All the sports talk in Chicago on Tuesday afternoon centered on Manny Ramirez's arrival with the White Sox. But as it turns out, GM Kenny Williams' best midseason acquisition was probably the guy who arrived about a month ago -- pitcher Edwin Jackson.

Not too many people were excited when the Sox sent pitching prospect Dan Hudson to Arizona in exchange for Jackson, who was a lousy 6-10 with the Diamondbacks. However, Jackson has made a strong case to win American League Pitcher of the Month after five consecutive dominant starts in a White Sox uniform.

The final August numbers for Jackson after his 4-3 win over the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night: 3-0, 1.47 ERA, only 6 ER in 36 2/3 innings pitched, 45 strikeouts and just eight walks.

Jackson struck out 11 over 8 2/3 innings against the Tribe. It was the third consecutive outing where he recorded double-digit strikeouts. More impressively, he gutted it out through 130 pitches with the Sox bullpen running on fumes. Too bad he couldn't get the last out -- Jackson gave up a two-run single to Cleveland's Jason Donald on his final pitch of the evening.

Bobby Jenks came on to pitch in his third consecutive game and got the final out to notch his 25th save of the season.

As the calendar turns to September, the Sox sit four games behind the Minnesota Twins, who beat the Detroit Tigers 4-3 on Tuesday. They always say if you're within five games on Sept. 1, you have a shot. The Sox still have a chance, and it comes as a pleasant surprise to me that this team is playing meaningful games late into the year. I thought the Sox were done when they were 24-33 in June.

Sept. 1 also means roster expansion. Ramirez will make his Sox debut Wednesday afternoon. You can also expect to see catcher Tyler Flowers, infielder Dayan Viciedo, outfielder Alejandro De Aza and pitcher Gregory Infante in Sox uniforms from here on out. Pitcher Carlos Torres is also expected to rejoin the team in Detroit next week.

We created a little bit of controversy around town with Jim Owczarski's column that appeared in Friday's edition of The Beacon-News. East Aurora and West Aurora have been playing football annually for well over 100 years, but the last decade of games in this rivalry have been super boring.

Jim made that point as gently as possible in his column, and he also gave several suggestions on how this matchup could be improved. From what I've heard, a lot of people actually agreed with some of Jim's remarks, but didn't like the headline I wrote: "This rivalry is a dud." Some folks thought it was a little too harsh.

I'm standing by the headline for two reasons: 1) People read the column, and it's been a point of discussion among fans in Aurora. The idea behind headline-writing is to get folks to read the story. I'd say we were successful. 2) Friday night's game between East and West was, in fact, a dud. What new?

West Aurora rolled to a 52-12 win. The football program over at West isn't particularly strong. The Blackhawks will probably finish 2-7 or 3-6 this year, just like they do every other year. But they always begin the season by clobbering East Aurora, which will struggle to win any more than one game this season. As a matter of fact, the Tomcats haven't beaten West Aurora since 2000, and these games are always lopsided. That's why we called this rivalry "a dud" in print Friday.

It's really too bad it is that way. The basketball rivalry between East and West High is awesome. The games are always great. You don't have to think real hard to remember the last time East and West hooked up for a classic on the hardwood. Last year's game was outstanding. The year before that was one of the best high school basketball games you will ever see.

When is the last time East and West played an exciting football game? I couldn't tell you, and I'm a lifelong Auroran and a West High grad. I wish it were different, but the truth is the truth.

Here is a complete rundown of scores from the Aurora-Naperville area Friday night:
West Aurora 52, East Aurora 12
Marmion 14, Batavia 7
Plainfield East 27, Metea Valley 26 (last-second TD for Plainfield East)
Naperville Central 17, Waubonsie Valley 10
Naperville North 29, Neuqua Valley 28
Kaneland 37, Burlington Central 22
Benet Academy 34, Oswego East 0
Morris 21, Oswego 14
Genoa-Kingston 19, Aurora Central 0
Plano 30, Lisle 13
North Shore Country Day 25, Mooseheart 0
Sandwich 34, Westmont 14
Rock Island 42, Geneva 28
Yorkville 41, Streator 6

Adding one Saturday result:
Aurora Christian 48, DuSable 14

Reports on Friday afternoon indicated the White Sox have been awarded a waiver claim on Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez.

Three teams -- the Sox, the Texas Rangers and the Tampa Bay Rays -- put in a claim on Ramirez. Since the Sox have the lowest winning percentage among those three clubs, they have exclusive rights to make a deal to acquire Ramirez over the next four days.

The Sox and Dodgers have until 12:30 p.m. CT on Tuesday to complete a transaction.

For those who are unfamiliar with how this process works, there are four potential outcomes:

1) The two sides work out a trade in which both teams pay a portion of the remaining money left on Ramirez's contract. The Dodgers would likely receive a minor-leaguer(s) in return for such an arrangement.

2) The Dodgers let the Sox have Ramirez for nothing. The Sox would then assume responsibility for all of Ramirez's salary for the rest of this year, which is about $4.4 million ($3.3 million deferred). Sox fans may recall the club acquired Alex Rios is this fashion last season.

3) The teams work out a deal, only to have Ramirez veto it. Ramirez possesses no-trade rights and cannot be moved without his approval.

4) The Dodgers decide they are still in the playoff race and pull Ramirez back, retaining his rights for the remainder of the season. Los Angeles (66-62) is in fourth place in the NL West, 11 games back of the San Diego Padres. The Dodgers are just five games out in the wild card race, although they have four teams to catch.

