) spotted the Yankees (78-50) a 1-0 lead in the first. Brett Gardner opened with an infield single and went all the way to third thanks to Garcia’s throwing error on the play. Gardner came home on Derek Jeter’s ground out.

Aside from Sergio Mitre’s 4 2/3 innings of scoreless relief and Nick Swisher’s ninth-inning home run off Scott Linebrink, that Gardner run pretty much summed up the night’s highlights for the Yankees. Garcia had a great deal to do with this rude welcome to Chicago for the defending champs.

Garcia gave up just one earned run over seven innings, striking out three and walking one among his 111 pitches. He won for the first time since July 29 against Seattle but has deserved a better record. Blown saves in Garcia starts on July 18 at Target Field and Aug. 21 at Kauffman Stadium cost the right-hander at least two victories.

“Freddy changes speeds. He’s got four offspeed pitches,” said Yankees manager Joe Girardi. “You’re not going to see a lot of fastballs. He’s going to make you hit his pitches.”

“To me, when Freddy has a two-, three-, four-run lead, then he can make his pitch without saying, ‘I can’t walk this guy,’” said Guillen of Garcia, who has an 8-2 record over his past 16 starts. “When you do that, you have the freedom to go with the flow of the game, and I think it makes him a better pitcher.”

Four-run innings in the first and the fourth off of A.J. Burnett (9-12) made Garcia a better pitcher on Friday. A.J. Pierzynski doubled home two in the opening frame, raising his average to .417 over his past 12 games. Omar Vizquel and Juan Pierre added two hits apiece, with Vizquel driving home two, as the White Sox cruised to a 3-1 record on this six-game homestand and improved to 11-15 against the American League East.

“We jumped early, take advantage of A.J. a little while,” said Guillen of Burnett, who allowed eight earned runs over 3 1/3 innings. “Scored some runs early in the game and that gave you momentum for the game, gave Freddy a little support and cushion so Freddy can pitch like Freddy.”

Most of Friday’s early news dealt with Manny Ramirez and the White Sox reportedly being awarded the claim off waivers for the talented outfielder. The media frenzy in search of Ramirez information certainly didn’t weigh on the team.

Actually, the offense made a statement that it looks pretty good as is, especially at home, where the White Sox have a 25-7 record since June 9.

“You never go looking for or seeking help,” said White Sox captain and first baseman Paul Konerko in support of the offense. “I think we’ve shown as a team that we have been really capable of beating any team or any pitcher at any time.

“It’s just a matter of being consistent and doing that. We’re still 3 1/2 games out with 35 games to go. It’s really simple math. We just have to wait and see how it plays out.”

That 3 1/2-game deficit in the AL Central was assumed, as the Twins held a four-run lead late over the Mariners. Of greater importance than the Twins’ outcome was the spark from the White Sox, missing during a 5-11 funk coming into the homestand.

CC Sabathia stands next on the White Sox hit list. But they will have to accomplish a victory on Saturday without any championship encouragement.

“I think the trophies were probably the coolest thing I’ve seen in a long time, to have all four of them here,” Pierzynski said. “It was a fun game. It was great. It was a big crowd, excited crowd. To jump on them early, it was big to get the crowd into it.”

“Pressure is always there, especially in Chicago,” said Pierre, when asked if the trophy display added any extra weight on the White Sox collective shoulders. “They want to win. They don’t care about nothing else but winning. Hopefully we can bring it home this year. We’re definitely working toward it.”

Thanks to the Twins trouncing of the Mariners, the Sox remain 3.5 games out of first. Since the entire AL East makes up the wild card race, the Sox are going to have to win it to get in it.

In another nice homage to the glory days of yesteryear, JERRY REINSDORF called Jay Mariotti a “pissant.”

piss·ant also piss-ant
(psnt) Slang n.
1. One that is insignificant.
2. Obsolete An ant.

Kind of warms the cockles of your heart, doesn’t it?

A less heartwarming moment occurred on the Northside. Mike Quade’s stunning winning streak came to a crashing close yesterday. As CARRIE MUSKAT reports, the problem came from the fact that the wind was only blowing out when the Reds were at bat.

It’s one thing to sweep the Washington Nationals. It’s a little tougher to beat the first-place Cincinnati Reds.

Jay Bruce, batting leadoff for the first time this season, belted three homers for the first time in his career and matched a personal best with five RBIs to power the Reds to a 7-1 victory over the Cubs on Friday night and hand manager Mike Quade his first loss in four games at the helm.

“A power-hitting guy and he winds up in the leadoff spot and does that,” Quade said. “Bunt the ball or something, would you?”

Quade, who took over Monday for Lou Piniella, said he wasn’t superstitious, but didn’t want to talk about winning streaks by other Cubs managers prior to the game.

“The kids played great in Washington,” Quade said of the team’s three-game sweep, “but this is a little different animal here. I would prefer to try to win one game tonight against a very good ballclub.”

Bruce and Johnny Cueto (12-4) made it tough. With the loss, the Cubs dropped to 3-11 against the Reds this season. The good news? This is the last series the two teams will play this year. The bad news is they still have to deal with Bruce for two more games. He hit a solo homer in the third and a three-run shot in the fifth off Tom Gorzelanny (7-8), then added another solo blast in the seventh off rookie Scott Maine.

Bruce had three home runs in 21 games in August prior to Friday. This was not the first three-homer game by a Reds player against the Cubs this year. Drew Stubbs clubbed three July 4 at Wrigley Field.

Gorzelanny had served up seven home runs in his 25 other games this year, so the long balls were a surprise.

“I focus on trying to keep the ball down and get guys to ground out,” he said, “and [I] haven’t given up too many long balls.”

But Bruce connected on a hanging slider and a “fastball that decided to stay right in the middle of the plate,” Gorzelanny said.

“Good hitters hit those balls, and you can’t always get away with bad pitches,” Gorzelanny said. “You make mistakes and you pay, especially in this league.”

In Gorzelanny’s past four starts against the Reds, the lefty had given up seven earned runs over 26 2/3 innings, but on Friday, they scored six off him in five innings.

“Nothing worked for me today,” Gorzelanny said. “I made bad pitches and got behind guys and didn’t execute my pitches. It’s just a real bad outing.”

Cueto scattered six hits over eight innings and picked up the win for the Reds, who maintained a four-game lead over the Cardinals in the National League Central.

“He had good stuff today—good location, good fastball, good movement,” Chicago’s Alfonso Soriano said. “When a guy’s pitching with that command, there’s nothing we can do.”

Cincinnati struck in the first on Joey Votto’s RBI single, which raised his season total to 91 RBIs, and made it 2-0 after Bruce connected with one out in the third.

With two outs in the Chicago fourth, Xavier Nady singled and scored on Tyler Colvin’s double. That was it against Cueto.

“We never got anything going,” Nady said. “With [Cueto], you have to hopefully get a couple baserunners and build off that.”

Stubbs doubled to lead off the Cincinnati fifth, Paul Janish walked, and one out later, Bruce launched homer No. 15, and his second of the game, into the right-field seats to make it 5-1. Six pitches later, second baseman Chris Valaika hit his first Major League homer.

“[The Reds] this year ... everything is perfect for them,” Soriano said. “For us, everything is worse. For them, everything’s perfect. They put a guy, first day as a leadoff hitter, and he hits three homers. They put a guy at second base, he goes 2-for-4, double, homer. We’ve got to concentrate and come back and try to win tomorrow.”

Quade was the first Cubs skipper to win his first three games since Jim Riggleman went 4-0 in 1995. His players sounded as if they expected him to go unbeaten the rest of the way.

“[The Reds] are a good team and playing good baseball right now,” Gorzelanny said, “but I also think they’re a team we can beat regularly. They’re a good team and have been a good team all year. I feel that us, as a team, could go out there and beat them the rest of the year. They’re in a better situation than us right now.”

Yes, they are.

While I admire Gorzelanny’s insistence that the Cubs can beat the Reds, their 3-11 record against them thus far would seem to belie the sentiment.

Oh well, both teams cross the lines to play again tonight a little after 6:00 PM (local time), so make sure you’ve got two TVs and plenty of beer.

CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR SEXY BACK

Ahh success. Its sweet smell can permeate everything and not force you to break out the Fabrize. Unlike attaining enlightenment, success does not require you to hide in a mountain hovel and eschew the world. Contrariwise, it demands that you be very proactive with your life. Personal success, in one form or another, has been the driving force behind this great land of ours since its inception.

More often than not, success is not built on mere talent or skill but on a willingness to make a plan and stick to it. It is with that in mind that we look to the Northside’s favorite baseball team and cheer the fact that they have a plan for their future. Who knows? It might even work. GORDON WITTENMYER of the Sun Times takes a look at what the Cubs are looking for in a manager.

With their new family ownership bringing a long-term outlook to building a contender, the Cubs have steered away from looking at big-name, late-career managers this time around as the process for replacing Lou Piniella shifts this week from candidate-list vetting to interviewing available candidates.

The Cubs aren’t talking publicly about the specific qualities they’re targeting in their next manager, but insiders say they’re obviously looking at candidates capable of handling high-salaried veterans as well as younger, developing players. They want someone who’s not going to be blindsided by the unique daily pressures and scrutiny that come with managing a wildly popular team that hasn’t won in 102 years.

Known candidates range between the ages of 42 and 53.

Franchise icon Ryne Sandberg and Mike Quade, the present manager, are the only candidates the Cubs have publicly named. General manager Jim Hendry confirmed he interviewed Eric Wedge on Wednesday and spent much of Thursday with him.

Sources also say longtime Hendry favorite Fredi Gonzalez—an Atlanta resident widely considered Bobby Cox’s heir apparent with the Braves after this season—will get a serious look if he’s willing. The former Marlins manager gets points in the organization for the way he handled the discipline of star player Hanley Ramirez for loafing.

Another source confirmed the Cubs will pursue Yankees manager Joe Girardi if he becomes available.

Many speculate that the Ricketts family’s affection for the ‘80s Cubs they used to watch from the bleachers could trump the outside candidates and give Sandberg an inside track, but chairman Tom Ricketts said last month that Hendry is running the hiring process.

Those close to Ricketts say he and his family look at Sandberg with a more objective, businesslike eye. They appreciate his commitment in spending four seasons rising through the minors and the success he has shown in helping players develop and in winning. But they temper that with his lack of big-league managing experience.

In other words, kiss Sandberg goodbye. He, essentially, meets none of the posted criteria. Eric Wedge, a man who has a losing record and no history in the National League, does. So does Terry Bevington.

One thing that does boggle me is wondering why they are doing interviews now when none of the successful managers will be available until, at least, October. Sure they keep talking about Girardi, but he won’t be cut loose any time soon and many doubt that he will be at all.

Look, I never said it was a good plan, I just said it was a plan.

On the Southside, the Orioles’ Craig Tatum lost a nephew yesterday but seemed okay with it since “(he) wasn’t that close to the kid’s mom anyway.”

Way to take one for the team there Craig.

Anyway, the Sox decided to follow Ozzie’s plan of “keep them off the damn bases and we’ll win.” As SCOTT MERKIN from MLB.com reports, Edwin Jackson executed that plan (but not Tatum’s nephew) to perfection.

After six innings played during Thursday’s 8-0 White Sox whitewash of the Orioles at U.S. Cellular Field, Omar Vizquel left the game with what was called an upset stomach.

That queasy feeling must have come from something the third baseman ate earlier, because it certainly wasn’t induced by his team’s near flawless play in the series finale, which kept the White Sox 3 1/2 games behind the Twins in the American League Central.

Edwin Jackson (2-0) saved the bullpen with eight innings, and he decided he might as well dominate the Orioles (45-83) while he was out there. The right-hander didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning and gave up just three for the game.

In support of Jackson, the White Sox offense knocked out 14 hits and recorded their 11th game of 10 or more hits in the past 12. It was a much needed victory, ending a stretch of five consecutive series losses that began back at Camden Yards from Aug. 6-9.

“This is a team of professionals,” said Jackson of his squad after surviving consecutive series setbacks to the Orioles, the Twins, the Tigers, the Twins again and the Royals. “There are a lot of guys in here who have won before and know what it takes to win.

“We don’t need to put pressure on ourselves or come in and stress. The mood has been the same through the good stretches and bad stretches as long as I’ve been here. That’s always been a positive, when you have a team whose confidence hasn’t gone anywhere.”

Jackson’s confidence seemingly has skyrocketed since coming over from the D-backs in exchange for Daniel Hudson at the non-waiver Trade Deadline. He fanned 10 on Thursday, marking the first time in his career where Jackson posted back-to-back starts with double-digit punchouts.

Of course, the last official start for Jackson came on Aug. 14 against Detroit. But he also had a seven-pitch outing against the Royals in Kansas City on Friday night before the game was delayed and eventually postponed.

Eleven days in between trips to the mound seems to agree with him.

“As a professional, you have to deal with it,” said Jackson, who walked only two. “You don’t have time to make excuses. You have to keep a mind frame like you are on a regular routine. It’s definitely a lot of rest, but it’s just one of those things.”

“You look at all the good pitchers through baseball. They all pitch off their heater and get ahead in the zone with their heater, and that opens up other pitches,” said Baltimore first baseman Ty Wigginton. “And any pitcher that comes out and does that, it’s tough as an offensive team.”

Six different White Sox players came up with at least two hits off of Baltimore starter Jake Arrieta (4-6) and two relievers. The two hits for Paul Konerko raised his average to .315, while A.J. Pierzynski’s double and single in three at-bats jumped his average up to .254.

Alex Rios knocked out three hits in a game for the first time since a July 2 contest against the Rangers, and added his 18th home run and 26th stolen base. It was a good turnaround as a team after Brian Matusz shut down the offense on Wednesday, and a good bounce-back effort for Rios, who entered the game hitting .225 in August.

“Guys are off suicide watch around here,” said Juan Pierre. “We got some guys and they get no hits, it’s the end of the world to them. But I’m glad to see guys with good at-bats more so than the hits. We had good at-bats throughout the lineup, made the pitcher work, throw pitches and collectively, offensively it was a great game.”

“Every time Rios starts to try to do too much with the ball like everybody else, then he fails,” said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. “But I’m glad he picked it up today. I know how the players feel when they struggle. I know very well. He wasn’t feeling good the last couple of days.”

Pierre also picked up his 50th stolen base, making him the 11th player in White Sox history to accomplish such a feat and marking the 13th time in franchise history it has been reached. Luis Aparicio hit that level in three seasons.

“Our ultimate goal is to get the ‘W,’” Pierre said. “Like I said, I don’t really put too much emphasis on personal achievements, but it’s nice because I do take pride in stealing bases.”

The victory momentarily took the focus off of the White Sox great Manny Ramirez waiver pursuit, and set the club up with a little momentum as the Yankees and their 78-49 record come to town this weekend. It might make Ken Williams sleep a little easier and feel good about his team.

Then again, it doesn’t take much to build the general manager’s confidence in his charges, as presently assembled.

“They’ll give me confidence by stringing together some wins,” Williams said prior to the victory. “It’s not the time to have confidence or anything other than just watching and having confidence that you have a team that’s competing right now and you got a chance to win a division.

“When we started Spring Training, we hoped that we’d be there and we’re here. We just have to capitalize off it. We got to win games like last night when the team in front of us was losing, and that makes you feel a lot better when you go to sleep.”

You know things are going your way when even a player’s puke becomes a cute anecdote.

While the Manny Ramirez race intrigues me, here’s hoping that KW gets an arm for that beleaguered pen. Otherwise Ozzie will be available for the Cubs’ job on 10/01/10.

CLICK HERE TO TELL US YOUR PLAN FOR SUCCESS

According to a friend of mine who works in MLB, Buck Showalter (Oriole’s manager) has developed an exciting, and new, motivational technique for his team. It also appears that he’s shared it with new Cubs’ manager Mike Quade (pronounced Kwah-dee).

It goes a little something like this;

For every game you lose we will have the Orioles’ elite assassination squad kill a child related to a player, who will be chosen at random. For the first loss it will be a distant cousin. But, if the losses start to pile up, we will get to your children. Now, go out there and have fun.

You can see that its beauty lies in its simplicity.

With that happy thought in mind, let’s turn the blog over to MLB.com’s latest pundit, PETE KERZEL, who seems to have bought into this new philosophy.

A defensive swing was all the offense the Chicago Cubs needed to back up a sterling pitching effort by Ryan Dempster and keep interim manager Mike Quade unbeaten.

Starlin Castro’s eighth-inning RBI double broke open a brilliant pitchers’ duel, helping Dempster win his fourth consecutive decision and giving the Cubs a 4-0 victory over the Washington Nationals on Wednesday night.

As game-breaking hits go, Castro’s drive wasn’t a thing of beauty, just an effective poke at the right time. With pinch-hitter Tyler Colvin at second after drawing a leadoff walk and stealing a base, Castro tried to protect the plate on a 2-2 changeup by Tyler Clippard, reaching out to shoot a double down the left-field line.

“I didn’t want to strike out. I tried to put one in play. It was a defensive swing,” said Castro, admitting he was surprised at how far the ball traveled into the left-field corner.

Castro’s hit justified Quade’s decision to yank Dempster for a pinch-hitter after a brilliant seven innings from the right-hander. Dempster yielded two hits—only one out of the infield—walked one and struck out eight in an efficient 79-pitch effort

“Especially when a guy’s got such a low pitch count, [Dempster] wanted no part of coming out,” Quade said. “He wasn’t happy about that, and that’s OK, I don’t want guys happy. But I think you’ve got to try and win the game.

“That’s just one of those decisions you’ve got to make when you’ve got a chance to set somebody up at the top of the order with his spot. ... You can do what you want, decision-wise, but the guys have to execute and pick you up.”

Afterward, Dempster was more than willing to trade the early exit for a victory.

“I don’t care. We won the game,” he said. “We swept them, and what a great series. It was a lot of fun. It’s awesome, man. Do I want to come out of the game? No. He knows that; everybody knows that. But [there were] way too many positive things to come out of today to worry about that, for sure.”

After Castro dumped the decisive double down the left-field line to break open a scoreless game, Aramis Ramirez added a two-run homer off Clippard. It was Ramirez’s 20th homer of the season.

The Cubs completed a three-game sweep in Quade’s first series at the helm following the unexpected early retirement of Lou Piniella after Sunday’s game. It was also Chicago’s seventh shutout of the year.

“He’s undefeated. He’s really doing a great job,” Dempster said of Quade. “It’s good for him—he’s getting a great opportunity to go out there and manage. I’ve always said we never quit. Sometimes we just haven’t played as well as we want to. We’re not going to quit for him and, more importantly, we’re not going to quit for the entire team.”

Quade seems to be finding a rhythm early in his tenure.

“I like managing,” he said. “I loved it in [Class] A ball, I loved it in Double-A and it sure has been fun, and the guys have made it a lot of fun for me by playing well.”

But his third consecutive victory wasn’t easy. On paper, ex-Chicago right-hander Jason Marquis shouldn’t have presented an impediment, given his winless record and 11.39 ERA in six starts during a season interrupted by the removal of bone chips from his pitching elbow.

But Marquis (0-7) didn’t cooperate, taking a shutout into the eighth inning and wiggling out of trouble a couple of times. By the time Marquis was pulled after Kosuke Fukudome’s fly ball to the warning track for the first out of the eighth, Marquis had lowered his ERA by almost three runs. Marquis allowed a run on four singles, walked three and fanned two.

“I was attacking the strike zone,” Marquis said. “The more I’ve been throwing, I’m creating better habits and allowing myself to make those pitches in the bottom of the zone. I let my defense do the work, which I have done the last two years. It’s definitely exciting to be back.”

In the first inning, a leadoff walk to Fukudome, a balk and a throwing error by Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman put runners at first and second with one down. But Marquis got out of the inning unscathed, a pattern repeated in the fifth, when Geovany Soto’s one-out single, a Dempster sacrifice and a walk to Fukudome created a similar situation. Inning-ending double-play grounders erased Cubs scoring chances in the third and sixth innings.

Meanwhile, Dempster (12-8) was mowing down Washington hitters, allowing only an infield single by Wil Nieves in the third and Marquis’ sixth-inning line-drive single to left through the first six frames.

“For me, that’s as good a fastball command as I’ve ever had in a game pitching,” Dempster said. “I was able to hit my spots and keep the ball out of the middle of the plate. When you’re doing that, you get quick outs and you get quick innings.”

Dempster was finally rewarded with the rally in the eighth, and seeing Castro come through in the clutch was hardly a new experience for Quade.

“Obviously, [Castro’s] average is excellent, and his at-bats in those situations have been pretty darned good,” Quade said. “[He’s] a kid that’s still learning, but from an offensive standpoint, he’s contributed hugely this year.”

Alfonso Soriano opened the ninth by hitting a solo homer to center off Sean Burnett. It was his fourth home run in six career games at Nationals Park.

And just like that the Cubs are undefeated in the Quade era. If they maintain this streak they should be in easy contention for the playoffs. I know that Big Star and several others are breathing easier now.

On the Southside, Ozzie has stuck with a more traditional motivational theme, “You no win, you no go to playoffs. You no go to playoffs, you no have job.” While financial destitution and personal ignominy have long been prime motivators, one thinks that Ozzie might just want to up the ante now that the team is only 3.5 games out of first. Certainly, last night, it seemed that they needed a little more fire in their bellies. As SCOTT MERKIN reports, Buck Showalter’s team seemed a little more motivated.

It didn’t take long for Mark Buehrle to break down Wednesday’s 4-2 White Sox loss to the last-place Orioles at U.S. Cellular Field.

“Two leadoff walks, and two runs scored on that,” Buehrle said. “We lost by two, so I think that explains everything.”

Buehrle (12-9) threw a season-high 115 pitches over seven innings, striking out four and giving up just six hits. But those two walks he spoke about, two of four he issued in the setback, helped cost the White Sox (68-58) a chance to pick up valuable ground on the Twins. The American League Central leaders lost for a third straight time on the road in Texas, but they maintained a 3 1/2-game lead in the division.

Meanwhile, the White Sox slipped to 2-4 on the season against a team, in the Orioles, sitting 37 games under .500 at 45-82.

“If people expect that we’re going to sweep them, well, this is a big league club out there,” said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen of the Orioles. “We cannot make too many people happy.

“When we sweep Pittsburgh [during Interleague Play], people were surprised. Well, those are big league clubs out there. We don’t play well against them for some reason. They have a lot of good talent on the field—and it’s all about pitching and they’re pitching well.”

Brian Matusz (6-12) shut down Guillen’s crew on just three hits over seven innings, with Gordon Beckham’s home run in the sixth providing the lone run against the Baltimore starter. Beckham has gone deep in two straight games and now has nine for the season.

The best scoring opportunity off of Matusz came in the second, when Paul Konerko and A.J. Pierzynski singled—putting runners on first and third with one out. But Andruw Jones hit into an inning-ending double play two pitches later.

Aside from Beckham’s deep drive, Matusz did not allow another runner to get as far as second base before he gave way to Michael Gonzalez in the eighth.

“For [Baltimore manager] Buck [Showalter] to give me the chance to go out there for the seventh when my pitch count’s starting to climb a little bit, he gave me an opportunity so I got to attack the zone and throw strikes,” said Matusz, who threw 76 of his 117 pitches for strikes. “I was able to just slow it down and attack the zone. That’s all you have to do is attack the zone, don’t overthrow and let the hitters get themselves out.”

“Looking at the game, I guess he pitched very well,” said Guillen of Matusz. “But I don’t think our approach was the best. We had an opportunity early in the game to get something done and we missed some clutch hitting.”

Those two leadoff walks from Buehrle came in the fifth to Felix Pie and in the sixth to Ty Wigginton. Pie scored on Matt Wieters’ double, with Corey Patterson adding a two-out single to raise the lead to 2-0. Wigginton came across the plate on Wieters’ sacrifice fly.

Brian Roberts’ one-out homer in the seventh completed Baltimore’s scoring. Despite the setback, Buehrle felt good on the mound and felt primed to improve on a 4-3 showing since the All-Star break. He also seemed satisfied with lasting seven innings, giving the worn down and injury-riddled bullpen a rest.

“That was the only positive that came out of tonight,” said Buehrle, who threw a season-high 115 pitches. “Went into seven innings, got into trouble a few innings and the pitch count go up but went deep in the game.

“Everyone knows the bullpen is struggling and you got two of your top guys [J.J. Putz and Matt Thornton] go on the disabled list—we [have] got to step up and go deeper in the games. It’s about the only positive that happened.”

A single by Konerko and Carlos Quentin’s two-out triple off of Patterson’s glove in left gave the White Sox one run and a little life off of Koji Uehara (second save) in their final at-bats. Pierzynski struck out to end the game, marking the first time since Aug. 12 the offense didn’t pick up at least 10 hits in a game.

On Wednesday, they checked in with exactly half—at five.

“It’s impressive,” said Showalter, referring primarily to Matusz’s stellar work. “Especially when you are playing them in their ballpark in the middle of a pennant race, when every game means that much to them.”

Wednesday’s exact meaning wasn’t known to the White Sox when they completed their contest in a quick 2 hours, 22 minutes. The Twins were down by one but still in late action against the AL West’s top team.

Yet, there wasn’t a television in the White Sox clubhouse turned to the Minnesota broadcast. With the White Sox needing a win on Thursday to avoid a sixth straight series loss—and with the Yankees coming to town Friday—they have their own concerns to focus upon.

“People ask if you watch the score. I watch scores from day one till the end of the year—no matter if we’re in it or out of it,” Buehrle said. “I’m a baseball fan. I watch baseball. I watch what everyone is doing.

“Obviously you see what they’re doing on the board. But if they’re winning or losing, we can’t go out there and say, ‘They’re losing the game today so we don’t have to play as hard. We can lose. We’re not going to lose any ground.’ We want to go out there and win every game, and we can’t really worry about what they’re doing.”

With the Twins seeming to have hit a bump in the road, it would appear to be the perfect motivation for the Sox to start winning in bunches again. If that doesn’t work, Ozzie knows where they live.

CLICK HERE TO GET MOTIVATED

I started to write this yesterday and then the whole day went to hell in a hand-basket. While all might have appeared calm to outsiders, here at mission command it was like watching a rocket suddenly take a hard left over a major city. Panic described the quieter moments. Even so, everyone survived and life continues to march merrily on. In other words, let’s chat about porn.

Do you know why guys like porn? Sure there’s sex and nekkid women and stuff, but that’s not really it. They like it because they don’t have to think. They know exactly what’s going to happen before the opening credits have finished rolling. They don’t have to worry if they are going to get weepy or if they need to understand Medieval philosophy or anything else. All they need to know can be summed up in 3 words; Yes she will.

The same basic mindset also applies to action films. Just substitute “blow stuff up” for “yes she will.”

It’s a basic reason that guys like sports too. They can put their tiny minds on hold and just watch someone else do all the work. However, lately, they have been asked to think about stuff. Did the Hawks really have to trade all those guys? Who should really be the QB for the Bears? What should Lou do? Are the Sox for real? And so on.

As you can readily tell, that’s too much for one mind to tackle all in one day and the questions have been piling up all year.

But now guys can put their worries on hold, grab a beer and get back to just being voyeurs.

The answer to the first question turns out to be an emphatic yes. Dale Tallon was a great judge of talent but seemed to be imbued with the business sense of a deranged wombat. So, the club needed to move a lot of pieces just to ensure they would have any pieces left to try and make a legitimate run for the cup again.

As to the Bears, let the Tod Collins era begin. He can get run over by opposing defenses just as well as anyone else in the NFL and that seems to be the only requirement for a Bears QB since Lovie came to town.

As to Lou? Well, people wanted to run the only manager to win back to back division titles on the Northside in over a century out of town and now he’s gone. And, in keeping with all things Cubbie, since Lou left they are a juggernaut. Seriously. You couldn’t make this stuff up. The latest Cubs’ writer for MLB.com, JEFF SEIDEL, takes a look at their two game winning streak as the Cubs begin their playoff run.

Carlos Zambrano looked like his old self again in Tuesday’s game. He gave up one run and struck out eight in 7 1/3 innings, retiring 11 Washington batters in a row at one point and keeping the Nationals very quiet.

But even though Zambrano certainly liked his effort and how it helped the Cubs to a 5-4 victory over Washington before 18,250 at Nationals Park, the big right-hander had other things on his mind much more important than fastballs and home runs.

Zambrano left after the game to begin the long trip to his home country of Venezuela. That’s where his 11-year-old nephew is in a hospital battling a bad infection. He’s in intensive care, and the Cubs are allowing the pitcher to stay with his family for a few days. Zambrano is going to return on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, Zambrano spoke to his brother (the boy’s father), who told the pitcher not to worry about what was going on back home and just dedicate the game to his son. Zambrano followed through on that idea.

“In the first inning, I was thinking about him, and I was throwing all the pitches, saying, ‘This is for my nephew.’” Zambrano said. “Every pitch that I threw in the first inning, I was saying, ‘This is for you, and I was saying in my mind, ‘Don’t give up, don’t give up, just pitch this game for him.’”

Zambrano (5-6) controlled the game and gave up only a third-inning run to Washington (53-73). He retired 11 in a row from the third through the seventh inning as the Nationals hit only two balls out of the infield.

“I think he pitched with a heavy heart, and [it’s] just as good an outing as I’ve seen from him in a while,” said Chicago interim manager Mike Quade. “He was good. He was real good.”

Alfonso Soriano and Tyler Colvin both supported Zambrano with homers. Soriano put Chicago (53-74) into the early lead with his three-run shot in the second off starter John Lannan (5-6) for a 3-0 edge.

Jeff Baker and Geovany Soto started the inning with back-to-back singles before Soriano crushed his 20th homer to left field. This is now the ninth straight season that Soriano has hit at least 20 homers.

Colvin added a two-run homer in the fourth to give the Cubs a 5-1 lead. His 19 homers are the most among Major League rookies. Soriano was batting seventh and Colvin eighth on Tuesday, and the pair combined for two homers—three hits overall—three runs and five RBIs.

“That’s fun to watch Sori, and I got to do it right behind him,” Colvin said. “That was pretty exciting.”

The game got a little too exciting for the Cubs in the final two innings. Washington loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth against Sean Marshall. But closer Carlos Marmol came on to strike out pinch-hitter Ian Desmond on three pitches.

Washington rallied again in the ninth. This time, the Nationals loaded the bases with one out before Marmol struck out Nyjer Morgan. Adam Kennedy then lined a three-run double into the right-field corner to cut Chicago’s lead to one and awaken the crowd.

Ryan Zimmerman came up and ran the count to 2-2 before fouling off a pitch. He then sliced a shot toward the right-field corner. But Kosuke Fukudome, who came in for defense in the seventh, raced over and made the catch to lock up the closer’s 23rd save.

“I thought it had a shot to get over Fukudome’s head,” Zimmerman said. “[Marmol] is not an easy guy to get hits off of.”

The ball appeared to have a chance to be a hit at first, but Fukudome said later that he wasn’t worried. He made extra sure by squeezing the ball with both hands after catching it in the right-field corner.

“I wanted to be careful,” he said through an interpreter. “I thought I could catch it.”

That sealed the victory for Zambrano, who’s pitched consistently since coming back to the rotation earlier this month. After the game, he quickly got dressed and talked to reporters before quietly making his way out of the Chicago clubhouse to see his nephew back home. He’s hoping the child will get an even bigger victory of his own in the coming days.

So far the Cubs have shown that one aspect of the old philosophy will carry over to the new. Anyone who argues with Carlos Zambrano is gone as quickly as possible. Michael Barret? He gone. Derrek Lee? Hasta-la-bye-bye. Lou Piniella? Shipped off to the land of tan sandals, black socks and orange juice. The only one left is Hendry. Something tells me that Cubs’ fans are now really hoping that the trend continues. Anyway, as the Cubs go for the sweep tonight against the Nationals, we all here wish Big Z’s nephew a quick recovery and a long, healthy, life.

The Cubs are classic porn like Debbie Does Dallas. There is a little more plot at the beginning but even the dirty girls are cute and cuddly. In other words, porn you can share with your family.

But, if you like your porn filled with “talk dirty to me” girls, then the White Sox are the team for you. From Ozzie’s foul mouth to Bobby Jenks fat, sloppy, “I’ll do whatever you need” attitude, this is the dirty porn that you watched in your garage when no one was around. It’s also, usually, the stuff that stays with you the rest of your life. As SCOTT MERKIN reports, even their wins are dirty and nasty.

