A Big Recap And A Burning Question

There have been 4 games since my last update. The first was a winner against the Cubs. Freddy was what we’ve seen from Freddy most of the season. A solid start. 2 runs over 7 innings is nothing to scoff at. With a homer from Konerko, the Sox took the BP Cup home. (Thanks, by the way, to the Sox Machine for giving me the idea for today's illustration. While I did the copy/pasting, it was all his idea comparing it to "A Christimas Story"'s Major Award and I couldn't get the image out of my head.) It was a strange moment as the Sox players chose the player that would be bestowed with the honor of holding the cup first. On the one hand, there is much controversy against BP because of that little oil issue in the Gulf. On the other hand, the Sox can’t kick a sponsor in the face. Any money coming their way is good. My only issue is that the cup is for playing the Cubs. Can we get a cup for playing the Pirates or Nationals instead? I don’t want the Crosstown Classic to be rewarded in any way.

Not to sound 13, but whatever. I’m just glad this series is over. There are, surprisingly, a few good things that came from this series. First, every seat in the house was filled. I think many of the fans in attendance were wearing blue, but since when is it a problem that another team’s fans are paying our bills? Second, over our 11-game winning streak, we managed to make it within 1.5 games of first place.

Finally, on Sunday, the series was over. The Sox lost 8-6 in a weak outing from John Danks. Tony Pena and Randy Williams finished out the game. In the last few innings, the Sox rallied to get within 2 runs. What kills me is that the Cubs only had 6 runs at the time Danks left the game. Who knows what the outcome would have been had Ozzie put Santos, Thornton, Putz, or Linebrink on the mound instead of Pena or Williams? Would the Sox have gone to extra innings? Could they have extended their winning streak? It bring up the debate of whether the game you’re playing today is the most important or whether you should save your bullpen and get them tomorrow. I supposed it depends on how late you are in the season. Then again, if you finish the season 1 game out of first place, you will probably regret it.

Next, the Sox played the Royals on Monday with Buehrle on the mound. Buehrle looked pretty rough, but the fact that the Sox scored only 1 run and couldn’t come up with 3 more to win the game against the bottom-dweller Royals was more disappointing. Kenny, we need that bat.
Today, the Sox took on the Royals again. Gavin was doing well for the most part, but got tired and eventually gave up 3 runs. Thankfully, the bullpen held the score, and the Sox won 4-3. Go figure that Gavin would finally pick up a win on the worst game he’s had in about 3 weeks.

But enough of the recaps. I wanted to mention that Bobby Jenks has been on the bereavement list and the bullpen has had to do without. And, aside from Pena and Williams, they did fairly well. Jenks should be back tomorrow, or Friday. (The Sox have an off day Thursday.)

My next topic is one that makes me even more convinced that the Sox will resign Jermaine Dye. If the Sox were to pick up another player, who would it be? Well… whoever this person is, who would the Sox trade to get him? It would be nice if the Sox could get rid of someone like Andruw Jones, or Kotsay, or someone that is not 100% essential to the Sox. However, who would give up a great batter for a bench player? Anyone desirable is indispensable and anyone we can trade is useless to other teams. Perhaps Kenny can work some magic involving one of the aforementioned and some minor league pitchers, but who knows what the price of a good run producer will be? What do you imagine the Sox will give up?