Ramirez is hitting .313 with eight homers and 40 RBIs in 64 games this season. If the Sox can make it work, the reward of acquiring Ramirez far outweighs the risk. The Sox have been plagued by an inconsistent offense all season, and adding a lifetime .300 hitter like Ramirez to the middle of the lineup can only help.

I don't believe the Sox are going to win the division as currently constructed. They simply don't have enough pop to take the pressure off their pitching staff, which is short-handed in the bullpen at the moment due to injuries to Matt Thornton and J.J. Putz.

Why not take a chance on Ramirez? Maybe he gets hot the last month of the season and lifts the Sox into the postseason. If not, well, then you just wave goodbye to him at the end of the year and get ready for 2011.

I see on the schedule the Bears are going to be playing the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday in the third preseason game for both teams.

Didn't Dennis Green say something about the Bears and Cardinals playing the third preseason game during his famous tirade in 2006? Yes, yes, he did. And now we have an excuse to post this YouTube classic.

I always laugh whenever I see Dennis Green. He's a dead ringer for this guy named Boyd Reed who lived in the same dorm as I did at UIUC.

Enough is enough. It's time for the White Sox bullpen follies to end. No more sending injured guys out to pitch. The Sox have to call up reinforcements from Charlotte, and they have to do it now.

The South Siders had a seemingly comfortable 7-2 lead over woeful Baltimore heading into the ninth inning Tuesday night. They won the game, 7-5, but not before using three relief pitchers and watching J.J. Putz walk off the mound with an injury for the second time in a week.

Sergio Santos couldn't get anybody out -- walk, single, single, single. All of a sudden it was 7-4 and Putz was on the mound. He threw three pitches out of the strike zone, then determined his sore right knee was too bothersome to continue.

Enter Bobby Jenks (pictured). Game over. Jenks induced a DP, then got Luke Scott to fly out to center field to end the shenanigans.

Putz needs to go on the DL. Matt Thornton hasn't pitched since Aug. 17 and won't be available until at least the weekend with left forearm soreness. Tony Pena made an emergency start on Saturday in Kansas City and pitched seven innings. Ideally, he won't pitch again until Thursday.

The Sox bullpen is woefully, woefully short right now. Guys are tired, injured or bad. It's reflected in the results. Sox relievers have lost seven games since Aug. 6. It's time to bring Erick Threets back up from Charlotte and have him take Putz's place on the roster. I'd hate to put Thornton on the DL as well, but if that's what is necessary, do it and get somebody else.

It's also time to put Jenks back in the closer's role. He threw three shutout innings Sunday in Kansas City. He got the save Tuesday. No more of this closer-by-committee stuff. Jenks and rookie Chris Sale are the two Sox relievers throwing well right now. The Sox are going to have to start using Scott Linebrink more frequently in pressure situations, too. As odious as that is, there is no other choice.

Despite all this, the Sox are only 3 1/2 games back of the Minnesota Twins, who lost in Texas on Tuesday. The door is still open, if these bullpen issues can be solved.

The meatheads can relax and rejoice now. The Bears have found their new backup quarterback. The team signed 38-year-old veteran Todd Collins to a one-year deal on Monday, thus ending the wails of concern I've been hearing about what would happen to the Bears if starting QB Jay Cutler suffers some sort of catastrophic injury -- a distinct possibility given that Cutler will be playing behind a sieve-like offensive line.

I'll tell you what will happen if Cutler gets hurt -- the Bears will be really, really bad. It doesn't matter whether the backup quarterback is Collins, Caleb Hanie, local product Dan LeFevour or Matt Gutierrez. Given how lousy the Bears defense is, the offense is going to have to score a whole lot of points for team to be competitive this year. For that to happen, Cutler has to stay healthy and play more effectively than he did last season.

Yeah, you read that right. The Bears defense is lousy. I've been saying that for three years, yet most of the football discussion in Chicago continues to center on the Bears' quarterback situation. You can read articles about what is going on with Cutler every single day in any of the local newspapers. Ever since Hanie injured his throwing shoulder in the team's first exhibition game Aug. 14 in San Diego, there's been a gnashing of teeth over whom the backup quarterback is going to be.

Who cares? The real problem is on the other side of the ball.

The core players on the Bears defense are Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs, Tommie Harris and Charles Tillman. They are all aging. Three of the four have had major injuries over the last couple seasons. It's no wonder the Bears have ranked in the bottom half of the league defensively in each of the past three seasons. You can't trust these guys anymore. The 2006 Super Bowl was a long time ago.

The Bears have changed defensive coordinators three times in the last three years. It's amazing to me that it hasn't dawned on that organization yet that their problem is not with the scheme, it's with the players. They can't execute anymore. The Bears defense is old, injured and brutal against the pass. How many different combinations has that team tried at safety over the past four years? 20? 25?

The defense is the biggest reason the Bears have missed the playoffs the last three years. I don't see why it's going to be different this time. Will anybody in Chicago realize where the real problem lies? Some will, but you can rest assured most people will spend far too much time bitching about quarterback play when they ought to be questioning the Bears' defense.

The point I'm making here is nothing new. I said pretty much the same thing last August. Don't be surprised if I'm singing the same tune next August either. Nothing ever seems to change at Halas Hall from year to year.

This is going to be the last peaceful Friday night I'm going to have in this office for the next several months. That's right -- the prep football season kicks off one week from tonight. Seven days from now, the phones will be ringing in here and the scores will come pouring in. That also means it's time for our staff to preview all the area teams.

