Chicago's Inside Pitch

Somebody's got to win the AL Central, but who?
The Detroit Tigers are the obvious front runners, but they look to be in complete meltdown mode after blowing a 6-3 lead over the Blue Jays Saturday night and losing 8-6.
The Tigers have lost five straight _ they were swept in three by the last-place Royals and have dropped two to the lowly Jays.
So much for looking at the strength of schedules between Detroit, the White Sox and Minnesota.
After Saturday's loss to Toronto, Tigers manager Jim Leyland kept his composure.
"I think it's a case that you never have the appreciation of how hard it is to win games up here," Leyland told reporters. “And I think we're struggling through that a little bit right now.”

With such a quick turnaround from yesterday, it was a short and sweet media session with Lou today. Kosuke Fukudome’s hitting coach from Japan, Kyosuke Sasaki, is back with the Cubs.

“The last time he was here, I thought he helped Kosuke,” Lou said. “He’s very knowledgeable. He does a nice job. I know that Kosuke enjoys him being here, and we’re appreciative that he comes over here and helps out a couple times a year.”

Lineup
Fukudome, CF
Theriot, SS
Lee, 1B
Ramirez, 3B
Bradley, RF
Soto, C
Scales, LF
Blanco, 2B
Wells, P

“Just trying a couple different people,” Lou said. “Tomorrow, we’ll get back to a little different lineup. I’m playing different people.”

Jake Fox has not started since Sept. 3 against the White Sox.

Lou says Alfonso Soriano will get a second opinion on his ailing left knee and that his return to the Cubs is not likely this season.

“He’s going to go see his own doctor to get a second opinion on this thing,” Lou told us in the dugout this morning. “We’ll probably know something in the next few days. I would categorize it as doubtful that he’d return. Doubtful. I would think that if he as the procedure done before the end of the year it would be just to clean it out a little bit.”

The "procedure" is arthroscopic surgery, which Soriano will have sooner or later.

Lineup
Fukudome, CF
Bradley, RF
Lee, 1B
Ramirez, 3B
Hoffpauir, LF
Baker, 2B
Soto, C
Theriot, SS
Harden, P

Wow, that was quick.
Carlos Torres, who pitched 7 shutout innings against the Cubs last Thursday in his last start, has just been lifted from Tuesday night's outing vs. Oakland at the Cell.
Torres retired just two batters in the first inning while giving up 5 runs on 4 hits and a walk.
Jack Cust hit a 3-run homer to make it 4-0 and Mark Ellis followed with a solo shot to end Torres' night.
Before the game, manager Ozzie Guillen was asked if he'd like to bring Freddy Garcia back next season, likely as the White Sox' No. 5 starter behind Mark Buehrle, Jake Peavy, Gavin Floyd and John Danks.
A pair if prospects _ Torres and Daniel Hudson _ would presumably be the competition.

Inspired by my feisty friends over at Another Cubs Blog, I decided to do a little comparing between Mark DeRosa and Jeff Baker since they joined their new teams.

http://www.anothercubsblog.net/index.php/site/comments/fontenot-baker-de...

It’s a pretty good comparison, because DeRosa has played 47 games since being traded from the Indians to the Cardinals, and Baker has played 46 games since the Cubs got him from the Rockies.

Shall we?

DeRosa
.244/.313/.425 for an OPS of 738. His OPS-plus is 93 and his BABIP is .273. With the Cards, DeRo has 8 homers and 19 RBI.

Baker

Scott Linebrink is having a brutal year out of the White Sox' bullpen, but give him credit for helping bring starting pitcher Jake Peavy to the South Side.
Linebrink and Peavy were teammates with the San Diego Padres, and they are still fast friends.
Maybe Peavy can help the White Sox retain Mark Kotsay.
Peavy and Kotsay also played together with the Padres _ for two seasons (2002-03).
Reunited with the White Sox, the two have adjoining lockers at U.S. Cellular Field and are also close friends.
It would be easy to push the Sox to sign Kotsay for 2010, and maybe even a year beyond.
He homered in back-to-back games against the Red Sox to open the four-game series and delivered a 2-run single Monday to give the White Sox a 3-1 lead over Boston.

We'll try to get a few Cubs words in edgewise here in our crowded little blog cabin. The Cubs today brought reliever Jeff Stevens up from Class AAA Iowa. He had a 2.03 ERA down there. Jeff Samardzija pitches the finale for the I-Cubs today, and he'll be back up tomorrow.

Waited down by the Cal-Sag Canal this morning for that barge that goes past PNC Park to bring me the lineup. If I can see it through the coal dust, it looks like this:

Fukudome, CF
Theriot, SS
Lee, 1B
Ramirez, 3B
Bradley, RF
Baker, 2B
Scales, LF
Hill, C
Lilly, P

The White Sox have 24 games to play, and they are 8 games out of first place after losing to the Red Sox Sunday while the Tigers rallied to beat Tampa Bay on Brandon Inge's ninth-inning grand slam.
The Sox are not mathematically eliminated, but they are now in a near hopeless spot.
Jake Peavy is still hoping to pitch this season, and the White Sox' potential 2010 ace said his sore elbow felt better after a bullpen session Sunday.
But manager Ozzie Guillen continued to say that Peavy is not going to pitch if the Sox are out of the race.
Let Peavy throw another side, likely on Tuesday. And let him throw a simulated game later in the week.
But if the White Sox aren't within 5 of Detroit by the weekend, it would be wise to pull the plug on Peavy.

As it turns out, White Sox rookie Gordon Beckham didn't leave Saturday's game in the bottom of the first inning with a stiff back.
“My right front side,” Beckham said after the White Sox beat the Red Sox 5-1.
Beckham felt discomfort on his last swing during batting practice.
“I felt a little twinge in my right side,” he said. “I didn't think much of it and kind of came in and walked around. I kind of got a little more stiff, a little more stiff. I talked to (trainer) Hermie (Schneider) and went out.
“I hit. It felt fine. I threw. It felt fine. And ran, I could feel it when I
ran, I could feel it a little bit. I came back in and told him it hurts when
I run. I guess Hermie kind of gave me the decision if I wanted to go or not.

White Sox starter Gavin Floyd was working on a perfect game until Nick Green singled up the middle with two outs in the sixth inning.
Looking for their fourth straight win, the White Sox are leading Boston 3-0.
Shortstop Alexei Ramirez made a great defensive play on Mike Lowell, who led off the fifth with a grounder to the left of second base.
Ramirez gloved it, spun around and made a strong throw to first baseman Paul Konerko.