The Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins started a pivotal series tonight in Chicago. Both teams started the night with identical records of 76 wins and 66 losses. The Twins had won eight of ten to climb back up to the top after struggling in third place most of the season. The White Sox had won six of ten and have played very well since the AllStar break.

Besides having the home field, the White Sox also had Bartolo Colon on the mound. Granted, Colon hasn't been dominant this year and came into the game with an ERA over 4.00 and a .500 record (12-12). Looking at Colon's career, he really hasn't been as consistently dominant as his reputation. Consider that in Colon's career, opposition hitters have batted .253 off of him. That sounds fairly good until you consider Tim Wakefield has the same lifetime batting average against.

Compare that Colon stat to Pedro Martinez who has a lifetime batting average against of .206. Now THAT'S consistently dominating. Derek Lowe has a lower lifetime batting average against. Kevin Brown and Mike Mussina both have better lifetime batting average against stats. And yet, Colon is considered the horse...one of the best pitchers in baseball.

The statistics don't lie. He hasn't been consistently dominating and only seems to be dominating when he turns it on for a night. Fortunately for the White Sox, tonight was one of those nights. He did give up ten hits in his nine inning complete game performance and four of those hits were for extra bases. Anyway, the bottom line is that the White Sox go up a game on the Twins and three and a half over the Royals.


The hot Phillies faced a big test as they started a big series against division leading Atlanta. The Phillies started former Brave, Kevin Millwood (who has a better lifetime batting average against than Colon). Millwood had already lost twice to his former team this year and tonight added loss number three.

The loss combined with a Marlins' win over the Mets, knots the wildcard again between the two teams. Josh Beckett threw six shutout innings to gain the wind. Beckett looked like a bust by this spring training but the high draft pick has gone his second consecutive game without giving up an earned run.


And finally tonight, the Red Sox needed to keep pace with the Yankees who won a make up game today against the Blue Jays. The Red Sox were leading 8-5 against the pesky Orioles who put up two four-spots in the seventh and eight to take the game. The last four runs given up were all unearned as the Red Sox got loosy goosy and threw the ball all over the diamond.

The final score of the Red Sox/Orioles game was 13-10. The Yankees lead is back up to three and a half games as the Red Sox have undone a lot they accomplished last weekend.