Unfortunately, the days of us producing one big section devoted to previewing the season are gone. That's disappointing to us as a sports department. We're told that advertising can't sell such a section anymore, which I find hard to believe. In any case, all the previews are running in the regular Beacon-News sports sections between now and next Friday.

If you saw today's print edition, you probably noticed that we had the previews for West Aurora and East Aurora. If you read Saturday's edition, either in print or online, we'll have the previews for Batavia, Geneva and Kaneland.

Tentatively, here's when the rest of the previews will appear both in print and online:

Sunday: Yorkville, Plano and Sandwich
Monday: Oswego and Oswego East
Tuesday: Waubonsie Valley and Metea Valley
Wednesday: Aurora Christian and Mooseheart
Thursday: Marmion and Aurora Central Catholic
Friday: Preview of Week 1 games, including East Aurora at West Aurora and Batavia at Marmion

I'm not much on making predictions for high school sports, but I'll say this: Watch out for Kaneland this year. Those guys are poised to make a serious run in Class 5A. If we have one team in the Aurora area that could win a state title, I'd say it's the Knights.

I did something I normally don't do tonight -- I never bothered to turn the White Sox game on the newsroom television. I'm a little tired of watching the Minnesota Twins and their bloop hits and their grounders with eyes. So, I elected to just follow Thursday's game on the computer.

Maybe I should do that more often, considering the Sox pounded out 21 hits and cruised to an 11-0 rout of the Twins. The win saves the Sox from extinction. As it stands, the South Siders have a rough road ahead of them. They are four games back with 41 to play. But if they had lost Thursday, they would be six games back and feeling generally hopeless.

The players most responsible for rescuing the Sox were the two guys who have been on the team for more than a decade -- left-hander Mark Buehrle and first baseman Paul Konerko. Both men turned in one of their better performances of the season.

Buehrle (12-9) went seven shutout innings. He allowed five hits and walked only one. After watching Minnesota score seven runs in each of the first two games of this series, the Sox were sorely in need of a lockdown pitching effort. They got one from the longest tenured member of their staff.

Not bad considering Buehrle hadn't earned a win at Minnesota since Sept. 21, 2007. He was 1-4 with a 6.69 ERA in his last six starts in the Twin Cities.

The longest tenured position player had himself a night, too. Konerko went 5 for 5 with three singles, a double, a homer, three runs scored and four RBIs.

My colleague D.J. Wanberg has Konerko on his fantasy team in our office league. Think he'll gain any points tonight?

If you haven't seen today's print edition of The Beacon-News, be sure to check out Jim Owczarski's story on the baseball camp Jerry Hairston Jr.'s Next Level Foundation organized here in Aurora on Tuesday afternoon.

Professional athletes and coaches run camps for kids all the time, but this one seemed to really strike a nerve with everyone who participated. Approximately 155 kids were there, and these were local youths who normally would not have the means to attend this sort of event.

Hairston Jr. and his younger brother and San Diego Padres teammate, Scott Hairston, are in Chicago this week to play a four-game series at Wrigley Field against the Cubs. Just hours before they took the field for Tuesday night's game, the brothers took time out of their busy schedule and made the approximately 40-mile trip back west to the area where they grew up.

"We wanted to make sure that we focus in on the community we grew up in, the Naperville-Aurora community," Hairston Jr. told Owczarski when asked about the aims of his foundation.

"This is our home. This was our home and we want to make sure the kids can see our faces and know that if you work extremely hard you can be a baseball player, you can be a football player and you can do anything you want in life, don't limit yourself. That's our important message."

Several other prominent members of the Aurora-area baseball community were also on hand to offer instruction, including Kane County Cougars manager Aaron Nieckula and high school coaches like Jorge Trejo, Robin Renner, Mark Lindo and Dan Fezzuoglio.

"It was a huge turnout," said Trejo, the head coach at East Aurora. "It was a great opportunity for all of us high school coaches and all the other coaches who were there. It was real nice because the kids responded well and that's what made it even more than what it was, the fact that all of us had four or five of our high school kids with us and they were helping out too. They were teaching and learning by coaching. It was a great three, four hours for everybody there. It was an awesome opportunity for everybody."

"(And) it worked both ways -- we were helping them but it re-energizes our day especially after a whole summer of baseball and reminds us why we're doing things. It was really humbling today. "

You can read more comments from the Hairston brothers and reaction from local coaches by visiting Jim's blog, here.

I was never expecting this to be the White Sox year. I described them as having a "third-place roster" at the start of the season. They've stayed in the race longer than I expected, playing meaningful games well into August.

But it appears this team is starting to run out of steam now. Over the last two weeks, they've gone about the business of losing the American League Central Division race in the cruelest way possible. Eight losses in 11 games, five of them by one run, three of them in walk-off fashion.

Look at the last three games. The Sox took a 2-1 lead into the ninth against Detroit on Saturday. They lost 3-2. The Sox took a 7-6 lead into the eighth Sunday against the Tigers. They lost 13-8. On Tuesday, former Sox DH Jim Thome hit a two-run homer off Matt Thornton in the bottom of the 10th to turn a 6-5 Sox lead into a 7-6 Minnesota victory.

This last two-week stretch has been difficult to watch, as the Sox have gone from having a 1 1/2-game lead in the division to being four games behind the Twins. Minnesota has its two best pitchers going the next two nights, Francisco Liriano and Carl Pavano. It is safe to say the Sox season is hanging by a thread.

