Here’s your summary of what happened over the holiday weekend in our respective Divisions:

AL CENTRAL – Not a lot of movement within the division, but bats beginning to heat up.

Detroit (44-37) won first game 11-9 in Minny before dropping the next two games 3-4 and 2-6. Bat .224 on their road trip and Jim Leyland complains of his starting pitchers pitch counts going into sixth innings.  I see visits to Dr. James Andrews in your future.

Minnesota (43-40) took two of three from the Tigers at home. Mauer won’t bat .400 with this performance. “Only” bats .333 for the holiday weekend.

Chicago (AL) (42-40) – won the hard games, including roughing up Greinke on Friday, only to lose 4-6 and 3-6 to split the series. Sox need to be winning these series if they are going to catch up and possibly pass the rest of the division.

Kansas City (35-46) manages a split with the Sox in one of the rare 4 games series this week. Defense and baserunning woes still surprising awful for a major league team.

Cleveland (33-50) win 15-3 and 5-2 on the road in Oakland, before dropping Sunday’s game 2-5. In doing so, come a game closer from extricating themselves from the AL Cellar.

Division Standings

Team               GB

Detroit             —

Minnesota       2.0

Chicago (AL)    2.5

Kansas City      9.0

Cleveland        12.0

NL CENTRAL – Cards and Cubs advance at the expense of the Reds and Brewers.

St. Louis (45-39) bats ignite taking 2 of 3 on the road in Cincy, 7-4 on Friday, 2-5 on Saturday and rebounding to crush the Reds 10-1 on Sunday. Cards will be tough in second half.

Milwaukee (43-39) in dropping 3 of 4 to the Cubs look to be cracking at the seams. Ryan Braun seemed to state the obvious, the Brewers don’t have the arms to stick with the Cubs and Cards.

Chicago (40-39) – Spent the holiday winning a close game (2-1), losing a blowout (2-11) and winning in a rout themselves (8-2) on Sunday. We’ll see how adding Aramis Ramirez works to an offense that appears to have been sparked by the numerous I-Cubs contributions this month.

Cincinnati (40-40) – Micah Owings almost singlehandedly salvaged Saturday’s win for the Reds with a solid outing and a home run to help his cause.

Houston (39-41) – lose to the Big Unit and Lincecum 0-13 and 0-9 before throwing out Roy Oswalt to nail down the 7-1 victory on Sunday. Those two guys are good, but not that good. Houston…wait for it… you have a problem. Ha! Every time!

Pittsburgh (37-45) – lost 2 of 3 to the Marlins as the Marlins continue to surprise in the NL East with their stable of young arms.

Division Standings

Team               GB

Milwaukee      —

St. Louis           1.0

Chicago Cubs  2.5

Cincinnati        3.0

Houston           4.0

Pittsburgh        7.0

Here’s your summary of what happened yesterday in our respective Divisions:

AL CENTRAL – Poor Detroit, we picked up a game, Hossa and Kopecky, you got Ben Gordon.

Detroit (43-35) lost 5-1 to the feast or famine A’s. Cust and Giambi both strike out twice and deliver 2-run HR’s.

Minnesota (41-39) won 5-1 in KC. Mauer ready to overtake AL batting title with a few more plate appearances.

Chicago (AL) (40-38) won 6-2 in Cleveland. Jose Contreras dominant since returning from AAA.

Kansas City (33-44) lost 5-1 pulling “a Cubs” getting 12 hits and scoring only once.

Cleveland (31-49) lost 6-2 to the Sox. Jeremy Sowers seems to have caught “Javier Vazqcular” disease, which restricts a pitcher from being able to get out of the sixth inning.

Division Standings

Team GB

Detroit —

Minnesota 3.0

Chicago (AL) 3.0

Kansas City 9.5

Cleveland 13.0

NL CENTRAL – Really you’re all going to let the Pirates back into this race?

Milwaukee (42-36) lost 1-0 to the Mets at home. This blowout might signal a reversal of fortune for both franchises’ seasons. Watch out Brewers fans, for falling batting averages.

St. Louis (42-38) won in 10 innings at San Fran 2-1. Another ex-Cub helping STL, Bob Howry served up the game winning HR.

