Recently in White Sox Category

Baseball still screws up its awards far too often (more on that in a bit) but we should give them credit when they get one right, and today they got one right. After years of stellar defense, Mark Buehrle was finally honored with a Gold Glove.

It leaves me wondering how Buehrle was able to breakthrough after all these years. It's not like his defense in 2009 was noticeably better than it has been the last few seasons. Do you have to throw a perfect game to win a Gold Glove? Was it only because Mike Mussina is now out of the picture? Are the voters - in this case, managers and coaches - actually getting smarter!?

The answer key to those questions: 1) "probably", 2) "probably", and 3) "of course not".

Sox GM Ken Williams is disappointed his midseason deals weren't difference-makers.

Ken Williams gave his annual end-of-season State of the Sox assessment Wednesday, and the straight-talking GM was blunt in his conviction that this team didn't reach its potential. "They are underachievers," Williams told reporters at the Cell. "We're not playing up to our capabilities. Period."

Maybe -- or maybe the 2009 Sox just never were that good. Despite Williams' lofty playoff hopes after the late-season acquisitions of Jake Peavy and Alex Rios, this team suffered from serious flaws, was too young at key positions and got too old too quickly at others.

So the question for Sox fans is: Do you agree with Williams that the team underachieved, or do you think the expectations were unrealistically high?

Jake Peavy's debut with the Sox on Saturday is lacking the anticipated luster.

Good seats still available! Jake Peavy will make his long-awaited Sox debut Saturday against Kansas City, and it's a home game, so a huge gate at the Cell would fill the team's coffers. Trouble is, at this point, does anybody care anymore?

Derrick Rose will renew excitement in Chicago come October, as will the Blackhawks.

Typical Sox: After taking three of four from the Red Sox, they get blown out by the A's on Tuesday and miss a rare chance to gain ground on Detroit. They're still eight games out, way too big a deficit to make up even with six remaining games vs. the Tigers.

Typical Cubs: They spank the Pirates for the second straight day, but again fail to gain any ground either on St. Louis (which rallied in the ninth to beat Milwaukee) or on wild-card-leading Colorado. Amazingly, the Cubs still haven't gained as much as a half-game on St. Louis on any day since Aug. 4, falling from a tie for the division lead to 11.5 games out.

Baseball season is over in Chicago, and no matter how exciting Jay Cutler and the Bears may be, we can't talk about them every day. So thank goodness that some familiar friends from last spring soon will be back in action.

What's the reason for this recent White Sox slide? Everyone seems to have an opinion. Could it be the opposition's choice in bad 70's music? A lack of intensity? Too much intensity?

Ever since Stu wrote the Sox were 'set for a run', they've run off five losses in their last six games. The Sox are now a game below .500, and trail the Tigers in the AL Central by 4.5 games. Things do not look good.

Ken Williams (above) says this would be his most disappointing season if the Sox don't get in the playoffs and ''do well,'' while Jim Hendry acknowledges he'll be "very disappointed" if the Cubs don't make it to the postseason.

I'll be away from the blog next week doing back-to-school stuff with my offspring (Ricky O'Donnell once again will fill in ably here), and I can't help but wonder where the Sox and Cubs will stand when I return. Three weeks ago, I posed this question: Cubs and Sox both in the playoffs, just one ... or neither? I liked both teams chances back then, but while the Sox still have high hopes, time rapidly is running out on the Cubs.

Jake Peavy's rehab is going to take longer than he and the Sox had hoped.

It's looking like the White Sox may not get much of a stretch-drive boost from Jake Peavy, who was downcast after struggling Tuesday in his second rehab start for Class AAA Charlotte. Hopes that he might make his Sox debut against the Yankees later this month have been dashed, with at least two more rehab starts (this Sunday and then Aug. 28) on the docket. If and when he does finally return to a major-league mound in September, can he really be expected to fare much better than the departed Clayton Richard would have?

This isn't exactly what Sox GM Ken Williams had in mind when he acquired the San Diego Padres ace at the trade deadline, but remember this: The Peavy acquisition was as much about the future as it was about this season, maybe even moreso.

Jake Peavy leaves a news conference in San Diego after being traded to the Sox.

If at first you don't succeed .... well, Sox GM Ken Williams tried, tried again and finally got his man, landing Padres ace Jake Peavy at the trade deadline Friday. The Sox sacrificed four promising arms, including Aaron Pereda and Clayton Richard, to land the 2007 Cy Young award winner, but from here, this looks like an excellent deal.

Mark Buehrle delivers during his perfect-game, 5-0 victory Thursday vs. Tampa Bay.

Mark Buehrle out-did himself Thursday, throwing the Sox' first perfect game since 1922 and the first in the majors in five years, shackling the Tampa Bay Rays 5-0. Buehrle, who pitched a no-hitter against Texas in April of 2007, threw 116 pitches and fanned six. The last Sox pitcher to throw a perfect game was Charlie Robertson in 1922.

Give a huge assist to Dewayne Wise, who was a somewhat controversial choice to remain on the roster over Brian Anderson when Carlos Quentin was activated this week. Wise climbed the center-field wall in the ninth inning to rob Gabe Kapler of a home run and preserve the perfecto.

Ex-Sox pitcher Jim Parque admits using HGH before joining Tampa Bay in 2003.

It's lengthy, but I hope you will read Jim Parque's first-person account of the circumstances that drove him to inject himself with human-growth hormone in a desperate attempt to make it back to the major leagues in 2003. The former Sox left-hander, who started Game 1 of the 2000 AL playoff series against the Seattle Mariners, describes how he injured his shoulder throwing a pitch in that game and never was the same again. After being cut loose by the Sox in 2002, he worried how he would support his family and turned to HGH in a last-ditch effort to stay in the big leagues.

Sox GM Ken Williams cites poor attendance as a factor in his team's inability to deal.

UPDATE: Sox GM Ken Williams, asked Wednesday by the Sun-Times' Neil Hayes about his comments blaming the economy and low attendance for limiting his ability to swing a big deal: "I'm not going to b.s. anybody. When I tell you I think we can compete, it means I think we can compete. When I tell you I think we're in trouble, it means we're in trouble. When I tell you we have resources and are going down an aggressive road, I mean exactly that. What I mean now is that we have to take a step back and survey the landscape. It's not different than what you have to or anybody has to do in their own households to make ends meet."

Workers in St. Louis prepare for next week's All-Star Game at Busch Stadium.

Ted Lilly will be the only Cubs representative. Mark Buehrle was the only member of the White Sox to be invited. Since both are pitchers, it's possible neither of them will see action. So, for baseball fans in Chicago, it begs the question: Will you even bother watching next week's All-Star Game?