We can't even say the Sox laid down for the Twins on Tuesday. Usually, you can find the Sox cowering in the corner when they play at Minnesota. But not tonight. In this latest loss, the Sox overcame an early 4-0 deficit, as starting pitcher John Danks was nowhere near his best. The Sox eventually forced the extra innings when Alexei Ramirez homered off Minnesota closer Matt Capps in the ninth to tie the score at 5-5. Ramirez came through again in the 10th, knocking in pinch-runner Brent Lillibridge with a single to give the Sox a 6-5 lead. This wasn't your usual "lay-down-and-die-against-Minnesota" performance.

The Sox ended up getting beat with their best reliever, Thornton, on the mound. What can you do? What can you say? The Sox can't win right now, and they're struggling at a time when they are playing critical head-to-head games against Minnesota.

A season can get away from a team quickly when it slumps at the wrong time. You get the sinking feeling that's what we are witnessing from the Sox right now. There are two more games left in this Minnesota series, and the Sox have to win at least one of them or they've got no shot in hell of making the playoffs.

Hard to believe that it is almost football season already, but the college football preview magazines arrived in my mailbox en masse over the last week. I always like to put the predictions side by side and see how they compare.

It doesn't look like there is much originality among the picks by Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News and ESPN The Magazine this year. All three have the same exact top three teams: Alabama, Ohio State and Boise State. Alabama is, of course, the defending national champion and they have Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram (pictured) returning, so it comes as no surprise the Crimson Tide are the consensus pick.

Here's what the different magazines had to say about the upcoming season:

Sports Illustrated

National Top 10: 1. Alabama, 2. Ohio State, 3. Boise State, 4. Texas, 5. TCU, 6. Iowa, 7. Florida, 8. Oregon, 9. Nebraska, 10. Virginia Tech.

Big Ten predictions: 1. Ohio State (12-0, 8-0), 2. Iowa (11-1, 7-1), 3. Wisconsin (10-2, 6-2), 4. Penn State (9-3, 6-2), 5. Michigan State (8-4, 4-4), 6. Northwestern (8-4, 4-4), 7. Indiana (6-6, 2-6), 8. Michigan (5-7, 2-6), 9. Purdue (5-7, 2-6), 10. Illinois (4-8, 2-6), 11. Minnesota (2-10, 1-7).

MAC West predictions: 1. Northern Illinois (9-3, 7-1), 2. Central Michigan (6-6, 5-3), 3. Toledo (5-7, 5-3), 4. Western Michigan (5-7, 4-4), 5. Ball State (5-7, 3-5), 6. Eastern Michigan (0-12, 0-8).

The Sporting News

National Top 10: 1. Alabama, 2. Ohio State, 3. Boise State, 4. Miami, 5. Florida, 6. TCU, 7. Nebraska, 8. Wisconsin, 9. Texas, 10. Oklahoma.

Big Ten predictions: 1. Ohio State (12-0, 8-0), 2. Wisconsin (11-1, 7-1), 3. Iowa (9-3, 6-2), 4. Penn State (8-4, 5-3), 5. Purdue (8-4, 4-4), 6. Northwestern (8-4, 4-4), 7. Michigan State (6-6, 3-5), 8. Michigan (5-7, 3-5), 9. Illinois (3-9, 2-6), 10. Indiana (5-7, 1-7), 11. Minnesota (2-10, 1-7).

MAC West predictions: 1. Northern Illinois (9-3, 7-1), 2. Central Michigan (7-5, 6-2), 3. Western Michigan (4-8, 3-5), 4. Ball State (5-7, 3-5), 5. Toledo (3-9, 3-5), 6. Eastern Michigan (1-11, 1-7).

ESPN The Magazine

National Top 10: 1. Alabama, 2. Ohio State, 3. Boise State, 4. Oklahoma, 5. Florida, 6. Texas 7. TCU, 8. Miami, 9. Nebraska, 10. Iowa.

Big Ten predictions: 1. Ohio State, 2. Iowa, 3, Wisconsin, 4. Penn State, 5. Michigan State, 6. Northwestern, 7. Purdue, 8. Michigan, 9. Minnesota, 10. Indiana, 11. Illinois.

MAC West predictions: None. The "cool kids" at ESPN were too busy conducting player surveys on the most annoying mascots in college football to offer any opinion on non-BCS conferences.

ESPN didn't include records with its Big Ten predictions either, which sucks. I think that's the most interesting part to analyze. For instance, both SI and TSN have Illinois at 2-6 in the Big Ten, but SI has the Illini at 4-8 overall while TSN has them at 3-9.

That tells me the smart people at TSN know Northern Illinois is going to be favored to win in Champaign on Sept. 18. NIU, not Illinois or Northwestern, is the best college football team in the state this year. The Huskies are the consensus pick to win the MAC West and with good reason. NIU has 17 starters back this season, including 11 who started at least six games on the No. 1 defense in the MAC last year. Look for the Huskies to go bowling in December.

Ditto Northwestern. Both SI and TSN have the Wildcats running the table in the non-conference portion of the schedule, which features home contests against Illinois State and Central Michigan, plus road games against Vanderbilt and Rice. Yeah, I can see Northwestern going 3-1 or 4-0 in those games. If Northwestern wins the games it is supposed to win in the Big Ten (Minnesota, Purdue, Indiana, Illinois), that's going to spell a seven- or eight-win season for coach Pat Fitzgerald's team.

