Garland does it all and gets bragging rights

I'm most encouraged by the bottom of the order finally pulling its weight.  Of course I knew Uribe wouldn't bat under .200 all season, and that BA couldn't possibly either, but it's one thing to expect good things, another to actually start seeing them.  Uribe is hitting for power again, and when he's right at the plate, that's one thing he brings from the SS position that is rather unique.  I just hope he can continue this hot streak for more than a week or two.

I also have to eat major crow on Matt Thornton and the trade for him.  Out of nowhere, he's become a reliable reliever, heck, he's even at times been a dominant reliever.  The bullpen is looking much spiffier these days with him, BMAC, and Cotts all good options before Jenks.  Montero and Riske can be used as mopup guys and gain confidence for the stretch run and/or playoffs.

I predicted 93 wins from this team before the season, but I might have to up my prediction.  They've had amazing production from Dye, Kong, and Thome, no major injuries, and the front of the staff is really dominating while Garcia, Vasquez, and Garland are holding their own. With the now solid bullpen, I don't think 98 victories is out of the question, and anything less than 95 probably will be a disapointment is their health holds up.

And their run differential is now 2nd only to the Tigers.  They've recently passed both the Mets and Yankees in Pythag expected wins.

This team isn't getting by on "lucky" one run games this season, they're blowing people out.  I like it.

But yes, the "all cylanders" Sox that humiliate other teams is a little more comforting.

Ozzie has gotten some criticism for his constantly changing lineups but it should only help our regulars during the dog days (last year we had some struggles around then) and into September.  Moreover, I'd love to see how our bench numbers stack up against other teams'.  We know who the starters are, that's not the issue.  But everyone has been a hero multiple times now, and that should only help us in future late-inning situations, particularly in the playoffs.

I don't care if we get 91 or 101 wins, I just want us to win the division and 3 postseason series.

• Really impressed with the Sox pitching this weekend.  Contreras was better than his line indicated on Saturday, Freddy was good enough on Friday, and Garland killed some worms today while thoroughly dominating.  Specifically, our pitching shut down Ken Griffey and Adam Dunn this weekend, the two guys I feared most.
• I know we harp on this a lot, but it still needs to be said -- Podsednik is really bad at reading the ball off the bat.  I believe it was Austin Kearns who, on Saturday, hit a two-run blooper late in the game into short left-center field.  I was sitting right behind homeplate, so I had a real good view of the whole field, and saw the play unfold before my eyes.  Podsednik not only took TWO steps backward -- after he took those steps backward, he paused for ANOTHER second before he finally figured out that the ball wasn't hit far.  Absolutely BRUTAL defensive play there.
• Guillen made two really questionable decisions this weekend.  The first being, in the ninth inning on Saturday, making a double switch AFTER the Sox had batted in top of the inning, putting Mackowiak in center for Anderson.  There was no need for that move at all; you put your best defensive group out there.

• Now that I got my bitching out of the way, Great American Ballpark is beautiful.  It sits right on the Ohio (I think) River, the view outside the RF wall is spectacular.  The sitelines themselves in the stadium are great, as every seat is tilted towards homeplate.
• Well done, Sox fans.  For every game, there was a large contingent of White Sox fans.  We got some "Let's Go White Sox" chants started, and even a couple of "Nah nah nah nahs".
• To make a long story short, I got a ball from Bobby Jenks while standing in the first row of the LF upperdeck (or, where Jermaine hit his homer) during BP on Friday.  It was really, really awesome.  I wasn't even calling for it; everybody in the bleachers below us was, and he pointed to me, and I made one helluva snag. : D

When I saw A.J. get drilled those 2 times, I thought, "Sure, it must hurt, but he's got that body armor on, how bad can it be?"

During his TV interview last night, A.J. showed the back of his right arm where he got hit. It was a disgusting black and blue from his elbow up to just below his shoulder. How he didn't go out and clobber Padilla, I'll never know. Let's just say he showed great restraint. He also explained that he knew he couldn't afford a suspension, so he kept his temper in check.

Hmm, is this the ravings of a punk? The guy all other ball players hate? Sounds like an extremely reasonable guy to me.