‘Nuff said.

Hopefully, Richard only gives up 5 runs. It would be an improvement.

he said the team needed to remain injury free to compete, but that is not what is happening.

I thought the Sox traded Masset?

Mark Gonzales wrote:

Scott Linebrink started a throwing program Saturday with 50 tosses from 90 feet with no discomfort in the back of his right shoulder.

The Sox aren’t sure whether the reliever’s rehabilitation will conclude with a simulated game or a minor-league rehab assignment, but pitching coach Don Cooper said a return by mid-August would be a best-case scenario for his setup man.

Jose Contreras, who will pitch Sunday for Triple-A Charlotte on a rehab assignment, could rejoin the rotation as soon as Saturday against Boston.

Rookie Clayton Richard has a chance to stay as a reliever even after Contreras is activated to take his spot in the rotation.

Ken Griffey Jr. could remain in the American League next year, and Rosenthal suggests a return to Seattle. He’s open to playing OF and DH but has also considered some 1B.

http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-us&brand=foxsports&vid=1a45d540-e58c-41b4-8100-09496d0302d5&playlist=&editor=&from=FOXSPORTS&fg=/&rf=http://msn.foxsports.com/

...without keeping the run total under 5 why should he even be here? It’s August. KGJ is nice but another arm that isn’t an experiment woulda been better.

This losing series to inferior competition fad is getting pretty old.

Joe Crede was scratched from a rehab game Saturday night after feeling twinges in his back during pre-game warmups.
Crede is expected to play Sunday night and is still in line to return to the White Sox on Wednesday.

Matchup: White Sox (61-48) at Royals (51-60), 1:10 p.m. CT
Probable Starters: Clayton Richard (8 2/3 IP, 10.34 RA, 1.96 WHIP, 10 K) vs. Zack Greinke (140 1/3, 4.04, 1.33, 125)
Pythagorean Record: Chicago, 62-47 (550 RS, 474 RA); Kansas City, 48-63 (465 RS, 539 RA)
Hit List Rankings: Chicago, #4; Kansas City, #23
Prospectus: Via SNLVAR, Greinke has been the 17th most valuable starter in the American League this year, impressive for a young pitcher working in front of a defense in the bottom third of the league in Defensive Efficiency. Even more impressive is that Greinke has given up just one unearned run this season, despite the Royals’ ineptitude with the leather. If they get to the ball they’re doing well at making the play, and not forcing opportunities for unearned runs to score. They’ve made 58 errors on the year, tied for the sixth least in the majors, and their fielding percentage is .986, seventh in the majors. If Fielding Percentage and Errors were the way to gauge a team’s defense, then the Royals would be a fine fielding club. Indeed, since Defensive Efficiency is more accurate at portraying a team’s fielding prowess—including the balls a team should succeed on is one of those things that makes so much sense, it’s a shame it wasn’t implemented sooner—it’s easy to see why, despite only giving up one unearned run, Greinke is still adversely affected by the fielders behind him. His BABIP of .319 isn’t bad, but it’s well ahead of where he should be given his liner rate of 17.3 percent. As a result, his BABIP should be closer to .293, a 26-point difference that any pitcher would love to lop off. For Greinke, this adjustment would give him an opponent line of .245/.296/.401, rather than his actual .266/.319/.427. That’s the kind of change that could make Greinke a top-10 instead of a top-20 starter over a full season, as a sub-.300 OBP can take you a long way, especially when you’re a pitcher who doesn’t rely on his defense to succeed.

Matchup: Indians (48-61) at Twins (61-49), 1:10 p.m. CT
Probable Starters: Matt Ginter (15 IP, 4.20 RA, 1.40 WHIP, 9 K) vs. Francisco Liriano (10 1/3, 11.32, 2.71, 7)
Pythagorean Record: Cleveland, 55-54 (509 RS, 503 RA); Minnesota, 58-52 (541 RS, 512 RA)
Hit List Rankings: Cleveland, #20; Minnesota, #15
Prospectus: Liriano has finally been freed from Triple-A, and he’s here to help the Twins win the AL Central divisional crown. His three April starts were dreadful—his fastball velocity was down from 95 to 90 mph, and his slider had lost bite and velocity as well, coming in below 80 mph instead of the mid- to high-80s slider he had previously. However, Liriano did his time in the minors and looks as ready as can be to face major league hittersm at least more so than Livan Hernandez had been this year. The lefty threw 118 innings for Rochester, with 113 strikeouts against 31 walks and 0.6 HR/9, and was outright ridiculous during his last 10 starts: 73 K in 64 2/3 innings, nine walks, and just a 2.51 ERA. All the White Sox did to help themselves at the trade deadline was to acquire Ken Griffey Jr., although it seems odd to say “that’s it?” in regards to a future Hall of Famer. However, Griffey etched his name into history long before 2008, and the call-up of Liriano means plenty to a Twins team that needs whatever help it can get, especially since they avoided upgrading through trade themselves.

Liriano is going to take on an Indians lineup that has seen better days: Cleveland has a .256 EqA, but that includes the work of the departed Casey Blake, owner of a .284 EqA that was second-highest among regulars while with the Tribe. Liriano is going to need to hope that his strikeout stuff is available despite the Indians punchless approach, as the Twins defense (21nd in Defensive Efficiency this year, with 69.4 percent of balls in play converted into outs) isn’t doing its pitchers any favors. During his healthier days Liriano was the kind of guy whose performance could transcend a poor defense; we’ll see if he’s ready for that kind of dominance this afternoon.

So far the Griffey trade as been playing out pretty much how I didn’t want (and quite a few others I believe). Griffey is stealing time from Swisher and Thome and not so much gluing Konerko to the bench. Furthermore he’s played CF twice in two days, which is further weakening an already bad outfield defense.

There is still plenty of time to utilize Griffey in the right fashion though, and Kong did show some signs of life yesterday.

I don’t have a good feeling about this one based on the matchups. A solid Richard start here would be a nice boost.

One thing I saw on THBts today caught my eye: Sox are only 28-26 in “close” games while the Angels are a whopping 48-18. I’m sure some (paging Bill Platchke) thinkt he Angels have some magic “playing the right way” dust, but it’s probably just mostly luck.

Sox seem to have as good of a chance (assuming the make it) in the playoffs as any of the other AL teams.

hold on!

http://www.southsidesox.com/2008/8/3/585522/game-111-white-sox-61-48-r