The prospects are a lot more grim down in Champaign. ESPN The Magazine points out that Ron Zook is counting on two new coordinators and a redshirt freshman quarterback to save his job. That spells trouble. I don't know that Illinois is going to be last in the league, but I don't think it's beyond the realm of possibility. I agree with the TSN prediction of 3-9 overall and 2-6 in the league, with wins over Southern Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota. However, 1-11 and 0-8 would not shock me in the least.

SI says Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez is on the hottest seat in the Big Ten. I'll buy that, but only because the football tradition is far greater in Ann Arbor than the tradition in Champaign. Zook's seat is very hot. In fact TSN's Matt Hayes predicts Rodriguez, Zook and Minnesota's Tim Brewster will all get fired at season's end.

None of that would surprise me. I'm actually glad Zook is facing a win-or-else season. He's never made a believer out of me. If the Illini fail this year, it's going to be time to move on to the next head coach for sure.

This has been one of those weeks here at The Beacon-News. OK, actually, the last two weeks have been beyond insane.

Our entire staff is in training for a new computer system that will be implemented company-wide on Aug. 30. Basically, we've been coming in early each day for the last two weeks and have spent our afternoons learning all about a computer system that isn't quite working properly yet. I think I understand the new stuff pretty well (at least the parts that work), but the slowness of all the equipment has been frustrating. New software + old computers = Bad.

After four hours of challenging training sessions each afternoon, then we head back to the newsroom and put the paper out in the evenings. These have been long days, some of the longest of my career. Yeah, I'm tired.

And tonight, we have a seven-page sports section to put out for Aurora and a nine-page sports section to put out for The Naperville Sun. Thus, I'm a little busy and won't have time to watch much of the Sox game or blog tonight.

Hopefully, some semblance of sanity will come back into this operation tomorrow, and I'll be able to resume blogging. In the meantime, amuse yourselves by taking a spin on the Wheel of Fish!

I often feel like the White Sox save their absolute worst baseball for games against the Minnesota Twins. Errors, bad baserunning, poor pitching and sloppy execution in general have been the norm for the Sox against Minnesota, especially over the last two seasons.

The Twins had won 18 out of the previous 23 meetings between the two teams largely because of the White Sox own folly. Well, Wednesday night was a different story.

The Sox looked great in picking up a 6-1 victory that moved them back into a first-place tie. On the first play of the game, Minnesota's Denard Span laced a double into the gap in right center. He tried to stretch the hit into a triple, but the Sox executed a perfect relay play. Alex Rios to Gordon Beckham to Omar Vizquel. Sit down Denard, you're out. That was an outstanding defensive play that set the tone for the rest of the night.

Sox lefty John Danks (12-8) pitched a brilliant game, striking out seven and allowing just six hits over eight innings. The Sox played errorless defense behind him.

Offensively, the Sox took full advantage of an implosion from the Twinkees. Minnesota botched what should have been an inning-ending double play in the third inning. A terrible throw allowed Alexei Ramirez to move into scoring position with two outs, and Rios made Minnesota pay with an RBI single that increased the Sox lead to 3-0.

In the fifth inning, the Twins had Sox left fielder Juan Pierre picked off first base. Pierre dashed for second and Minnesota first baseman Michael Cuddyer made another errant throw. Pierre was safe, and he scored on a double by Ramirez. It was 5-0 Sox at that point. Thanks for the gift, Cuddyer.

The inning continued and the Twins weren't done playing giveaway. J.J. Hardy made a horrendous throw on Paul Konerko's routine grounder to short. The ball got away from Cuddyer and Ramirez scored from second base. 6-0 Sox.

Danks did the rest, with a little help from Sergio Santos in the ninth. Great pitching, solid defense, opportunistic offense. That's how the Sox managed to go on that 25-5 run that got them back in the division race. The "Good Sox" showed up for Wednesday's game against the Twins, who looked miserable on this night.

Whoever wins Thursday's game will exit this series in first place. The teams have identical 64-50 records. The finale features a good pitching matchup between Sox right-hander Gavin Floyd (8-8, 3.49 ERA) and Minnesota lefty Francisco Liriano (10-7, 3.33 ERA).

Freddy Garcia pitched bad Tuesday night. There's no more analysis needed in describing the Sox 12-6 loss to the Minnesota Twins in the opener of a key three-game set between the two contenders in the American League Central Division.

Garcia gave up six runs on eight hits over 2 1/3 innings. He gave up three home runs in the second inning, prompting me to turn off the television and move on with my evening. No point in flogging myself any further after those first two couple innings.

I'm going to go home, have something to eat, relax and get ready to watch tomorrow's game. The Sox will have John Danks on the mound. The Twins will counter with the dreaded Triple-A callup, Glen Perkins. The Minnesota lefty hasn't pitched in the majors yet this year, and the Sox normally struggle with those types of pitchers.

The good news is the Sox have faced Perkins before. He's 2-1 with a 5.22 lifetime ERA in seven games against the Sox. That said, I think I'd still rather face the guy Perkins is replacing in the rotation, Kevin Slowey.

Slowey was scratched from his start with elbow soreness. That's a shame, because the Sox hitters typically eat Slowey for lunch. The right-hander is 0-1 with an 11.74 ERA in two starts against the Sox this season. Lifetime, he's 2-3 with a 6.89 ERA in eight starts.

Get well soon, Kevin Slowey. I think I'd rather face you in September than the no-name Glen Perkins.

