68

On the 100th anniversary of Walter Johnson's first appearance for the Washington Senators, the man whom many think is his equal, seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens, gave up eight runs in the second inning to the White Sox. But as all readers of the Update know, the Sox can't stand prosperity, so Jon Garland returned the favor to the Yankees in the bottom half of the frame, giving up eight runs of his own. At least Clemens had the excuse that Robinson Cano had a couple of throwing errors, making only three of his eight runs earned, while all of Garland's were. However, Garland doesn't get paid $1 million per start like the Rocket does, so the expectations for him aren't as great.

The second inning was something to watch though. It was the second highest-scoring inning in Major League history, required 90 pitches, and at one hour, lasted about half as long as an entire Mark Buehrle-started game does. For the game, the two teams combined for 32 hits and 22 runs, with the Sox finally coming out on top, 13-9. Jermaine "Aren't You Glad You Didn't Trade Me" Dye had 12 total bases on two homers and two doubles, and the bullpen gave up only one run in 7.1 innings. All in all, a nice way to get out of the Big Apple after being pummelled in the first two games -- the Yanks hit 15 homers for the series, although none by A-Rod, who is still desperately seeking his 500th.

Now, it's on to Detroit, where the Sox have a chance to cut into the Tigers' lead (12.5 games) and the Magic Number (68). Fortunately, for the Good Guys, Detroit doesn't play as well at home as it does on the road and the A.L. Central leader has been in a bit of a slump lately, losing two in a row and eight of the last 10.

The Sox are going to have to do it without Rob Mackowiak, who earlier in the week, was traded to the Padres for Jon "the Missing" Link, another seemingly lackluster low-minors pitcher. Hopefully, GM Kenny Williams knows something about him that isn't apparent from his stats, which aren't that impressive. And speaking of trades, Jose says "No way" he wants to come out of the bullpen next year, and if the Sox intend to do that, Contreras says he wants a trade. Jose, wake up. With your 9-23 record since the 2006 All-Star game (1-10 in your last 12 starts this year) and your $10 million a year salary for the next two seasons, you're virtually untradeable. The Sox would be lucky to get two used squash balls for you at this point. Better to let Don Cooper try to fix what's wrong with you -- or better yet, bring in El Duque as a consultant to do that. It worked before with great results. Go Sox!