Don’t try to convince Ozzie Guillen that Tuesday’s 7-5 victory over Baltimore at U.S. Cellular Field has any less meaning due to the last-place Orioles’ three-run, ninth-inning rally.

With 37 games remaining and American League Central-leading Minnesota falling once again in Texas, there are no extra points for making a win look good or easy.

“A win is a win. I don’t care how it comes,” said Guillen, whose team survived to move within 3 1/2 games of the Twins. “Especially how we played last week, I will take that one.”

The White Sox (68-57) entered Tuesday with just a 5-11 record over their past 16 games and had lost five consecutive series, starting with dropping three out of four to these same Orioles (44-82) in Camden Yards. But when Gordon Beckham launched a three-run home run off Baltimore starter Jeremy Guthrie (7-13) with one out in the seventh, Chicago looked well on its way to a comfortable and successful start to this seven-game homestand.

Then, the ninth inning rolled around.

On six occasions since the All-Star break, the once-sturdy White Sox bullpen has blown games where it held the lead in the seventh inning or later.

Tuesday’s contest seemed unlikely to fall into that category, but the unlikely has been playing out as reality of late. Sergio Santos started the ninth and walked light-hitting Cesar Izturis. By the time the inning was done, Bobby Jenks was called upon to record his 24th save—after throwing three innings Sunday—and J.J. Putz appeared headed to the disabled list.

Putz threw three pitches outside of the strike zone in relief of Santos before leaving the game with a recurrence of his right knee pain. It was up to Jenks to come up with one of his more important saves in recent memory.

“I’m just happy we got the win,” said Jenks, who recorded three outs while allowing just one of Santos’ runners to score on a double-play grounder. “The whole day was a good day. We were hitting with guys in scoring position with two outs and doing all those things that got us into first a little while ago. If we can continue doing that after the week we just had on the road, we have a good chance to be right back in this.”

“I’ve got a couple guys I can’t use, and the last guy I want to use out of the bullpen was Bobby,” Guillen said. “One day in between three innings and [Tuesday], I was taking a risk. That’s why it’s important late in the game when you have a bullpen that can go in there and shut it down. We’ve done that all year long, but unfortunately right now, we’ve hit a bump. We’ve struggled for the last week, week and a half to shut it down.”

Gavin Floyd (9-10) earned the victory, allowing two runs on seven hits over seven innings, striking out six and walking two, before yielding to Chris Sale. The seven innings on his final pitching line stood out as the most important.

“I probably had 80-some pitches after the fifth, and I was like, ‘Hopefully six,’ but I wanted to go longer than that—and they let me go longer,” said Floyd, who finished with 109 pitches. “It was nice to save some of the bullpen and it’s definitely a goal to go as deep as you want to, especially because this past weekend was a tired series for us.”

“He threw the ball very well against us,” said Ty Wigginton. “I look back at my at-bats against him. I can’t think of too many pitches out over the middle of the plate that you can hit. He was down in the zone. He was around the corners and just off the plate. He made good pitches, so you got to tip your hat.”

Floyd watched the Orioles grab a two-run lead with two runs in the fourth, one coming on Luke Scott’s 25th home run. But with one run in each of the fourth and the fifth innings, the White Sox quickly forged a tie. That rally set the stage for Beckham, who was picked off, doubled off first and hit in the right hand by Guthrie earlier in the game.

All of that frustration was taken out on his 405-foot home run, his eighth of the season.

“We needed kind of a spark,” said Beckham, who now has 45 RBIs. “We needed to get some runs. We needed to get a hit in a big situation. On Sunday, I had a couple of at-bats where I didn’t get it done. It was nice to come through.”

Winning the series opener was a nice moment for the White Sox. Then again, any win is nice when you are on a full-out chase to catch the Twins with just three head-to-head games remaining.

Adding insurance runs in the seventh and eighth ended up making a difference for the White Sox, although they didn’t look necessary until that heart-stopping finish.

“Our players should be excited,” Guillen said. “They played a pretty good game and we did something [Tuesday] that we didn’t do on the road trip—we got a base hit when it counted. But it will take me a little while to get over this one as a manager.”

Yeah, that’s one of the problems with the nasty stuff; You end up all wet and fatigued. Yet, somehow, it’s worth it.

I avoided talking about the Sky since “5 women who suck” seemed too obvious and avoided the Fire as well since watching guys miss the hole over and over again is no fun at all.

CLICK HERE TO GO CHICKA-CHICKA-WOW

Yesterday I got to spend the day at the Hines VA Hospital. Well, me and about 100 bikers, their families and the occasional friend. There were stunt bike tricks, free food for the vets and games for the rest. In other words, I missed an entire day of baseball but for a good cause. I also managed to get a nasty case of sunburn and am typing this while covered in aloe.

There’s a spiffy visual for you.

Anyway, while I was out having fun Chicago baseball decided to create enough news to even overshadow the bacchanalia surrounding the arrest of Jay Mariotti.

Let’s start with the Cubs. In a stunning turn of events, Lou Piniella’s team quit and then so did he. CARRIE MUSKAT, while not a fat lady, sings a sad song after the game.

After 3,548 games over 23 years as a manager, Lou Piniella is headed home.

Piniella and the Cubs began this season with a 16-5 loss to the Braves on April 5, and he ended his managerial career Sunday losing by the same score to the same team. The Cubs’ skipper announced July 20 that he was retiring at season’s end, but he moved up the date so he can go home to Tampa, Fla. His 90-year-old mother is ill.

“I’ll go home and be where I’m supposed to be,” Piniella said. “I’m going to miss it, there’s no question about it.”

Atlanta’s Bobby Cox is retiring at year’s end, and the two veteran managers met at home plate one last time to exchange lineup cards and hug. Piniella then tipped his cap to the crowd of 37,518 at Wrigley Field.

“I hate to see Lou leave,” Cox said. “He’s just been great for the game.”

Piniella wiped a few tears away once he returned to the dugout. It wasn’t the first or last time.

“Today’s game wasn’t pretty, but I’d rather reflect on the good times I’ve had here,” Piniella said. “Lot of good times, lot of good people. It’s been a lot of fun. The pregame with Bobby Cox was special. He’s been a good friend for a long time. I appreciate my four years here with the Cubs’ organization. The city’s special, the people here are special. I’m appreciative.

“I cried a little bit after the game,” he said. “I get emotional—I’m sorry. I’m not trying to be. This will be the last time I put on a uniform. It’s been very special to me.”

He broke down for a few seconds, then collected himself. The players couldn’t help but shed a tear or two, too.

“That’s the human factor is the man deserves a lot better than that,” Cubs catcher Koyie Hill said. “Same old story [in the game]—it’s not lack of effort or anything like that. It’s just the way it goes. I don’t know if you could’ve scripted it any worse.

“He’s given his life to the game,” Hill said. “We all appreciate that. We appreciate the opportunity we had to play for him and we’re going to miss him.”

Whenever Piniella went onto the field to make a pitching change, he was greeted with chants of “Lou, Lou” from the fans. Third-base coach Mike Quade will take over as interim manager on Monday when the Cubs open a three-game series against the Nationals.

“It was nice, a nice tribute,” Piniella said of the fans. “These are nice people here and great fans. I was very appreciative, very moved, very touched.”

He took time during the game to look around sun-splashed Wrigley Field and beyond. It’s the last time he’ll be calling the shots from the dugout.

“You know what I noticed today was I noticed things around the park that I hadn’t noticed before,” he said. “It was a good ballgame for six or seven innings, and then it got out of hand. What are you going to do? These guys are trying and I wish them well the rest of the way.”

What did he notice?

“Quite a few things, inside and outside the ballpark,” he said, preferring not to reveal specifics. “I wasn’t daydreaming, but I was very cognizant of the things around here. It’s a good day to remember and also it’s a good day to forget.”

The Cubs wanted to send “Sweet Lou” off with a win. He finishes with a 316-293 record in three-plus seasons in Chicago. Piniella was the first manager in 100 years to lead the team to consecutive postseason appearances in 2007 and ‘08, but they went 0-6 in the playoffs. They also lost the last game of ‘09, which means he ended every one of his seasons with the Cubs with a loss.

“The intensity that he brings every day is at such a high level,” Hill said. “There’s almost a wake or funeral after every loss. You think, ‘Man, he brings it every day.’ That passion speaks for itself.

“He’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever been around,” Hill said. “He’s an intelligent guy and definitely taught us a bunch. You see him make guys better and that’s usually a sign of a good leader.”

This year has been disappointing as the underachieving Cubs have failed to top .500.

“I think the 25 guys in this room appreciate everything he’s done for us and know [home] is where he should be,” Hill said. “We’ve all been playing baseball for as long as we can walk, and no matter who it is, when somebody says it’s their last game, it’s pretty emotional. You respect him for everything he’s done in the game. It’s going to be tough to see him go.”

Piniella does depart as the 14th-winningest manager in Major League history with a 1,835-1,713 record.

Omar Infante, rookie Mike Minor (2-0), Jason Heyward and Derrek Lee spoiled Piniella’s day. Infante and Heyward each hit two home runs, while Minor struck out 12 and Lee, playing his third game with the Braves, hit a three-run double in the eighth. Randy Wells (5-12) took the loss, and is 0-4 in five August starts.

The day had gotten off to an emotional start with Piniella’s pregame speech to his players, and Wells said he and Hill talked about wanting to “leave it all on the field today.” But the right-hander served up a season-high seven runs on seven hits.

“This is probably the one loss that stings the most for me this year,” Wells said.

Infante led off with his fifth home run, but the Cubs tied it in their half of the first on Marlon Byrd’s RBI single. Heyward gave the Braves the lead with his first homer of the game with one out in the third, but the Cubs answered on Aramis Ramirez’s two-run homer—his 19th—with two outs in the third.

Melky Cabrera singled to lead off the Braves’ fourth, stole second and reached third on an error by Hill, and one out later, Rick Ankiel walked to set up Infante’s second homer, opening a 5-3 lead.

The Braves added four in the seventh, including a pair of runs on Alex Gonzalez’s double, and five in the eighth as well as Heyward’s second homer with one on in the ninth.

“It’s not like he’s retiring because it’s the end—he’s got some family stuff going on,” Wells said. “He was pretty emotional about why he was leaving. You feel for a guy like that—it’s your mom. On top of that, the guy’s given so much to baseball you owe it to him to give everything you’ve got out there.”

The Cubs have had to say goodbye a lot this season as Ted Lilly, Ryan Theriot, Mike Fontenot and Lee have all exited via trades. All thought they could help the Cubs get to the World Series.

“I don’t think when you come in as an outsider that you know what you’re getting into here, and it’s different,” Piniella said about managing the Cubs. “The people here, since I’ve been here, we’ve raised the bar and they expect us to win, which is good. The fans, they get into the game.

“It’s a fun place, it really is,” he said. “It’s a fun place to watch a baseball game, probably the most fun place in Major League Baseball. I hope that in the very near future they can get a team here that can give people what they want.”

Piniella will be watching and cheering them on.

Well, all we can do is wish Lou the best and hope his mother gets well. I guess we should also hope the Cubs win a few more games. Big Star’s getting worried that they won’t be able to rest any players for the playoffs if the division race isn’t decided soon enough.

On the Southside, thanks to Cowboy Joe West, the Sox were forced to play 31 innings in less than 24 hours and had to do so with a piecemeal pitching rotation. Cowboy Joe is not selling a lot of CDs on the Southside.  Except to people who use them as coasters. The latest scribe to join the MLB.com crew, ROBERT FALKOFF, seems just as worn out by the recent gauntlet as the team is.

The White Sox are working overtime these days, but all that extra duty isn’t getting them any bonuses in the win column.

A third consecutive extra-innings game at Kauffman Stadium in less than 24 hours fizzled into a 3-2 loss to the Royals on Sunday, which left Chicago pondering the notion that close doesn’t count for much in baseball.

Jason Kendall’s walk-off single to left-center in the 10th off Scott Linebrink sent the White Sox back to Chicago with a 2-4 road trip. How do you create frustration? Try a couple of one-run defeats at Minnesota, a blown four-run lead in Kansas City and then a road-trip finale when Zack Greinke and his bullpen mates narrowly outpitched the White Sox.

Manager Ozzie Guillen didn’t question his team’s effort, but he did question the offensive execution.

“We faced some pretty good pitching,” Guillen said. “Greinke is pretty good—I’m not going to take that away from him. But we had a good chance to score more runs and we didn’t.”

Guillen’s point was illustrated by the fact that Chicago was 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Time after time, the White Sox failed to deliver the big hit.

Finally, Kendall did.

“We’re playing hard, playing the right way, and it’s just not working out,” second baseman Gordon Beckham said. “Greinke is over there throwing 96 mph with an 88 mph slider. It’s not easy to hit against a guy like that. But that being said, we’ve still got to execute and come through. When it doesn’t happen, a lot of people get upset about it.”

Greinke was long gone when the game was ultimately decided. Linebrink started the 10th in impressive fashion as Yuniesky Betancourt popped out to Omar Vizquel in foul territory and Chris Getz struck out. But Gregor Blanco drew a walk and the dynamics of the inning changed when Blanco stole second on a close play.

“I was waiting to see what kind of move [Linebrink] had,” Blanco said. “He showed right there he had a high leg kick.”

Blanco stole third to put a little more pressure on the defense, but it still came down to Linebrink against Kendall. Linebrink challenged Kendall with a 3-2 fastball, and the veteran catcher came out on top.

“We’ve had some tough games over the last week, but at some point that will be behind us and there will be another good streak ahead of us,” first baseman Paul Konerko said.

White Sox starter John Danks matched Greinke on the scoreboard but needed 112 pitches to get through six innings. With the bullpen taxed by injuries and some general fatigue, Bobby Jenks came to the rescue by delivering three scoreless innings. But in the end, it wasn’t enough.

“We had some chances, they had some chances, and for the most part everybody failed until Kendall got the hit,” Konerko said. “That was that.”

The White Sox (67-57) managed 10 hits, including two by Vizquel that lifted him into 48th place on the all-time hit list with 2,776. But whenever the White Sox mounted baserunners, Greinke reached back for something extra.

“It was a tough series here, and it was a tough series at Minnesota,” said Danks. “It’s not going to get any easier. We just have to play good baseball these last five or six weeks and see where that takes us.”

The three consecutive extra-inning games marks the first time the White Sox have had that happen since 1988. Going beyond nine innings generally hasn’t been a good thing for Chicago this year. The White Sox are now just 4-9 in extra innings.

Suffice to say, players are looking forward to the off-day on Monday.

“We just played 31 innings in a span of about 22 hours, so we need this day off,” Beckham said. “We’re going home, and hopefully we’ll have a good week against the American League East.”

The White Sox could certainly use a strong week as they try to stay within striking distance of the Twins.

A weekend of working overtime simply didn’t prove to be profitable.

Maybe this video will help inspire the Sox to take care of business. I know it did wonders for my morning.

Nevertheless, the Sox are now 5 games out of first and taking a, much needed, day off before returning home and facing the pesky Orioles. More commonly known as the team that will not die.

CLICK HERE TO TELL FOR WHOM THE FAT LADY SINGS

Red: [narrating] I wish I could tell you that Andy fought the good fight, and the Sisters let him be. I wish I could tell you that - but prison is no fairy-tale world. He never said who did it, but we all knew. Things went on like that for awhile - prison life consists of routine, and then more routine. Every so often, Andy would show up with fresh bruises. The Sisters kept at him - sometimes he was able to fight ‘em off, sometimes not. And that’s how it went for Andy - that was his routine. I do believe those first two years were the worst for him, and I also believe that if things had gone on that way, this place would have got the best of him.

Congratulations Jay.

No seriously, big time kudos fella. Every major news syndicate has posted a bit revolving one hundred per cent exclusively around you. Even in Thailand!

This is some one of a kind being famous, huh? Real famous indeed. Suzanne Stone Maretto would be mightily impressed. And all of this achieved by just a little paddy whack. Hell, she had to kill her husband to get this kind of attention. Great director, that Gus Van Sant.  Doubtful there would be any interest in a sequel revolving around a pudgy, past the expiration date, LA arriving sports columnist*.

But we at least long last know the birth date. Will the Wikipedia page be finally updated instead of the estimated age?

And now we await the release of the mug shot. Hey man, the anticipatory build up is killing us. Will the coiffed hair be out of place? How about streaming ruined mascara?  Cuts and bruises? Geez Jay, say it ain’t so. Did you go all California on us to reclaim your courage just like Rocky? Was this training for an impending physical rematch with Hawk or Neil? Or perhaps this was a tuneup fight in preparation of kicking the ass of an ill stricken (but infinitely better journalist) Roger Ebert? Did Apollo Creed abandon you and Pauli at the LA gym? But back to that mug shot, will it reveal blackened eyes, missing teeth or a split fat lip? There is no tomorrow!

Cuts and bruises? Courage and conviction indeed. Wonder if she (really?) is dialing up the gal friends with bravado of “yeah but you should see the other guy*....”

Now how about the K-Rod column* last week? How damn ironic! At least that involved a physical encounter with a man! And anything short of Bud Selig and MLB punishing the Mets pitcher with crucification and being burned at the stake was a travesty by your Judge Dredd standards. What say the executioner turned defendant now?

I know… I know… I know… We don’t know the facts of your arrest. This is all speculative. It is the stuff of those damn meddling Internet Creatures. It is unfair. Innocent until proven guilty. Wait until the facts come out. Yes indeed. All the basic elements of ethical news reporting and simple humanity. And yet, for nearly two decades, it was those very same basic principles of fairness that you never exhibited towards the subjects of your columns*.

And yes Jay, we in Chicago have long memories. A hundred years of zero Cubs’ World Series Championships will sharpen the old memory banks. Chicagoans are the elephants of sports fans. Tank Johnson and Cedric Benson are laughing their behinds at you. Remember Jay? Of course you do. Recall those vicious columns* demanding to throw away the jailer’s key on Tank before the facts were learned? Or how about the ridicule and insane hysterics over Lovie Smith and Bears players visiting Tank while incarcerated?

Thugs. Criminals. Menaces to society.

I’m sure Brian Urlacher has not forgotten your continual publishing of his private text messages during an extremely ugly custody battle. Or your banal feud with Ozzie Guillen and Reinsdorf. It was all gravy for you. Surely this arrest was cooked up by evil doer Jerry collaborating with those nasty Swedes right?

It would be easy to point a finger and laugh at you Mariotti. It really would. But glass houses are fragile. And you are not worth it. Faith in the justice system still remains and hopefully works a little more honestly in California than Illinois these days. Perhaps your destiny really is an appearance on The View. Joy would probably get a kick out of tousling your curl extensions. It worked for Rod after all.

And yes, Ochocinco is quite perceptive in yesterday’s Tweet. Just how will F*SPN handle this situation of one of their own in a predicament normally so chortled enthusiastically when an athlete is involved? The double standard is already quite evident. Just tersely worded short statements from your soon to be former employers over at the LeBron Network and AOL. Geez, Jalen really dodged a bullet huh?

Perhaps it would only be fitting that you, yourself, write* a column* regarding your “indiscretion” as part of your punishment and repayment of debt to society. But not from the typical “World vs Jay” slant that has served you well financially after all this time.

No, it should be court-ordered that you over exaggerate the facts without just cause, declare yourself a menace to society, a violent criminal and a street thug. That you don’t deserve mercy. That your employers should immediately fire you. That all (remaining?) family should stick you on an ice flow and wave goodbye. That you don’t deserve second chances at life. That you are the worst vile piece of garbage ever produced in the history of the earth.

And it all must be true, because you wrote* that it be so. It would be the manifesto of a lifetime for you. And it should appear on the front pages of every newspaper you have torched and left behind in a rubble of destruction.

Think of it as helping to save the newspaper industry you boldly proclaimed was dying.

But luckily for you, Jay Mariotti, the real world does not operate to your unforgiving code of sensationalistic tripe. A judge will decide your fate based on the legal facts. Life will offer some opportunity of redemption and a second chance. Hell somebody out there still thought enough of you to bring the bail money.

But will you change? Will a lesson be learned? Has humility been restored? Is the Season of the Witch over?

I doubt it.

And one more thing Jay that needs to be cleared up…

5’10 and 165 lb?

First off, kudos to Cubs fans for the standing ovation they gave to Derrek Lee when he got his first at bat as a member of the first place Braves. That was a classy move for a classy guy. Of course, he then went out and showed why a .190 hitter gets traded in the first place, but that’s neither here now there. Even so, the Cubs managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and went down 5-3. The Sox were supposed to play KC last night but when the umps saw an elderly Jewish man lining up animals 2 X 2, they were wise enough to postpone the game. Video of lightening is downright horror movie stuff.

But today’s not about baseball.

The Bears are getting ready to play Oakland tonight. Last week the Chargers blitzed so much that the Bears were forced to pull their (future) HOF QB after 8 plays and then watched as their second string QB went down with a serious injury. Today members of the O-Line were on Comcast Sports saying how they picked up blitzes better. “Better” is one of those qualitative terms. Being one of the “better” rappers in Utah isn’t the same as being one of the better ones in Compton. The Bears clearly seem to be pleased with the Utah level of competition.

VAUGHN MCCLURE at the Trib talks to Isaac Bruce to get his take on where the Bears’ receivers are. He, politely, says they ain’t there yet.

After two-plus weeks of working with the Bears receivers, former four-time Pro Bowl wideout Isaac Bruce offered his assessment of the group.

“I think they have a lot of room for improvement,’’ Bruce said as training camp practices concluded Thursday. “They’re at a good pace right now. They’re athletic enough to run the system. They’re intelligent enough to run the system.

“They built the foundation here at camp. So what’s going to happen is the foundation is going to be set when the regular season starts.’’

Bruce’s opinion is far from an indictment. But coming from a guy who perfected his role in offensive coordinator Mike Martz’s complex scheme, it seemed only natural for Bruce to dissect every minor aspect.

“When I talk about room for improvement, I’m a detail guy: route-running ability, releases, being sharp in and out of your breaks, and making sure that when you’re not getting the ball you’re doing what you need to do to get your buddy open,’’ he said.

“I was telling the guys (Wednesday) night that Torry Holt and myself, we were such on a page where I could look at the defense and I knew when I wasn’t getting the ball, but I knew when he was going to get it. So therefore, I was going to be the best clear-out guy I could be. And he did the same for me. Little things like that will take you a long way.’’

Bruce, who joined the Bears strictly for camp as part of the NFL’s minority coaching internship program, seemed particularly impressed with Devin Aromashodu, the lanky receiver who continues to show signs of being a go-to target.

“I like D.A. He was just all over the place,’’ Bruce said. “He learned probably every position as far as the wide receivers are concerned. I mean when you have to learn F, X and Z; that’s big for this system.

“With Devin (Hester), I never saw him initially before I started working out with him this offseason. But from what I heard before, he’s coming off the ball better. He’s competing a lot better. He and Johnny (Knox). I think the starters are pretty much set and motivated to run this system.’’

During the offseason, Martz promised the receivers would be the strength of the team. Bruce believes Martz is the one coach capable of making that a reality, in time.

“You have a coach who will come in with new branches every week challenging your creativity, challenging your ability to apply what you get in that meeting room and take it on the field,’’ he said. “That was a great thing for me. I mean, it kept me sharp. I didn’t have a coach where he was just coming in and repeating what someone else did, because that gets boring.

“I mean ADD is real. Guys lose interest. You know what I’m saying? Coming in every day with a coach who is creative ... I think everyone who has been in (Martz’s) system has graduated to the next level.”

Well, as long as the players aren’t bored, what more could we ask for?

Hope?

Nah.

NEIL HAYES at the Sun Times says anyone looking for something different tonight may as well head downtown and catch A VARIETY SHOW. At least it comes with booze to numb the pain.

The Bears haven’t been a glowing endorsement for preseason football. First, they looked mostly disinterested during their exhibition opener against the San Diego Chargers and not only refused to apologize for it but let it be known that we can expect more of the same when the improving Oakland Raiders visit Soldier Field tonight.

Like every other NFL team, the Bears have their own agenda during the exhibition season, which they freely bend and shape to suit their immediate needs. The result has little to do with the game as we know it during the regular season, creating mini-controversies over how many snaps Jay Cutler takes in the first exhibition game, for example.

What fans want and what the Bears are prepared to deliver are two different things. That’s the fundamental problem with preseason football. In this case, Bears fans are ravenous after three disappointing seasons. They want to peruse the full menu before the grand opening, but coach Lovie Smith refuses to serve anything but tapioca on either side of the ball.

Fans who want to leaf through offensive coordinator Mike Martz’s playbook will only be allowed to glimpse a few pages of the prologue.

‘’You just want to let them put their hand on the ground and come off the ball, and let guys get used to being in what we call the silks, the game uniforms,’’ Martz said of his goal in the exhibition opener. ‘’Get in that environment, in a new offense, with new guys around you, and kind of [exhale] and not make things hard for them, and let them play a little bit.’’

The players don’t like the exhibition season any more than fans do. Privately, most coaches will tell you two games will suffice, but owners won’t give up the revenue from the two additional gates unless they can bleed it from players in the next collective-bargaining agreement. The players don’t want to see the regular season extended to 18 games, and with good reason.

A 16-game season feels right, first of all. Most important, it would be reckless to consider extending the season when the medical community still doesn’t have its arms around the concussion epidemic. The only thing that could topple history’s most successful sports league is a generation of players spending their retirements drooling into towels.

Until those issues are resolved, the preseason will be a tug-of-war between preparation and preservation. Martz and Smith have been widely criticized for not playing Cutler more in the opener. It’s true he might need more than the perfunctory preseason snaps while learning the new system.

However, that desire is counterbalanced with this reality: If Cutler gets mauled by a slobbering linebacker or if he trips over a pylon and breaks his ankle, the Bears are staring 3-13 right in the mug. He needs to get comfortable with this offense in game situations before the season opener. He also needs to be ambulatory.

That’s why, to hear Martz and Cutler tell it, what happens on the practice field is more valuable than the preseason games.

‘’We’re doing certain things,’’ Cutler said when asked if he would like to do more offensively during the preseason. ‘’We’re mixing some things in there. But, like I said, these four preseason games don’t count. Once we get into that first week, the record is clean again and the games start counting and the bullets are for real.’’

What you see or think you see tonight can be deceiving, especially when neither team is scheming and one team may be further along in a specific area.

Many folks are bringing up the fact that the 1985 Bears went 1-3 in the pre-season. Yes, that’s true. What they forget was that the 1st string offense and defense knocked the crap out of people and then Ditka played anyone who could fit in a uniform. Fans in ‘85 knew they were seeing something special. I defy one person to tell me they get the same feeling watching this years version of the Monsters of the Midway.

On a sad note, electric punt returner JOHNNY BAILEY has passed away due to pancreatic cancer. He was a fan fave and a Pro-Bowler and there’s nothing much more to add here other than our condolences for his true friends and family.

Our very own Big Star has already started a thread, so CLICK HERE TO BEAR DOWN.

Fans of numerology and other related folderol got to have a lot of fun yesterday. But, before I begin, I want to give a big shout out to the nice people at Best Buy who hooked me up with my brand new Dell Inspiron. My cats seem to think that the laptop is just a cool electric lap but, other than that, I am amazed at how much you can do on this thing that I would have thought I needed a full desktop computer for in the past. Also, yesterday, Johnny Knox was asked to sign a souvenir helmet for a young fan and signed his own instead and walked away. I am sure that this will lead to more rumors about how smart the Bears are this year as opposed to years past.

Okay, back to our numerological theme. First, the number 7. The Cubs were actually looking as though they were going to beat the Padres but then decided to beat themselves in the 7th inning. CARRIE MUSKAT reports on the whole, sordid, affair.

It was too much Mat Latos, too little Carlos Zambrano, and just too weird.

Latos struck out a career-high 10 batters over seven innings to win his 13th game and lead the Padres to a 5-3 victory Thursday over the Cubs, who lost for the 18th time in the last 22 games.

Latos (13-5) and the National League West-leading Padres completed their first four-game sweep of the Cubs at Wrigley Field with the win, doing so in front of 30,687, the smallest crowd of the year at Wrigley. San Diego last swept a series against Chicago May 12-14, 2006, when it won three straight.

This season has had plenty of strange moments, and the Cubs can add the seventh inning to the bloopers reel.

The Cubs had taken a 2-1 lead on back-to-back RBI doubles by Marlon Byrd and Aramis Ramirez in the sixth. Sean Marshall (6-4) took over for Zambrano in the seventh and walked Miguel Tejada, then gave up three straight singles, including an RBI single by Ryan Ludwick, which tied the game. Chase Headley singled and, one out later, Will Venable hit a two-run single to chase Marshall.

Then it got bizarre. Chris Denorfia bounced a grounder to Ramirez at third, and he threw to catcher Koyie Hill, who chased Headley back toward third and tagged him out. Venable had scampered to third on the rundown. As Hill walked away from third, he appeared to have called time. But the umpires didn’t recognize it. No one was covering at home, and Venable scored on what was ruled a fielder’s choice.

“You have to put your arms up to stop play,” Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. “[Hill] put his wrist up, and the umpire didn’t acknowledge it. You’ve got to get your hands up and make sure the umpires know it’s ‘time out.’”

Padres third-base coach Glenn Hoffman told Venable he had a window.

“I noticed it,” Venable said, “but it wasn’t until [Hoffman] nonchalantly came over and confirmed it. It ended up being a closer play at the plate than I thought. It was a great heads-up call by Hoffy.”

First baseman Xavier Nady recognized what was happening and tried to cover home.

“I was trying—he’s a lot faster than I am,” Nady said of Venable. “I didn’t know what was going on. I bolted, and it wasn’t quite enough.”

Hill said he made the same gesture he usually does.

“I think in that situation I need to be more emphatic about it just to make sure, because you’ve got guys scattered all over the field,” Hill said. “Credit [Nady] for getting to home plate, because he’s holding a guy on and he has to stay put at first.”

Hill’s plan was to call time, then go to the mound to check on pitcher Justin Berg.

“What’s frustrating is it wasn’t a lack of concentration or just cluelessness,” Hill said. “It just happened. I felt I asked for time with the same gesture I always use.”

The Padres’ rally resulted in a no-decision for Zambrano, who was in line for a win. Making his first start at Wrigley since being reinstated from the restricted list, he gave up one run over six innings, walked six and struck out one.

“I felt good early in the game,” Zambrano said. “It was like my early games in the big leagues when I walked a lot of guys, but I was able to calm myself when I had to. I walked the first guy and I was able to get a ground ball for a double play or fly ball.

“With men on base, I was able to be more aggressive,” he said. “[Pitching coach Larry Rothschild] told me in the fourth inning, if I want, just put the leadoff hitter on first base and start pitching. I felt good the whole game, and my sinker was running good and my offspeed.”

Speaking of early games, Friday is Zambrano’s baseball “birthday.” He made his Major League debut on Aug. 20, 2001, in the second game of a doubleheader against the Brewers, taking the loss. He is the longest-tenured Cubs player and lost another veteran teammate Wednesday with the trade of Derrek Lee to the Braves.

“It’s hard to see people who played with you for a long time go,” Zambrano said. “Whatever the team thinks is good for the team—and we need for the team to be better and in a good position for next year—is good for me.”

While the outing was an improvement, Zambrano still has work to do. He’s failed to get past the sixth in his last three starts and has given up 15 hits and walked 15 over 16 2/3 innings.

“He’s got real good movement, and he’s throwing a few more breaking balls and he’s using his split finger and a cut fastball,” Piniella said. “Basically, I think the velocity will come. One run over six innings, you can’t fault that at all. It was a good performance. If he gets his command a little early, he can go much deeper in the game.”

I was watching the game with some buds. I saw Hill wandering around the field with the ball still in his mitt and I mentioned that the ball was still live. As I was saying that my buds started to argue with me and then we all got to watch as Venable easily scored. Neener neener neener, I was right.

Not that it gives me any real pleasure. Nothing would make me happier than to see the Cubs & Sox go deep in the playoffs. It would be great for the city. It would also stop that sad low moan I hear every time the Cubs play. I really hate that moan. Even when the Sox were suxing in 2007 I never heard a noise like that.

Okay, on to our #11 usage. The Sox got 21 hits, another lucky number, on their way to beating the Twins 11-0 and pulling back to within 4 games of first place. Our old pal, SCOTT MERKIN, talks about all the lucky numbers from last night.

There was no late comeback for the Twins on Thursday night to send another sellout crowd at Target Field home with feelings of euphoria.

