54

So when did George Steinbrenner buy the White Sox? It has to be "The Boss" who's in charge now. I was starting to question whether Jerry Reinsdorf was still running the team when he allowed Kenny Williams to take on Jake Peavy's contract, with a cool $56 million remaining. But yesterday, when Williams -- fresh off picking up a $65 jaywalking ticket outside of Safeco Field -- worked the waiver wire to pick up Alex Rios and the $62M owed to him through 2014, I knew King George had taken over for Jerry. That's the only explanation that makes sense.

Now, it's up to Ozzie to figure out where and when to play the two-time All Star outfielder for the Blue Jays. Rios is a lifetime .285 hitter with a .335 on-base percentage and .451 slugging average (stats that are most similar to Bernie Williams through age 27) and is a better outfielder (someone described him as Torii Hunter-lite) than anyone currently starting for the Sox, but who gets to sit down? Last year's MVP candidate Carlos Quentin? Sure Q is struggling and may have a bum knee to go along with his foot problem, but he needs the at bats to get back in the groove he had last year. Scottie Pods? He's batting around .300 and has been the leadoff hitter the club desperately needed. Jermaine Dye? He leads the team in home runs and is a respected veteran. One thing seems likely: neither Mark Kotsay, another recent pickup, nor Dewayne "The Catch" Wise is going to see a lot of time in the outfield. My bet is that Wise is "ovah," as Hawk would say.

On the field, the results were disappointing, a 6-4 loss to the Mariners. Gavin Floyd, who'd been the best Sox pitcher of late -- four straight Quality Starts -- caught what must be the Swine Pitching Flu from the rest of the starters and stunk the joint up. Floyd's line from last night reads 5.2 IP, 5 R, 7 H, 3 BB and makes him deserving of the loss. The Good Guys' four runs is ordinarily enough to win, but not with pitching like that. Surprisingly, Ken Griffey, Jr. drove in two runs for the M's, which just about matches his total for all last season with the Sox. (Actually, he had 18 in 41 games, but it sure didn't seem like even that many during 2008.)

Fortunately, the Tigers lost to the Red Sox -- is every Boston game shown on national TV? -- so their lead over the second-place Sox remains at 3.0 games. The Magic Number drops by one to 54 -- hence, the big 54 at the top of this post. Go Sox!