Chicago's Inside Pitch

Gordon Beckham has been in need of a break, and the White Sox' rookie third baseman got an unplanned one Saturday.
Beckham played the top of the first inning, but he came out with back stiffness and was replaced by Jayson Nix.
The White Sox are going to need the Rookie of the Year candidate down the stretch if they hope to catch the Tigers.
Back problems are nothing to mess with _ just ask former Sox third baseman Joe Crede.
Will check on Beckham's health after the game and send an update.

You could tell in the tone of Lou's voice as he told his radio audience today that he was going to sit Alfonso Soriano and that it was more than a rest. After tonight's 6-2 loss to the Mets, the Chicago Tribune quote Soriano as saying he would have the knee scoped sometime this month.

Even if Soriano has the surgery in the coming week and is capable of coming back in a couple more weeks, there's little point to it. The Cubs might as well shut him down and let him come to spring training 100 percent, or however close to 100 percent Soriano can be these days.

Word coming out of New York is that the Cubs are shutting down left fielder Alfonso Soriano for the foreseeable future so he can rest his troublesome left knee. It's the right thing. With the Cubs having about a 2 percent chance of making the playoffs, according to Baseball Prospectus (and don't let that "only 6 games out of the wild card" business fool you), they might as well let Soriano heel and see if he can come back at 100 percent next year.

White Sox GM Kenny Williams met the media at the Cell Friday afternoon and was asked the obvious question: Did you wave the white flag Monday night while trading Jim Thome to the Dodgers and Jose Contreras to the Rockies?
“Hell no,” Williams said. “We're still in it to win it.”
The odds are long, real long, considering the White Sox headed into Friday night's game against the Red Sox 7 games behind the Tigers and 2 behind the Twins.
As captain Paul Konerko has been saying, the White Sox (66-69) should only have one aspiration at the moment _ getting back to .500.
But they are playing in the weakest division in baseball, so maybe that's why Williams refuses to pull the plug on the season.

Dewayne Wise is always going to be remembered for making one of the greatest catches of all-time, on July 23.
Wise climbed the wall in left-center field at the Cell when Gabe Kapler off the top of the ninth inning with a deep drive.
Wise caught the ball, juggled it, and caught it again to preserve Mark Buehrle's perfect game vs. Tampa Bay.
Starting in right field vs. the Cubs Thursday, Wise made a solid catch on a wind-blown Koyie Hill flyball in the fifth inning.
In the seventh, Wise made a near perfect throw to catcher A.J. Pierzynski, cutting down Jake Fox at the plate. The big defensive play preserved the White Sox' 1-0 lead.

The White Sox have a lousy defense and a suspect bullpen.
Another trouble spot was quickly exposed at Wrigley Field Thursday _ baserunning.
After Scott Podsednik led off the game with a double, Gordon Beckham grounded back to Cubs starter Ryan Dempster.
Podsednik was well off second base, and he was an easy out.
Anticipating a longer rundown, Beckham rounded first and headed for second base. He, too, was an easy out.

The White Sox added two more pitchers from Class AAA Charlotte before Thursday's makeup game against the Cubs at Wrigley.
Jhonny Nunez, who was up with the Sox in early August, is back in the bullpen.
Daniel Hudson is the guy to keep an eye on.
A fifth-round pick in the 2008 draft, Hudson stormed through the White Sox' farm system this year, going 14-5 with a 2.32 ERA in stops at Class A Kannapolis, A Winston-Salem, AA Birmingham and Charlotte.
The 6-foot-4, 220-pound right-hander, who attended Old Dominion University, also had 166 strikeouts in 147 1/3 inning, the second-highest total in the minor leagues.
The White Sox aren't sure when _ or if _ Hudson is going to start.

D-Lee's wife gave birth to a baby today, so he won't be here. Jake Fox plays first and bats fifth in a lineup that features Fukudome-Theriot as 1-2. Both teams:

Sox
Pods, CF
Beckham, 3B
AJ, C
Konerko, 1B
Quentin, LF
Getz, 2B
Ramirez, SS
Wise, RF
Torres, P

Cubs
Fukudome, CF
Theriot, SS
Ramirez, 3B
Bradley, RF
Fox, 1B
Soriano, LF
Baker, 2B
Hill, C
Dempster, P

Lou indicated that he may go with Fukudome and Theriot as his 1-2 for a while, but you know how that goes with Lou.

Bob Brenly was on the Score radio in Chicago this morning, talking about Milton Bradley. The Score sent over this transcript of BB:

MINNEAPOLIS _ The White Sox were just one strike away from being swept by the Twins and going 1-9 on a trip that started in Boston and continued in New York.
After watching the offense go through the motions again, manager Ozzie Guillen was probably ready to go off in the postgame clubhouse.
Gordon Beckham decided to make it a little interesting when he homered off all-star closer on a 3-2 count with two outs in the ninth, cutting Minnesota's lead to 2-1.
Paul Konerko followed with another home run, also on a 3-2 count.
Jermaine Dye walked, and pinch-runner Dewayne Wise stole second.
Carlos Quentin walked, chasing Nathan, and Alexei Ramirez put the White Sox in front with an RBI single off Matt Guerrier on an 0-2 count.

Lou got the morning off from his media duties, but he sent Tram out with a lineup that features new No. 1 catcher Koyie Hill but not Soriano or Ramirez:

Fukudome, CF
Blanco, SS
Lee, 1B
Bradley, RF
Fox, LF
Fontenot, 2B
Baker, 3B
Hill, C
Lilly, P