The White Sox escaped Minnesota’s home park without having to deal with a third straight near-miss, leaving them sitting on the plane to Kansas City, rethinking that one Michael Cuddyer single finding its way through for the game-winning hit or how they came up one hit short against Matt Capps in the ninth. On this night, the story was White Sox in every facet of the game.

They pounded Carl Pavano (15-8), an American League Cy Young candidate, for a career-high 15 hits over six-plus innings and finished with a season-high 21 in their 11-0 whitewash of the AL Central leaders. What could have been a lost week for the White Sox (66-55) in Minneapolis ended up as more than a slight glimmer of hope as they departed town trailing by four games.

“This time of the year, there are still a lot of games left, but there is kind of a different ring to four back or six back,” said White Sox captain Paul Konerko, who tied a career high with a 5-for-5 showing at the plate in the victory.

“We’ve dug ourselves a hole here again, but there’s still time to get back out of it,” Konerko said. “They had the better series. Tonight was good for us, but they did what they had to do and they won the series, so we can’t be happy walking out of here just because we got a win, We’ve got to get back to work and try cutting into that deficit.”

For at least one night, though, the White Sox will have positive memories of facing the Twins (70-51). They snapped a three-game losing streak to Ron Gardenhire’s crew and a four-game skid overall, all against division opponents, providing plenty of support for Mark Buehrle (12-9).

Buehrle improved to 4-2 since the All-Star break and won his first game in Minnesota since Sept. 21, 2007. The staff ace has found plenty of success career-wise against the Twins, as his 25th win broke a tie with Roger Clemens for most victories against Minnesota.

Thursday’s effort held a bit more importance than any of his recent trips to the mound. That magnitude was based on the Twins’ pair of 7-6 wins to start this three-game series and their 10-4 season edge over the White Sox, putting Buehrle’s squad at a decided playoff push disadvantage.

“Must-win or not, we won the game and that’s all that matters,” said Buehrle, who struck out four, walked one and gave up five hits over seven innings. “There are [41] games left, and you don’t want to get down too much.

“You get down to a team like this. ... They are a great team and the way they have been playing and we’ve been playing, too big of a hole would be hard to climb out.”

An early offensive assault put forth by the White Sox had the Twins in a deep hole. When Pavano finished the third inning, five different White Sox starters already had two hits.

Pavano threw 87 pitches over six-plus innings, with only four resulting in swinging strikes. A pitcher with a 2-0 record and 2.25 ERA against the White Sox this season coming into Thursday was temporarily figured out by the visitors.

“Just because we lost the last couple, guys are still feeling good up there,” Konerko said. “We’ve been swinging the bats pretty well and we just continued that tonight. But to score 11 runs in a game where [Pavano] starts, you don’t see that coming.”

“It seemed to be a night where they were seeing the ball really well and found some holes and found some gaps and made me pay for my mistakes,” said Pavano, who lost his first home start since May 23 against Milwaukee. “You’re going to have games like that and you have to go as deep as you can.”

Along with Konerko’s 31st home run, 24th double, three singles and four RBIs, Juan Pierre, Omar Vizquel, Mark Teahen and Alexei Ramirez added three hits apiece. Ramirez went deep late in the game and drove in two, joining Teahen and A.J. Pierzynski with two RBIs.

An eighth-inning exit by J.J. Putz, who has been so valuable at the back end of the White Sox bullpen, put a slight damper on Thursday’s celebration. Putz walked off the field after issuing a free pass to Cuddyer, just moments after Guillen and head athletic trainer Herm Schneider came to the mound to check on him.

Putz described the injury as patella inflammation in his right knee and didn’t seem overly concerned about the problem.

Plenty of concern exists for the White Sox in regard to catching the Twins. Guillen views pretty much every game left as a must-win for his squad, trying to catch a team with a 24-9 second-half mark. After Thursday’s win, though, he reiterated a point made before the contest.

Keep this team in contention until the Twins come to Chicago for the final time from Sept. 14-16 and see what happens. This series finale shutout stands as a small step toward reaching that goal.

“Give me a shot against them late in the season,” Guillen said. “We’re done with them. Fine. Now I predict this thing is going to be all the way to the wire. [If] we stay healthy, we’re going to compete.”

“Our goal was to come in here and gain ground,” Buehrle said. “But we could have lost three games in the standings and instead we only lost one. Just take it from here and see what happens.”

The Sox scored a ton against the Twins this series, it was their pitching that gave out. Hopefully that was a bump in the road and not a portent of things to come.

CLICK HERE TO GET LUCKY

Yesterday I had to put my 16 year old cat to sleep. Her name was Uhurah. I found her in the winter of 98. She had a broken back and had been left to die. I bandaged her up as best I could, it was a Saturday night, and perpared to take her to the vet on Monday to be put to sleep. Instead, by that Monday morning she was trying to walk and eating regularly. So the vet got to give me advice on how to help her heal and wished me a nice day. He never even charged me.

She was one of the most loving animals I’d ever been around. She was fiercely loyal to my other cat at the time, Teagan, and used to sleep on my head no matter what I did to prevent it. After a while I just gave up. She used to follow me down the street and heel on command. I know well trained dogs that have problems with that. But, she has been getting sicker and sicker and the vets couldn’t do any more. So, I made sure she got to do all of her favorite things yesterday then tranquilized her for the trip. I wanted her to be calm and she doesn’t like strangers. She used to pee on them if they got too close.

Toko would have approved of her.

Anyway, I guess I’m a little sad today, but am hoping that it doesn’t color this post too much.

First off, I’d like to thank the Bears for getting their season out of the way so early. Between a lousy first quarter, multiple injuries and clueless play, I think I’ve seen enough. When I heard a guy at the bar scream “BRING BACK RON TURNER!” I knew it was done. If what fans saw Saturday night was indicative, they will be lucky to be a 6-10 team this year.

Really, really lucky.

Speaking of lucky, the Cubs played this weekend and won two games in a row against the division challenging Cardinals. At their current pace they should be in the hunt for the division championship just about in time to make fans forget all about the Bears. MICHAEL BLEACH, yes - that’s his real name, talks about the run for the title.

The Cubs won a series. It was their first series win since Chicago took two of three from the Cardinals on July 24, and the first time they won two straight games since the same date. That is what they are focusing on.

It doesn’t matter that they gave up five runs in the ninth inning and had the tying run on first base with two outs to go. It doesn’t matter that they had to use ace reliever Carlos Marmol to bail them out of a jam, despite the right-hander tossing 1 2/3 innings the night before.

All that matters is the final score—9-7 against the Cardinals on Sunday—read in the Cubs’ favor.

“It is in the win column,” Cubs manager Lou Piniella said with a smile as reporters walked into his office. “It is in the win column.”

After a big six-run fourth inning, it looked like the Cubs would simply put it on cruise control to head home with a victory. Starting pitcher Ryan Dempster was locked in, going 6 2/3 innings with two runs allowed and six strikeouts. Piniella removed first baseman Derrek Lee in the fifth inning, saying he wanted to give the veteran some rest with the blowout in hand.

“A nice comfortable lead going into the ninth. I felt pretty good,” Piniella said.

The Cardinals had other plans. The ninth inning started with a surprise, when St. Louis backup catcher Steven Hill—fresh from the Minors—led off with his first career Major League home run. While taking a run away from a seven-run lead is harmless enough, Cubs reliever Marcos Mateo lost control after that and put the next three batters on base.

Cards backups Nick Stavinoha and Aaron Miles singled, bringing a visit to the mound from pitching coach Larry Rothschild. Whatever he said had little effect, as Marcos walked nine-hole hitter Brendan Ryan on five pitches, loading the bases with zero out.

“He had been pitching, throwing the ball well,” Piniella said. “That home run must have shook him up, because he sort of lost his composure out there. I guess it is a learning experience for these kids.”

With James Russell in for Mateo, the left-hander got Skip Schumaker to strike out on a foul tip, but walked left-hander Jon Jay on four pitches to bring in a run. Piniella had seen enough and called in Marmol.

Marmol gave up a two-run single to Felipe Lopez and walked Randy Winn before inducing consecutive groundouts to end the five-run inning. A win is a win.

“A ninth like that is a little misleading, because if the game was close, Marmol would have been in there sooner,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said, downplaying his team’s comeback that surely had most Cubs fans ready to throw their remote through the TV.

Such a large comeback was only possible after such an explosive fourth inning for the Cubs. Marlon Byrd and Xavier Nady started the fourth with soft singles that found holes in the outfield, and a Blake DeWitt walk loaded the bases against Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse. Catcher Koyie Hill struck one batter later with his second double in as many days, crushing a ground-rule two-bagger over the center-field wall, driving in Byrd and Nady.

The Cubs kept their foot on the gas, with Dempster helping his own cause with an RBI single, driving in DeWitt.

Kosuke Fukudome sent a double down the left field line, bringing in Hill. It was the 1,500th hit of Fukudome’s professional career, combining his Japanese and Major League totals.

With Lohse driven from the game, Cardinals reliever Mike MacDougal allowed Dempster to score after a wild pitch, but was finally able to record some outs, getting Starlin Castro to ground out and Lee to strike out looking. The Cubs still had one more run in them, however, with Byrd driving in Fukudome on an opposite-field single.

“A bloop, a ball in the hole, and then all hell broke loose after that,” Lohse said.

Lee got the Cubs on the board first, with solo homers to straight center in the first and third innings. It was the 24th multi-homer game for Lee, and makes four home runs in three games since spending four days on the bereavement list.

“Getting a little rest, a little breather. Breathers are good for these guys,” Piniella said to explain the power surge.

Breathers are good for the fans too. In fact, Cubs’ mania is slowly retuning to life. Who knows? Baseball is a crazy enough game that no one should be counted out until the last week of September.

On the Southside, fans were welcomed to the Hemlock Society’s annual “Take this Razor Home and do the Human Race a Favor” night. In keeping with the theme, the Sox bullpen went out and committed Hari-Kari. SCOTT MERKIN was able to maintain his composure long enough to bring us all the gory details.

Even with a three-game sweep of the Twins during this week’s series at Target Field, the White Sox will not lay claim to first place in the American League Central.

They actually could forge a tie atop the division. But thanks to their ugly 13-8 loss at U.S. Cellular Field to Detroit and Minnesota’s three-game sweep at home of Oakland, the White Sox enter Minneapolis trailing by three games.

This highly anticipated get-together now is more about survival for the White Sox (65-53), as opposed to playoff positioning, after closing out a 2-4 homestand and losing seven of their past 10 games.

“To me, a very bad homestand,” said a visibly disappointed White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen in the wake of Detroit’s first road series win since mid-May. “Terrible. They can say whatever they say, do whatever they do, very bad.

“Very bad pitching. When we pitch well, we’re not hitting. That makes the combination for a very poor homestand. We’ve got to prepare better for the next road trip and play better, there’s no doubt.”

Sunday’s setback seemed rather apropos of this 2010 White Sox season, full of twists and turns, highs and lows. The beginning looked pretty bad, as the Tigers (57-60) built a 5-1 lead entering the bottom of the fifth.

The middle became both exciting and encouraging for the White Sox, scoring three in the fifth against Armando Galarraga and three in the sixth off reliever Robbie Weinhardt, while claiming a 7-5 lead on Paul Konerko’s two-run home run. Konerko’s 29th long ball and 80th RBI scored Alexei Ramirez, who had delivered the game-tying single on the previous pitch.

As for the ending? Well, Sunday’s finish qualifies as downright miserable. The White Sox just hope the season’s conclusion doesn’t play out the same way.

“We battled back, which was nice,” Konerko said. “We just couldn’t hold them. They were swinging the bats well and it was just one of those days where it was almost [a win], but it was just another loss. We just have to regroup on this off-day and come out ready to play on Tuesday. It’s still a long way to go.”

“It’s really a nice win for us,” Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. “We kind of let it away, and to bounce back and take it back, that was big. They’ve been beating up on us. It was nice to come in and get two out of three, take a series.”

Andruw Jones played a positive role in the White Sox effort, with three hits, including his 16th home run coming in the eighth inning. He also emerged on the wrong side of the ledger during Detroit’s three-run eighth, dropping a Brandon Inge fly ball to bring in Johnny Damon with an insurance ninth run.

J.J. Putz (5-5) suffered his third blown save and second straight late-inning loss, after getting tagged by Alex Avila for the game-winning home run in the ninth inning on Saturday. Trailing by one run with two outs in the eighth, Putz gave up a two-run triple to Damon off the center-field wall as the deciding shot of this three-hour, 31-minute contest.

Damon’s blast scored Ryan Raburn and Austin Jackson, quieting the 36,287 in attendance. Jackson walked to extend the inning on a borderline 3-2 pitch called by home-plate umpire Jeff Nelson, who ejected White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper for arguing balls and strikes one inning earlier.

One of the best defensive center fielder’s in the history of the game, Jones didn’t get the best jump on Damon’s triple to center and got turned around in his pursuit. But Guillen never penalizes his charges for physical errors.

“[He] wins 10 Gold Gloves, you expect him to make that play,” said Guillen of Jones’ error on Inge’s line drive to right-center. “But that’s part of the game, I’m not going to point at people. When you’re in the field, you expect to make errors.”

“I ran a long way for that ball, but if it gets to my glove, it has to be caught,” said Jones of his rare defensive miscue. “Those things happen. There’s nothing you can do. Just go back and try not to miss it next time.”

Detroit added four more in the ninth off Tony Pena, after the White Sox left the tying run on third against Ryan Perry in the eighth. Putz blew back-to-back save opportunities for the first time since July 25-Aug. 13, 2008 (four straight), and the trio of Sergio Santos, Putz and Pena allowed seven earned runs in the final 2 2/3 innings.

Chris Sale, who was the team’s top pick in the 2010 First-Year Player Draft back on June 7, struck out two in retiring all four hitters faced in relief of starter Freddy Garcia. The right-hander struggled for a second straight trip to the mound and for the third time in five starts, allowing five runs on eight hits over five innings. Raburn and Jhonny Peralta both went deep to help build up a four-run lead.

“Everybody else, they are pretty positive. I am too, but I have to get into the groove and start throwing the ball better,” said Garcia, who lost the homestand opener to the Twins on Tuesday. “This week, I blame myself. I pitched terrible.”

Guillen’s crew needs to play better, and it needs to start Tuesday. The White Sox also need a bit more energy, which might have been sucked out of them through two straight late-inning losses.

“All I can do is be a cheerleader out there,” Guillen said. “I might be wrong, but I didn’t see any energy out there. I didn’t see any enthusiasm in today’s game.”

The only enthusiasm I saw was from the 100 year old guy who got his dying wish to see a Sox game. Really? That was his dying wish? No hookers? No skydiving? No night of drunken abandon? Just see a Sox game? Not even a Sox win? Oh well, I guess it was nice of the team to make that happen for the dude. All in all, I guess I’ve heard worse last requests.

Well, the Sox get a nice day off today and then face the Twins on Tuesday. We all know what needs to happen if the Sox want to avoid playing spoilers too. And if it doesn’t? Well, ........

CLICK HERE TO TALK ABOUT THE FUTURE

I woke up this morning. That was a good thing. I had a nice, reasonably healthy, breakfast and a nice walk afterwards. Also good things. I petted my kitties and cleaned up around the crib. Again, good things. And, as it turns out, I am not alone in looking at the bright side of things. CARRIE MUSKAT reports that Lou Piniella is doing the same.

There isn’t much to say after a club loses its 15th game in 18 tries.

Cubs starter Thomas Diamond dug an early hole, and a sluggish offense couldn’t slug enough to climb out of it. Chicago also gave away two bases on two errors, let a run score on a passed ball and gave up another base on a wild pitch.

The final result, a 6-3 loss to the Cardinals on Friday, was one of the Cubs’ quietest defeats against their storied rivals in a long time.

“We just didn’t hold the game in check,” skipper Lou Piniella said.

Making his third career start, Diamond lost control early.

The first run allowed was understandable. Diamond left a fastball up thigh-high over the plate, and Albert Pujols did what was expected—turned on it and sent a deep blast to center field for the Cards’ first run of the game. Diamond struck out Matt Holliday to end the inning, however, and that first frame ended up being the sharpest for the rookie right-hander.

In the second, the game started to slip, with Diamond walking St. Louis starter Jake Westbrook with two outs to turn over the batting order for the third inning.

St. Louis made him pay after leadoff hitter Felipe Lopez walked and was driven in by a Matt Holliday double. Yadier Molina pushed across Pujols with a sacrifice fly for a lead the Cubs would never erase.

Topping it off, Westbrook hit a ground-rule double off Diamond to lead off the fourth and later came around to score.

The final line? Four innings pitched, four runs, four walks and six hits for Diamond, who did turn several hard-hit balls into outs to prevent the game from turning into a blowout.

“It started out OK. The first couple innings were all right, then location just went out the window,” Diamond said. “I just didn’t do my job.”

A potential replacement for Diamond in the rotation, Casey Coleman, came in and pitched two scoreless innings in his bid for a starting spot.

Piniella wasn’t ready to declare which pitcher would get the next start, but he didn’t rule out Coleman.

“We will see. No decision is going to be made today,” Piniella said.

The Cubs started the game in hopeful fashion, scoring two first-inning runs off four straight hits from Starlin Castro, Derrek Lee, Marlon Byrd and Blake DeWitt.

But with runners on second and third, Alfonso Soriano grounded out weakly to third base before rookie Darwin Barney ended the inning with a lazy fly ball.

Chicago couldn’t touch Westbrook after that, managing just two singles and a walk over the next five innings.

“These sinkerballers, usually you get to them early in the game. We had a chance there in the first inning to take a nice little lead—which we did, with two runs, but I mean more,” Piniella said. “And all of a sudden, his ball started to sink, and he got tough. He threw more breaking balls and a few more changeups than I have seen in the past. But he knows how to pitch.”

Lee added the Cubs’ final run with a solo shot in the eighth. The first baseman, activated from the bereavement list on Friday, went 2-for-4 with a double and the home run.

“Derrek Lee had a nice day,” Piniella said simply.

Yes he did. And it was good to see Lee and Lou back in the clubhouse where they belong. Hopefully this day finds their families fine as well. Despite the loss, the Cubs are still within striking distance of Houston.

Baby steps guys and gals, baby steps.

On the Southside, the team got a chance to catch up on their TiVo during a 7th inning rain delay. SCOTT MERKIN is pleased to report that not a single player watched the All Aremian Cucumber Cookoff and Barn Dance.

Plenty of downtime existed for the White Sox to study the Twins in action Friday night during a one-hour, 22-minute rain delay in the seventh inning of an 8-4 victory over the Tigers before 34,834 at U.S. Cellular Field.

For the most part, the White Sox chose other clubhouse alternatives instead of watching the American League Central leaders hold on for a one-run home victory over Oakland.

“‘A Few Good Men’ was on, so we didn’t watch too much,” said White Sox right fielder Mark Teahen of the priority rank for Minnesota’s game. “We did see they won.”

“I was sleeping,” said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen with a laugh. “I have enough headaches with my own club.”

About the only headache for Guillen on Friday was figuring out how to handle his pitching staff alongside the inclement weather’s influence. Mark Buehrle (11-9) departed after a Ryan Raburn blast to left, cutting the White Sox lead to 6-3 with one out in the seventh. Sergio Santos entered the contest and gave up a Gerald Laird single, before the umpiring crew called for the tarp.

Eighty-two minutes later, Santos returned to the mound after a meeting of the coaching staff determined the rookie’s arm could handle the long break. He walked Austin Jackson but fanned Johnny Damon and induced a fielder’s choice from Jhonny Peralta to end the frame.

“He did a tremendous job after sitting down for an hour,” said Guillen of Santos, who threw two pitches before the rain fell and 12 after the stoppage. “I was kind of worried about using Santos after the rain delay.”

Buehrle cruised through the first five innings by giving up just one Raburn double and a walk to Jackson in the third and finished with three runs allowed on five hits over 6 1/3 innings. He struck out three and walked two, pitching out of his only jam in the sixth by retiring Brandon Inge on a medium-deep fly ball to center fielder Alex Rios.

Friday’s victory raised Buehrle’s career ledger to 146-106. He has an 8-3 record with a 2.92 ERA in his last 12 outings, of which 11 have been quality starts.

“He was really good,” said White Sox second baseman Gordon Beckham of Buehrle. “He has been that way for what seems like the last two months. He gets up there and throws it and gets us out of here quick. If not for the rain, we would have been long gone by now. He threw great and kept them at bay long enough to get the runs on the board.”

“Every time Buehrle’s on the mound, that’s what he is,” said Guillen of his ace-hurler, who now stands at 16-8 lifetime against the Tigers. “He’s going to get them or they’re going to get you. There’s nothing different.”

Jeremy Bonderman (6-8) matched Buehrle through the first four innings, permitting just two baserunners. But the White Sox scored four runs in the fifth inning and then added two in the sixth, with both rallies being driven by the long ball, coming from Beckham and Teahen.

“If I don’t make the two pitches I made, we win that game,” said Bonderman, who gave up six runs in six innings. “I just made two bad pitches, really. Beckham, it was away, but it was just up in the zone. He put a pretty good swing on it. Then Teahen, I just fell behind, tried to get a fastball up and away. He didn’t miss it.”

“Bondo, other than two pitches, pitched really good,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. “But the two pitches that went out of the ballpark were just really bad pitches. And they jumped on them, which they should’ve.”

Beckham capped the fifth-inning rally with a three-run shot to right-center, marking his seventh home run of the season. Beckham tripled in the seventh off Eddie Bonine and scored an insurance run on Juan Pierre’s ensuing triple.

Teahen, who was reinstated to the active roster before the game following his 11-game injury rehab assignment to test his fractured middle right finger with Triple-A Charlotte, delivered a two-run blast in the sixth following a walk to Paul Konerko, raising the lead to 6-2. It was more than enough offense for the White Sox to improve their season record to 7-2 against the injury-plagued Tigers (55-60).

“My job is to produce and help us score runs,” said Teahen, who finished with two hits and scored on Beckham’s home run. “Today it was a home run. Tomorrow, it might be a double or something. I was just happy to do something to help out.”

“I’m definitely hitting the ball better and with more authority over the last month or month and a half,” said Beckham, now hitting .251 with 40 RBIs. “Just keep that going. I’m not missing the pitches I should hit.”

Despite Oakland out-hitting Minnesota by a 14-5 margin, the Twins (66-50) held on for a 4-3 victory over the A’s at Target Field. That effort left the Twins with a 20-8 record since the All-Star break and maintained their one-game lead over the White Sox (65-51).

That Minnesota victory went unnoticed by Guillen, who was sound asleep for most of the rainy inactivity.

“Believe me, I was,” said an amused Guillen. “The only thing I saw [was Juan] Uribe dye is hair orange. Or something like that. That’s the only thing I saw. They woke me up for that one.”

Orange is a sexless color. I know that from an art class I took in 1977. If it was true then it must be true now. One thing I do know is that I don’t own any orange clothing.

Since the Twins get to play Bean(e)-Ball with the A’s while the Sox get the Tigers I’m not sure we’re going to see a swing in the standings before the top two teams in the AL Central meet again this wekend. But, something tells me that Ozzie will be awake when those games begin.

CLICK HERE TO SPREAD THE JOY!

ps: I used to date a girl named Joy.

As some of you know, my apartment was robbed - for the 3rd time in 3 months - last week and I, once agian, lost my computer. Since I am out of work I have been doing freelancing which precludes having having a few spare computers in the john or pantry. In other words, I’ve been forced to remain off line uintil I get a new one.

Just FYI, definition of freelancing - as long as prison or organ donation aren’t involved, I’m willing to do it.

Ah, hell, who am I kidding? If the price is right, I have an extra kidney.

But, unti then, web design and video editing have been pretty much the norm.

Nevertheless, I will be getting a new computer this weekend and will be back among the living as soon as possible thereafter. Today I am taking advantage of the nice people at the Chicago Public Library and using one of their PCs.

Anyway, the subtle frivolty of my life aside, I have recevied several emails from people wondering if I am dead.

The answer is no. Although, if I was, were you really expecting an answer? I mean one without a seance?

I guess I should talk about baseball and stuff since folks seem to like it. I doubt that anyone gives a damn about my computer.

The Cubs went out last night one man short as they traded Mike Fontenot for a bag of balls and a real nifty bobble head doll. On the plus side, it is a cool doll. On the minus side, CARRIE MUSKAT reports, the Cubs managed to lose anyway.

The Cubs were shorthanded again Wednesday and came up short against the Giants.

Pat Burrell hit a two-run single in the first and a tiebreaking homer in the eighth to lift the Giants to a 5-4 victory as the Cubs lost for the 13th time in the last 16 games.

“The guys battled—I can’t fault that,” Cubs acting manager Alan Trammell said. “We were somewhat shorthanded again and that seems like that’s too much the story here.”

Third baseman Aramis Ramirez was a late scratch after batting practice because of a sore side and the Cubs were minus infielder Mike Fontenot, who was dealt prior to the game down the hall to the Giants for a Minor League outfielder.

There now are 10 rookies on the Cubs’ 25-man roster with another en route in infielder Darwin Barney, called up from Triple-A Iowa to take Fontenot’s spot.

“We’ll deal with that,” Trammell said.

That list includes Justin Berg (0-1), who served up Burrell’s eighth home run on a 1-2 pitch leading off the Giants eighth.

“That was huge,” Giants starter Barry Zito said of Burrell’s blast. “That’s just how we’ve been playing. That was an embarrassment for me to give up that homer there [to Tyler Colvin in the seventh], give up the lead. I was pretty [ticked] off about that. But Pat picked us up huge and it was a great win for the team.”

Burrell’s single in the first came off a hanging breaking ball from starter Tom Gorzelanny while the homer was off a curve that Berg hung.

“Burrell was a big thorn in our side,” Trammell said. “It was bad execution of pitches. Those are some of the growing pains that hopefully we learn from.”

Colvin hit his 18th home run but it wasn’t enough as the Cubs dropped to 1-5 in this stretch of 17 games against teams either in first or second in their respective divisions. Colvin is one of the older rookies on the Cubs since he’s been with the team since Opening Day.

“I’ve played with all these guys and I know how they play and I know they’re good and they can really help us,” Colvin said. “They’re here to win, and that’s what we’re going to continue to do is try to win ballgames.”

It’s been tough. This was the Cubs’ 41st one-run game this season, the most in the Major Leagues. They’re now 13-28 in those games, and the 28 losses lead the Majors.

“There’s a bunch of new guys and young kids,” Gorzelanny said, “and you want to show them what they need to do and be a good example for them and do whatever you can to make them comfortable and get them accustomed to the game. It’s a lot different being here than it is in Triple-A.”

Trammell has one more game at the helm Thursday before Lou Piniella returns. The Cubs manager has been in Tampa, Fla., this week to deal with his ill mother. Trammell said he talked to Piniella earlier Wednesday.

“I could sense in his voice that he was somewhat relieved and he was getting some things done with his mother and getting assistance down there,” Trammell said.

Piniella will have some new faces. The Cubs have added pitcher Marcos Mateo, catcher Welington Castillo and infielder Micah Hoffpauir since Monday with Barney en route.

Gorzelanny fell behind quickly as the Giants took a 3-0 lead in the first on Buster Posey’s groundout and Burrell’s two-run single.

“It was an unfortunate inning,” Gorzelanny said. “I tried to figure things out and get things back to where they were supposed to be and I was fortunate enough to do that until the sixth inning.

“They got to me before we got to them,” he said.

Blake DeWitt singled with two outs in the second and tried to score on Castillo’s double in his first Major League at-bat but was thrown out at home. DeWitt ended up with a cut upper lip from the collision. He didn’t realize he was bleeding until Colvin pointed it out. DeWitt looked like a hockey player after the game.

Castillo is the eighth player to make his Major League debut this season with the team, the most since eight did so last year. When Barney joins the team, he’ll be the ninth, the most since 2007 when 10 Cubs made their debuts. And that number includes players who joined the team after Sept. 1 when rosters expand.

Byrd led off the fourth with his 11th home run and first since July 16. Starlin Castro singled to open the sixth and scored on Xavier Nady’s double. Nady advanced on Byrd’s fly-ball out and scored on Alfonso Soriano’s single to tie the game at 3.

Aaron Rowand hit his 10th homer with two outs in the Giants sixth but Colvin launched his 18th with one out in the seventh off Zito, clearing the right-field bleachers but coming up shy of McCovey Cove. Colvin leads all Major League rookies in homers and is the first with at least 18 since Geovany Soto hit 23 in 2008.

Gorzelanny regretted the pitch to Rowand.

“I threw him a changeup that he was way out in front of and I should’ve thrown it again,” Gorzelanny said. “I probably should’ve thrown two more to try to strike him out. We tried to go in to get him off the plate a little bit and I left it over the middle and that’s what happens. It happens to everybody. You second-guess yourself. You try to execute the pitch the best way you can and sometimes guys are on them.”

It was more missed opportunities.

“We had some big hits tonight,” Colvin said. “We just needed to get that run in there in the ninth and give us a chance to possibly get another run and win the game.”

Good news for Cubs’ fans though; they are only a 1/2 game behind Houston. Playoff tickets are still available.

On the Southside, the Sox found themselves a full game behind the Twins and fighting for thier very survival last night. As our good pal, SCOTT MERKIN, reports; the Sox managed to keep from losing their cool and won one for their Skipper.

Must-win games on Aug. 11 rarely exist for a tight division playoff race in Major League Baseball.

So, immediately strike that description from the record when talking about the White Sox 6-1 victory over the Twins on Wednesday night before 32,033 at U.S. Cellular Field, once again forging a dead heat atop the American League Central.

But take the following factors into consideration concerning the second of this three-game set.

Minnesota (64-50) had beaten the White Sox (64-50) from start to finish in Tuesday’s series opener. The Twins were throwing Glen Perkins, who came up from Triple-A Rochester to take the rotation spot of Kevin Slowey, sidelined by elbow soreness. And the Twins had their ace hurler, Francisco Liriano, in position for Thursday night’s finale.

Meanwhile, the White Sox had John Danks (12-8), their under-the-radar AL Cy Young candidate, on the mound. They had four straight losses to the Twins and three straight losses overall, which knocked them from the division’s top spot for the first time since July 10. They couldn’t afford to let the visitors build up any further momentum on their home turf.

If it can’t be referred to as a must-win, then Wednesday’s effort at least goes in the mission accomplished column for the South Siders.

“Yes and no,” said Danks, who was brilliant over eight innings, when asked if this victory had a big-game feel to it. “We need to beat the teams in our division. They’re ahead of us. We don’t want to dig ourselves too deep of a hole. It was definitely a game where I felt I had a little more adrenaline.”

“I don’t want to wake up tomorrow morning and people in Chicago area panicking about it,” said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen with a laugh over the significance coming from Wednesday’s performance.

Danks set the tone from the outset by basically pitching out of trouble. The first two batters reached base in the second, but Danks retired Jason Kubel, Danny Valencia and Jason Repko in order.

After a perfect third, Joe Mauer opened the fourth with a double in an attempt to cut into the White Sox 3-0 lead. But Delmon Young flew out to right fielder Carlos Quentin, Michael Cuddyer struck out swinging and Kubel grounded out to first baseman Paul Konerko.

“Got in the groove of the game, I don’t know,” said Danks, who fanned seven, walked two and threw 116 pitches over eight innings. “I feel like I settled down, started throwing more strikes and made them put the ball in play a little earlier. I had a lot of deep counts early in the game.”

“He was tough. He’s a good pitcher,” said Cuddyer, who has hit at just under a .500 career clip against Danks. “He had his cutter going tonight, good changeup, spotting his fastball. When he’s got those three pitches going for him, he’s tough to beat.”

Guillen praised Danks for working deep into the game, giving the bullpen a rest one night after Tuesday starter Freddy Garcia lasted just 2 1/3 innings and taxed the relievers.

“Great performance,” Guillen said. “He saved our bullpen. Today as a coaching staff, you were begging him to go that far and he did. That’s what was in my mind, besides winning.”

Quentin gave the White Sox an early lead with a two-run blast to center field in the second, scoring Konerko ahead of him. Quentin now has 24 home runs but has produced 76 RBIs with just 79 hits. Quentin also stood at the center during a moment of raised emotions between both sides and the umpiring crew.

After getting hit by a Perkins pitch with one out in the fourth, Perkins (0-1) hit Quentin again as the last hitter he would face on the night in the fifth. Quentin clearly took umbrage at the 16th time he had been hit this season, and the crowd quickly voiced its collective displeasure. Home-plate umpire Mike DiMuro issued a warning to both sides, bringing out Guillen for a brief argument.