Let's get one thing straight: It's ridiculous that Mark Kotsay has gotten so many starts as the White Sox designated hitter this year. Let's get a second thing straight: Kotsay is not responsible for Monday night's 3-2 loss to Baltimore, nor is he responsible for the Sox dropping three out of four to the lowly Orioles over the weekend.

As a matter of fact, Kotsay didn't even play Monday night, but he seemed to be getting the majority of the blame at White Sox Interactive, where posters are still furious that former Sox DH Jim Thome is now a member of the rival Minnesota Twins.

The fact of the matter is Kotsay is not the straw that stirs the drink in the Sox lineup. That guy is actually Carlos Quentin. However Quentin goes, so goes the Sox offense. And right now Quentin is killing the Sox.

In June, Quentin appeared in 26 games and hit eight homers and drove in 23 runs. The Sox went 18-9 for the month. In July, Quentin played in 19 games and hit seven homers and drove in 18 runs. The Sox went 18-8 for the month. Coincidence? I think not.

The Sox right fielder drove in 41 runs in 45 games while the team was on fire over a two-month stretch. That's the kind of consistent production the Sox need out of the No. 5 spot in the lineup.

Fast forward to this week. The Sox went 4-4 on their eight-game road trip, which is not terrible. But they lost three one-run games to the Orioles because of their lack of offense. They scored only 10 runs in the four-game set. Quentin was right in the middle of the failure.

He went 1 for 15 in the Baltimore series and 4 for 27 on the trip. Two of his hits were homers, but he drove in only three runs despite having numerous opportunities to deliver impactful hits.

Quentin let two golden RBI chances go by the boards in Monday's game. With the Sox up 1-0 in the sixth and Alexei Ramirez on third base, Baltimore elected to walk Paul Konerko intentionally to get to Quentin. Smart move as Quentin struck out swinging. All he needed was a fly ball to give the Sox an extra run, which would have been critical in a tight game. Quentin failed, and the Sox did not score in that inning.

Again in the 10th inning, with two outs, the score tied 2-2 and the go-ahead run on second base, Baltimore walked Konerko to get to Quentin. Once again, a smart move. Quentin grounds weakly to third. Inning over. The Sox don't score and Baltimore wins on a home run by Brian Roberts in the bottom half of the inning.

The inability of Quentin to produce lately has cost the Sox a couple ballgames. Konerko is the Sox best hitter, and the bat is being taken out of his hands because he's not getting adequate protection in the lineup.

The Sox badly need the productive Quentin we saw in June and July to reappear for the stretch drive. If that doesn't happen, all the Sox good starting pitching is going to go to waste in a sea of 2-1 and 3-2 losses.

If you've ever held season tickets for a professional or college sports team, you probably know the tickets typically come with well-known coaches and players pictured on them.

For instance, my White Sox season tickets this year feature photos of manager Ozzie Guillen, pitchers Gavin Floyd and Jake Peavy, catcher A.J. Pierzynski and other popular players.

In the past, my University of Illinois football season tickets would come with pictures of players like Juice Williams, Arrelious Benn, Vontae Davis, J Leman, Rashard Mendenhall and Brit Miller printed on them.

Not this year.

My Illinois season tickets arrived in the mail Saturday. I wish I could say I'm excited, but I think the team is going to be really bad this year. I only renewed because friends and family members talked me into it. The pictures on this year's tickets are quite telling, as far as I'm concerned. The photos for each game are as follows:

Sept. 11 vs. SIU: Picture of male cheerleaders carrying the 'I' flag
Sept. 18 vs. NIU: Picture of female cheerleader
Oct. 2 vs. Ohio St.: Picture of Red Grange statue outside Memorial Stadium
Oct. 23 vs. Indiana: Picture of Illinois marching band
Oct. 30 vs. Purdue: Picture of Illinois football helmet
Nov. 13 vs. Minnesota: Picture of collonnades at Memorial Stadium

What does this say about Illinois football? It means they don't have any marketable players this year. There isn't anybody on the roster who is going to bring you out of your seat. Even in losing seasons past, Illinois at least had a couple future NFLers that you could get excited about watching. This season, probably not so much. They don't even have anybody they want to picture on the season tickets.

Basically, the message is, "Come to Memorial Stadium to see the band and the cheerleaders! Oskee Wow Wow!"

Unless I'm spectacularly wrong (always possible), it's going to be a long year. We might even see double-digit losses. I'm not sure the Galloping Ghost (pictured) could save the Illini this season.

We've gone through and taken out the trash on this blog. You'll notice that several comments have been deleted.

I keep this blog for fun. It's a very small part of what I do here at The Beacon-News. If it ceases to be fun, I'm not going to do it anymore. Lately, it has not been fun because 95 percent of the comments I receive are childish nonsense.

Enough is enough. I will sooner take this blog down than continue in this manner. I have a lot of other things on my plate at work. I have a full life away from the office as well. I just don't have time to deal with this crap any longer.

JB

White Sox rookie Chris Sale is so new to the big leagues that I don't even have a photo of him to attach to this blog. Still, that didn't stop manager Ozzie Guillen from giving the young left-hander more than he could handle in Friday's 2-1 Sox loss in Baltimore.

With the score tied 1-1 in the bottom of the eighth inning and the top of the Orioles batting order due up, Ozzie summoned Sale to make his big-league debut. Frankly, that just wasn't fair to the kid.

