71

The White Sox meat loafed the Blue Jays over the weekend, taking the first two and losing the finale. (It's been so long since the Update has been able to use that phrase that we'd better remind you it means taking two out of three, as in Meat Loaf's song "Two Outta Three Ain't Bad.") Garland and Buehrle pitched beauties and Vazquez was working on one until the wheels fell off in the eighth inning on Sunday. But for Jermaine Dye's home run (could it be his last as a White Sox?), there was no offense to save Javy, and the Jays left town with the win.

Detroit continued to lose, so the Sox picked up two more games on the Tigers and sliced the Magic Number to 71. Detroit's lead is now at 12.5 games. That means the Sox need to average a two-game pick up on the Tigers every nine games to draw even. But even if they do that, the Indians and the Twins are still ahead of them. It's not that it can't be done, it's just so damn hard. Especially when the Sox play 42 of their remaining 57 games against teams with winning records, the worst of which is Minnesota. And even more especially since the Sox seem to be using the rest of the season to determine whether some of their young guys can play.

Danny Richar was promoted from Charlotte to play second base after the Sox made room for him by dumping Tadahito Iguchi for almost nothing. The Phillies had need of a second baseman when Chase Utley went down, but you wouldn't know they were desperate from what they gave up -- Michael Dubee, who has a 4-4 record and 3.88 ERA as a reliever in A ball. Not exactly the steal of the century. We'll have to wait until the non-waiver trading deadline tomorrow to see who else departs. Dye, Vazquez, Jon Garland, and Jose Contreras (although the latter's lousy pitching of late has really reduced his trade value) are all rumored to be on the block. Unlikely the Sox get rid of more than one pitcher, but we all know Kenny likes to deal. Buckle your seat belts until this deadline passes 'cause it could be a wild ride.

A nice touch over the weekend was the warm welcome the Sox fans gave Frank Thomas. The Big Hurt didn't hurt us much, but the Update was actually rooting for him to rip one his last at bat on Sunday when the game appeared out of reach for Our Guys. That would have made the loss a little more enjoyable, but it didn't happen. Off day today, so save the Go Sox for tomorrow.