Perkins said hitting Quentin certainly wasn’t intentional. Guillen wasn’t as sure, but was 100 percent certain that pitch inside was not called for by Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire or his staff.

“I’m not 100 percent [sure] he did it [on purpose],” said Guillen of Perkins. “I know 100 percent, for sure, for sure, it didn’t come from the bench. I was very upset because they beat us up yesterday big time and we don’t come close to pitch inside. But right now, if he did it on purpose, it’s up to him.”

“It was a bad situation to hit a guy. It’s unfortunate that happened,” Perkins said. “I was trying to make a pitch and yanked it a little bit. I definitely didn’t hit every spot. And that was one of the times I didn’t hit the spot where I was trying to throw.”

This sequence with Quentin came during a three-run fifth, sparked by run-scoring hits from Juan Pierre and Alexei Ramirez. It put the icing on a needed victory, not to be mistaken for must-win.

Not with 48 games remaining on the 2010 schedule. Not with the White Sox recent dominance at home, holding a 21-3 mark in their last 24 game at U.S. Cellular. Not with seven head-to-head contests still to play against a Twins’ team beset by injuries.

At the very least, the White Sox can send Minnesota into a series with Oakland back in second place.

“One thing about it, when you lose two, you already lose the series,” Guillen said. “It’s different to go out for the last game and fight for the series. They feel the same way.”

The post game conferences with Gardenhire and Ozzie should be required viewing for all baseball fans. In fact, I personally think they should be held in a bar and both men should be alllowed to down a couple before the mics are turned on. That would be must see TV for everyone.

CLICK HERE TO PARTY WITH ME!

Max Cady: I’m Virgil and I’m guidin’ you through the gates of Hell. We are now in the Ninth Circle, the Circle of Traitors. Traitors to country! Traitors to fellow man! Traitors to GOD! You, sir, are charged with betrayin’ the principles of all three! Quote for me the American Bar Association’s Rules of Professional Conduct, Canon Seven.
Sam Bowden: “A lawyer should represent his client… “
Max Cady: “Should ZEALOUSLY represent his client within the bounds of the law.” I find you guilty, counselor! Guilty of betrayin’ your fellow man! Guilty of betrayin’ your country and abrogatin’ your oath! Guilty of judgin’ me and sellin’ me out! With the power vested in me by the kingdom of God, I sentence you to the Ninth Circle of Hell! Now you will learn about loss! Loss of freedom! Loss of humanity! Now you and I will truly be the same…

A little lonely Jay? Or just desperate to rekindle a nearly forgotten feud?

All too predictable. More than a few days ago, Ozzie Guillen made several statements concerning perceived (imaginary or not) preferential treatment for Asian over Latino ballplayers in the big leagues. Considering Ozzie’s heritage, actual experience in professional baseball as both a player and a manager, his comments in the very least warrant some consideration, even from his detractors.

Agree. Disagree. Whatever.

It is a free country. At least allegedly.

In typical Mariotti fashion, the column* predictably arrived late in the Fanhouse editor’s hard drive. Hey, why be in any hurry when orchestrating a hatchet job bent toward settling a personal vendetta?

Apparently tackling the actual issues raised by Guillen was a little more mustard than Jay could handle intellectually. Hardly surprising, when accounting for a career dedicated towards cheaply slandering athletes and all sports in general. And one must admit that the pundit’s senses must have been dulled even further over the years as a bobble head participant on a daily gab sports television program seemingly more effeminate and equally rigged as The View.

Just consider Jay’s counterattack beginning with “Blizzard of Oz” interlaced with Jersey Shore pop culture lingo and inevitably ending with the suspiciously hyperbolic proclamation that “a national storm” was consequential to Guillen’s infamous description of the former Sun-Times journalist*.  Deep stuff indeed. Ironic as hell also. After all, Mariotti frames the entire column that Ozzie Guillen is not worthy to express a serious opinion.

Geez Jay, do you have any legitimate points to contend against Ozzie’s declaration of bias other than warning us to hold our noses? Could “The Blizzard’s” assertions really be based on some degree of everyday practical truths versus the smell of dwarf’s own farts that denigrate into Mariotti-factisms serving nothing more than a form of bandwidth piracy?

It seems that Jay’s always contemptuous attitude towards the manager might just exemplify Ozzie’s point with crystal clarity.  It must be difficult indeed for a superior cerebral complex issued Mariotti dressed to the denim 9s, come to grips that an uncouth profane Ozzie did in fact outlast him here in Chicago.

Add in a tremendously successful baseball career along with going home every night to a happy, healthy loving nuclear family rather than perversely hanging out in bars in order to ogle at a bunch of kids, it is little wonder why Jay throws a complete hissy fit whenever Oz speaks to the press.  Remember, the universal truth according to Jay is the more one is quoted, the more one is famous as long as there are no camera phone pics of open booze containers and leering eyes.

Well interesting enough, Fanhouse colleague Kevin Blackstone weighed in on Ozzie’s comments without prejudice and well before the next ice age. And while failing to succumb to personal bias and cheap shots, Blackstone actually carried out his assignment as a professional journalist. Lo and behold, Ozzie’s comments were collaborated. Enter Luis Mayoral, a former director of player operations, current journalist in the Puerto Rico and once personal friend of Roberto Clemente:

“That is why I identify completely with Ozzie,” Mayoral said. “The main problem is that the majority of Hispanics, without generalizing, do not have the same backgrounds as players from the United States of America or Japan. You travel to Japan, as I have, and you see that Japan is another culture in itself. They have certain advantages that even kids in Puerto Rico, which is a [commonwealth] of the U.S. and the Dominican and Venezuela and Panama and elsewhere don’t have.”

Word to the wise Mr. Blackstone, Jay hates being grandstanded and scooped by annoying facts and cited quotes from reputable sources. Just ask Mr. Telander regarding a column over Barack Obama at a White Sox game.

Sadly, it seems Jay is hellbent to carry a grudge against Ozzie to his grave. Very unhealthy indeed. The hatred towards the White Sox manager runs so deep that the demon midget actually mentioned his long arch nemesis Jerry Reinsdorf in a somewhat positive light in order to highlight the owner disagreeing with Ozzie’s point of view. In Jay’s universe, that implies Ozzie Guillen will be fired, despite of course the team’s on the field performance.

Today’s slop is the very same vitriolic self-serving vindictive garbage that exiled Mariotti to the graveyard of cyberspace sports opining (sorry Kevin...) I do apologize for teasing our readers with Joe Posnanski’s exquisite column with the tastiness of a decadent 5 course meal prepared by Gordon Ramsay only to be followed up by Jay’s bile with all the pleasantries of being force fed liquid pig manure through a never ending human centipede chain.

God show mercy indeed to those that dare frequent Fanhouse. 

Ray Kinsella: By the time I was ten, playing baseball got to be like eating vegetables or taking out the garbage. So when I was 14, I started to refuse. Could you believe that? An American boy refusing to play catch with his father.
Terence Mann: Why 14?
Ray Kinsella: That’s when I read “The Boat Rocker” by Terence Mann.
Terence Mann: [rolling his eyes] Oh, God.
Ray Kinsella: Never played catch with him again.
Terence Mann: You see? That’s the sort of crap people are always trying to lay on me. It’s not my fault you wouldn’t play catch with your father.

One word for “Year One” of Tom Ricketts’ newest business venture:

Craptacular.

Okay thanks. And I sincerely hope that Tom and Crane eventually find a county in either Arizona or Florida willing to bilk taxpayers into paying for a new training camp facility. Seriously guys, best of luck. And don’t forget that those kids down in the Dominican Republic deserve a few new cots and blankets as well.

Moving forward.

I enjoy to read. Yes, I know that recreational activity does not necessarily reflect in the quality of my infrequent front page posts, but alas it is true. I enjoy reading magazines printed on paper. Less EMF and fewer headaches. It is wonderful. Same with newspapers. May they never die. Perhaps that makes me a non-electrical conformist. So be it. I also happen to enjoy listening to vinyl over digital. Long may analog run.

This blog’s namesake was built upon the exposure of bad journalism. The format was very popular in its heyday. And it still is mentioned now and then, albeit far less frequent. Loved by some in the field. Loathed by others. For those others, it matters little to us since they typically dwell under bridges.

But once and awhile, a treasure is unearthed. And my appreciation for excellence in journalism must be shared. Today’s shining light is a fellow from Kansas City with a writing style I thought once lost and never to return. This is serious stuff indeed. It is the kind of material once produced by thoughtful men and women sitting in front of typewriters with full concentration and little distraction. The glory days of newspapers and vinyl records when the end result mattered. A time when great pride and effort was performed on a daily basis to produce information and art to an audience that demanded quality and was willing to sit down, focus and concentrate on the message at hand. I love technology and its convenience. But I don’t love its all too frequent disposability (Weird, spell check indicates this improper spelling while the dictionary gives me a green light...)

So I ran across a column authored by Joe Posnanski from Sports Illustrated. It is simply spectacular. A wonderful biographical account of Rafer Johnson, an Olympic athlete competing against his good friend and rival during the 1960 Olympic decathlon interlaced with terrific life lessons and experiences. I’ll leave it to Posnanski to explain the column in his own words:

These are some stories of an extraordinary life. No. Wait. They teach you early on in the storytelling business to never set expectations too high. For instance, you don’t want to say, “Oh, I’ve got this hilarious joke I have to tell you.” Let the joke breathe. You don’t want to say, “Here is a story you will not believe.” Let the story speak.

So, no, you don’t want to start off with something like, “These are some stories of an extraordinary life.” You want to let the stories stretch out on their own, reveal themselves slowly, allow John Wooden to appear and then Robert Kennedy, let Spartacus come up out of nowhere, and also the Special Olympics, drop in the saving of a Football Hall of Famer’s life, and then mention the Olympic torch. Yes, you want to let the stories unfold, except that there are too many stories on Rafer Johnson’s life, too much to get into, because even if you tell all those stories, you are still leaving out what he whispered in the ear of Muhammad Ali, and the love affair with Gloria Steinem, and the friendship with Tom Brokaw, and the time he played in a James Bond movie, and the other time he saved Lassie and…

These are the stories of an extraordinary life.

Link to the column.

If you are interested in an example of throwback thoughtful writing, do yourself a favor. Save this gem for a quiet evening. Turn off the television. Wait for the kids to fall asleep. Pour yourself a little something to enjoy. Sit down, relax and enjoy Joe’s column. You won’t be disappointed.

Pre-game: Allen Trammel (subbing for Lou Piniella)

Okay Carlos, lissen up. Our pen is so fagged from the last 4 games that they’re wearing rainbow undies and starting pride parades in the shower. What I need from you is, win, lose or draw, I really need you to get us into the 7th tonight. The 9th would be better, but I’ll take the 7th.

Pre-game: Ozzie Guillen

Look Gavin, our [bleeping] pen is kind of [bleeping] okay, but we’ve got this [bleeping] road trip coming up and we [bleeping] need to have them fresh. All I’m [bleeping] asking you is get us to the [bleeping] 7th. With a [bleeping] lead. I don’t care how you [bleeping] do it, just get it [bleeping] done.

Like I noted in the title, all a manager can do is ask.

Carlos Silva left in the first inning. During the game Len & Bob were calling it an “unspecified injury.” Near the end of the game, the Cubs’ web site was calling it an “unknown illness.” Some snarky bloggers were calling it “Cubbie flu.” As it turns out, it was far more serious than any of the above. CARRIE MUSKAT of MLB.com takes a gander at the Cubs latest broken heart.

Carlos Silva has had problems with his neck, his right shoulder and his right leg. On Sunday, it was his heart.

The Rockies held off a late rally, thanks to Dexter Fowler’s home run-saving catch in the ninth, to post an 8-7 victory over the Cubs and Silva, who was pulled in the first inning because of an abnormal heart rate.

Silva (10-5) was lifted after throwing 15 pitches to four batters and taken to a local hospital, where he was to remain overnight for evaluation.

“You lose your starting pitcher in the first inning and you’re scratching your head saying, ‘How are we going to get through this?’” Cubs acting manager Alan Trammell said.

They nearly pulled it out. The Cubs trailed, 8-4, with one out in the ninth against Huston Street, who walked Derrek Lee and Geovany Soto. Both scored on Marlon Byrd’s triple and Alfonso Soriano, who had hit his 19th homer leading off the eighth, thought he had No. 20.

But Fowler grabbed it at the wall in right-center with a perfectly timed leap that knocked the wind out of him.

“I thought he got it off the end [of his bat], truthfully,” Street said. “I thought it was hit deep. But right off the bat, ‘Dex’ had his hand up pointing at [Seth Smith]. When he caught it, that’s all I care about. Then, when he fell to the ground, I got nervous.”

Fowler has a bruised left hip and ribs. Soriano was left shaking his head.

“I know he caught it and I saw the glove over the fence,” Soriano said. “I had a very good swing.”

But it wasn’t good enough as the Cubs lost their season-high fifth straight, and Major League-leading 24th one-run game. They lead the Majors with 37 one-run contests.

“It’s one of those things—if that ball falls, we come back,” Byrd said. “We’re putting it all out there. The problem is, it’s not enough. We’re not coming away with wins. We have to figure it out, someway, somehow, because otherwise, it will be a long two months.”

Looking for positives? Newly acquired second baseman Blake DeWitt delivered an RBI double in his first at-bat in the second inning and finished with three hits. The Cubs held Colorado’s Carlos Gonzalez to one hit, a first-inning single. He had four in each of the first two games and helped the Rockies outscore the Cubs, 31-14.

On this six-game trip to Houston and Colorado, the Cubs scuffled with runners in scoring position and the starting pitchers averaged slightly more than four innings per game. On Sunday, the Cubs outhit the Rockies, 12-8. Not a winning combination.

“We could’ve rolled over,” Trammell said. “In a game like that today, losing your starting pitcher, it would’ve been easy. I think we’ve answered that. I think they’ve shown they’ll give an effort. It just seems like we come up a little short and don’t put it all together to get the win.”

When Silva was lifted, the Cubs were “scrambling,” Trammell said. But Carlos Zambrano volunteered for as long as needed. He made his second relief appearance in as many games since being activated from the restricted list and gave up two runs on four hits, including RBI singles to Ian Stewart and Fowler in the fifth. James Russell also pitched 2 2/3 innings.

What was DeWitt’s first impression of his new team?

“The first impression is there’s no quit,” he said. “That was pretty impressive to come back like that. In those kind of games, it’s easy to roll over. It was a battle to the end. Fowler made a great play on that ball and it really could’ve changed a lot.”

It’s the first time the Rockies have swept the Cubs at Coors Field since a four-game set June 24-27, 1997.

“We get close all the time, like today, and at the last moment, we don’t win,” Soriano said. “I think the players fight to win. That’s important. Everybody fights to try to win and does their job. Tomorrow, we’re back home and I hope we have a better series at home.”

You would think that, with the Rockies coming into the series with an 8 game losing streak and the Cubs having done well at Coors Field over the years, this would have been the perfect series for the Cubs to grab a couple of W’s. Instead it was just one Cubbie occurrence after another. The record setting 8th inning that they’re still talking about on ESPN, followed by the walk off home run that allowed Gonzales to become the first person to complete the cycle with a walk off in over a decade and then yesterday.

If someone wrote those events into a script they’d be tossed on to the street from any self respecting movie studio. Heck, even some of the less respectable ones. Oh, who am I kidding? Porn studios would toss that script, rainbow undies and all.

On the Southside, Gavin Floyd took Ozzie’s request to heart. Even when he was clearly tired in the late sixth inning, he pitched the 7th and into the 8th until Ozzie forcibly removed him. As SCOTT MERKIN notes, that was enough for the Sox.

Perfection did not exist for Gavin Floyd during Sunday’s 4-1 victory over the A’s before 32,118 at U.S. Cellular Field.

The same can be said for the American League Central-leading White Sox (59-45) during this seven-game homestand against Oakland and the Mariners. But both Floyd and his team finished darn near close to unblemished with their respective efforts.

Floyd carried a perfect game into the sixth inning before walking Cliff Pennington to lead off the frame and giving up a hit to Matt Carson one out later, eventually giving up one run over seven innings. Meanwhile, the White Sox won the series from the pesky A’s (52-52), completing their run at home with a 6-1 record and a 20-2 mark over the last 22 games played on the South Side, and holding a one-half game lead on the Twins (59-46).

“We are playing good baseball all over,” said White Sox left-handed reliever Matt Thornton, who made his 18th consecutive scoreless appearance, helping the White Sox improve to 35-12 since June 9.

With Floyd (7-8) on the mound during his last 11 starts, it has been almost impossible for the White Sox to be anything but competitive. The right-hander has yielded a paltry nine earned runs over 76 1/3 innings, producing a miniscule 1.06 ERA.

“One of the most underrated, untalked about two months for any starting pitcher I’ve ever seen,” said Thornton of Floyd in near disbelief. “Absolutely lights-out. Every game he has started, we are either winning or in it all the way to the end. He’s been amazing.”

“Outstanding job,” said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. “The only problem [Floyd] had is when he walked the leadoff hitter [in the sixth]. After that, he was dominating. He threw the ball very well from the beginning.”

This Sunday pitching special did not feature Floyd alone on center stage. Gio Gonzalez (9-7), who was moved by the White Sox as part of separate deals for Jim Thome and Nick Swisher, had perfection of his own going for 4 1/3 innings before Carlos Quentin singled to center.

Ramon Castro singled off the third-base bag, and Gonzalez hit Andruw Jones with a pitch one out later to load the bases for Brent Lillibridge. Guillen had given starting second baseman Gordon Beckham the day off, which coupled with Monday’s off-day, would give Beckham a nice rest going into a stretch of eight games over seven days in Detroit and Baltimore.

Lillibridge made Guillen look like a genius by lining a bases-clearing triple to right. Carson came in quickly on the shot in an attempt to make a diving catch, but the ball got by him and rolled to the wall.

“You just want to go in there and do some damage if you can, swing at good pitches, have good at-bats,” said Lillibridge, who is 10-for-25 with 10 RBIs in his last 18 games. “And it just worked out really good today.”

“When it went off the bat, I kind of shaded over to the right-field line,” Carson said. “I either have to hold up and play the long hop and two runs score or try to catch it, and I didn’t get there. I felt bad for Gio. He was pitching so well, and that was his only hiccup and I was a part of it.”

Oakland put a threat together after breaking up Floyd’s perfect game and no-hitter, with Rajai Davis singling home a run and the A’s loading the bases with one out in the sixth. Floyd fanned Jack Cust, who stood as three of Floyd’s five strikeouts for the game, and retired Kevin Kouzmanoff on a ground ball to first baseman Paul Konerko.

Carson flied out deep to right with two men and two out in the seventh, as Oakland’s only other threat. Thornton, J.J. Putz and Bobby Jenks (22nd save) closed out another stellar effort from Floyd, who was matched by Gonzalez on this sunny afternoon.

“We had fun. We battled. I look at it as bittersweet,” said Gonzalez, who struck out a career-high 11. “I threw a complete game and kept them in the game, but it just wasn’t enough this time.”

“Just try to keep the same mentality and try to go out there and have conviction,” said Floyd, whose scoreless-innings streak ended at 20. “Just go out there and try to keep the team in the game, you know? We were able to score some runs and hold them to [one].”

Prior to Sunday’s effort, Floyd had thrown at least 5 2/3 innings of no-hit ball four times in his career. He went 6 2/3 innings against the Cubs at Wrigley Field on June 13 of this season, only to lose a 1-0 decision during which Ted Lilly took a no-hitter into the ninth.

If Floyd continues to pitch as he has over the last two months, regardless of how well the opposition performs, life might be perfect for the White Sox well into October.

“They were going tap for tap,” said White Sox leadoff man Juan Pierre, whose fourth inning bunt single brought home the fourth run against Gonzalez. “Gavin came out there and threw the ball well, so that is always good.”

“After we scored the three runs, I thought we had a chance,” Guillen said. “We were in the sixth and seventh and everyone was ready in the bullpen. The way Floyd was throwing the ball, I was feeling comfortable with the game.”

A quick correction here; on Sunday I said that the Sox were 20-2 at home heading into Sunday’s game. That was incorrect. The Sox did not get to 20-2 at home until AFTER Sunday’s game. I regret the error.

The Sox take today off and the Twins, still just a half game behind, head off to play the Rays tonight. With Tampa Bay also in a race for 1st place in the AL East, these games will not be as easy for the Twins as the Mariners were. This puts Sox fans in the odd position of cheering for the team that killed them in the playoffs a couple of years back.

CLICK HERE TO ASK SO THAT YOU MIGHT RECEIVE

What’s going to happen next? Who’s going to be where when? Can we just tape answers to the head of a mole and whack out the answers?

Questions, questions, we have questions.

Let’s start with a football question; RICK MORRISSEY asks how are the Bears going to return to their halcyon days of being the Monsters of the Midway if they refuse to learn how to tackle?

The head coach wants the nastiness back, a good thing. It’s a message that needs to be sent, even if it’s a message that would seem to be obvious, this being football.

You’d think the new attitude would lead to more hitting in training camp, a necessity indeed for a team that lost a lot of its defensive swagger the last three seasons.

And you would think it would be the end of the Lovie Spa & Resort.

But when Smith said Friday that this camp wouldn’t feature any more hitting than past camps, the whole ‘’Monsters’’ thing sounded like a marketing campaign rather than a concrete foundation. However, the players did get attractive ‘’Monsters of the Midway’’ T-shirts out of the deal.

How can a coaching staff instill the toughness of Bears teams past without making training camp more physical? Smith wouldn’t go into specifics.

‘’We just want to be an aggressive, tough football team as much as anything,’’ he said. ‘’You talk about our old teams of the past, you’re talking about a tough, hard-nosed group. That’s what we want to be.’’

But, again, how?

At the risk of sounding like someone who walks around in throwback jerseys, I’d like to ask a question: What happened to tackling in camp?

It’s an ancient concept, I know. You show up and practice the things you do in games. That way, when it’s just you standing between a running back and the goal line when it matters, you’ll have confidence in bringing him down.

Who needs tackling? They have T-Shirts! Okay, seriously, I have more questions than answers about this year’s version of the Chicago Bears. The defense minded head coach has shown a consistent inability to run a defense and the new, offensive genius, claims that the O-line that played like a Spongebob Chorus line for the last 3 seasons is now going to be the Maginot Line. As my buddy, and long time Bears’ fan, said, “If you play Fantasy Football, take whoever the opposing RB and WR is each week and you’ll do fine.” I hope he’s wrong, but ....

How about the future of basketball? Well, the Bulls dumped unsung hero, Pete Myers to make room for someone. As CHRIS HINE notes, Derrick Rose will miss him.

Rose was sad to learn Bulls assistant coach Pete Myers will not be on the bench next season. Rose said Myers, who coached the Bulls’ summer-league team, was somebody all players could relate to. Myers might move to the front office, and Rose hopes he does.

“It hurt a little bit,” Rose said. “When you’re with a guy for two years and now he’s not with you anymore. … He’s one of the reasons why I’m where I’m at right now. He played a big part of making sure I was all right and I appreciate him.”

While there is talk of Myers of moving up in the Bulls organization, there is also a rumor that he could rejoin VDN on the left coast. Don’t rule it out. Myers is known for liking the challenge of developing talent and the Clippers have that challenge in spades.

How about hockey? The Hawks won the Stanley Cup for the first time since the glorious year of my birth. They did so while hemorrhaging money and being forced to trade away 8 players just to get the team back under the salary cap. Even so, as ADAM L. JAHNS writes, they still have viable options.

On Saturday, an arbitrator awarded Niemi a $2.75 million salary for next season. The Hawks have until Monday to decide which plan to put into action.

The plans might go in multiple directions, but Bowman actually has four scenarios to look at: accept the award, walk away, accept it and trade Niemi or accept it and trade another player.

Bowman will address the media once a decision is reached. The $2.75 million award, which favors the Hawks’ situation, doesn’t necessarily make arriving at that decision any easier.

‘’It’s really, to be honest, what everybody expected it to be,’’ said Bill Zito, Niemi’s agent. ‘’As with any arbitration, it could go to the severe end of things, one way or the other. There is always that risk. But in this instance, this was something that surprised no one.’’

While the amount makes it possible for the Hawks to fit Niemi under the salary cap, there might be issues beyond the coming season. Niemi would become an unrestricted free agent next summer and could test the market. As the Hawks brass has maintained, the team is striving for continued success.

The Hawks could accept the award and try to sign Niemi to a long-term deal. But defenseman Brent Seabrook is entering the final year of his contract, and those $4million in bonus overages that count against the cap in 2010-11 probably are headed his way.

There are some scribes who see these moves as proof that the Hawks are on their way to being the new Cubs; all marketing and no team. Of course, many of these scribes are the same ones who picked the Bears to win the Superbowl last year, so my guess is that they’re bitter losers and I’m not paying any attention to them.

Speaking of the Cubs, they traded traded Ted Lilly and Ryan Theriot to the Dodgers for a Ryan Theriot clone and a couple of kids who you’ll never hear about again. They also threw in a big bucket of money to ensure that there would be enough Dodger Dogs to go around for everyone. As CARRIE MUSKAT reports, these were not the only losses the Cubs suffered yesterday.

The Cubs lost two members of their family, and then lost a heartbreaker.

Carlos Gonzalez completed his cycle with a walk-off home run leading off the ninth to give the Rockies a 6-5 victory Saturday over the Cubs in a game which marked the departure of Ted Lilly and Ryan Theriot and the return of Carlos Zambrano.

With the game tied at 5 in the Colorado ninth against Sean Marshall (6-3), Gonzalez hit a first-pitch fastball to right, 462 feet into the third deck at Coors Field. He singled in the first, tripled in the third, doubled in the fifth and hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh.

“I think we’ve seen enough of Mr. Gonzalez,” Cubs acting manager Alan Trammell said. “He’s put on quite a show the last couple games. That was quite a blast.”

The last Rockies player to hit for the cycle was Troy Tulowitzki, who did so Aug. 10, 2009, also against the Cubs. Tom Gorzelanny also started that game. He mixed things up trying to get Gonzalez out.

“I tried a few different locations, and instead of being able to do what I was supposed to do, he hit them,” Gorzelanny said. “He’s a very active hitter, and he likes to swing the bat and he likes to swing the bat every time. I can’t say ‘often’ because it seems like it’s every time. Hang with ‘em.”

A few hours prior to the Trade Deadline on Saturday, Lilly and Theriot were dealt to the Dodgers in exchange for infielder Blake DeWitt and two Minor League pitchers.

“These are great teammates,” Gorzelanny said. “To lose two guys like that, it’s tough. To see them go, it’s sad. I know they’ll be able to go there and do good things for that team.”

Trammell, subbing for Lou Piniella, who was attending the funeral of his uncle in Tampa, Fla., was able to get Zambrano back in action for the first time since he was reinstated from the restricted list.

“I was trying to pick the right spot,” Trammell said. “He got himself in a little bit of trouble but got out of it, which was nice to see. Hopefully, that will give him some confidence and get him back into the team.”

Zambrano entered in the seventh. Gonzalez had hit a sacrifice fly to give the Rockies a 5-2 lead, and there was one on and one out. Zambrano walked Tulowitzki, then gave up a single to Melvin Mora to load the bases. Zambrano struck out Seth Smith and got Brad Hawpe to pop up to end the inning.

“It’s just another game for me,” Zambrano said. “I just want to get hitters out.”

He also would like to be considered for the rotation and not in late August or early September but now.

“I’m ready,” Zambrano said. “I’m ready to pitch Tuesday, Thursday.”

The Cubs will wait until Piniella comes back to make that call. As of now, Thomas Diamond is scheduled to start Tuesday in Lilly’s spot and make his Major League debut.

Back to the game. The Cubs tied it in the eighth when Mike Fontenot singled to lead off, and one out later Tyler Colvin singled to set up Derrek Lee’s home run off Rafael Betancourt. The homer ended the team’s 0-for-22 skid with runners in scoring position and was Lee’s 1,000th career run.

Gorzelanny served up five runs, including three on Miguel Olivo’s 13th homer. The Cubs wanted Marshall to face Gonzalez, who’s batting .304 against lefties and .314 against right-handers. Pick your poison.

“He’s locked in right now,” Marshall said. “He’s putting good swings on bad pitches and putting good swings on good pitches. He’s the guy in the lineup that we didn’t want to beat us, and I went in and challenged him and he beat us.”

Gonzalez launched a fastball to right, and the game was over.

“We went with our best guy,” Trammell said.

Said Gonzalez: “I didn’t even think I hit it that hard. I was just trying to put a really good swing to the ball. I think the pitch helped me, too. It was 90-something, inside, and hit right on the barrel. It was unbelievable. I didn’t even know that ball was going to end up in the third deck.”

The Cubs still have games to be played.

“We know this isn’t the way we had it mapped out and planned,” Gorzelanny said. “We had a great team, but we also know the season isn’t over. ... A lot more has been overcome in terms of games back. We’re not counting ourselves out because Ted and Ryan are gone.”

It’s the first time for some players when they’re on a team that is a seller, not a buyer.

“It’s been a rough year and a rough season so far,” Lee said. “That’s what happens when you have a rough four months—the organization has to make a decision on what direction it’s going to go.”

Which direction will the Cubs go?

“This team is not going to give up,” Lee said. “We’re going to still continue to play the best we can.”

Coupled with Milwaukee’s loss yesterday, the Cubs remain 1 1/2 games out of third. Certainly within striking distance.

On the Southside, minutes before the trading deadline, DAVE VAN DYCK reports that Kenny Williams decided to completely screw with Gordon Beckham’s head.

Ten minutes before Saturday’s trading deadline, a stern-looking GM Kenny Williams walked into the lunch are of the White Sox locker room and motioned Gordon Beckham into a closed-door meeting with manager Ozzie Guillen.

“I had Ozzie close the door and sat Gordon down in the chair and said, ‘Well, I would really like to say one thing to you before I get into the nuts and bolts of this stuff,’” Williams said. “‘That at-bat you had last night, where you pushed across that run, it was one of the best at-bats you had all year. I just want to say nice job.’

“Then I shook his hand, and he said, ‘That’s it?’ And I said ‘That’s it.’ He had a sigh of relief. Ozzie had a sigh of relief and started cursing at me.”

“I was like, what’s going on here,” Beckham said. “It was a little bit of a jump start to my day I guess.”

It’s a pity they already finished shooting episodes of THE CLUB. Oh well, last night the Sox took their recent 20-1 home record to the field and pinned their hopes on a starting pitcher who’s known for keeping a cool head, no matter what. As LOUIE HORVATH points out, that didn’t work out as well as planned.

During manager Ozzie Guillen’s pregame radio show, he made a prediction that the White Sox would perform better Saturday night at U.S. Cellular Field against Oakland starter Dallas Braden than they did when losing to him in Oakland last Sunday.

For one of the few times in the past 46 games, Guillen was wrong. He lost his imaginary bet, and the White Sox saw their 12-game home winning streak come to an end via a 6-2 loss to the A’s.

“I could have bet we would have a better game today than we did in Oakland,” Guillen said. “It was the opposite.”

Braden (6-7), who hurled a perfect game against the Rays on May 9, shut down the White Sox to the tune of two runs in a complete-game victory, which was actually better than his start in Oakland. During that start, he gave up three earned runs in 6 1/3 innings while earning another victory.

“He threw the ball very well, and his changeup was outstanding,” Guillen said. “We kept chasing changeups behind in the count. His cutter was very good. He did very well. I don’t want to take anything away from Dallas. He threw the ball good, he kept us off balance and did a tremendous job.”

“Fastball, changeup,” said Braden of what worked for him. “The off-balance factor, not really giving them the opportunity to square it up. A little slower, a little lower, a little higher, try to slow it down, then blow it by them.”

The Athletics (52-51) scored four runs in the second off southpaw John Danks (11-8) to put the White Sox down early, and then Braden made the total stand up by holding the White Sox offense at bay.

After surrendering a leadoff single in the second to Kevin Kouzmanoff, who went 3-for-5 with a home run, Danks was able to get Jack Cust looking. With the infield hoping for the inning-ending double play, four straight A’s reached base safely, scoring two runs. After Coco Crisp struck out, Daric Barton singled home two more to cap off the rally.

