140

So much for the Sports Illustrated cover jinx. You know, the one that says if you're pictured on the front of the magazine, something bad will happen to you right after that. Well, despite gracing SI's cover this week, Kansas City's Zack Greinke pitched a great game against the White Sox last night. Greinke threw a complete game shutout (3-0), allowing only six hits, striking out 10, and walking none. He lowered his ERA for the season to an infinitesimal 0.40, improved his record to 6-0, and gave credence to SI's proclaiming him baseball's best pitcher. Even Ozzie was impressed, crediting Greinke with being overpowering and not blaming his guys for failing to hit.

Speaking of failing to hit, there are a few players who either need to call Nutrisystem or raise their batting averages because they're not hitting their weight. Jim Thome, a hale and hearty 250 pounds, is hitting only .224. Corky Miller, who weighs in at 245, is batting a meager .211. And Brent Lillibridge, a comparatively svelte 190 pounds, is hitting an anemic .167. (We can't even count Jerry Owens anymore since the Sox have drummed him out of the organization. Suffice it to say, Owens would have had to be anorexic to come close to hitting his weight.)

But back to the pitching for a moment. Greinke's gem overshadowed a decent outing by Bartolo Colon. The second half of the aging-Latino pitching duo (sorry, Bartolo for lumping you with Jose Contreras) lasted five innings and gave up only two earned runs on seven hits and three walks. He also struck out seven. Clayton Richard bounced back with a three-inning scoreless stint. Richard is going to get more innings this year in long relief of the Latin Losers than either of them is going to rack up on his own. The good news is that Aaron Poreda pitched a rain-shortened no-hitter (five innings) at Double-A Birmingham. Poreda is 2-3 on the season with a 1.55 ERA. Don't be surprised if he makes the jump to the Big Leagues this year.

The third loss in a row for the Sox kept the Magic Number at 140 and left them 2.5 games behind the Royals. We were skeptical when some baseball predictions had KC winning the division, but the Royals certainly have gotten off to a decent start. We'll see if it lasts. Tonight, Gavin Floyd goes for us; Kyle Davies goes for them. Go Sox!