Cincinnati (38-38) – won 1-0 at Arizona. Jon Garland the hard luck loser as Johnny Cueto outduels him with 6 innings of one-hit ball.

Chicago (37-38) – Cubs won 4-1 in PIT, July looking much better. Good to see Randy Wells finally getting some deserved W’s.

Houston (37-39) – won 7-1 in San Diego. How is Geoff Blum batting 5^th for the Stros?

Pittsburgh (36-42) – lost 4-1 at home to the Cubs. Bucs don’t make trade and lose. Coincidence?

Division Standings

Team GB

Milwaukee —

St. Louis 1.0

Cincinnati 3.0

Chicago 3.5

Houston 4.0

Pittsburgh 6.0

Here’s your summary of what happened yesterday in our respective Divisions:

AL CENTRAL – Chalk Night in the Division, everyone who was supposed to win did.

Detroit (43-34) won 5-3 in Oakland. Jason Giambi currently batting .197.

Minnesota (40-39) won 2-1 in KC. Twins pad fantasy stats with three holds and a save from their pen.

Chicago (AL) (39-38) won 11-4 in Cleveland. At one point Gordon Beckham was 6 for 6.

Kansas City (33-43) lost 2-1 with Brian Bannister the hard luck loser giving up one earned run.

Cleveland (31-48) lost 4-11 to the Sox. Indians’ Best Performance Last Night? Their Grounds Crew.

Division Standings

Team GB

Detroit —

Minnesota 4.0

Chicago (AL) 4.0

Kansas City 9.5

Cleveland 13.0

NL CENTRAL – Really you’re all going to let the Pirates back into this race?

Milwaukee (42-35) won 6-3 at home. The Brewers didn’t win this one, Johan Santana lost it.

St. Louis (41-38) lost again in San Fran 6-3. Randy Johnson now at 303 wins, Pujols homered twice. 30 HR and 32 K on the season for Prince Albert.

Cincinnati (37-38) – lost 6-2 at Arizona. Dan Haren beat them with 9K, and hitting his first career dinger.

Chicago (36-38) – Cubs lost 3-0 in PIT, wrap up an 11-14 month of June. Don’t look now Milton’s BA is up to .242.

Houston (36-39) – lost 4-3 in San Diego. Wee David Eckstein puts them away with the go ahead RBI in the seventh.

Pittsburgh (36-41) – won 3-0 at home to the Cubs. Maybe they should make trades more often?

Division Standings

Team GB

Milwaukee —

St. Louis 2.0

Cincinnati 4.0

Chicago 4.5

Houston 5.0

Pittsburgh 6.0

With the NL and AL Central leaders only surpassing the NL East-leading Phillies in winning percentage, no team can be said to truly “out of it” (Ok, the Royals, Indians and the Pirates are “out of it”). But as long as these 5^th and 6^th place teams have pitchers who are capable of putting it all together against our Chicago teams or the teams they are competing against in the Division and Wild Card races, they still matter.

Here’s your summary of what happened yesterday in our respective Divisions:

AL CENTRAL – Sox win while two teams in front of them both lose.

Detroit (42-34) lost 7-1 in Oakland to the surprisingly unathletic Athletics.

Minnesota (39-39) lost 4-2 in Kansas City against the Royals’ Luke Hochevar.

Chicago (AL) (38-38) won 6-3 on the road in Cleveland with a strong finish in the ninth.

Kansas City (33-42) won 4-2 at home with the help of the mighty Miguel Olivo’s bat.

Cleveland (31-47) lost 6-3 to the Sox. Following the trend of aging stars, Kerry Wood acquired by the Cavaliers. Indians receive prospect Daniel “Booby” Gibson in return.

Division Standings

Team GB

Detroit —

Minnesota 4.0

Chicago (AL) 4.0

Kansas City 8.5

Cleveland 12.0

NL CENTRAL – Harden pitches hard, Oswalt and Lincecum pitch harder.

Milwaukee (41-35) won 10-6 in New York. Mets downed by Wee Willie McGehee’s Grand Slam.