Over the years, I've seen tons of pitchers make their big-league debuts, and a good number of them walk the first man they face. The adrenaline and the nerves are just too much to overcome.

Not surprisingly, Sale walked Brian Roberts on four pitches that weren't even close to the strike zone. Then, he gave up a single to Nick Markakis, who eats the Sox for lunch. Before you know it, it's first-and-second with no outs and Sale is out of the game. That isn't going to boost the kid's confidence, or make him feel like he belongs.

Veteran right-hander Tony Pena pitched out of that mess, which was fortunate. As it turns out, Pena gave up a run in the 10th inning and ended up suffering the loss. However, that's beside the point.

The point is you don't make a pitcher who is three months out of college make his big-league debut in such a pressure situation. You allow him to get his feet wet when the score is 5-1. You give him a little margin for error.

I think the Sox did a wonderful job of working rookie reliever Sergio Santos in slowly earlier this season. Guillen has been all about treating rookie infielder Dayan Viciedo with kid gloves. I wonder why he's so eager to throw Sale into the fire.

I meant to post a link to this last week, but it slipped my mind for whatever reason. Patrick Hofmann, my buddy from college, is currently driving across America. He was kind enough to link to my blog from his trip Web site, so I figure I should return the favor and link to his blog.

Patrick is not a White Sox fan, but he wanted to take in a game with me as he passed through Chicago on his cross-country trip. Fortunately, we were able to make that happen. He joined me for this past Sunday's game against the Oakland Athletics, which the Sox won 4-1.

Here's his blog entry on the game.

BTW, Patrick, there is nothing wrong with calling our stadium Comiskey Park. It's technically called U.S. Cellular Field, but there are many among our fan base who still call it Comiskey.

It came as news to manager Ozzie Guillen Thursday morning, but the White Sox are reportedly one of the teams interested in 38-year-old Carlos Delgado. The left-handed hitting 1B/DH hasn't played in a major league game since May 10, 2009, but Delgado's agent says the player is healthy and hopes to sign with a team as early as next week.

Let me be clear about one thing: I don't think Delgado is the answer to the Sox DH issues. I'm extremely skeptical that some dude who hasn't faced a live MLB fastball in 15 months is going to come in and be some sort of savior for the final 50 games of the season.

That said, I don't think it would hurt the Sox to give the guy a minor-league contract and see what he has. If he sucks, you just cut him and you're no worse off than before. If I'm wrong and Delgado has something left, then he could help a team like the White Sox.

Bringing Delgado on board would be a low-risk move for somebody, whether it's the Sox, Boston, the L.A. Angels or some other team.

It is interesting that the Sox incumbent left-handed DH, Mark Kotsay, had his best game of the season on the day all these Delgado rumors popped up. Kotsay went 3 for 5 with a two-run homer in the ninth inning, plus a game-winning two-run triple in the 11th inning of the Sox 6-4 win in Detroit.

Good for Kotsay, good for the Sox. But I'd still like to see the Sox go another direction with the DH spot. Is it possible the answer is sitting right under Guillen's nose in Dayan Viciedo?

Kenny Williams said in the media right after the trade deadline that he had refused to trade Viciedo. OK, that's cool. That means the Sox see Viciedo as an impact hitter for the future, perhaps even a potential star. If they think so highly of this kid, how come they are "protecting him" by having him face only left-handed starters? If Viciedo is going to eventually be a star in the American League, he's gotta learn how to hit right-handers sometime, right? No time like the present, IMO.

The latest addition to the White Sox starting rotation made his debut Wednesday night in Detroit. Edwin Jackson actually looked pretty decent, as he worked seven-plus innings of one-run ball in earning a 4-1 victory.

Jackson had been miserable for the Arizona Diamondbacks during the month of July, compiling a 1-4 record with a 7.24 ERA. More disturbing, his strikeout-to-walk ratio was abysmal. He struck out 19 and walked 15 over 27 1/3 innings. That walk total is way too high.

However, we saw no sign of those control problems Wednesday night. Jackson struck out six and walked only one batter, and that was the final hitter he faced -- Miguel Cabrera leading off the bottom of the eighth. Cabrera later scored the lone Detroit run of the game, which was charged to Jackson.

Jackson's outing cannot be described as dominant by any means. He allowed nine hits, including eight over the first five innings. But all nine hits were singles and several of them were weakly hit and perfectly placed. If a pitcher doesn't walk anybody, those bloop hits and ground balls with eyes can be worked around. Work around them is exactly what Jackson did. He had a good fastball -- good velocity, lots of life -- and a surprisingly effective changeup that produced some groundball outs for him.

I'm very much in wait-and-see mode on this Jackson acquisition, but I have to say I'm encouraged by this first outing.

A-Roid hits 600th career homer, nation shrugs

Alex Rodriguez, a known steroid cheat, hit his 600th career home run Wednesday in the New York Yankees' 5-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.

ESPN apparently thinks this is a big deal. I'm sure it is a big deal in New York and Bristol, Conn. However, the rest of the world does not care.

Who knows how many of those 600 home runs were tainted by Rodriguez's steroid use? I'm not going to celebrate the accomplishments of a drug user. No thanks.

I'll tell you one thing I am grateful for -- now that Rodriguez has hit his milestone homer, we won't have to put up with those annoying cutaways every time Rodriguez comes to bat.

I'd be watching something on MLB Network or ESPN, and all of a sudden, they'd break in to show me Rodriguez's pop out to shortstop or whatever. So irritating.