“I was able to get ahead and put myself in a situation to get the out I needed, but I wasn’t able to make the pitches I needed to and they hit the ball,” said Danks, whose personal four-game winning streak came to an end. “They put up the four-spot and Dallas Braden threw well today and I dug us too deep of a hole.”

The White Sox (58-45) tried to get out of the hole in the bottom of the sixth, when Juan Pierre and Alexei Ramirez led off the inning with a pair of singles. With Alex Rios, Paul Konerko and Carlos Quentin slated to come up, the frame had all the makings of a big inning. But two lazy fly balls from Rios and Konerko were followed by Quentin’s groundout to end the inning.

“I don’t think he gave us any opportunities at all to get some damage,” Guillen said. “That’s the thing about pitching: When you pitch well, you’re going to have a chance.”

The White Sox plated two in the bottom of the seventh on Andruw Jones’ 15th home run. Up until that inning, Braden had given up just four hits.

Due to Braden’s stellar effort, the White Sox lost just their second contest in their last 21 home games. The last time the White Sox had seen such prosperity at home was in 1983, when they won 19 of their final 20 home games.

But despite this long streak, the White Sox have been consistent as much as they’ve been flashy.

“I’ve ended all the streaks, too. I’ve been pretty good at that,” Danks said with a rueful chuckle. “We know who we are. We’re playing good right now, we’re playing to our capabilities. It’s fun and even today we didn’t feel like we were out of the game. It makes it a lot of fun always feeling you know you’re going to win every game.”

Since the Twins (58-46) won against Felix Hernandez and the Mariners, the White Sox lead in the American League Central was whittled down to a svelte one-half game. With nearly two months left in the season, however, Chicago is not going to start worrying about the out-of-town scoreboard this early in the campaign.

“I’ll be honest with you guys, I watch the scoreboard because how big that thing is here,” Guillen said. “There’s no doubt about it. Am I worried? I’m not worried, because I think it’s still too early.”

While the Sox have now dropped to 20-2 at home since their streak began, there were no signs that they were going to give up on the season. Sure, the Twins won yesterday, bringing them to within 1/2 game of the division leading Sox, but you can’t play the games for the other teams. The Sox just have to go do that voodoo they’ve been doing since June and they’ll be fine.

Or they can scrap half the team, get a left handed bat and tank the season.

Something tells me that choice is easy.

Easier than hitting that damn mole, anyway.

CLICK HERE TO WHACK THAT SUCKER

Two baseball teams. Two streaks. Two possible results for each team. The streak would continue or it would not. The Northsiders wanted it to be “not”. The Southsiders wanted it to “continue.” The Northsiders trotted out one of their most reliable pitchers and surrounded him with the best defense they could muster in an attempt to force fate their way. The Southsiders traded away their starting pitcher before the game and were forced to call up some kid named Lucas and pray that he lasted, at least, a couple of innings and hope the team could come back when the relievers came in.

Neither team got exactly what they wanted. For one, that spelled doom. For the other, it spelled ecstasy.

MLB.com’s CARRIE MUSKAT teaches us that doom is spelled e-i-g-h-t-h- -i-n-n-i-n-g.

What a crazy eighth.

The Rockies scored 12 runs on 13 hits in the eighth, stringing together a Major League-record 11 knocks in a row, en route to a 17-2 victory over the Cubs Friday night.

“It’s a fluke thing,” Chicago pitcher Ryan Dempster said. “You can’t do that very often—that’s the reason it’s never been done before.”

Carlos Gonzalez hit his 20th homer off Dempster and added an RBI single and Ian Stewart and Troy Tulowitzki each drove in three runs to spark the Rockies, who led 5-2 going into the eighth.

The last time the Cubs gave up 17 runs was July 3, 1999, at Philadelphia, when the Phillies totaled 21. The last time they gave up 21 hits was that same game. The last time they gave up 12 in one inning was Sept. 24, 1985, against Montreal, top of the fifth, when they also served up a dozen.

Sean Marshall, who had given up one earned run over 14 1/3 innings in July, started the eighth for Chicago. Clint Barmes doubled and pinch-hitter Melvin Mora singled, but Marshall struck out the next two batters and had two strikes on Gonzalez. He singled to drive in Barmes. That was hit No. 1 of the 11 straight, which included a two-run double by Brad Hawpe, a two-run homer by Stewart, and a two-run homer by Dexter Fowler.

In his second at-bat of the inning, Tulowitzki hit his second double, driving in two more, and then Hawpe walked to end the streak.

“Tomorrow, if you brought out [Aramis] Ramirez and [Derrek Lee] and Marlon Byrd and let them throw [batting practice] and put nine fielders out there, I have a tough time thinking they could get 11 straight hits,” Dempster said. “That’s how crazy that is. That’s how really remarkable it is.

“They weren’t hitting pitches down the middle—they were hitting pitches off the ground, they were hitting pitches inside, outside, everywhere,” he said. “You tip your cap to them, but it’s embarrassing. You don’t want to go through stuff like that.”

Marshall gave up five runs on five hits over two-thirds of an inning. Andrew Cashner couldn’t retire any of the six batters he faced, giving up hits to each of them. They all scored. Brian Schlitter was charged with the final three hits of the streak and also walked two before getting Stewart to fly out to center and end the infamous inning.

“Usually in a Little League game you see that, but never in a big league game,” Fowler said. “It’s crazy.”

“That last inning, I’ve never seen an inning like that,” Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. “We had two outs and two strikes on the hitter [Gonzalez] and they scored 12 runs. I’ve never seen anything like that.

“I feel bad for my pitchers,” he said. “I feel bad for the young kids trying to get the job done and they get in trouble and don’t have the answers on how to get out of it.”

What now? In his past two outings, Cashner has given up 12 runs on eight hits over 1 1/3 innings.

“I think the easiest thing we can do is for me to come back in and do my work like I always do and [Cashner] sees that and sees that it’s OK,” Dempster said. “You’re going to have tough outings. You just have to go back out there. What’s the worst that can happen? You lose? I’ve done that before.

“Don’t change anything, just keep preparing and doing your job and things will turn,” he said. “[Cashner] has tremendous stuff. It was one of those crazy nights. You have to somehow let it go when you leave here because we have to come back and win a game tomorrow.”

This will be a tough one for Dempster (8-8) to shake off, too. It was the shortest outing of the season for the right-hander, who was charged with five runs on eight hits and five walks over four-plus innings. The last time he didn’t get past the fifth was May 25, 2009, against the Pirates when he gave up six runs over four innings.

“His command was off,” Piniella said.

Dempster said he began the game with an aggressive approach, but then Rockies starter Jeff Francis singled with one out in the third and suddenly he was “unaggressive.” Fowler doubled and both he and Francis scored on Seth Smith’s double. One out later, Dempster walked three straight batters to force in another run and give the Rockies a 3-0 lead.

“I’d rather take the 11 straight hits than go and do that and I mean that,” Dempster said of the walks. “You have to attack guys and go after them, especially in this ballpark. Walks will hurt you. It’s a pretty easy formula—you keep guys off base and you’ll have more success.”

Dempster also served up Gonzalez’s 20th home run, which was the 20th off the Cubs right-hander in 144 2/3 innings. Last year, Dempster served up 22 in 200 innings.

The Cubs collected four hits. Total. That’s how many hits Gonzalez finished with.

“That was a crazy inning,” Marshall said of the eighth. “I don’t think an inning like that will ever happen again.”

All Piniella could do was shake his head in disbelief.

“I’ve never seen that,” he said. “Never seen it.”

Gotta be honest here. I was racking my brain trying to think when the last time I saw something like that. Not being a Cubs’ fan I don’t watch all their games. In fact, it wasn’t until I needed to write about them for here that I paid any attention at all. The only time I could come up with was the Red Sox hanging 12, in one inning, on the Indians in May of 2009. On the plus side, the Cubs are guaranteed a place in the record books since allowing 12 runs in an inning ties a Major League record. And, as Carrie noted above, they now have more than one mention in that category.

It’s good that fans will have these memories.

As Big Star will surely note, the team should look back at this game at the end of the season as the spark that propelled them to the playoffs. Remember that playoff tickets will be limited to four per person once they become available.

On the Southside, the Sox took their 11-0 current streak at home and put it in the hands of 3A pitcher, Lucas Harrell. The kid was nervous, shaky and didn’t have his best control. It’s kind of hard to blame him. He was surrounded by thousands of people wearing neon mullets and forced to rely on A.J. Pierzynski for spiritual advice. You’d be out of sorts too.

As LOUIE HORVATH of MLB.com notes, all this was exactly the way Ozzie planned it. In Ozzie-World, ecstasy is spelled b-e-e-r- -s-h-o-w-e-r.

It seems the White Sox can do no wrong at U.S. Cellular Field, as they got a solid outing from Lucas Harrell in his Major League debut on the way to a 6-1 win over the A’s on Friday—their 12th in a row on the South Side.

Harrell, who began the day with Triple-A Charlotte in Louisville, didn’t know he was going to be pitching in the Major Leagues when he woke up, but the White Sox lost their scheduled starter for Friday’s game when they traded away Daniel Hudson to the Arizona Diamondbacks as part of a deal bringing Edwin Jackson to Chicago.

Maybe the jitters didn’t have time to truly set in for Harrell, as he was on a plane Friday morning to Chicago and that same evening turned around and threw six innings of one-run baseball.

“It was definitely good once I got here, because it was kind of a long flight and the time I had between going to the airport and all the anticipation building up, I was excited,” Harrell said.

Harrell flirted with danger early, stranding five runners on base in the first two innings, including pitching out of a bases-loaded jam in the second inning.

“He worked some counts well, and we created some opportunities,” A’s manager Bob Geren said. “We knew we were going to get some opportunities against him. That’s what happens when you’re not commanding the zone, but we just weren’t able to do much.”

After that, Harrell was able to settle down, despite giving up a run in the fourth inning.

“A.J. [Pierzynski] came out to me and he just said, ‘Be yourself. Do what got you here, use your sinker. Throw the ball over the plate,’” Harrell said. “Get early contact, because that’s the kind of pitcher I am. I just kind of did those things and that got me back in the groove.”

The White Sox offense picked up Harrell and spotted him a lead in the very first inning. Juan Pierre singled, stole second, and then was driven in by Alex Rios’ single to center.

After Harrell gave up his lone run, the White Sox broke the tie in the bottom of the fourth with three runs to give the rookie all the cushion he would need. The rally was highlighted by Dayan Viciedo’s double to deep center that put Pierzynski and Viciedo in scoring position, and then Gordon Beckham’s run-scoring single that brought home the third of the inning’s runs. Pierzynski and Andruw Jones also picked up RBIs in the rally.

“One thing about it, we picked each other up,” White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. “We really do. We don’t have to just wait for one guy to do the damage. Right now, we’re clicking and everybody’s doing little things to help. We have one stolen base, and a base hit, we take the lead. All the little things are big for us at the end of the game.”

Harrell left to a standing ovation after getting the Athletics (51-51) to go three up, three down in the sixth on just 12 pitches.

After Sergio Santos pitched a quiet inning in the seventh, lefty Erick Threets ran into trouble to start the eighth. He didn’t record an out, and Guillen pulled him after two consecutive singles on four pitches.

With runners on first and second with no outs, and down 6-1, it looked as if the A’s would have their best chance to mount a comeback.

Tony Pena slammed the door shut with just two pitches. His first pitch to Kevin Kouzmanoff induced a double play, and then his second pitch got Mark Ellis to ground out to end the inning.

“That was a big inning for us, because I didn’t want to use [Matt] Thornton or Bobby [Jenks],” Guillen said. “J.J. Putz was not pitching today, and I think that was great, two pitches and three outs. That’s all we’re looking for.”

With the Twins nipping at the White Sox heels, Harrell coming up in short notice in the middle of a pennant race and managing to get a win is the type of performance that could be remembered at the end of the season.

“It’s a big win because all these games matter so much,” Konerko said. “When you have a day when a guy gets called up and doesn’t even know he is pitching 24 hours ago and you get a win out of it, that’s good.”

Harrell is the first White Sox pitcher to win his Major League debut since Kip Wells in 1999. That did not get him an extended stay in the Majors, however, as he was optioned back down to Triple-A Charlotte about the same time he was being showered by his giddy teammates Mark Buehrle, John Danks, and Beckham.

“It’s not easy to go out there in front of a relatively big crowd and in a playoff race,” Beckham said. “That was a game we needed and the Twins look like they’re going to win again. We have to keep winning. He pitched great. There are a lot of butterflies and I thought he handled it well.”

With the Twins defeating Seattle by a 5-3 margin on Friday, Harrell’s performance kept the South Siders 1 1/2 games ahead in the American League Central. If the White Sox end one of the final games of the regular season with a champagne shower, the White Sox might be well served to think back to Harrell’s beer shower.

Something tells me that this kid’ll back in September. The nice part of his beer shower was when Beckham handed the kid a full frosty after he was soaked. So, as he was talking to Sarah Kustock on Comcast, listening to the cheers of the fans he got to have a nice cold beer. Not a bad day for the kid at all if you ask me.

CLICK HERE TO STREAK TO THE FORUMS

I started to write this several times. Now seems as good a time as any to get it off my chest.

Friday, July 30, 2010

To: Carlos Zambrano

re: Anger Management

Dear Mr. Zambrano:

More than a decade ago I entered a program for treating anger management. I had gotten to the point in my life where people would say something challenging like “hello” and I would feel an unquenchable desire to turn them into Silly Putty (TM). While I, like you, am a big man, it did occur to me that there was going to come a day when someone bigger, faster, stronger or just plain smarter would come along and end my days.

During my therapy sessions I learned that, according to my therapist’s personal experience and not based on scientific data, the majority of anger management cases were people who contained a deadly combination of narcissism and insecurity. While not sanctioned by the AMA, it nevertheless applied to me.

I, like you, had to write down each time I got angry. When I turned in my first book it looked like War and Peace as envisioned by serial killer. I knew then, before my therapist’s first comment, I was going to be involved in this for a while.

And I was.

One thing I did learn early on is that there is no “end result.” No cure. It is an ongoing process that will last the rest of my life. I will grant that it is one I have willingly embraced. The alternative is unthinkable to me now.

While I no longer attend sessions, I do have a number to call if things get to be too much. I haven’t used that number in years, but it is in my wallet next to my license just in case.

Another thing I learned early on is that people with anger management issues are just like drug addicts in the sense that they will lie or obscure the truth to make reality fit their own ends. It is never your fault. Not ever. Well, not until you grasp the fact that most of it is your fault and the stuff that isn’t shouldn’t have mattered to you anyway.

You have not grasped that fact.

I say this not as a licensed professional, just as someone who has been there and seen that.

Your text message to Derrek Lee (he had to call you to initiate conversation) shows that you are still wildly insecure. You had three options; (A = Best) deal with it like an adult and wait to see him personally; (B = Okay) call him and speak directly to the issue or; (C = Unacceptable) what you did.

As you can now see, your choice was not the best one available.

Your subsequent actions: the interview on ESPN and the, later, clarification interview with Carrie Muskat, show that you still need to be 100% in control of each situation. Since that is impossible in the real world, you will get angry again. Sooner rather than later if I’m any judge.

I tell you all this not to dishearten you, but to remind you that you have a long way to go. A couple of weeks filling in a book is not help, it’s just a good beginning. For it to have any meaningful effect you’ll need to embrace the ideology behind it. Just because you haven’t yet doesn’t mean you can’t.

It is my fondest hope that you will let those trying to help you actually help. Otherwise, you may find the life you will lead as a result to be far less rewarding than the one you want.

Sincerely yours,

Bill McCormick
a/k/a BigBadBill

Yep. I do feel better.

Anyway, today is the day he faces his team mates in Colorado. Since that will be behind closed doors, I would assume, I guess we’ll have to see how things play out in the days to come.

On the other side of town, we have a team with no anger management issues at all, just a crazy manager who keeps insisting that pitching and defense will win more games than a lumbering slugger from a bygone era. The Sox, on an 18-1 streak at home, seem hell bent on proving their skipper right. SCOTT MERKIN of MLB.com has the story on the latest win.

There’s precious little bad news in the White Sox world right now, with the team extending its home winning streak to 11 games courtesy a 9-5 victory over Seattle on Thursday night.

So, here’s the only bit of rain on the White Sox late-July parade. J.J. Putz, one of the free-agent additions brought in by general manager Ken Williams during the past offseason, had his franchise-record 27 straight scoreless appearances come to an end against the Mariners.

Considering the White Sox (57-44) cruised to the win and sit a season-best 13 games over .500, along with Putz really only focusing on the record when asked about it by the media, it stands as a negligible negative in the overall scheme of things.

Simply put, Ozzie Guillen’s crew is playing great baseball, and it’s a good thing they have been so unbeatable. Minnesota sits just 1 1/2 games behind the White Sox in the American League Central and upgraded its bullpen with the addition of Washington closer Matt Capps on Thursday.

“We’re playing well right now, but we have to play well right now. Minnesota is playing well, too,” said White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko, who homered for the fourth straight game and seventh straight 2010 home game against the Mariners. “We’re getting to the point in the season where it’s not really about the games we win or what our record is. It’s about games ahead and games behind.”

“Yeah. I mean it’s not like Minnesota is playing bad, they’re playing well right now,” said White Sox second baseman Gordon Beckham, whose two hits on Thursday raised his average to .245. “So we’ve got to win every game we possibly can and we’ve been playing well. It’s fun to win at home in front of your home crowd.”

Winning at home became so second-nature to the 28,483 in attendance at U.S. Cellular Field that this group was doing the wave in the seventh inning Thursday as Putz was getting touched up for two runs. There also was no visible sign of panic when starter Freddy Garcia (10-4) gave up single runs in the first and the third for a 2-0 deficit.

That disadvantage quickly turned into a 4-2 advantage when the White Sox put five straight baserunners on to start the third against David Pauley (0-3). Juan Pierre doubled home two and Omar Vizquel singled home another run during the rally.

From there, it was the long ball taking over for the South Siders.

Konerko tied his career high of consecutive games with a home run when he launched his 25th off Garrett Olson in the seventh. Carlos Quentin’s 20th followed off Olson, giving the White Sox 21 home runs in their last seven home games.

But it was Ramon Castro who set the tone early, going deep in the fourth and sixth innings, producing just his second career multi-home run effort. Castro equaled a career high with three hits and three runs scored, raising his average to .327, and giving Guillen pause for thought where increased playing time is concerned for the backup backstop.

“He’s making it harder for me,” Guillen said. “You know we have [three] lefties against Oakland [in the next series], and I might give A.J. [Pierzynski] another day and put Castro back in the lineup, using his bat. Right now, he swings the bat good, but I think Castro takes care of himself very well.”

“I’ve been in this situation before,” said Castro, who capably played the reserve role for both the Marlins and the Mets. “I just keep working in the cage, whatever. Every time they give me the opportunity, I’m going to try to do my best.”

Garcia wasn’t at his best at Thursday’s outset but limited Seattle’s damage. The right-hander retired nine straight at one point, before exiting after six innings with three runs allowed on seven hits and no walks. A postgame question about Garcia being worried Thursday’s first two innings would turn into his dreadful effort in Oakland last weekend caused the confident hurler to bristle in response.

“Why do I have to worry, man? I told you guys, if I have bad starts, that’s in the past,” said Garcia, who fanned three and threw 99 pitches. “I have to do my job tonight. I pitched six innings. I threw my pitches and I got out of the innings. I gave up three over six innings, not bad.”

This effort certainly was good enough to allow a quick White Sox comeback from their now powerful offense, leading to their 27th come-from-behind win this season.

“In this park or any park, you have to get ahead of the hitters,” said Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu, whose team finished 1-9 against the White Sox this season and lost all seven in Chicago. “When you fall behind, especially against a club that is as hot as this one, you run into trouble.”

“A lot of people worry about the home runs,” Guillen said. “We got people in the lineup who can hit home runs without hitting 70.”

So, all is well at U.S. Cellular, with Oakland coming to town for three games and the White Sox riding an 18-1 record over their last 19 home games and a 33-11 run over their last 44 overall. There is one more piece of somewhat cloudy news facing the White Sox.

Seattle and its 39-64 record now travels to Minneapolis for a weekend series, making White Sox success against the A’s all the more important to hold on to first place.

“Really, that’s all I look at,” Konerko said. “Just know if you picked up a game or stayed the same or lost a game in the column.”

Right now the Sox simply seem to find the right way to win. If they need a homer, they get it. If they need a runner moved over, they move him. Whatever crazy thing Ozzie asks for, they do. Without question. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Konerko try and steal home.I’m not sure I’d even be surprised if he succeeded.

As to the pic above, I just figured that a picture of my hairy chest would only make you angry. And there’s enough of that going around already.

CLICK HERE TO ENJOY THE CALM

Sometimes change is good, sometimes not so much so. Yesterday proved both versions of the axiom. PHIL ROGERS at the Tribune talks about how Derrek Lee avoided change by voiding a trade to the Angels. That move ensures that Lee will be a Cub through the end of this season, but there are no guarantees after that. At the Sun Times, RICK MORRISSEY notes that Kenny Williams seems insistent on making a change in the line up that neither the players nor the coaches want. I would add the voice of this pseudo-pundit to that choir. Do they need a pitcher? Yes. A monster bat that clogs the bases? No.

Memo to KW, Ted Lilly’s available.

Now, on to the yesterday’s games.

CARRIE MUSKAT of MLB.com watched the same game we did and wondered, just as we did, how the Cubs could make a pitcher with a 6.08 ERA look like Cy Young.

The Cubs have to be looking forward to playing the Rockies this weekend after dropping another series to a National League Central opponent.

Carlos Lee hit a pair of two-run homers to power the Astros to an 8-1 victory on Wednesday over the Cubs, who dropped to 19-30 against the Central, including a 4-8 record against Houston. They’re 3-9 against the Pirates.

“We treat every game the same as far as I’m concerned,” Cubs starter Randy Wells said. “I think it just comes down to scoring runs. I go out there and give up a three-spot and then we hit a wall. It comes down to scoring runs and pitching and trying to play good games.”

Wells (5-8) walked a season-high five batters and took the loss, serving up one of Lee’s homers. The Astros’ left fielder also connected off rookie Brian Schlitter with two outs in the seventh.

Derrek Lee and Alfonso Soriano were given the day off, so Tyler Colvin was inserted into the No. 3 spot in the order and Ryan Theriot was back in the leadoff spot. Theriot, Starlin Castro and Colvin were a combined 6-for-11. The only other hit by the Cubs in the game came with two outs in the ninth, when Koyie Hill reached on an infield single.

Theriot singled to start the game and moved up on an error by second baseman Anderson Hernandez. Colvin walked to load the bases, and Theriot scored on Aramis Ramirez’s sacrifice fly. But that was the only run off starter Bud Norris (3-7), who gave up four hits over six innings and struck out seven.

“We had chances early,” manager Lou Piniella said.

“In the first inning, [Norris] could have let that inning get away from him,” Astros manager Brad Mills said. “That’s one of the things that’s been a struggle for him to be able to stop it and he was able to do that.”

Wells escaped a jam in the first and again in the fourth. But he walked Lance Berkman to start the sixth, and Hunter Pence followed with an RBI double to tie the game. That ended Wells’ scoreless inning streak at 19 innings. Lee followed with his 13th home run off the left-field foul pole to go ahead, 3-1.

“It’s kind of deceiving,” Wells said of his outing. “I was able to make some pitches and get out of some innings.”

But the right-hander said he lost his “aggressiveness.” It also didn’t help to have baserunners ahead of Lee and Pence.

“I was able to make pitches, but I ran out of luck,” Wells said. “I wasn’t aggressive with Berkman, and Lee made me pay. I thought I threw a pretty good pitch, but it stayed in there and stayed fair. It’s one of those days you’re not happy about, but you have to regroup and get them next time.”

Wells entered the game with a 1.26 ERA in his last four starts, giving up four earned runs in 28 2/3 innings. On Wednesday, he was charged with three runs on five hits over 5 2/3 innings.

“The name of the game is trying to be consistent,” Wells said. “You have a rocky first inning, then a good second inning, then a rocky fourth inning. I didn’t have that cruise-control kind of game.

“I felt I had good stuff in the ‘pen and then I walk a guy. It’s no secret that when I have success it’s throwing strikes and working fast and getting the ball on the ground. When you’re starting everybody 2-0 [in the count], it’s just a matter of time before it unravels.”

After Lee’s second homer in the seventh, the Astros added three more in the eighth off Bob Howry. He’s now given up 12 earned runs over 8 2/3 innings in July on 19 hits and three walks. The Cubs’ bullpen could use a day off Thursday.

“We’re pretty well spent,” Piniella said.

The ‘pen will get a fresh arm with the return of Carlos Zambrano, expected to be activated from the restricted list. It’ll be his first chance to talk to the team since his dugout tirade on June 25.

“We’re looking forward to the apology,” Chicago’s Derrek Lee said. “That’s what needs to happen. We also need him on the field. We know what he’s capable of. It will be good to see ‘Z’ back.”

Yes, that would be the same Carlos Zambrano who needed almost 40 pitches to get out of an inning in 3A last night. Even so, with Milwaukee’s recent struggles, the Cubs remain just a game and a half out of third place and Big Star still has his credit card sitting by the phone so he can get his playoff tickets (limit four per caller) as soon as they become available.

On the Southside, the Sox took their same old boring 16-1 recent home record to the field and, after a minor bump in the road, came back to make it 17-1. Before the streak the Sox were 13-18 at home, so this is change for the better. MLB.com’s LOUIE HORVATH notes the Sox scored every way possible to get this win, all without a left handed Clydesdale in the lineup.

The White Sox came back from an early deficit to beat the Seattle Mariners, 6-5, on Wednesday, marking their 10th consecutive win at U.S. Cellular Field.

Facing an early 5-1 deficit after the Mariners’ half of the second inning, the White Sox used three home runs to get back even, and then used a little “small ball” to push them over the top.

Juan Pierre led off the bottom of the seventh with a walk. On the first pitch of the next at-bat, Pierre stole second. He moved to third on Alexei Ramirez’s sacrifice bunt, and then scored when Alex Rios chopped a ball through a drawn-in infield.

“It was a big game for us today. Huge,” White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. “We came back right away, twice. Kept going. Offensively we did a lot of great things today. We hit a couple home runs to keep close, tied the game up and JP got on base, stole second, [we] bunt the guy over and [get a] base hit. We did a lot of great things as a team to win this game today. I think as a team, we played very, very well today.”

The Mariners jumped on White Sox starter Mark Buehrle early, but Buehrle settled down and did not give up another run for his next three innings.

“To go out there and be down like we were tonight, I don’t feel like anyone ever panicked,” Gordon Beckham said. “We stayed focused, went out there and won the game.”

That gave the White Sox just enough time to mount a comeback. They started by scoring two runs in the bottom of the second, when Beckham hit a two-run home run off Mariners started Jason Vargas.

“When you get runs, you have to protect them because these guys can really hit in this ballpark,” Vargas said.

The South Siders tied the score in the bottom of the fifth when Ramirez and Paul Konerko both slugged almost identical solo home runs down the left-field line.

Once Pierre scored his run to put the White Sox ahead, the question on everyone’s mind was, ‘Who is going to close this game out?’ Incumbent closer Bobby Jenks had seemed to be deposed of his closer’s role after two blown saves during the recent road trip.

But as the innings kept going by, all the possible closers entered: Sergio Santos, Matt Thornton and J.J. Putz. After the final out in the top of the eighth, Jenks started loosening up in the White Sox bullpen.

Looking back from the end of the season, the real story of the game might just be Jenks’ scoreless ninth inning. Jenks shook off any doubt and delivered three strikeouts to close the game in dominating fashion, like the Jenks of old.

Something else reminded the locker room crowd of the old Jenks.

“Just like when one of you guys thought it was low, I’m still not talking about velocity,” he said.

With that, Jenks clearly had his job as closer back—not that he’d ever lost it.

“We’re behind him 100 percent, not because he saved this game today,” Guillen said. “The reason he was there is because I have confidence in him. From the day he blew the save, I don’t think we had another save situation until today. We know when Bobby’s right. We know when Bobby can do what he can do.”

The win will certainly help the White Sox forget a rough start from Buehrle, who gave up five earned runs and nine hits in five innings of work.

“We won the game, that’s all that matters,” Buehrle said. “But personally it was frustrating going out there and only going five innings. I got us into a hole early and we battled back, so obviously you never want to go out there and give less than six or seven innings, but the bullpen picked me up and our offense picked us up.”

Buehrle was in trouble when Mariners second baseman Chone Figgins hit his first home run of the season deep into the left-field seats in the second inning to make it 5-1. After that swing, Buehrle allowed three hits and no runs over 3 1/3 innings.

“He went out there and was fighting,” Guillen said. “Buehrle didn’t have his best stuff today, but he went out and battled and kept us in the game and the bullpen did the rest.”

The bullpen came in and also held the Mariners at bay.

“The whole game, I felt like we were going to win that game,” Beckham said. “That’s the way it’s been going for us, we’re playing well, and we’ve just got to ride it as long as we can.”

The Sox play their final game against Seattle today and then Seattle heads off to get strapped down in front of the buzz saw known as the Minnesota Twins. I’d feel sorry for them except I have every intention of cheering for them during that series. The Sox get the A’s for the weekend series so now would be a very good time for them to put some distance between them and the piranhas.

In non-baseball news, the Bears began arriving at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais to begin training camp tomorrow. They are going to try and show how different they are from their last 3 years by trotting out most of the same puzzle pieces they had before, they’re just rearranged. Since the defense is still going to be a “Cover-2” based endeavor and the offense is going to be predicated on Jay Cutler showing maturity and patience, lots of fans are wondering if competitive ice dancing will be on the tube this fall.

Maybe tournament level curling?

CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE FUN!

If you’re a Cubs fan and, in a moment of abject despair, you take a goat into your front yard and commence booty banging it and the Cubs win that day, you know as well as I that you will do it again the next day. Disturbed neighbors and close-minded police be damned. You may apologize to the billy/nanny (depending on your preferences), but if that’s what’s required for the Cubs to go on a 10 or 15 game win streak, so be it. We’re talking about the fate of your team here.

Don’t worry, I’m not judging you. I’m just as guilty. Albeit sans farm animals.

I truly believed that, if I didn’t catch at least 3 innings of a Sox game at my local watering hole, the team was doomed. Last night put that fallacy to bed once and for all. I was unable to get there until the 7th inning. By then the Sox were doing just fine without me. Don’t get me wrong, I still want Jerry Reinsdorf to pick up a bar tab or two, but my ability to demand same has been weakened.

Yesterday, Ted Lilly of the Cubs might have delivered you the goat, although I doubt he’ll be buying me any beer. He, once again, had a shut out going and he, once again, lost. MLB.com’s CARRIE MUSKAT wonders how Lilly manages not to flay Gatorade containers into origami.

Ted Lilly and Lou Piniella shared a cab ride from their downtown Houston hotel to Minute Maid Park on Tuesday. The two have been together with the Cubs for the same period of time, both joining the team in 2007. They have a special relationship.

Piniella is retiring at the end of the season, but whether he’ll have Lilly around for the final two months may not be known until Saturday’s Trade Deadline. Lilly did not get a decision in the Cubs’ 6-1 loss to the Astros on Tuesday. The question now is when—and for whom—Lilly’s next start will be.

“He wants to stay here, but he understands,” Piniella said of Lilly, rumored to be sought after by pitching-needy teams still in the playoff race. “He’s been a huge part of my four years. He’s a good young man. He’s a professional, and I’ve got nothing but admiration for him.”

Was this Lilly’s last start for the Cubs?

“Maybe,” the lefty said. “That’s what I’ve been hearing and reading. We’ll see.”

Rookie Andrew Cashner was rocked for six runs in the seventh inning, including four on Lance Berkman’s fifth career grand slam, and Brett Myers threw a four-hit complete game to give Houston the win.

Lilly didn’t overpower the Astros, as the Minute Maid radar gun rarely topped 90 mph on his pitches. The lefty struck out eight, scattered five hits, and walked three over 5 2/3 innings.

“[Lilly’s] been a model of consistency,” Piniella said. “He gives you a very reasonable chance of winning a baseball game when he goes out there.”

Sounds like a sales pitch. Once again, the Cubs failed to give Lilly any margin for error. He has gotten the least amount of run support in the Major Leagues, part of the reason for his 3-8 record. In his past three starts, he’s given up four earned runs over 20 innings for a 1.80 ERA. It’s been difficult for him to avoid all the trade talk and rumors.

