Things are going pretty well for the White Sox right now. They've won three of their last four, and even picked up a game on the Twins last night after Gavin Floyd somehow defeated Darth Vader. We all know Floyd has a great curveball, but I for one surely didn't think it would be enough to get past the Galactic Empire's most brutal enforcer.
Of course, things could take a turn for the worst tonight with Lance Broadway Clayton Richard on the bump, but take solace in the fact that Cleveland is starting the bizarrely awesome Cliff Lee against the Twins.
Of more immediate concern should be the sudden demise of Nick Swisher, who has posted a Mike Caruso-like .135/.207/.378 line the last 28 days. Has Ozzie seen enough? It sounds like it.
With Paul Konerko back from his knee injury and playing, Nick Swisher will see lot of bench time.Manager Ozzie Guillen said Swisher has been searching at the plate, changing stances as frequently as facial hair, and the Sox are not in a situation to wait for him to get out of his slump. That means Swisher has been thrown into the mix with Brian Anderson, Dewayne Wise and Jerry Owens for playing time.
''[Swisher is] struggling real bad at the plate,'' Guillen said. ''I'm not saying he's not going to play, but I want to see how those [other three] guys perform on the field and I'm going to take it from there.''
I don't know how I feel about this. I'm inherently predisposed to hate everything involving Jerry Owens, but a few days off for Swisher probably would do some good. Still, if the Sox are going to make a run in the playoffs, Swisher will need to start producing.
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I've been mentioning Wise all year long, but too often you ignored him. I will repeat his AAA #'s again:
Before being called up he was leading Char in SLG %, & SB's. That's a rare combination (think Soriano). He's done that before with other clubs, but then failed at the bigs. This year (perhaps because of playing for a mgr like Oz) he's succeeding.
The Sox are not going to beat the Yanks w 1 run. Blame the pen for collapsing but it just would have meant a 2-1 loss instead.
WSox @ Yanks: Vazquez vs Mussina
Twin @ Rays: Perkins vs Shields
It's a golden opp to get to 3.5 gms.
Then it's off to KC to face the red hot Royals (12-8) in their last 20. Maybe they'll be exhausted from winning 6 in a row by then.