White Sox third baseman Mark Teahen, out since Memorial Day weekend with a fractured finger, is on his rehab assignment in Class AAA Charlotte. Teahen is 5 for 10 with two RBIs in four games thus far.

By next week, Teahen will be ready to return. At that point, which current Sox infielder will be booted off the 25-man roster? There are three possibilities -- Mark Kotsay, Dayan Viciedo or Brent Lillibridge.

Based upon merit, Kotsay and his .214 batting average should be gone. Instead of being the designated hitter, the veteran really should be designated for assignment. Alas, Kotsay is an Ozzie Guillen favorite, so his roster spot is probably safe.

I don't think the Sox can send Lillibridge down. He can play anywhere in the infield, and he's the lone guy on the Sox bench that can pinch-run. For my money, Lillibridge stays.

That leaves Viciedo, who has options left. However, the Cuban rookie hit a home run during the first game of today's doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers, raising his batting average to a robust .328. Viciedo has stone hands at third base, but can the Sox send him down when he's hitting so well?

I'll take a guess and say the Sox will put Kotsay on the DL with some phantom injury, then bring him back when the rosters expand on Sept. 1. Teahen is a better player than Kotsay. Lillibridge and Viciedo are also better. However, Guillen isn't going to want to let his guy go. Thus, Kotsay will probably come down with a mysterious back ailment sometime in the next couple days. Teams pull that kind of stuff all the time.

An additional roster move is being made with the pitching staff today. Carlos Torres was called up to lose the second game of the doubleheader in Detroit. He'll be on his way back to Charlotte tonight. Lefty Erick Threets was placed on the DL with turf toe (speaking of phantom injuries) to make room for Torres. Now, Torres is gone and he'll be replaced by lefty Chris Sale.

Sale was the Sox first-round draft pick in June. He's been tearing it up in Charlotte -- 15 strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings since being promoted. It will be interesting to see if Sale can give the Sox another late-inning option in the bullpen.

Shortly after I arrived in the newsroom Monday, I asked my colleague D.J. Wanberg if he was in full meltdown mode after hearing the news that the Hawks were saying goodbye to their Stanley Cup-winning goaltender, Antti Niemi.

"Not at all," D.J. said. "I think it's the newer Hawks fans who are upset by all this."

Like myself, D.J. is a long-time Hawks fans and a long-time observer of the NHL. It sucks that the Hawks were unable to retain Niemi, but I don't think anyone with good hockey knowledge is shocked or unnerved by this turn of events. Everyone knew the Hawks were in salary cap hell and that some good players were going to have to go -- except for the casual fans, of course. Those are the folks howling at the moon right now.

Niemi and the Hawks went to arbitration last week. The Hawks wanted to give the goalie a salary in the range of $1.5 million. Niemi reportedly asked for $4 million. The arbitrator split the difference, giving Niemi a judgment for $2.75 million.

That left the Hawks with three options: 1) They could have kept Niemi on the roster at that salary. 2) They could have accepted the ruling, then traded Niemi to another team. 3) They could renounce their rights to Niemi and allow him to become an unrestricted free agent.

The Hawks chose option three and signed veteran goalie Marty Turco (pictured) to a one-year deal that is reportedly worth $1.3 million. With the signing, the Hawks save nearly $1.5 million and they have a goaltender who is of similar quality.

Turco, a nine-year veteran, has made the All-Star team three times as a member of the Dallas Stars. I always figure save percentage is the best stat in evaluating a goaltender. Turco's save percentage last season was .913. Niemi's was .912. Both are good goalies. As it turns out, Turco fits into the Hawks' salary structure better for this upcoming year.

Really, Hawks GM Stan Bowman has done a solid job of untangling this mess. He's kept the core of the team together, with Niemi being the most painful loss of the offseason. Still, a suitable replacement was signed immediately. In addition, Bowman was able to get useful players in return for the players he traded earlier in the offseason.

If there is one criticism I could make of Bowman it would be this: He should have been more proactive in getting defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson under contract. The Swedish blue-liner is clearly a core player and an important piece of the puzzle over the long haul. Instead of getting Hjalmarsson taken care of quickly, Bowman left the door open for the San Jose Sharks to swoop in and offer a four-year, $14 million contract to the restricted free agent.

The Sharks designed that offer to make it difficult for the Hawks to match given their cap situation. That created a scenario where Bowman had to pick between Hjalmarsson and Niemi. That's a no-brainer ... you take Hjalmarsson. The Hawks matched the San Jose offer sheet, and now Hjalmarsson is back with team, while Niemi is gone.

Even with Hjalmarsson on board, the Hawks still could have agreed to take Niemi at a salary of $2.75 million. But under that scenario they would have had to trade either versatile forward Patrick Sharp or defensive ace Dave Bolland. Sharp or Niemi? That's a no-brainer ... you take Sharp. Bolland or Niemi? Again, a no-brainer ... you take Bolland.

As we've seen over the last decade, you don't need an elite goaltender to win a Stanley Cup. You just need a guy who is decent, maybe a bit above average. The Detroit Red Wings won multiple Cups with the decidedly average Chris Osgood. The Carolina Hurricanes won with Cam Ward, for cripes sake. Niemi is a good goalie, but would anyone consider him to be among the elite of the league? Probably not.

That's why you keep Hjalmarsson, Sharp, Bolland, et al., and take your chances with a cheaper goalie. Like Niemi, Turco is good, but not considered among the elite of the league. The Hawks won with Niemi. They can win with Turco, too.