“Sometimes things like that can help you, sometimes they can hurt you, sometimes they’re irrelevant,” Lilly said.

“I’d like to think that, of those three, they’re irrelevant. You hear about it, you read about it, you hear people talk about it, you guys ask me questions. There’s no doubt I’ve thought about it. Again, that’s one of those things you have to deal with, things in this game that don’t necessarily have anything to do with locating the fastball.”

Piniella has Lilly scheduled to start Monday in the series opener against the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field.

“Let’s not talk about [the possibility of Lilly leaving] until we get some word,” Piniella said. “Let’s hope we’ll have him out there at Wrigley for us.”

Myers (8-6) struck out a career-high 12 batters in his 10th career complete game. He retired the first nine batters he faced before Tyler Colvin doubled to lead off the fourth. Colvin also led off the ninth with his 16th home run. That was about it for the offense.

“He’s one of those guys who’s kind of a throwback,” Berkman said of Myers. “He expects to throw 120 pitches every time out. That’s his mentality and part of what makes him really good. It’s his game, and he doesn’t want to come out of the game, and he really doesn’t care how many pitches he’s got. I’m glad to see him be able to finish that.”

He almost didn’t. Cashner (1-4) got ahead of Humberto Quintero, 0-2, to start the seventh but hit him. That allowed the Astros to lift Quintero for pinch-runner Jason Bourgeois, who stole second and moved up on Myers’ sacrifice. If Cashner gets Quintero out, Myers is probably lifted for a pinch-hitter. Instead, Michael Bourn was intentionally walked and Bourgeois scampered home on a safety squeeze by Angel Sanchez. Cashner had retrieved the ball and tried to flip it to catcher Koyie Hill, but it was too late.

“It was a tough inning for Cashner,” Piniella said. “On the squeeze play, you just concede the run and get the out and get the heck out of the inning. Those are things you learn as a young pitcher.”

“It was a good bunt,” Cashner said. “I thought I had a chance. I went and looked at it [on video], and I see I didn’t have much of a chance and should’ve made the play at first.”

Hunter Pence followed with an RBI single to make it 2-0. Carlos Lee walked and Jeff Keppinger was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Berkman, who drove a 2-0 pitch from Cashner to center for the grand slam. The Cubs’ bullpen was short-handed because of overwork, and it was Cashner’s inning.

“That was a tough at-bat,” Cashner said of Berkman. “The first pitch was kind of close and he made a good swing. I could’ve pitched him a little different right there. I put myself in a jam. It is what it is.”

It’s part of the growing pains for the rookie right-hander, who got a pep talk from Lilly. That’s one more reason why Piniella and the Cubs players would hate to lose the lefty.

“I just hope [Cashner] doesn’t worry about it too much and his focus stays the same,” Lilly said. “The game of baseball is crazy. It can be easy to doubt yourself at times. Hopefully he doesn’t. He’s got great makeup, and clearly he has a special arm and a very good, sound delivery to go along with it.”

“He’s a great guy,” Cashner said of Lilly. “I wanted nothing more than to keep the score at zero when I left the game for Ted. It didn’t happen.”

The rookie would like another chance to do so.

I actually felt sorry for Cashner. The one that got away just opened the floodgates. Until his miscue there was a real chance of both teams taking shut outs for the full 9 innings. But, that’s okay. Our very own Big Star was seen heading to a petting zoo this morning so I’m sure the Cubs will turn this around quickly.

Way to take one for the team there big guy.

On the Southside, as I mentioned above, the Sox were clinging to an 11-0 lead in the 7th when I was finally able to catch the game. I also discovered yesterday that my sense of humor doesn’t always translate well into Spanish. Luckily for me I remained unbruised and, about half an hour later, I heard the young lady (whom I had not meant to insult) suddenly say “OOOHHHH, I get it now!” and all was forgiven.

As LOUIE HORVATH of MLB.com reports, Gavin Floyd has also forgiven the Sox for not scoring any runs when he pitches.

The way Gavin Floyd has been pitching lately, one run probably could have sufficed on Tuesday at U.S. Cellular Field. But the White Sox offense gave him 11 anyway, and they won going away, 11-0, over the Mariners for their ninth straight win at home.

Floyd (6-8) continued his torrid stretch, holding the Mariners scoreless in his seven innings on the mound, collecting six strikeouts and scattering five hits.

In his last 10 starts, Floyd has given up just eight earned runs over 69 1/3 innings, going 4-2. The Mariners need no refresher, though, as they have seen his last 14 scoreless innings.

“I feel like I’m going out there and having conviction with every pitch and not concerned with the results,” Floyd said. “I just go out there and make a pitch and whatever happens, happens.”

Over those 10 starts, Floyd has not given up a single home run, nor has he given up more than two earned runs in a single start.

“I don’t remember any [stretch] better,” White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. “He’s throwing the ball well. That’s one of the reasons we got him out of there in the seventh. We don’t want to overuse him for no reason. The way we go, we try to keep the guys as fresh as we can until the end of the season so they still have some bullets left.”

Most of the reason to save Floyd on this particular evening came when the White Sox offense smashed Mariners starter Ryan Rowland-Smith for seven runs in the first two innings.

“It’s never easy on a manager to leave a guy out there,” Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said. “He gave us five innings. But giving up seven early kind of forces you to either go to your bullpen and decimate it at that point or you’ve got to leave him out there. It’s not an easy situation for him, also.”

By the time Rowland-Smith left the game after pitching five innings, the White Sox had piled on four more runs, giving Rowland-Smith a franchise-record 11 runs allowed.

The most impressive aspect of the output was how little the White Sox wasted—despite getting 12 hits and two walks, the team left only two runners on base.

Part of that could be attributed to the bottom of the order, as they more than carried their weight on Tuesday—of the team’s 11 runs, seven of them were driven in by players batting sixth or lower.

The opening salvo came just two batters into the game, when Alexei Ramirez singled home Juan Pierre, who had stolen second base.

In the next inning, Ramirez hit a two-run homer. When White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko added a solo home run later in the inning, the rout was on. Andruw Jones also slugged a three-run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Ramirez has been having a renaissance of late, as he is batting .367 in his last 29 games. Part of his turnaround can be attributed to the warmer weather that is making U.S. Cellular Field play smaller, but also making him more comfortable.

“I’m working every day and seeing more consistency and I know the pitchers,” Ramirez said through translator Ozzie Guillen Jr. “But the weather is a big factor. The weather is just like it is in Cuba. For some reason, and I don’t know why, I feel really comfortable hitting in really warm weather. That’s a big part of it.”

“I think that’s the potential we know we can get there,” Guillen said. “A combination of an unbelievable shortstop and put his bat in the same group at the same time. I think that’s something. We all know he can do that. The thing was how long will it take for him to get there. I’m proud of him, the way he plays shortstop. I really am.”

The win marks the 16th for the White Sox in their last 17 home games, as playing in Chicago has been very beneficial of late.

“I think we play very well here,” Floyd said. “We’re comfortable, we know the field very well and we have the team that fits this field quite well. It’s nice to come back here after a long trip and get back on our feet.”

With the Twins also winning big, the White Sox continue to hold onto a one-game AL Central lead. Even with the uncertainty of Saturday’s non-waiver Trade Deadline looming, all the White Sox players are worrying about is winning and holding onto the division lead.

“The team is inspired,” Ramirez said. “The goal is to keep winning every day, and that’s what everyone has on their minds.”

Got their minds on their money and their money on their minds.

Sorry, I couldn’t help myself there.

Now that the Sox look like the team we were promised in Spring Training, more and more fans are coming in off those ledges and discovering the summertime joys of a well made gin and juice. They are also enjoying baseball again. Granted, without a Capra Hircus on their lawn.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE ONE FOR YOUR FAVORITE TEAM

While we are not advocating that you start your day with the legendary dish of FISH HEADS, there is still an edible theme to today’s blog. And, thanks to ELLIOTT HARRIS, there’s a baseball theme to today’s ruminations on gluttony.

TUESDAY TIDBITS: The Cell goes gluten-free
The White Sox are making some concessions this season. Off the field. To fans at U.S. Cellular Field in search of gluten-free fare to eat and/or drink.

The team said concession stands have been updated to provide gluten-free items. Sections 110 and 522: Triple Play Carvery Stand and All-Star Stand—fresh carved roast beef, corned beef or roasted turkey on gluten-free multigrain bread; gluten-free chocolate chip cookies. Sections 105 and 544: Comiskey Dog—hot dog on gluten-free bun. Sections 122, 152 and 523: TexMex—nachos with choice of beef barbacoa, pork barbacoa or chicken carnita as topping. Sections 144 and 538: Winning Ugly is Sweet Stand and All-Star Stand—vanilla or chocolate soft-serve ice cream. Sections 109, 157 and 531: Beers of the World—Bard’s Tale gluten-free beer.

TASTEFULLY DONE: A Cubs recipe for success
As distasteful as the season has been to many Cubs fans, there is something new to whet their appetites.

It’s the Chicago Cubs Cookbook: All-Star Recipes From Your Favorite Players.

Edited by Carrie Muskat of cubs.com, the book benefits the Ryan and Jenny Dempster Family Foundation. Sales at Wrigley Field over the weekend should have benefitted from a prime concourse location just beyond the ballpark’s entrance.

In addition to recipes from players, the cookbook also has recipes from some of the city’s top restaurants.

Among the cookbook entries is one from manager Lou Piniella for chicken salad. Something says there’s a tasteless punch line in there somewhere, but you’ll have to provide it.

Despite her duties in creating and promoting the cookbook, MLB.com’s CARRIE MUSKAT takes a look at Carlos Silva - who clearly never met a meal he didn’t like. In fact his doctor told him to quit making intimate meals for four unless he has three guests.

It’s been more than a year since Ryan Theriot’s last home run. It just seems that long between wins for Carlos Silva.

Theriot hit his first home run in 700 at-bats, a solo shot, and Geovany Soto added a two-run double to back Silva and lift the Cubs to a 5-2 victory Monday night over the Astros.

Silva (10-4) reached double-digit victories for the first time since 2007, when he won 13 games with the Twins, and has a chance at matching his personal high of 14. What if you had told manager Lou Piniella that he’d get 10 wins from Silva, acquired from the Mariners for Milton Bradley?

“We would’ve been very pleased,” Piniella said. “When [general manager] Jim [Hendry] made that deal with Seattle, if he could’ve written a ‘10’ by Carlos, he would’ve been very pleased.

“Now he has a chance to put a few more on the board,” Piniella said. “He’s done a real nice job here. He’s a professional and he’s throwing more pitches because he’s getting deeper in counts. What is he, 10-4? I think Jim would’ve done cartwheels.”

The right-hander began his first season with the Cubs 8-0, but he couldn’t get past the second inning in his last two starts. He was given an extra day to work on the side with pitching coach Larry Rothschild, who got the right-hander to tweak his mechanics and have a more compact delivery. It worked.

“What an improvement over his last start,” Piniella said.

That last start also was against the Astros, when Silva gave up five runs on seven hits in one inning. On Monday, Silva held Houston to one run on five hits over five innings, and the run came in the first on Lance Berkman’s RBI single.

“He kept mixing his pitches,” Cubs catcher Geovany Soto said. “We tried to mix pitches up and keep them guessing. With this team, they come out swinging and you have to do a little twitch here and there.”

Silva isn’t counting his wins yet. The season isn’t over.

“With this offense we have and the pitching staff we have, we can do some damage,” Silva said. “I was a little sad—right when the team was playing so good, I had these two bad games.”

Silva wasn’t concerned about his two previous starts.

“I had a bad year last year, and this year I’m having a pretty good year so far,” he said. “If you don’t learn from those [bad games]—I’m a guy who trusts God. If I’m going to get frustrated over the last two games, if those two are going to take me out of the year I’m having, then I’m very poor [mentally].

“I’m not concerned at all. We’re human and have bad games. The only thing I can do is keep working.”

The Cubs now are 19-28 against National League Central teams, including a 4-6 mark against the Astros, and have won eight of their last 13 games.

Soto got things started when he hit a two-run double in the second off Wesley Wright (0-1), driving in Marlon Byrd, who had walked, and Alfonso Soriano, who doubled. The Cubs added on in the third, as Derrek Lee doubled and moved up on Aramis Ramirez’s single. Lee scored on Byrd’s fielder’s choice, forcing Ramirez at second, and Soriano followed with an RBI double.

“I was happy with the way I competed,” Wright said. “They have a solid lineup over there, one through eight. More than anything, I was impressed with how they hit with runners in scoring position. They took advantage of it all night long, and when they do that, it’s going to be tough to beat them.”

The Cubs may be a man short. Soto had to leave the game after six innings with a bruised left foot, injured when he fouled a pitch off it in the third. His status was day-to-day.

Theriot connected on a 1-2 pitch from Nelson Figueroa, who started the sixth, for his first home run since June 29, 2009, when he delivered against Pittsburgh’s Zach Duke. The infielder now has 15 career homers, and his homerless stretch was the longest active streak in the Major Leagues.

Theriot’s teammates gave him the silent treatment when he got back into the dugout.

“I knew it was coming when I was coming around third base,” Theriot said. “It’s not funny. I’m going to initiate the silent treatment for every homer from here on out.”

Maybe his ball got a boost from a jet stream?

“The wind was blowing out here, and I was able to get it up in the wind,” he said.

Yes, the roof was closed Monday at Minute Maid Park.

Angel Sanchez singled with two outs in the Astros’ seventh off Justin Berg, and moved up because of some confusion by the Cubs. Berkman hit the ball to Lee, and the first baseman looked at second, but rookie Starlin Castro wasn’t covering, so Lee threw to Berg at first but too late. Everyone was safe, and Hunter Pence followed with an RBI single.

“These are the things [Castro] has got to learn,” Piniella said of the 20-year-old. “It should be an easy play for him, because Berkman is up and he’s playing him up the middle. The ball Derrek catches, his momentum is going to second base. He makes a little throw to second and the shortstop covers and the inning is over.

“Those are growing pains. [Infield coach Alan Trammell] is earning his money.”

Yes he is, but so are those rookies. The Cubs are now 7-4 since the break and showing signs of life. Is it too little too late? Who knows? But if they can start feasting on the competition like they have been recently then Big Star will gladly provide them with a buffet in the post season.

On the Southside, MLB.com’s LOUIE HORVATH has all the delicious news.

Quick side note; I know 4 guys named Louie. Each and everyone of them can find a great deli anyplace, any time. In fact, I was stuck in New Mexico one night with a Louie. One hour after we found a hotel he’d found kosher corned beef sandwiches, with kosher dills on the side. As far as the eye could see were nothing but Mexican restaurants and a Burger King, yet we noshed like we were in a Hell’s Kitchen deli at noon.

Okay, back to baseball.

The White Sox beat the Mariners, 6-1, at U.S. Cellular Field on Monday, and have now won 15 of their past 16 at home.

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen has an interesting explanation for their recent success at U.S. Cellular Field.

“Maybe we cheat,” said Guillen, drawing laughter from the media. “You never know. I don’t know, man. This is a very, very good ballpark to hit, and a very comfortable park to pitch.”

No opposing pitcher seems very comfortable when he steps on the mound lately, not even Mariners ace Felix Hernandez. The same man who held the White Sox scoreless through eight innings just five days prior at Safeco Field was buried this time around underneath an avalanche of timely White Sox hits.

The third inning featured four singles that led to two runs, largely because of Alexei Ramirez’s two-out steal of second. From there, Juan Pierre singled him in and advanced to second when Mariners center fielder Franklin Gutierrez threw home in an attempt to nail Ramirez. Pierre scored on Omar Vizquel’s single in the next at-bat.

“I think the stolen base that we scored with two outs, that was huge,” Guillen said. “That gives us the lead, then after that John Danks took it over.”

“We’ve got a very dynamic team,” Pierre said. “We can score with the little ball, so to speak, with the singles, bunting, stealing, hit and running. And we have guys in the lineup with [Carlos] Quentin, [Paul] Konerko, [Alex] Rios that can hit the ball out. We’re well balanced and we believe in the 25 guys in here.”

The power part of Pierre’s equation came in the sixth, when Konerko hit a towering fly ball that stayed just fair and carried into the White Sox bullpen.

“You could see Felix, when PK hit that home run—we’re not in Safeco Field,” Guillen said. “He looked very surprised when that ball left the ballpark and how far it went.”

That output was more than enough cushion for Danks, who went eight innings, giving up six hits and one earned run.

“Danks was awfully good,” Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said. “That’s two outings in a row he has pitched extremely well against us. He’s throwing strikes, painting both sides of the plate and kept a lot of our hitters off balance.”

Danks’ mastery was not in how many people he struck out (two), but rather in how many batters he induced outs from. Only three Mariners reached second base all game, and one was on a Michael Saunders double in the third inning. Saunders was also the only run to score for the Mariners.

“It’s [all] about consistency,” Guillen said. “He’s been doing it. I think this kid’s got enough stuff. He’s got a huge heart. This kid, every time he’s out there, he fights every pitch. Even when he doesn’t have the best stuff, he’s out there fighting to give you a good, good effort. That’s good enough.”

Danks has been superb of late, going 7-2 with a 2.69 ERA over his past nine starts. With his ERA hovering at 3.23 for the season, it is not a stretch to think Danks might soon be entering into the Cy Young conversation if his current success holds.

“I’m just trying to win every ballgame and give us a chance to win,” Danks said. “Obviously it’s nice to look at the numbers and realize I’ve had some good success, but this game will catch up to you trying to look ahead. Just going out there and trying to make pitches. Fortunately guys were making plays behind me.”

Besting pitchers like Hernandez will only help Danks’ candidacy.

“You have to limit [runs when facing Hernandez] for sure,” Danks said. “He’s going to be pretty good. This was probably one of the worst games he’s had all year and he was still pretty darn good. So we knew we had to pitch well, and like I said, fortunately we were able to do that.”

Hernandez’s four earned runs on the evening are the fourth most he’s given up in 22 starts this season, and much of it is attributable to the White Sox opportunistic offense.

“We got good at-bats,” Guillen said. “Even the guys that went out, they were fighting. ... We knew we were going to face a pretty good one, but our offense was lights-out every at-bat.”

The Twins also won on Monday, 19-1, in Kansas City, so the White Sox (54-44) remain a single game in front of Minnesota in the American League Central. These White Sox are not worried about the prospect of a close race.

“From the outside looking in for all those years, it always seemed like they played 163 games a couple times here [in the AL Central],” Pierre said. “I don’t expect any difference. It’s going to be a dogfight, but as long as you take care of your business, if we take care of our business, we’ll be there at the end.”

It can be a dogfight as long as the Sox don’t turn into dog food.

Anyway, in summation, ORDER THE CUB’S COOKBOOK; the recipes are great and the money goes to a good cause. If you’re going to eat at the old ball park, get ye to the Cell. The food there has always been good and now is just getting better.

In NL Central division news, with the Brew Crew pulling out a 3-2 win over Cincy, they are now a game and a half ahead of the Cubs for third place. But, with the Cards idle, both teams pulled a half game closer to first.

How’s that for positive spin?

In AL Central division news, with the Twins hanging on to squeak out a 19-1 win over KC, they stay just one game behind the first place Sox. The Tigers got shut out (one walk shy of a perfect game) by the Rays. That was the first time in the Rays’ history that they’ve thrown one, so they were a little stoked. The cuddly Tiggers are now all alone in 3rd place.

CLICK HERE TO DINE WITH US

Is the glass half empty? Half full? Is there a glass at all or is the water just floating above the table? These and other stunning questions will be completely ignored in today’s blog.

Instead I thought I’d take a look at the current perceptions surrounding Chicago’s two baseball teams. The 3rd place Cubs took a series from the 1st place Cardinals and fans are clamoring for playoff tickets. The 1st place Sox lost a series to the 3rd place A’s and fans are clamoring to have the team dismantled and the current roster filled with rent-a-players to be named later.

On the Northside, CARRIE MUSKAT of MLB.com, tries to pour a small dose of reality on the burgeoning embers of fans’ fervent fires.

If the Cubs are going to get back in the race in the National League Central, they will have to play .700 ball the rest of the way, pitcher Ryan Dempster said.

And losing the way they did Sunday in a 4-3, 11-inning loss to the first-place St. Louis Cardinals isn’t going to help.

Felipe Lopez hit a solo homer with two outs in the 11th to boost the Cardinals back into first in the National League Central and avoid a sweep in front of 41,406 blue- and red-clad fans, the largest crowd at Wrigley Field this season.

Lopez connected on a 3-2 pitch from Brian Schlitter (0-1), one of four rookies in the Cubs’ bullpen.

“You put runs on the board and you don’t worry about [the rookies],” Cubs manager Lou Piniella said.

The Cubs have not topped .500 this season. Playing .700 is tough to imagine.

“You’ve got to keep fighting and trying to win as many games as possible,” said Dempster, lifted after seven innings. “We won a series again. That’s what you have to do—you have to play .700 baseball.”

“It’s been done,” Chicago center fielder Marlon Byrd said, “and that’s what we plan on doing. We have a very positive team. That’s how I look at it. We just plan on going out and winning.”

Both teams had chances. The Cardinals loaded the bases with one out in the 10th against Schlitter and the Cubs got a break when Matt Holliday hesitated on Skip Schumaker’s single, thinking Byrd would catch the ball. Byrd had thrown Schumaker out at home in the sixth.

Chicago loaded the bases in the 10th, taking advantage of an error by Schumaker, but Byrd was called out on strikes. The Cubs finished the homestand, 6-4.

“It’s not encouraging,” Byrd said. “I wanted to win this game tonight. We had our chances. I had a good shot and I didn’t get the job done.”

“We’re winning with more consistency,” Piniella said. “The way I look at this homestand here, I thought we should’ve been 9-1 if we hit a little bit. The games we hit in, we won and the games we didn’t, we lost.”

St. Louis took a 2-0 lead in the second on RBI singles by Schumaker and Brendan Ryan. Derrek Lee doubled to lead off the Cubs’ fourth and scored one out later on Byrd’s single to close to 2-1.

Geovany Soto drew a walk to open the Chicago fifth, although Chris Carpenter wasn’t happy with home-plate umpire Bob Davidson’s call, and then scored on Ryan Theriot’s triple past a diving Jay in center. Two outs later, rookie Starlin Castro singled to score Theriot.

But Albert Pujols tied the game at 3 with a leadoff homer in the Cardinals sixth, his 23rd, off a 3-1 pitch from Dempster.

“What he does is, the offense has been struggling, so he’s expanded his strike zone,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said of Pujols. “If he was thinking about himself, he’d maybe be hitting 20 points higher, but he wouldn’t have all the production. He is such a great, winning player.”

Two outs later, Schumaker doubled and Yadier Molina was intentionally walked so Dempster could face Carpenter. The pitcher singled to center, but Byrd threw Schumaker out at the plate to end the inning.

“The guys gave me a lead and unfortunately I handed it right back,” Dempster said.

Castro made a run-saving rundown in the first, when he gunned down Ryan Ludwick at home. That and Byrd’s play were quality web gems.

“That’s the kind of stuff that wins you ballgames,” Dempster said of the two plays. “That was a huge throw by Marlon, especially with two out and the guy’s going on contact and he makes the great throw. Castro made an unbelievable play. If you look at the replay he’s running full sprint toward first. It shows you the athleticism and what a special player he’ll be.”

But it wasn’t enough.

“You want [a sweep]—we were in position to do it,” Piniella said. “We won a series, but when you’re behind like we are, it would’ve been much nicer to win all three.”

On the plus side, Lou’s right. If the Cubs had hit better they would be 9-1 after the break instead of 6-4. Unfortunately, Dempster’s right too. If the Cubs are going to make a legitimate run at the playoffs they’ll need to play .700 ball the rest of the way. At minimum.

Despite Dempster, one young, female, fan knows where her beliefs lie.

Yes, that is a very nice point of view, isn’t it?

On the Southside, I keep hearing stuff like; had Jenks not melted down for two games and Freddy Garcia not fell apart for one and had they not been forced to ride Hudson deeper into a game than they should, then they’d be 8-2 after the break instead of 4-6. Yes, and if horses had wings we’d all be riding unicorns.

MLB.com’s other rising star, ALEX ESPINOZA, manages to stay off the ledge and look at the game.

As the White Sox road trip came to an end on Sunday, it did so with a lineup that provided too little, too late.

After falling behind the A’s early, a late rally proved futile in a 6-4 loss, as the South Siders’ record fell to 4-6 on the 10-game road swing.

Rookie right-hander Dan Hudson took to the mound on Sunday and struggled with his control all afternoon, putting the White Sox in a tough position to come back from the early deficit. Hudson, who was making his third start since filling in for the injured Jake Peavy, allowed five earned runs on six hits and four walks over five innings.

“Today showed it’s a lot more difficult to pitch and a lot easier to hit when you’re behind 2-0, 3-1 every hitter,” Hudson said. “It seemed like I couldn’t throw a strike unless I was 2-0 on everybody. It’s just really frustrating because I’m better than that—I know I’m better than that.”

Hudson said he felt fine in the bullpen before the game, but he knew it wasn’t his day once the contest started. According to manager Ozzie Guillen, Hudson was plagued with ineffective offspeed stuff.

“The secondary pitches got to be better,” Guillen said. “Sliders and changeups—they have to be more consistent. You’re not going to survive in the big leagues with just one pitch. You got to throw a secondary pitch for a strike and be more consistent.”

Ultimately, Hudson’s fatal inning was the second frame, when he served up a pair of two-out, two-run singles. After giving up a leadoff walk to Mark Ellis and a single to Matt Watson, Hudson walked Coco Crisp to load the bases.

Daric Barton then delivered a single into right field to score Ellis and Watson on an 0-2 pitch, before Kurt Suzuki blooped one to center in between three White Sox to extend Oakland’s lead to 4-1.

“I was probably about six inches away from getting out of that second inning,” Hudson said. “I threw some 0-2 pitches that were too good to hit that inning, and after that I couldn’t really find the strike zone at all.”

Alexei Ramirez scored the game’s initial run in the first inning on a double by Paul Konerko down the right-field line. After that, though, the White Sox lineup went largely silent until a binge of singles in the seventh.

A’s starter Dallas Braden went 6 1/3 innings, allowing three earned runs on five hits and two walks while striking out five. According to Suzuki, Braden’s sinker was especially effective on Sunday and the 26-year-old southpaw did a good job of mixing up speeds. Braden also secured his first win in 10 tries since throwing baseball’s 19th perfect game on May 9.

“I can quit answering calls from the Oakland Zoo looking for the monkey on my back,” Braden said.

Still, Guillen didn’t sound like he was overly impressed with Braden after his outing on Sunday.

“He’s a character,” Guillen said. “Kooky son of a gun. That’s all I can say. I don’t see anything special—he beat us. He beat us because he threw strikes, changed speeds and he gave his team a good chance to win.

“But he’s only another guy on the mound. I don’t see anything special. Congratulations about the perfect game. If Mark Buehrle can throw a perfect game, everybody can.”

The White Sox finally chased Braden from the mound in the seventh after two of the three batters he faced hit singles. After Gordon Beckham struck out for the second out of the inning, a trio of White Sox—Juan Pierre, Ramirez and Alex Rios—successively delivered RBI singles to make the score 6-4.

“We put the game back in a position to make it a close game,” Guillen said. “I’m not excited or happy about it, I thought we were going to play a little bit better, but it’s a long road trip and hopefully we can go home and play better than we did on this road trip.”

Oakland scored its sixth run in unorthodox fashion, as Crisp scored all the way from first after an errant pickoff throw from reliever Erick Threets.

Speaking of relievers, Bobby Jenks made his first appearance since being told to “regroup” following his blown save and loss in Seattle on Wednesday. Jenks struck out one batter as he threw a scoreless eighth inning and allowed a single to A’s reserve Matt Carson, who eventually stole second and reached third on a passed ball before being stranded.

“I had the same mindset as if we were up one to three runs,” Jenks said. “I take a situation like that and you got to turn it into a mental challenge to stay focused and to approach it as if it was a save situation.”

When Ozzie calls you “kooky,” you’ve truly reached a level of weird that can get you a spot in an Addams Family remake. Seriously, you’re pro-wrestling without the script. All that aside, the Sox are still in first place and coming home with tails between their legs but the solid part of the rotation is coming up and they have the Mariners on their menu.

I see fish dinners for all.

I also see that Sox fans aren’t as committed as Cubs fans; eschewing the tat for a simple shirt. On the other hand, you don’t have to explain the shirt to your significant other.

CLICK HERE TO SHARE YOUR P.O.V.

Big Star has asked me to say something nice about the Cubs. Okay, they are now 6-3 since the All Star break. They are less than double digits out of first and doing their best to stave off a fire sale. Their win over the Cards yesterday did a lot to help fill the bandwagon. The Sox sent their most reliable pitcher out yesterday only to see him completely melt down and force them into a rubber game to try and take the series against the A’s.

But, today’s blog is not about them. Today it is about one the classiest men ever to wear a Cubs’ uniform and buy me a beer - Fergie Jenkins was the other. He’s only the second player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame with over 300 steals and 400 home runs - the other being Willie Mays.

As the Sun Times’ very own, TONI GINNETTI, noted Friday this day belongs to Andre Dawson.

It never has been about the cap.

Yes, Andre Dawson, 56, would have preferred to be enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame with a Cubs logo on his cap. It was the Hall’s decision to etch the Montreal Expos’ logo instead, honoring the first 11 of his 21 major-league seasons and the period during which he won Rookie of the Year honors, six of his eight Gold Gloves and three of his four Silver Sluggers and made three of his eight All-Star Game appearances.

For Dawson, the Hall is really about the validation of a goal he envisioned as his career was nearing an end—and one he is convinced wouldn’t have happened without his time with the Cubs.

‘’Montreal was a platform, but Chicago probably catapulted me to that [Hall of Fame] status, to be able to play another six years and play on a natural surface,’’ he said. ‘’That kind of rejuvenated my career. It got me to the point where the numbers maybe were good enough to get in.’’

He said he plans to send Chicago a special message in his induction speech Sunday.

‘’I will acknowledge what they meant to me and my family during my playing days there, along with acknowledging the other ballclubs,’’ Dawson said. ‘’I will make sure it’s known by Cubs fans just the huge impact they had on my career.’’

But the marriage of Dawson and the Cubs was one born in distrust. Even now, when he tells the story of going hat-in-hand to then-general manager Dallas Green in the spring of 1987 to ask for a job, it remains an ironic story with a happy ending.

Dawson, a free agent at the time, remembers feeling ‘’slapped in the face’’ when the Expos offered a contract that was $200,000 less than what he had made as a star for them.

‘’I just said: ‘You know what? If I’m going to have to take a cut in pay, I’ll go somewhere where I know the game will be fun again. I will enjoy it and relax and hopefully take a lot of the wear and tear off of my knees by getting off the AstroTurf,’’’ he said.

‘’And I think the decision that my agent [Dick Moss] and I made was there really aren’t going to be offers from teams [because of collusion], and we’re just going to have to make an offer that won’t be turned down in order for an organization to basically just sit down and talk with us.’’

The Cubs and Atlanta Braves were Dawson’s choices because they were National League teams and with grass fields. The Braves were an option because Atlanta was closer to his Miami home. But in the end, there was only one real choice.

‘’I was a better daytime ballplayer,’’ he said. ‘’And I always enjoyed Wrigley Field, and I heard, you know, chants and things from the fans the previous year: ‘You’re a free agent. We’d love to have you here in Chicago. Please consider the Cubs.’ And that meant a lot.’’

And so came the blank contract given to Green, who at first derided it as a stunt.

‘’They didn’t really know how to take to that,’’ Dawson remembered. ‘’They did want to look at it. They went through a scenario that they had [younger] players that they needed to give an opportunity to and that they couldn’t guarantee anything. I said, ‘Fine.’

‘’But I got a call from Dallas Green the very next day with a $500,000 offer, which kind of meant an additional $500,000 cut in pay from what Montreal was offering. So I was, in essence, going from $1.2 million to $500,000.’’

To Green’s surprise, Dawson accepted the offer.

‘’I said, ‘It’s more about pride and principle, and I’ll accept it,’’’ he said. ‘’’I was man enough to present this to you, and I’m going to stand up to it.’’’

Years later, Dawson was among several players awarded damages when an arbitrator ruled the owners had colluded against free agents during the late 1980s. But Dawson’s greater satisfaction came in showing the extent of his talents.

