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Well, at least the White Sox are still in first place.  In years past, a trip to the West Coast has meant a losing record and a tumble in the standings.  This time, the Sox came away with a split, although it looked more promising than that after the Good Guys won three of the first four.

The third win came Friday night in an absolute gem by Mark Buehrle.  A year to the day after his perfect game, Buehrle gave up only four hits and no walks in a 5-1 complete game win over the A's.  Carlos Quentin drove in two runs without getting a hit, A.J. Pierzynski singled home two, and Alex Rios got credit for an RBI when he reached on an error.

But Saturday, things turned around, as Oakland beat up on the Sox 10-2.  Freddy Garcia lasted only 1.1 innings, allowing five runs on six hits and three walks.  Tony Pena wasn't a whole lot better, giving up four runs on four hits and four walks in just 3.2 innings.  Since the Sox could muster a mere four hits and two runs, the putrid pitching was largely academic for that game, but not a good sign down the road.

Sunday was an even worse sign for the future.  Daniel Hudson, the replacement in the rotation for the injured Jake Peavy, permitted the A's five runs on six hits and four walks in 5.0 innings.  The Sox rallied late, pushing across three runs in the seventh, but fell short, 6-4.  Hudson's performance may have caused his stock to drop enough that he won't be part of any trading deadline deal.

Speaking of trades, the Sox are still being mentioned as being in pursuit of Adam Dunn, but now the Tigers have joined the chase for the Big Dunnkey.  The deadline is Saturday, so we won't have to endure this much longer, but we've still got a week to think about how cheap and easy it would have been to sign Jim Thome as the left-handed threat the Sox are searching for now.  In only 171 at bats, Thome has 12 home runs and 31 RBIs.  He's got a .263 batting average, but a .395 on-base percentage, a .550 slugging percentage, and a .945 OPS.  Dunn, by contrast, has more than twice as many at bats and correspondingly about twice as many homers and runs batted in -- 22 and 63. Dunn is hitting for a  higher average  at .281, but the on base, slugging and OPS numbers are comparable -- .369, .515, and .945.  And Thom has racked up his numbers in the more difficult American League.  Just something to think about.

The Sox lead Minnesota by 1.0 games and Detroit by 2.0 games.  The Twins play at KC, the Tigers at Tampa Bay, and the Sox host Seattle.  Go Sox!