131

Detroit lost last night, so the White Sox pick up a game on the Magic Number (131) and a half-game in the standings (third place, 3.5 games behind the Tigers). Given how poorly the Sox have hit this season, it's amazing that they're doing as well as they are (18-16, .529). Only the four teams in each league that would make the playoffs if the season ended now have a better record: Red Sox, Angels, Tigers, and Indians in the A.L. and Mets, Braves, Brewers (Brewers?), and Dodgers in the N.L. The Sox are only 2.5 games behind the Tribe for the Wild Card berth, so all is far from lost despite the lowest batting average and run total in the league. If White Sox batters ever catch up with their pitching brethren, look out.

Speaking of cold bats, tonight's opponent, the Yankees, have a few of their own. Jason Giambi, Bobby Abreu, and Alex "Mr. April" Rodriguez are a combined 3 for their last 54 at bats, a .056 batting average. The task of keeping those "hitters" in the deep freeze will fall to John Danks, Jose Contreras, and Jon Garland. New York will counter with Mike Mussina, Chien-Ming Wang, and Matt DeSalvo. The temperatures for the three game set are supposed to be in the 70s today and the 60s tomorrow, so the cold weather, cold bats mantra we've heard all season about the Sox shouldn't come into play. Get hot. Go Sox!