He was voted the National League’s most valuable player in his first season with the Cubs, the first player to win the honor on a last-place team. During the next five seasons, his career flourished and his statistics grew, even as he continued to battle chronic knee pain that began from a high school football injury.

He had 12 knee operations, several of them while he played for the Cubs. But he still credits Wrigley Field for saving his career.

‘’For me, the difference was like night and day once I did get on the grass,’’ he said. ‘’I had a goal to play 15 years, but I almost quit my fourth year because of a fracture in one of my knees. ... Those years of playing on that turf really, really did a number as far as the wear and tear is concerned, and it just made playing on the grass feel like a difference of night and day.’’

Dawson is one of only three players in history—along with Willie Mays and Barry Bonds—to hit at least 400 home runs and steal at least 300 bases in his career.

And Sunday, he will become the 203rd player to be enshrined in Cooperstown—and the 39th Cub.

‘’You know, I stepped into the Plaque Gallery when I went to orientation when I toured the Hall, and I saw the history, I saw the artifacts,’’ Dawson said. ‘’I was in awe. You’re talking about the elite to ever play the game and the impact [they] had on the game. As a new inductee you’ve got to protect that. And now I fully understand why it’s so tough to get into the Hall of Fame.’’

That sums it up nicely.

From all of us here at Jay The Joke, allow me the honor of saying, “Congratulations Hawk. You deserve it.”

CLICK HERE TO CONGRATULATE HAWK

I woke up this morning, flipped on the tube and discovered that God really, really, really, wanted me to send this guy money so he could help ease the torments of my soul. I reminded God that I don’t have any money, that my soul was doing okay these days and flipped the channel. As I hit channel after channel I found that I could cure all my illnesses by wearing a bracelet, eating special foods and/or, in one case, hanging some talisman outside my door. I have no idea why the A.M.A. is keeping these secrets from us.

Not that I’d make fun of someone’s deeply held personal beliefs. After all, I’m a big fan of God’s and know there are some things you can’t explain. That being said, both the Cubs and the Sox had stories that featured the words “Curse” and “Hex” respectively in their headlines. Granted, the stories were about how the two pitchers of record beat said items, but I do tend to wonder why we are still looking at superstitious mumbo jumbo when there are far more realistic reasons for each team’s troubles throughout the years.

Anyway, on the curse busters tack, CARRIE MUSKAT of MLB.com talks about how Randy Wells got his revenge on the Cardinals after his May 28th debacle.

Remember the last time Randy Wells faced the Cardinals?

It was May 28 at Wrigley Field and he couldn’t retire a batter, giving up six straight hits to fall behind.

On Friday, Wells, a native of Belleville, Ill., which is near Cardinals country, made sure he could go home without having to hide.

Wells threw seven shutout innings in sweltering heat and got home runs from Tyler Colvin, Geovany Soto and Alfonso Soriano to lead the Cubs to a 5-0 win over the Cardinals for their fifth win in the past eight games.

“I can go home with my head a little higher,” Wells said. “It’s no secret how good they are. It was all about beating the heat and concentrating on making my pitches.”

Wells (5-7) struck out seven, giving up five hits and walking three. In his last four starts, the stingy right-hander has given up four runs over 28 2/3 innings for a 1.26 ERA.

He’s made some mechanical adjustments that have paid off. Manager Lou Piniella said Wells is pitching with more of a downward tilt on the ball, and his slider has much better rotation and sharpness to it. He’s mixing his changeup in now.

“It’s been a nice turnaround for him,” Piniella said.

And that late May game?

“That’s not a good game you want to go back to in the video log,” Wells said. “You move on. I’ve been throwing the ball better and that’s in the past.”

“I give Wells credit,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. “We had the leadoff man on, and we couldn’t get anything around and getting him to score.”

This is a key series for the Cubs, who inched up one game and now are 10 behind the Cardinals in the National League Central. Chicago is 17-27 against division rivals and 27-26 against all other teams this season. Before the game, La Russa said he’s not counting the Cubs out.

“We just have to play,” Piniella said. “Tony’s very cautious, and rightfully so. We just have to play.”

Colvin got things started with his first leadoff homer, hitting a 2-0 pitch from Jeff Suppan (0-6) into the right-field seats. Colvin is the first Cubs left-handed rookie to reach 14 homers since Rafael Palmeiro did so in 1987.

“It reminded me of when I used to bat leadoff,” Soriano said. “That’s good for him and good for the team.”

“That’s pretty exciting,” Colvin said. “I came in and they said, ‘You’ve got about 50 more to catch up with Soriano.’ I can see why he enjoyed leading off, because it’s pretty exciting to go ahead and get that one run on the board and get ahead like that.”

What about catching the all-time leadoff home run king Rickey Henderson?

“I’m working on 14—I’ve got a ways to go,” Colvin said.

The rookie keeps saying he’s not a home run hitter, yet now has matched his total from last year at Double-A Tennessee.

“I just backspin balls and sometimes I get under them extra and they go out,” Colvin said. “As soon as I start thinking home runs, I’ll make an out. I have to stick with the line drives.”

Soto made it 2-0 with his leadoff blast in the fourth, his 14th, and has homered in three straight games for the first time in his career. Soriano connected with two outs and a runner at first for his 18th home run.

The Cubs added a run in the sixth on the shortest hit of the game, distance-wise. Ryan Theriot was on second with two outs when Starlin Castro popped up. Suppan pointed to it, catcher Jason LaRue camped underneath it, but the ball dropped and Theriot, who took off on contact, scored.

“You go hard until the play is over,” Theriot said. “I’ve played here long enough to know that when there are popups like that and the wind is blowing out, they’re not easy to catch. You just keep going.”

The hitter-friendly breeze was strong and from the southwest at 14 mph.

“I tried to hit popups the rest of the day,” Theriot said.

The heat was oppressive.

“You could feel it,” Wells said. “It was pretty miserable out there today. Even once you got cooled off, you stepped out there and got immediately drenched. It was tough to keep a grip on the ball.”

Sean Marshall finished up the game, pitching the final two innings. With the shutout, the Cardinals snapped a Major League-record 2,370 games without being blanked in consecutive games. It’s the first time St. Louis has been shut out in back-to-back games since Sept. 24-25, 1995.

The Cubs don’t care how they get a “W” these days.

“We just want to build momentum and take ballgames,” Soto said. “We still have two months and a little bit to go. We’ll take it one day at a time.”

While it’s easy enough to avoid the obligatory Valerie Bertinelli reference, it’s a little harder to avoid the fact that the Cubs are just 6-4 over their last ten games. That’s not a run, it’s jogging in place. Even so, that’s better than the status quo this year. Who knows, maybe this is how Lou’s team executes a turn around. Not with a roaring engine, burning rubber and a cloud of smoke racing over the horizon but more akin to the legendary race winning tortoise.

Go, Cubs, Go indeed.

On the “hex” side of the coin, Mark Buerhle took his gaudy 0-6 record in Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum to the mound, shook off his demons and got the win.

MLB.com’s rising star, ERIC GILMORE, stayed up late so you didn’t have to so he could bring you the whole story of the anniversary of MB’s perfect game.

White Sox left-hander Mark Buehrle wasn’t perfect Friday night, but he was good enough to beat the A’s in Oakland for the first time in his career.

On the one-year anniversary of his perfect game against Tampa Bay, Buehrle threw his second straight complete game and 26th of his career, allowing four hits in a 5-1 victory.

“I was waiting for my beer shower,” Buehrle joked about his first win at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. “It was one of those games that was fun. Everything was working. They weren’t finding holes. Making pitches, getting ahead in the count. We have that five to eight times a year and when it happens, it’s fun.”

The Coliseum had been a house of horrors for Buehrle throughout his career until Friday. Entering the game, he was 0-6 with a 4.66 ERA lifetime against the A’s at Oakland in 12 appearances, 10 starts. Overall, he was 3-12 with a 3.93 ERA against the A’s.

“That’s hard to believe,” White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said of Buehrle’s record in Oakland. “All those years Mark’s been pitching good. ... Mark pitched a great game. He was good. He made their guys swing the bat, and we played good defense.”

Buehrle said he’s often pitched well in Oakland in the past, just not well enough to win.

“Yeah, I think courtesy of Jermaine Dye. He’s killed me,” Buehrle said. “Record-wise it’s terrible. Everything else isn’t too bad. Getting matched up with [Mark] Mulder 100 times. Jermaine hit a two-run homer or solo home run late in the game to win it. I’ve pitched well. I haven’t been able to pull it off.”

This time Buehrle did. He needed just 101 pitches, 69 of those strikes, and didn’t walk a batter for the 86th time in 321 career starts.

With Buehrle working fast and producing ground ball after ground ball after ground ball, the White Sox needed just two hours and 16 minutes to beat the A’s and win for the 12th time in their past 16 games. They increased their lead in the A.L. Central to 2 1/2 games over Detroit, which was rained out against Toronto, and three games over Minnesota, which lost to Baltimore.

“Ground balls, no walks, changing pitches, using all his pitches, mixing it up on them. It was vintage Buehrle,” White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski said. “He works fast, gets you out of here fast. It was fun. It was a fun game, well played on both sides, well pitched. I mean, [A’s starter Trevor] Cahill pitched pretty darn good, too. There weren’t a lot of runs. There weren’t a lot of opportunities to score. We were just able to cash in a couple more than they were.”

Buehrle cruised through the first six innings, allowing just a pair of hits, Jack Cust’s second-inning double and Coco Crisp’s third-inning single. Eleven of the A’s first 18 outs came on ground balls, most of those weak. He needed only 62 pitches through the first six innings, retiring the A’s in order four times.

The A’s finally got to Buehrle for a run in the seventh. Kevin Kouzmanoff roped a one-out double down the left-field line before Cust brought him home with a double to the base of the right-field wall. Buehrle got the next two A’s in order.

“Same thing as always,” A’s second baseman Mark Ellis said of Buehrle. “He was just around the zone, working quick and making pitches. You never get the same thing twice in a row and that’s just what he does. We were prepared going into the game and knew exactly what we were going to get and he did that tonight. He just beat us.

“He works quick. He’d be a great guy to play behind in the infield and the outfield. They play good defense behind him, because when we did hit a ball good tonight, they made good plays behind him.”

The White Sox took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning. Alex Rios led off with a double down the left-field line off Cahill. Rios moved to third on Paul Konerko’s groundout to second and scored on Carlos Quentin’s sacrifice fly to right.

The White Sox made it 3-0 in the sixth. Juan Pierre worked a leadoff walk and moved to third when Omar Vizquel slapped a single to left past a diving Kouzmanoff at third. Rios brought Pierre home with a sharp grounder that shortstop Cliff Pennington botched. Vizquel later scored on Quentin’s dribbler to Cahill.

Buehrle improved to 9-8 overall and 6-2 in his past eight starts, lowering his ERA from 5.40 to 3.96 during that span.

“As a starting pitcher you’re going to have so many good ones and then you’re going to have bad ones throughout the year,” he said. “I think I had so many bad ones at the beginning, I’m due to go on a little streak here and have a good one. Just keep it going.”

In the ninth inning, the White Sox stole three bases and added two runs off A’s reliever Henry Rodriguez. With runners on second and third and no outs, Pierzynski grounded a two-run single up the middle.

On this night, that was more than enough run support for Buehrle, who said he spent zero time thinking back to his perfect game.

Buehrle was asked if he was going to request to pitch on July 23 every season.

“There’s only one left,” he said, referring to his contract status after 2011. “Next year, then I’ll have to go from there. If I pitch like this, I might not be able to retire.”

One thing’s for certain, Buehrle’s not going to throw out his arm due to his violent delivery. While it’s somewhat ironic that one of the slowest pitchers in MLB tosses some of the fastest games, the fact is that he can have a career for as long as he wishes. Here’s hoping he decides to have it here.

CLICK HERE TO RUB OUR JOO JOO BEADS FOR LUCK

The Cubs have their first decent record over ten games (5-5) in a long time and some fans are backing up the party bus and loading the keggers to get that bandwagon going. The team has even taken out a new series of ads on Comcast Sports Net asking fans to come out and support the teams race to the division title. The Sox blew two saves that would have given them a winning road record after the break and some fans are backing up the truck and demanding that it be filled with the flotsam and jetsam that is clogging up the roster. Even so, the Sox ads are still the same “Black & White” ones they’ve been running all season.

Oh well, as long as no one’s overreacting I guess we’re fine.

But, with the non waiver trade deadline looming and both teams needing to make some moves, some change is gonna come. The Cubs already know that they will have a new manager next year and seem to have decided to dump salaries if they can. Since the majority of the trades, except Lilly, will depend on how much salary the Ricketts family is willing to eat and no one knows how the first year owner will respond to that, I guess we should concentrate on next year’s manager.

Of course, it’s the Cubs, we always talk about next year.

RICK MORRISSEY at the Sun Times breaks down the possibilities.

Cubs general manager Jim Hendry has vowed to leave no stone unturned in his search for the team’s next manager.

If he finds Lou Piniella’s replacement under a rock, then the Cubs are in bigger trouble than we thought. You find people like Tiger Woods’ girlfriends (and Tiger Woods) under rocks. Wait a second, can any of them manage?

The best choice for the job is New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi, who can show Hendry the rocks on his finger—his 22-diamond, 2009 World Series ring.

There is the matter of whether Girardi is interested in the job, and he’s not going to say yes—at least publicly—while he’s still property of the Yankees. But he grew up in Peoria, went to Northwestern, played for the Cubs and has a contract that expires at the end of the season.

And for a baseball man, there’s the most intoxicating drug in the world: the thought of being the manager who brings a World Series title to the North Side for the first time since 1908.

Girardi’s success is not simply a creation of the Yankees’ big spending, but perhaps he’d like to prove that here.

His first managerial job, with the Florida Marlins in 2006, lasted one season after he clashed with the owner and other members of the organization. But the Marlins became the first team to go from 20 games below .500 (11-31) to above .500 later in the same season. They also had four rookie pitchers win at least 10 games, the first team to accomplish that.

Think the Cubs could use that kind of leadership?

There are at least five other names that have come up in media reports: Ryne Sandberg, Bob Brenly, Joe Torre, Alan Trammell and Bobby Valentine. Here are the reasons those men can’t, shouldn’t or won’t be the Cubs’ next manager:

• Ryne Sandberg—He’s the great unknown.

That might seem nonsensical, given that he has been a manager in the Cubs’ minor-league system for four years and has been a Cubs icon for more than a quarter-century. He knows the game, but nobody really knows if he can deal with major-league egos or if his personality is big enough to lead a team. Too risky.

For the last five years, he has told anyone with a camera and a microphone that he wants to manage the team that helped him get to the Hall of Fame as a player. Politicking generally doesn’t work in baseball or in any other profession, besides, um, politics.

Sandberg is no dummy. Through the media, he’s appealing to all those people who love the sensation of nostalgia tugging at their sleeves. That group might include the Ricketts family.

It definitely includes some local media members. There’s something very icky about the way they’ve been pushing for his hire. That desire apparently comes from watching all those Class AAA Iowa Cubs games this season. Or maybe they had Class A Peoria Chiefs season tickets in 2007 and liked Ryno’s managerial style.

But there’s no doubt the media push has added to the momentum of his candidacy, and Hendry will feel it during the process.

• Bob Brenly—Anyone who watches Cubs TV broadcasts walks away knowing more about baseball because of Brenly. He has a World Series ring from his days as the Arizona Diamondbacks’ manager. Clearly, this is a good candidate. So why hasn’t he gotten a sniff for other manager jobs?

There seems to be a perception in baseball, shared by some in the Cubs’ organization, that Bob Melvin, then the Diamondbacks’ bench coach, had more to do with the 2001 World Series than Brenly did. Seeing as how Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling had everything to do with that title, it seems silly, but the perception is out there.

If I’m Brenly, I don’t interview for the job unless I get assurances I’m a legitimate candidate. He’s too good a baseball man to be treated to a courtesy interview. And the sense here is that’s exactly what it will be.

• Joe Torre—The organization already has gone the aging-manager route with the 66-year-old Piniella, so the 70-year-old Torre likely isn’t coming here. Piniella was alive when the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947. Torre knew the guy who wrote the scrolls.

• Alan Trammell—When he was named the Detroit Tigers’ manager for the 2003 season, he was handed the keys to a burned-out shell of a car. Hard to prove you can manage when you’re given the kind of talent that goes 43-119 in your first season.

He deserves another chance, but this isn’t the right time or place for Trammell, who is Piniella’s bench coach. The Cubs have a $150 million payroll. Their attendance, a given for so long, has shown some cracks. They need a manager with bigger shoulders.

• Bobby Valentine—In 15 years as a major-league manager, he made the postseason twice. That means, unlike Sandberg, he has proved something: that he’s average.

He interviewed with the Marlins recently, but when he reportedly wanted control over personnel decisions, the team said no. Hendry might not want that kind of manager, either, but there would be worse things than another voice in the room when Hendry says, ‘’I think Milton Bradley could help.’’

The only problem I have with this line of reasoning is that it assumes Girardi would jump on the chance to come to Wrigley. I’m not sure that’s true. If he takes the Yankees deep in the playoffs this year, or wins a World Series, he’s not going anywhere. More importantly, he’s not the same guy he was a few years ago. He’s accomplished a lot and shown that he runs a tight ship. While it is solely my opinion, I think he would clash with the Cubs’ players sooner rather than later. Also, as I have noted, once the team gets done dumping players and you take away the Wrigley experience, you are looking at the Nats without Strasburg. That’s not a dream job, that’s the Orioles.

On the Southside, Bobby Jenks blew (yes, I can say that again) 2 saves in 3 tries and many fans are demanding that KW get out of the sauna and go get a new one. I guess I missed that cool place where they have MLB quality closers just hanging out looking for work.

SCOTT MERKIN talks to Kenny about the art of the deal.

Ken Williams leans against the wall of a walkway leading from the Safeco Field visitors’ clubhouse to the diamond, looking a bit perplexed, as the eloquent speaker searches for words to describe seemingly one of his favorite processes on the job: making trades.

“I’m trying to get my thoughts together enough to accurately articulate this,” a pensive Williams told MLB.com.

How about a little help from his past work to jog the memory? Since becoming the White Sox general manager on Oct. 24, 2000, Williams has made 63 trades involving 161 players on the Major League roster, according to the team’s media guide.

Some of them have worked out exactly as planned, if not better—see the March 20, 2006, move sending the likable but underachieving Joe Borchard to Seattle for All-Star reliever Matt Thornton. Some of them have not quite panned out—check out either of two Nick Swisher trades from ‘08 as exhibits A and B.

There are some trades where the baseball jury has yet to return a verdict, such as the December 2008 Javier Vazquez deal with Atlanta, bringing back to Chicago catcher Tyler Flowers and infielder Brent Lillibridge among others. Some involve a slew of projected top talent given up to get the man in need, like the Freddy Garcia deal on June 27, 2004, when Miguel Olivo, Jeremy Reed and Michael Morse moved to Seattle. And yet there are others falling into the minor deal category, which end up making a huge difference.

Geoff Blum’s acquisition for left-handed pitcher Ryan Meaux during the 2005 World Series championship run would fall into that particular category. Study Game 3 of the World Series in Houston for video proof.

Williams views all of his possible trades in the same manner, knowing that overlooked utility infielder could end up making the difference in a division title as much as the Cy Young-winning hurler. It’s a tough period, a tense period, an exhilarating period, leading up to July 31.

Even with so much potentially at stake in the execution of a move, Williams would not list nerve-wracking as a trait when searching for a way to map out the art of a deal.

“It can keep you up at night—all night, day after day after day after day,” said Williams with a laugh. “But that’s because you understand the ramifications of how it’s each little piece that fits into the puzzle is so important. It can mean the difference between you realizing your dreams or not.

“Whether it was Freddy Garcia, Jake Peavy, Alex Rios, or whomever, Geoff Blum, Carl Everett—pick a name. It’s still the same feeling, because I place as much of an importance on that small piece as I do the big pieces.

“But I’m long past the inner gut-wrenching stuff that goes on. I’m certainly more readily able and better equipped to turn the page if I don’t get the player I’ve coveted for a while. Years ago, it stayed with me for years. You can only do what you can do. Put forth your greatest effort and make sure all the people around you do the same. At the end of the day, man up to the consequences.”

Current consequences might mean the American League Central-leading White Sox start the month of August with the same roster they have on this late July off-day. If closing a deal for Adam Dunn means trading off Gordon Beckham, then the White Sox graciously will move on. If adding a left-handed slugger such as Prince Fielder means a deal for highly touted prospects such as Daniel Hudson, Flowers or Dayan Viciedo, then business soon might pick up.

Trades presently in discussion or the countless moves previously pulled off by Williams and his staff aren’t put forth with reckless abandon. It’s not as if one day Williams turns to assistant general manager Rick Hahn and says, “Let’s go after Albert Pujols” and Hahn agrees with a “Sounds good to me. Let’s see what we can do.”

According to Williams, talks with Kevin Towers to acquire Peavy from San Diego, as an example, began somewhere around two years before last year’s non-waiver Trade Deadline.

“Then, I’ve had a few that have taken one call,” Williams said. “There’s no one that has been discussed in any given year that hasn’t been scouted, discussed and re-discussed again and again.

“There used to be a lot of phone calls back and forth. Now, with kind of a newer guard that has come in, there is a lot of texting, there is a lot of e-mailing in the initial stages.

“I kind of miss the phone calls, because I like to talk baseball. You still get to it, once you get past the initial stage of, ‘Hey are you interested to do something along these lines?’ Then there are follow-up calls and messages of whatever. I don’t get caught up in how it gets to us now.”

Frequent meetings take place between Williams, manager Ozzie Guillen and his coaching staff, because ultimately, these men feel the pulse of the team, know who they can count on down the stretch and have to be in tune with Williams’ line of thinking. In Jerry Reinsdorf, Williams also has an owner supremely committed to winning, willing to push the budget to a break-even point in order to make that one extra, but necessary, move.

Over the past decade, Williams has made about five dozen necessary moves. Yet, on this bright evening in Seattle, he still struggled in expressing the thrill of the hunt and the excitement of the actual finish.

“You know, I’m not accurately doing a good job of explaining what you go through. I’m really not,” Williams said. “I guess the best way I can talk about how we do things here is it is a process that we take our time on.

“Very rarely has there been a trade made where we hadn’t thought about acquiring the player and done that whole thing. You asked earlier about what you go through? It’s a mental exercise that can extend for months and years. We try to make good baseball deals, but you make deals that fit your needs and you don’t worry about what the players you give up do elsewhere.

“Listen, when you are as aggressive as we are, you are going to make some mistakes. I personally don’t care to see what I call SportsCenter guys, who you see on every night, who you had traded away. If I get a SportsCenter guy back, and he fits, then what’s the problem? It’s a win-win deal.”

Some reporters are demanding that the Sox keep Beckham. I find that kind of funny since it has been over two weeks since the Dunn deal became a no-deal due to the Nats’ requirement that Beckham be included in any package. If KW wasn’t going to do it then there’s no reason to think he’ll do it now for lesser talent. Of course, had those reporters checked their RSS feed from MLB.com or read this front age, they’d have known all that.

I guess that’s too much to ask for.

To recap, here’s what we all know for certain; the Cubs will have a new manager next year and someone will close games for the White Sox.

CLICK HERE TO TELL US WHAT WE MISSED

There are no pitchers in MLB who have been subject to more hard luck than Ted Lilly (Cubs) and Gavin Floyd (Sox). Think I’m kidding? Between the two of them yesterday they allowed a total of one run over 14 plus innings and both lost. That’s not the kind of fact that inspires confidence. At least not for the pitchers.

This happens to them start after start. It makes you wonder if they took a dump in the locker room or something else just as heinous. I can’t explain it and haven’t had enough coffee to try.

CARRIE MUSKAT of MLB.com takes a look at the Northside’s continuing drought when Teddy Bear’s on the mound.

Wednesday may have been Ted Lilly’s last start at Wrigley Field for the Cubs if pitching-needy teams follow through on trade rumors. The scouts who have watched him can refile one of their earlier reports: Lilly pitched well enough to win but didn’t get any run support.

The Cubs went 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position and stranded 16 baserunners, including nine in the last four innings, in a 4-3 loss to the Astros, who took the series. Chicago dropped to 16-27 against National League Central foes.

“We scored 14 last night,” Lou Piniella said. “If we had gotten all the guys in that got on today, we would’ve scored 14 today. We just didn’t get them in.”

Pinch-hitter Jason Michaels hit a tie-breaking two-run double with two outs in the 12th and Angel Sanchez added an RBI single to lift the Astros. Sanchez’s hit was key, because Geovany Soto delivered a two-run homer in the Chicago 12th.

“We had enough opportunities,” Piniella said. “We didn’t get the big hit when we needed it.”

With the game tied at 1 in the 12th, Jeff Keppinger singled to lead off against Bob Howry (1-3) and moved up on Chris Johnson’s single. Keppinger was forced at third on Jason Castro’s bunt. Rookie James Russell replaced Howry and got Michael Bourn to ground out and was lifted for Jeff Stevens, who served up Michaels’ hit. Sanchez followed with his single to make it 4-1.

The Cubs missed chances in each of the last four innings. Chicago had men at the corners with two outs in the ninth, but Tim Byrdak struck out Tyler Colvin. The bases were loaded with one out in the 10th, but Brandon Lyon struck out Kosuke Fukudome and got Soto to fly out to center in a pinch-hit at-bat. With runners at second and third in the 11th and two outs, Derrek Lee flew out to right.

“To me, Brandon Lyon is the player of the game,” Houston manager Brad Mills said. “I know he puts himself in trouble, but getting out of that [10th] shows a lot of heart. That was awesome. When he did that, I said it in here to a bunch of guys, ‘We’re going to win this game because of what he just did,’ and ultimately it worked out for us.”

Fukudome had a tough 12th inning in right when he crashed into the wall chasing Keppinger’s foul ball. His left shoulder was tender after the game.

“I felt like it was just a wall there the first time I hit it,” Fukudome said.

He hasn’t gotten many at-bats with the emergence of Colvin.

“It was just the way it is,” Fukudome said. “I haven’t played much, but you can’t use that as an excuse.”

Piniella used every position player except Xavier Nady and had starter Randy Wells warming up in the bullpen in case the game went longer.

Lilly almost single-handedly beat the Astros. In the fifth, Lilly ended a personal 0-for-33 skid when he singled with one out off starter Brett Myers. It was his first hit since Sept. 7, 2009, against Pittsburgh. One out later, Lilly scored on Starlin Castro’s double off the left-field wall.

Myers was lifted for pinch-hitter Pedro Feliz in the eighth, and the move paid off as Feliz hit his fourth home run and third career pinch-hit homer off an 0-1 pitch to tie the game at 1. It was the Astros’ first run off Lilly after 26 2/3 scoreless innings.

The Cubs were averaging 2.51 runs of support per Lilly start, lowest in baseball. He almost has to pitch a shutout to win.

“I don’t entirely feel like [I pitched well],” Lilly said of Wednesday’s game, in which he gave up one run on seven hits over 7 1/3 innings. “I do put a lot of stock in winning. That’s the goal, really.

“My perspective is I threw the ball a little bit better than I have in the last few starts, but for me, maybe not as good as the results indicated,” he said. “I made a bad pitch to Pedro Feliz that I feel cost us the game. We had it right there. Get through that inning and give the ball to [Carlos] Marmol in the ninth and I like our chances.”

The non-wavier Trade Deadline of July 31 is fast approaching.

“I’m not going to put a whole lot into that,” Lilly said. “I’ve said this before, I’ve got my hands full trying to win games.”

Would he welcome being moved to a team in the race?

“Definitely, and first and foremost, you’d like to do that here,” he said of the Cubs. “It’s going to be tough.

“I don’t have a feeling one way or another,” he said. “There’s a lot of speculation and rumors that are thrown out there. They don’t necessarily mean that something is going to happen.”

His teammates don’t want to lose him.

“He’s as mentally strong as anybody I’ve played with, and I think he’ll tell you there are times he thinks about [the rumors]. But does he think about it when he’s out there? I highly doubt that,” said Cubs catcher Koyie Hill. “It’s part of the game. It’s the game we play in today. There will be moves every year.”

Hill struck out three times against Myers and was unable to deliver a sacrifice bunt in the ninth. As he walked back to the dugout, he cracked his bat over his knee.

“That’s about the only thing I executed today,” Hill said.

On the plus side Koyie, it was an impressive bat breaking. Pure textbook. While the Cubs’ season doesn’t seem to be going anywhere at this time, there is enough uncertainty in the NL Central that I can’t dismiss any possibilities. One fun thing sure to keep fans glued to their seats this season is the campaigning for the Cubs, soon to be, vacant managerial gig. So far none of the professed candidates appear to be on the teams short list. The best anyone has said about, fan fave, Ryne Sandberg is that he will eventually get an interview. On the other hand, I’m not sure what else anyone could say when there are over 60 games left to play.

As to the Southside, all I can say is that my lady-friend went back to her home on the left coast so Bobby Jenks 2nd embarrassing outing in 3 attempts didn’t impact me directly. But it did impact the Sox with Ozzie saying he was going to to look at “all his options” when it comes to closing games. MLB.com’s SCOTT MERKIN was at the game and has all the sticky details.

For 28 innings at Safeco Field, White Sox pitching held Seattle’s offense to exactly one run.

Then, the Mariners exploded for two runs in the final frame of Seattle’s 2-1, 11-inning victory against White Sox closer Bobby Jenks on Wednesday night.

With that improbable rally, the chance for a three-game sweep disappeared for the White Sox (52-42). Their American League Central lead dropped to 2 1/2 games over both Minnesota and Detroit, and at least for this weekend in Oakland, J.J. Putz, Matt Thornton or even Sergio Santos might be closing out victories for manager Ozzie Guillen.

“Our options are open now. I get paid to win games,” said Guillen, who felt for his closer but clearly was dismayed by his team’s second heartbreaking, walk-off loss involving Jenks on this 10-game road trip.

“That’s my job, win games,” Guillen continued. “And I’m going to put the guys there with the best shot.”

Jenks entered the 11th inning with a 1-0 lead, looking to wrap up the first-career victory for Erick Threets, who fanned three over 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. The White Sox had scored in the top of the inning on Gordon Beckham’s double high off the left-field wall and Omar Vizquel’s two-out single to right against Brandon League (7-6).

Jack Wilson started the bottom of the 11th ominously with a perfectly placed bunt up the first-base line. He was sacrificed to second by Ichiro Suzuki and moved to third on Chone Figgins’ hard-hit single to center. Figgins swiped second on a 1-2 pitch to Franklin Gutierrez, and Gutierrez proceeded to line the next pitch past shortstop Alexei Ramirez and into left-center for the game-winning single.

According to Guillen, Jenks’ velocity looked down and the opposing hitters “feel very comfortable against him.” Jenks explained how he was throwing sinkers in that fateful 11th, with his velocity checking in between 92 and 95 mph.

Sunday’s debacle in Minnesota, where Jenks (1-3) suffered the loss, although he didn’t blow the save, was a case of the burly closer admitting to not having anything on the mound. Wednesday’s blown save, ending a stretch of 15 straight conversions for Jenks, would be better classified as bad luck.

“The other day in Minnesota, that was on me,” Jenks said. “But today, I felt good. I made pitches, they just got hit. With this one, there is nothing to do about it. The ball to Figgins, I got in on him and he kept his hands inside the ball well and he hit it back up the middle.

“He didn’t do anything hard with it. He did what you’re supposed to do with one of those pitches. The bunt hit to lead off the inning, it was a good pitch down and he just put it in the right spot. The base hit, if Alexei was playing over, it was probably right at him. You can’t dwell on things when you have days like this. You can’t dwell on them.”

Prior to Jenks’ rough finish, the White Sox were about to dwell on their first sweep in Seattle since 1993. This game began as a pitchers’ duel between one of the best pitchers in the game, Felix Hernandez, and one of the pitchers with the lowest run support in the American League, Gavin Floyd, who also happens to be sporting a ridiculous 1.16 ERA over his last nine starts.

Hernandez departed after eight scoreless innings and 93 pitches, striking out eight and retiring the last 17 he faced. Floyd worked seven, striking out six and not allowing a Seattle runner into scoring position.

Seattle had a chance to win in the ninth against reliever Sergio Santos, when Figgins opened the frame with an infield single. He was sacrificed to second by Gutierrez, and after an intentional walk issued to Jose Lopez, Threets was brought in to the game and faced pinch-hitter Milton Bradley.