St. Louis (41-37) lost 0-10 in San Fran to the Giants. Lincecum pitches two-hitter. Next up: Randy Johnson and his 302 wins.

Cincinnati (37-37) – off day. Will play the dead last Diamondbacks. Never good when you might be 20 games back by the All-Star Break.

Chicago (36-37) – Cubs win 3-1 on the road, with Rich Harden striking out 9 in 7 innings.

Houston (36-38) – win 3-1 on the road against the Padres. Oswalt pitches a 2-hitter on a day full of them.

Pittsburgh (35-41) – lost 3-1 at home to the Cubs. Pull a “Cubs” getting 9 hits, only scoring one.

Division Standings

Team GB

Milwaukee —

St. Louis 1.0

Cincinnati 3.0

Chicago 3.5

Houston 4.0

Pittsburgh 6.0

Don’t ever say we don’t listen to our readers’ input.  Due to the bitching and whining of NQTC’s Sox fans, I went out and found someone to write about the South Siders.  So here is General Zod, who will be writing once a week about whatever Sox story suits his fancy.  StevieY and I will be redirecting our Sox insults from the readers to him.  Enjoy!

The prognosticators have spoken!  Since the White Sox have lost 3 home runs from the line-up (Ken Griffey Jr.), 4 quality starts against the Royals (Javier Vazquez), and 2 healthy months of Joe Crede at third base, the White Sox are predicted to finish no better than third and likely dead last in the AL Central by baseball experts everywhere. With this in mind, let’s size up the division to see what the southsiders are up against.

First off, we have the Tigers who released veteran slugger Gary Sheffield in an effort to gain more versatility from the DH spot according to GM Dave Dombrowski…whatever the hell that means.  This move seems inexplicable since, according to most reports, Sheffield was back to health this year and considered a good teammate during his stay in Detroit.  He joins Damien Easley as the highest paid player to ever watch Tiger games from the comfort of his own couch.  Add to Detroit’s woes the fact that Joel Zumaya has rekindled his love affair with the disabled list and he has taken Dontrelle Willis with him.  Lastly, how could a team who signed Miguel Cabrera to a multimillion dollar deal have a minor league affiliate that is offering a 4 lb,
4800 calorie hamburger just a country drive away from Comerica Park?
Cabrera will likely gain 75 lbs. by the All-Star break with this tasty morsel tempting him every time the Tigers play at home!

Take the Indians…please (insert polite laughter)!  Here we have an offense predicated on productivity from two hitters, the first of which is Victor Martinez.  Martinez decided to hit his first home run last season towards the end of August and finished with a whopping total of two dingers.  You can blame injuries if you’d like, but unless this guy had his leg amputated, there is no injury in the world that you can blame this lack of productivity during a season of 250+ AB’s.  That leaves Travis Hafner to carry an even heavier load, a task he has not been up to since he signed his $57 million contract extension in 2007.  Unless Cliff Lee can repeat his stellar 2008 season and make approximately 80 starts this season, the Indians will need to score some runs from these two players in the middle of the order.

The Royals traded for Mike Jacobs and got a little better in an already promising bullpen.  Yawn.  If the Royals win more than 75 games, I will light myself on fire.

That leaves the dreaded piranhas, those pesky Twins from Minnesota, a team so close in talent to the 2008 White Sox that only ½ game separated the two in the standings.  This offseason they complemented that version with a gold-glove caliber, 30 HR threat third baseman in Joe Crede.  His right handed bat complements Justin Morneau’s thunder in the lineup the way the Twins had hoped Delmon Young would last season.  They had pretty good productivity from a starting rotation that got much better with the return of Francisco Liriano.  Still, the Twins bullpen was underwhelming last season and it’s difficult to discern any improvement that has been made.  Crede’s health is an even bigger concern on the artificial turf of the HHH dome.   Even Joe Mauer has suffered some back soreness that seems to be lingering throughout spring training and may impact part of this season.

The economic climate forced many teams to fill some holes with lackluster talent, and the AL Central is a perfect example of such a trend.  Last season was so close it took an extra calendar day to figure it all out, and this season will be no different.  So don’t let Peter Gammons get you down, Sox fans…we just might get to lose again in the ALDS this year too!