Bradley dropped a broken-bat blooper down the right-field line, destined to bring home the deciding run. But Andruw Jones made a diving, tumbling catch and doubled off Lopez, who inexplicably was 15 feet from first. Vizquel also saved a run in the eighth with a leaping catch of Ichiro’s two-out line shot headed for the left-field corner with Josh Bard on first.

“Great. That’s fun to watch,” said Guillen of the tremendous battle. “Couple of good plays there, double play, that’s good baseball. Unfortunately, we finished like that.”

“These guys battled all night, especially in the bottom of the 11th,” Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu said. “You probably couldn’t execute any better than that, and the timing couldn’t have been any better.”

Carrying a 3-4 record on this road trip into Oakland, starters Mark Buehrle and Trevor Cahill figure to put on a strong pitching display for Friday’s opener—although Buehrle has an 0-6 career ledger at the home of the A’s. If a one-run lead is there for the protecting, or even two or three, it might be someone other than Jenks closing out matters.

Guillen talked of changing things around after Jenks gave up a three-run, game-winning home run to Toronto’s Fred Lewis on May 9, but Jenks recorded saves in two of his next three outings. The stakes are a bit higher now with the second-half playoff push in high gear.

“Today the team battled all game long,” Jenks said. “And on days like that, it’s when you feel the worst.”

“We’re a better club with Bobby as the closer,” Guillen said. “But in the meanwhile, we got a few options and we’re going to see what the options are and see if we can regroup him, put him in the situation like we did last time and we’ll see what happens.”

How do you “regroup” a person? Oh well, who cares. Ozzie has shown a penchant for helping pitchers get their confidence back in the past so I’ll leave that technical stuff to him.

CLICK HERE TO EXPLAIN THAT STUFF TO US

Lou Piniella announced that this year will be his last as a manager for the Cubs, or any other baseball team for that matter. He claims that it has nothing to do with the way the team is performing. Instead he says he wants to spend more time with his family. His wife is in her 60’s, his kids are in their 40’s and his grandkids are getting ready to graduate college. In other words, his timing is perfect. No dirty diapers to deal with, no awkward conversations about what happens when boys and girls discover the opposite sex, no hormonal teens whining about their personal freedoms. Nope, all of that is far in the rear-view mirror and it’s now safe to go home.

Here’s what Lou had to officially say about his retirement.

“I’ve been extremely appreciative of my four years here with the Chicago Cubs. It has been a wonderful experience, a wonderful city, wonderful fans. … But at the end of this year I turn 67 and it’s time for me to get on with a new phase of my life.

“More important, it gives Jim Hendry more time to find a new manager for this organization. And he can do it where he doesn’t have to be secret about it or anything else.”

All in all, I believe him and his reasons. He’s been there, done that and won rings as both a player and a manager. The fact that there are only 67 games left to play and the Cubs will need to go 38-29 just to finish the season at .500, or turn in (at least) a 48-19 run to make the playoffs doubtless influenced his timing, but I doubt that it weighed on his final decision.

So, where does this leave the Cubs? RICK MORRISSEY of the Sun Times has the answer, and it may not be the one Cubs’ fans want to hear.

Sometimes you ask a question knowing what the answer will be, but you ask it anyway because the record requires it.

It’s why I asked Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts whether Crane Kenney, the team executive in charge of Toyota signs and macaroni-noodle sculptures, would have any input in the hiring of manager Lou Piniella’s replacement. I asked it expecting the answer to be a resounding no.

I expected that answer because Kenney has zero real baseball experience, though he carries the title of president. He’s the guy who asked a priest to sprinkle holy water in the Cubs’ dugout before Game 1 of a 2008 playoff series, presumably hoping to ward off evil spirits. That was the season Piniella had devoted to ending talk of curses and billy goats. That was the series in which the Los Angeles Dodgers swept the Cubs.

Kenney is the guy who has managed to work his way into the graces of the Ricketts family, the way he worked his way into the graces of Tribune Co. when it owned the team. If you wanted a picture of what a corporate suit looks like, you’d pick out one of Kenney, though he might have a sweater tied around his neck in the photo.

Still, the question had to be asked, silly as it might be.

‘’Yeah, Crane will have a role in this,’’ Ricketts said. ‘’He’s got a lot of experience here, and he is in charge of all the business operations. And I think he will add a lot of value to the process.’’

The follow-up question should have been, ‘’You’re kidding, right?’’ Or, better, ‘’Am I being punk’d?’’

There are many things that can be taken from Ricketts’ answer, the biggest being that his judgment is frightening. Another is the realization that Kenney isn’t going anywhere soon.

Neither is general manager Jim Hendry, the man who has been charged with finding the Cubs’ next manager. This is the same Jim Hendry who found the Cubs’ first Milton Bradley and their first Kosuke Fukudome.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is why the Cubs are the Cubs and not, say, the Boston Red Sox.

Hendry very well might come up with a stellar replacement for Piniella, who announced Tuesday that he’s retiring at the end of this season. But the fact that there didn’t seem to be even a bit of hesitation about whether Hendry was the right man to lead this organization forward is unsettling.

Laden with several morbidly obese contracts and a $146 million payroll, the Cubs are 10½ games out of first place.

‘’Jim is our general manager full-stop,’’ Ricketts said. ‘’He will be leading the effort to find our new manager ... and will be our general manager going into next year.’’

If you say so, Tom. But you’re the guy who says Kenney’s input will be valuable. And you’re starting to sound like former Bears chairman Michael McCaskey.

Adding Kenney to the managerial search is dangerous if you’re concerned the Cubs are mindlessly going to take the nostalgia route and choose Ryne Sandberg as their next manager. The Ricketts kids came of age during the Ryno years, and he is a demigod of the people who sat in the bleachers in the 1980s and thought Harry Caray was an alcohol-fueled voice from heaven.

Why not go all the way then? I hear that Dave Kingman is still looking for work.

I know there will be calls for Joe Girardi but, last I checked, he’s the manager of the New York Yankees and had just won a World Series. Why would he want to take over a team that will be in full rebuilding mode next year? You take away Wrigley Field and what you have left is the Nats without Strasburg.

Nevertheless, the Cubs did play yesterday and managed to pull off their biggest comeback of the year. CARRIE MUSKAT of MLB.com takes a look at what happened on the field.

After watching the Cubs rally from a six-run deficit on the day he announced he was retiring from baseball at season’s end, Lou Piniella was asked if he had changed his mind.

“No, sir,” Piniella said emphatically. “No, sir.”

The Cubs gave him reason to reconsider. Aramis Ramirez hit three home runs, driving in seven, Geovany Soto hit a game-tying solo shot and Derrek Lee hit a tie-breaking RBI double to lift the inspired Cubs to a 14-7 come-from-behind win Tuesday over the Astros.

Ramirez hit a solo homer in the fourth, a three-run shot in the fifth and another three-run blast in the eighth. It was his fourth career three-homer game, and first since Sept. 16, 2004, at Cincinnati. The seven RBIs matched a career high.

“I’m not a home run hitter,” said Ramirez, who is batting .383 in July with five doubles, a triple, nine homers and 24 RBIs. “I want to get my average up. I’m still in the .220s. I’m at least a .250 hitter.”

At least. He also homered on Monday and now has four home runs in his last seven at-bats.

Chicago trailed 6-0 after 3 1/2 innings but rallied behind the homers, tying the game at 7 on Soto’s leadoff shot in the sixth. In the seventh, Starlin Castro doubled off Brandon Lyon (5-4) and scored on Lee’s double. Two outs later, Lee tallied on Alfonso Soriano’s single to give rookie Andrew Cashner (1-3) his first Major League beer shower.

“Watching from the bullpen and seeing the way Ramy’s been swinging the bat, going all the way back to Arizona [series July 5-7], he’s been seeing the ball well and he picked us up tonight,” Cashner said. “As soon as I got up, I thought I’d be going in and I just tried to keep it close.”

He was efficient. Cashner faced six batters in two innings and threw 16 pitches.

“I really didn’t have my best stuff tonight, but I was able to get guys out and put the ball in the location I wanted to,” the rookie said. “My main goal was to throw strikes and not walk any guys.”

It was a wild ending to an emotional day for Piniella, 66, who announced prior to the game that he’s heading home to Tampa, Fla., once the season is over. The Cubs have posted winning records in his three previous seasons but have not topped .500 this year.

“Sure it was emotional and draining,” Piniella said of his day. “But it’s over with and now my situation doesn’t have to be [discussed] anymore and we can concentrate on the team, which is the important component. I’m just a small piece of it. Let’s hope we continue to play and win some baseball games and make it fun for our fans.”

He had turned off his phone Tuesday morning. He’ll most likely have a few messages whenever he decides to turn it on.

“Playing for so long, coaching and managing for so long, I think he’s seen it all,” Ryan Dempster said. “He’s been through it all, he’s won a lot of games as a manager. He’s won World Series titles both as a player and coach and manager and he’s had a great career. Hopefully we can go out there and keep winning ballgames and end this season with something special.”

It was night both second basemen would like to forget as both made errors that led to runs. The Astros had a 1-0 lead and two on in the second when Jason Castro hit a potential double play ball to Ryan Theriot, who threw past Starlin Castro for an error, allowing a run to score.

One out later, Dempster walked Michael Bourn to load the bases, then hit Angel Sanchez and walked Lance Berkman to force in two more runs. Hunter Pence and Carlos Lee added RBI singles in the fourth and Johnson hit a solo homer in the fifth to go ahead, 7-1.

The Cubs took advantage of Keppinger’s error in the fifth that was nearly identical to Theriot’s and led to five unearned runs.

“They opened the door for us by throwing the ball away at second,” Houston’s Brad Mills said, “and we kind of opened the door the exact same way.”

It’s the first time the Cubs have overcome a six-run deficit since May 30, 2008, when they trailed 8-0 and 9-1 against Colorado and won, 10-9.

“It didn’t start well,” Piniella said of the game, “but sure ended well. I’m proud of our team and the way they came back and finished the job.”

Yes they did. The Cubs still have a long way to go to become relevant but, maybe, knowing that each time they finish a series with a team will be Lou’s last time ever to be there might enough to goad the team into winning.

On the Southside, the Sox quietly extended their lead to 3 1/2 games in the AL Central by methodically dismantling the Mariners. MLB.com’s SCOTT MERKIN has all the non-dramatic details.

Call Tuesday’s 4-0 White Sox victory over the Mariners at Safeco Field an absolute baseball clinic put on by the South Siders.

At the very least, it was a slick total-team effort befitting of a first-place squad.

John Danks (10-7) set the tone by allowing one harmless solid single out of the two hits he gave up over 7 2/3 innings, and third baseman Omar Vizquel and shortstop Alexei Ramirez put on a defensive exhibition as the White Sox (52-41) won their fifth straight against the Mariners (36-58) this season. Timely hitting also contributed to the White Sox moving 3 1/2 games ahead in the American League Central of the Twins and Tigers, who both lost yet again.

Even with their biggest division lead intact since holding a four-game advantage on June 19, 2008, the White Sox aren’t exactly celebrating their comfort zone.

“Cautious, that’s a good word,” said Vizquel of the White Sox extended first-place standing. “I think everybody is aware of the situation where we’re at right now. Every game is important in this division.”

“We can’t hold our breath,” said White Sox closer Bobby Jenks, who bounced back from Sunday’s loss in Minnesota with a perfect ninth against Seattle. “We were 9 1/2 games out just a little while ago. You can’t look back until September comes and see where you are at then.”

There’s no reason for the White Sox to look back when they are playing so well. Danks opened this contest with an eight-pitch first inning, all of which were strikes, and he permitted his first hit on Casey Kotchman’s slow roller up the middle with two outs in the second.

Kotchman’s grounder marked just about the only play Ramirez or Vizquel didn’t make on this evening. Ichiro Suzuki laced a solid single to center with two outs in the eighth, bringing an end to Danks’ evening after eight strikeouts, four walks and 107 pitches. J.J Putz replaced Danks, retired Chone Figgins on a fly ball to center and set the franchise record with his 25th straight scoreless appearance.

“When you are having trouble scoring runs, John Danks is not the guy you want to see,” said Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu of Danks, who has posted three straight seasons of double-digit victories. “I have seen him for quite a while. I had him in Texas, and that was as good as I have seen him. Eight strikeouts, changed speeds, 94-mile-per-hour fastball and had a cutter tonight.”

“If you would have told me after the first inning that I was going to walk four and two on four pitches, I would have called you a liar, but I felt good,” said Danks, who has allowed two earned runs or less in 13 of his last 18 starts. “It was a good game. We scored some runs, and us as a staff, we were able to shut them out.”

The White Sox scored one in the fourth on Mark Kotsay’s groundout off of Seattle starter Doug Fister (3-6). They added two in the fifth on a double from Juan Pierre and Alex Rios’ single to left. Vizquel singled in each of his last two at-bats, giving him six multihit games in his last seven played, while Ramirez’s ninth home run in the ninth capped a three-hit night, raised his average to .284 and gave the White Sox their victory margin.

Ramirez put an exclamation point on the win with a spectacular play off of Jose Lopez’s one-out grounder in the ninth. He ranged deep into the hole to glove an almost-certain base hit and then fired a perfect strike across his body to first baseman Paul Konerko. This effort only was matched by Vizquel’s diving stop down the line in the sixth to take away extra bases from Lopez with Franklin Gutierrez on first and two outs.

“Everything is contagious. You see Omar Vizquel put on a show today at third base. A show. Those balls hit there, if one went through, it could have been a different ballgame,” White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. “He made all the plays. When you see that happen, the rest of the infield is ready.”

“Some people say that defense wins ballgames, and I think we have been playing some pretty good defense,” Vizquel said. “The pitchers are doing a pretty good job of keeping the ball down. I think that is the most important thing. When they make the right pitch, we can do our job.”

Through the first six games of the second half, the White Sox have done their job three times. But they have picked up three games on the 0-6 Tigers and stayed even with the Twins.

Danks admitted to knowing about Detroit’s latest loss to Texas before taking to the field for Tuesday’s late start. The White Sox should have the same knowledge at their disposal before facing off against Seattle ace Felix Hernandez, one of the best pitchers in the game, on Wednesday night.

What Detroit or Minnesota does really doesn’t matter at this point. It’s about pitching, defense and clutch hitting for the White Sox, a trio they executed with flawless precision against the Mariners.

“It’s a little early to be watching the scoreboard, worrying about the standings,” Danks said. “As long as we’re still winning games and staying within striking distance the last month and a half, I think we’ll be fine.”

You know what’s funny? As I’m sitting here listening to the replay of last night’s post-game news conference, I don’t think the team knows they’re in first place. They keep talking about getting in “striking distance,” “putting together a run,” and so on. I have no idea how Ozzie convinced them the standings are wrong, but here’s hoping he can keep it up for another couple of months.

CLICK HERE TO MOVE ON WITH US

ring ** ring

“Hello, McCormick.”

“You up?”

“Yeah. That’s why I answered the phone.”

“The Sox won.”

“Yes they diiii .... ohhhh.”

“Yep. Now’re you up?”

I hope you’ll forgive me if I break into show tunes at random. If you’re not sure what the heck I’m talking about, read yesterday’s front page post just below this one.

Okay, sorry, give me just a minute to focus here.

All right, I’m good.

Yesterday Carlos Silva, the best thing going for the Cubs at the beginning of the year - in fact the first Cubs pitcher since Ken Holtzman did it in 1967 to start the season 8-0 - didn’t make it out of the second for the second straight time. He’s now pitched 2 1/3 innings over the last two games allowing 11 runs on 13 hits. Not that it really matters in the grand scheme of things but he now has a 42.23 ERA over those last two games.

I say it doesn’t matter because that is an insane number. Hopefully he can find his happy place and get back into this thing. PAUL SULLIVAN at the Tribune manages not to wonder if Carlos’ mother has stopped giving him the foot rubs he cherishes and, instead, concentrates on the game.

Thank you, Paul.

Before Monday’s game against Houston, Cubs manager Lou Piniella was asked if he’d seen Ozzie Guillen’s reality show, “The Club,” on the MLB Network.

“I was here at the ballpark watching a good baseball game (Sunday night),” Piniella said. “I don’t watch reality shows much.”

Piniella is too busy dealing with the reality of the Cubs’ 2010 season, which probably should come with a Surgeon General’s warning attached to it.

Watching the Cubs can be hazardous to anyone’s health, as evidenced by their 11-5 loss.

Carlos Silva, one of the few bright spots of the first half, had his second straight no-show, lasting only one inning before being yanked after five runs and seven hits. In his previous start on the final day of the first half in Los Angeles, Silva only lasted 11/3 innings and gave up six runs before being ejected.

“I got beat today,” he said. “Not much I can do.”

The brief momentum from the 3-1 Phillies series dissipated as quickly as Piniella’s pregame smile. Silva loaded the bases with no one out, then gave up a two-run single to Hunter Pence and a two-run double to Carlos Lee.

After giving up five runs, facing 11 batters and throwing 41 pitches, Silva was mercifully removed before the sun began to set. He now has a 42.43 earned-run average over his last two starts, having given up 11 runs on 13 hits and five walks. Mitch Atkins served up a three-run home run to .170-hitting catcher Jason Castro in the third to make it 8-0 before the Cubs offense awoke, too late to matter.

Piniella wouldn’t say whether Silva would get his next start and confirmed he wasn’t injured.

“Silva? I don’t have an explanation,” Piniella said. “I’m going to talk to Larry (Rothschild, pitching coach) about it tomorrow. He’s not as sharp as he was earlier, that’s for sure.”

Silva didn’t seem too upset by his performance.

“I don’t know if they have concerns,” Silva said. “I don’t. We’re still human, you know? The good thing is I feel really good today.”

The Cubs can’t feel too good about being 2-5 against the fifth-place Astros, 3-9 against the sixth-place Pirates, and 15-26 against the Central Division.

They trail first-place St. Louis by 101/2 games, though they insist they’re still in it.

“Anything can happen,” Derrek Lee said. “Ten-game leads can get to five quick, and a five-game lead can get to one quick. And then who knows what happens? You’ve got to keep grinding away.

“You’re not out of it until they ‘x’ you out.”

Derrek Lee is clearly in his happy place and not going to be pried out of it while his blood’s still warm. Maybe the rest of the team can get a D-Lee infusion. Our very own Big Star is in D-Lee’s happy place and telling anyone who’ll read his posts that the Cubs are going to the playoffs.

Why not? Things turned around for the Sox, they’re turning around for me, so why not the Cubs?

On the Southside, Daniel Hudson looked shaky in the first inning - giving up a run - then AJ sat next to him in the dugout. I have no idea what was said but the kid started to look better in the second, had a groove in the third and then coasted deep into the 7th inning as the Sox continued to pile up runs.

SCOTT MERKIN of MLB.com reports that this was exactly what they needed to do to reach their happy place again.

Win or lose, one overriding positive attribute characterizing the 2010 White Sox is their short memory.

Pick up 26 wins in 31 games? It’s like back to starting over again for Game No. 32.

Lose a heartbreaker such as Sunday’s ninth-inning meltdown at Target Field? Simply pick themselves up from baseball’s version of a standing eight count, dust themselves off and cruise to a 6-1 victory over the Mariners at Safeco Field on Monday night.

That bounce-back ability snapped the White Sox three-game second-half losing streak and raised their record to 2-3 on this 10-game road trip. With Minnesota’s loss to the second-half juggernaut from Cleveland and Detroit’s extra-inning setback against Texas, the South Siders now hold their biggest American League Central lead of the season at 2 1/2 games.

“We didn’t falter or change anything,” said catcher A.J. Pierzynski, who finished 1-for-4 in the victory. “We didn’t say, ‘Oh, my gosh. We have to win this next game.’ Our guys were the same in here.”

“Your attitude is take it one day at a time,” White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. “That’s my philosophy, our philosophy, about no matter what happened yesterday, it doesn’t mean anything the next day.”

As Pierzynski pointed out after the club’s fourth straight win over Seattle (36-57) this season, a team’s momentum only stands as strong as its next starting pitcher. So, Daniel Hudson (1-0) made it easy for the White Sox (51-41) to get back on track.

Hudson’s pace was less frenetic compared to his first start this season against the Royals on the last day before the All-Star break. He gave up a run in the first inning on Russell Branyan’s double but then settled down to allow only five hits over 6 2/3 innings, striking out six and walking four.

His solid effort, against albeit an offensively-challenged team, certainly earned Hudson another start. The question remains whether Hudson has secured a full-time spot in the White Sox rotation or possibly made the young hurler a bit more enticing in a trade package.

Those sorts of possibilities don’t worry Hudson. Guillen also wants to make sure Hudson isn’t looking over his shoulder every time he takes the mound.

“I just worry about what I have, not what I don’t have,” Guillen said. “That’s what I have right now. So, I need to take the best out of him, give him enough confidence to go out there and pitch. The only thing I don’t want to do is have him thinking every day, every time he goes out there to the mound that he will be sent down the next day.”

“My focus is just to go out and do my job,” said Hudson, who threw 63 of his 99 pitches for strikes. “I can’t think about how many more starts this gives me. As long as I can give the team quality starts, these guys will score runs in a hurry any time.”

A milestone home run provided Hudson (1-0) all the runs he needed in the Pacific Northwest. Alex Rios’ 16th home run of the season, coming with one out in the fifth off David Pauley (0-2), gave the White Sox a 3-1 advantage and stood as career long ball No. 100 for the multi-talented center fielder.

Andruw Jones added his 13th home run in the eighth inning, but it was Rios who pushed the White Sox offense in the victorious direction.

“To a guy like that, who’s got the ability he has, you can’t make a mistake like that in that situation,” said Pauley, who hung a slider to Rios in what turned out to be the game’s deciding at-bat.

“You look at the one-out walk and the home run to Rios,” said Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu of Pauley, who walked Omar Vizquel prior to Rios’ home run. “The curveball was really the pitch of the night for him to give up two runs on that. Other than that, I thought he was really good.”

Seattle sent one late wave of concern through the White Sox, when Ichiro singled and Chone Figgins walked against Matt Thornton to load the bases with two outs in the seventh. But Thornton climbed the ladder with fastballs on Casey Kotchman, blowing a shoulder-high, 97-mph offering past him with relative ease for a swinging third strike.

Vizquel, Rios, Paul Konerko and Gordon Beckham knocked out two hits apiece, with Beckham raising his average to .571 during his eight-game hitting streak and .241 overall. It was a balanced effort with no signs of any lingering effects from the Twins’ walk-off victory.

In fact, it truly was a first-place effort, even with a rookie hurler on the mound.

“We need to win as many games as we can until the season is over now that we are in a playoff race,” Rios said. “Every game is important from now on.”

“With this ballclub, I didn’t believe we would have any sort of carryover,” said Guillen, who talked to a few players on the plane ride to Seattle and felt confident about Monday’s game. “Even when we had the winning streak, we put that away right away.”

With that win and the Tigers and Twins both losing, the Sox are now 2/12 games in first place.

That is a very happy place.

I feel a show tune coming on, so I’ll let you go for now.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR HAPPY PLACE

Yesterday, a female friend of mine offered to provide me with oral satisfaction, which is not to be confused with Orel Hershiser or Oral Roberts, if - AND ONLY IF - the White Sox won. With the Sox leading 6-3 in the 8th I quickly took my second shower of the day, just to be polite. I was certainly warming to the idea of a victory. Unfortunately, the Sox got so hot they melted down. Imagine my horror as I was toweling off and watching Bobby Jenks blow chance after chance to win the game. Yes, Sergio Santos gave up the final run, but he shouldn’t have been in that situation in the first place. Had Jenks not sucked so bad and allowed everyone in a different color uniform a free pass to first - HE WALKED THE FREAKING BAT BOY FOR CHRI-YI- Santos, and I, would have had much more relaxing days.

So, Bobby, this one’s for you;

Okay, I’ve got that out of my system.

Really, I’m fine. No lingering issues at all. Certainly nothing that a week’s worth of cold showers won’t cure.

On to more positive thoughts. Big Star’s bandwagon for the Cubs has been upgraded with heavy duty shock absorbers to handle the load of new, and returning, Cubs’ fans. As CARRIE MUSKAT of MLB.com points out, the Cubs didn’t just win a game yesterday, they won a series and made a statement.

The Cubs may have finally found the right combination at the top of the order.

Rookies Tyler Colvin and Starlin Castro provided the 1-2 punch to help ignite the Cubs in an 11-6 win Sunday night over the Phillies. Geovany Soto and Alfonso Soriano both hit two-run homers and totaled three RBIs, and Derrek Lee added a three-run double to back Tom Gorzelanny as the Cubs beat Roy Halladay and took the series, 3-1.

“We swung the bats really well today off a good pitcher,” Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. “You put six runs on the board against Roy Halladay, and you have to feel good about your offense.”

It’s the first home series the Cubs have won since taking two of three against Oakland on June 15-17, and first season-series victory over the Phillies since going 4-2 in 2001. Gorzelanny (5-5) outpitched Halladay, giving up three runs on five hits over 6 2/3 innings for his third straight win.

“We didn’t hit [Gorzelanny], we didn’t score any runs until the game was over,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. “Give their pitcher a lot of credit, he did a good job.”

“You don’t expect to get out of there scoring more than two, three runs against a guy like [Halladay],” Gorzelanny said. “For us to swing the bats the way we did against the best pitcher in the game, that shows a lot for our offense. There’s definitely signs. We keep saying this team will come around—we have great hitters and we can score some runs. We just need to do that.”

The key could be the kids, Colvin and Castro. They combined to go 6-for-9 with three runs, a stolen base and one RBI.

“I like it,” Piniella said of the combination, which actually was reversed when the two played in Double-A last year. “I like the young kids up there, they swung the bats good. Why disturb something that worked?”

“Their baseball IQ is very high,” Marlon Byrd said of the two rookies. “You tell Starlin and you tell Colvin something once, they retain it. I didn’t do that when I was young—I had to be told millions of times. They’re learning quick and they’re showing it on the field.”

“I’d like to think I absorb everything,” Colvin said. “You get bits and pieces from each one—that’s how you learn baseball.”

Soriano keeps an eye on Castro, making sure he shares his baseball expertise with the 20-year-old shortstop as well as some of the Dominican food he has delivered to Wrigley before games.

“If he feels comfortable, he’ll feel comfortable playing baseball,” Soriano said. “My first time to the big leagues, I didn’t feel comfortable.”

The Cubs would’ve swept the series if not for the Phillies’ four-run ninth on Saturday. Soto, who missed a tag at home in the ninth in that game, got the Cubs on the board with one out in the second with his 11th home run, driving in Byrd who was hit by a pitch. One out later, Gorzelanny and Colvin each singled, and the pitcher scored on Castro’s single to make it 3-0.

Wait a second. Gorzelanny singled off Halladay?

“There’s not much for pitchers to say—you just swung,” Gorzelanny said. “There’s no game plan, there’s no strategy in that.

“Even us players idolize a guy like that, just how he is on the mound and the type of pitcher he is,” the Cubs lefty said of Halladay. “For pitchers not being known as hitters, to get a hit off a guy like that is a good thing but obviously, most important is being able to win a game against a guy like that.”

Back to the second: During Lee’s at-bat, Castro stole second and catcher Carlos Ruiz’s throw was off the mark, allowing Colvin to score on the error.

The Phillies made it 4-2 in the fifth, but Byrd was plunked again to lead off the sixth and Soriano followed with his team-leading 17th home run to go ahead, 6-2. He entered the game with 20 strikeouts in 54 career at-bats against Halladay (10-8), who was pulled after six innings. The right-hander is 2-5 in his last eight starts.

The Cubs loaded the bases in the seventh, aided by a throwing error by pitcher David Herndon on Castro’s bunt, and Lee cleared them with his double to left center. Soriano and Soto each drove in a run in the seventh as the Cubs outscored the Phillies, 28-19 in the four-game series.

“As long as we’re hitting, we can score some runs and win some ballgames and I think we’re showing that now,” Gorzelanny said. “Having a series like this is a big confidence boost for the guys and the whole team.”

It certainly doesn’t suck to be a Cubs’ fan right now. The Cubs are 6-4 over their last ten games, making them, and the Cards, the only teams with winning records in the NL Central over that span. Go, Cubs, Go, indeed.

On the Southside, and you may have figured this out after reading the opening paragraph, the Sox lost a heartbreaker (well, my heart was broken) to the Twins. SCOTT MERKIN of MLB.com, who was (to the best of my knowledge) not as emotionally involved in the game as I was, still seems a tad irked at the outcome.

Mark down Sunday’s 7-6 loss to the Twins at Target Field as a potential defining moment for the 2010 White Sox.

Defining, in a good way, if the White Sox put Minnesota’s four-run, ninth-inning uprising immediately behind them, a game-winning rally put together by the Twins (49-43) without having a batter retired. Defining, in a bad way, though, if this kick-to-the-gut comeback against closer Bobby Jenks and Sergio Santos not only gives Minnesota momentum for one of its patented second-half runs but also takes the wind out of the White Sox sails.

Judging by the disappointed but steady postgame reaction, the image of Michael Cuddyer sprinting across home plate following Alex Rios’ throwing error won’t last with the White Sox long.

“Obviously, it’s not an easy one to swallow. A tough one, a very, very tough one,” said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, after his team suffered a third straight loss to the Twins, marking the team’s first three-game losing streak since April 15-18. “The only thing you can do is just try to erase this game and overcome the next day.”

“We’re still in first place,” Jenks said. “We’re going to the West Coast and I’m pretty sure we already swept Seattle. So, hopefully we can take at least two again and just keep this wheel spinning.”

Traveling across country would have had a completely different feel for the White Sox (50-41) if Jenks (1-2) could have protected a three-run lead in the ninth. Jenks had converted 15 consecutive saves but suffered his first blown one since May 9, when Jenks also gave up four runs without retiring one batter in a home loss to Toronto.

“I didn’t have it,” said Jenks, who threw only 13 of his 23 pitches for strikes. “My cutter was coming back. My sinker wasn’t sinking. The slider was big. I just didn’t have my stuff today.”

This fact became apparent when Jenks walked Orlando Hudson and Joe Mauer to open the ninth. Guillen questioned the selection process during the 10-pitch Hudson at-bat, pointing out how you can’t work around the zone and throw Hudson a cutter or a slider with big hitters such as Joe Mauer and Jason Kubel waiting to hit.

Jenks said the only problem with his pitches was that he didn’t execute.

“If I execute my pitches that I wanted to do, it could be a completely different game out there,” Jenks said.

Instead, Jason Kubel followed with a run-scoring single to left on an 0-2 pitch and Cuddyer drove in a run with a 2-2 single to right-center, cutting the White Sox lead to one. Santos, who has one career save but also 32 strikeouts in 28 2/3 innings, replaced Jenks but proceeded to walk Jason Repko on five pitches.

Delmon Young dropped a single into right-center to tie the game. The ball fell just in front of Alex Rios, who hesitated in throwing the ball despite Cuddyer being held at third, and then airmailed his throw against the White Sox dugout to allow Cuddyer to score.

“That was a situation where I just have to pick up the ball and make a nice and easy throw home,” Rios said. “I just overthrew it. It’s not acceptable.”

“Closers have it where they miss the strike zone a little bit and you know what, we were fortunate enough we were trying to take some pitches there and see if he would throw the ball over,” said Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire of the ninth inning giving Target Field a playoff sort of frenzied electricity. “Got in some good situations and it just wasn’t [Jenks’] day. He’s a good closer and he’s been tough on us for a few years here. Today we got him.”

Chicago’s heartbreaking ninth overshadowed another solid effort from Garcia, who gave up three runs on 11 hits over six innings, and stranded eight Minnesota baserunners in the process. The White Sox offense had him in line to pick up victory No. 10, rallying for four runs in the sixth off Minnesota starter Nick Blackburn and reliever Brian Duensing (3-1) and erasing a 3-2 deficit.

Carlos Quentin doubled home the go-ahead runs, before exiting after the top of the sixth with a bruised right hand suffered on a stolen base of third. Ramon Castro and Gordon Beckham tacked on run-scoring singles.

Beckham had a career-high four hits in the victory, raising his average to .237. J.J. Putz tied Shingo Takatsu’s franchise record with his 24th straight scoreless appearance, leaving runners on first and third in the eighth.

Then, the curse of the Metrodome struck the White Sox, only that moment of bad luck took place outdoors and one mile away. The group with 26 wins in 31 games prior to the losing streak beginning on Friday doesn’t figure to let this tough setback alter its focus or derail movement toward a postseason