Manny Ramirez will be with the Sox on Tuesday in Cleveland. The White Sox are 4.5 games out of first place, and there  is not much season left. It will certainly be tough for the White Sox to hurdle the Twins in the standings even with the aging slugger joining the team.

It’s crunch time.

This is according to Jon Morosi of Fox Sports. Teams will have 48 hours to claim him. If he falls to the White Sox, they will indeed claim him. The waiver wire gets complicated, and it is no guarantee the Sox will get Manny.

According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, the Sox plan on claiming Manny. If he gets to the Sox once he’s placed on waivers, it is assumed they will pick up the prorated amount of his 20 m. dollar contract. This would be  about 1.1 for the year, and around 3.3 deferred.

The last road trip flat out stunk. Ozzie Guillen said the team’s playing like *expletive.* In this situation it’s do or die mode, and the White Sox are getting help from the Twins! They should realistically be back 2.5 games or so, but the lead is 4.5 now. The whole problem starts with the pitching.

All around the Sox have been receiving poor pitching performances. The bullpen is a mess, and the starters are not near the top in e.r.a. this month. In order for the team to win this thing, the pitching staff needs to be consistent from top to bottom. Chris Sale has been the only one pitching well out of the bullpen recently.

Buck Showalter and his Orioles are coming into town. The Sox had difficulty with them in Baltimore losing 3 of 4. They need to take care of their business at home starting now. The Yankees are coming in next. Anyone panicking?

Thornton has a fore arm issue, and the Sox will decide his status afterwards. At this point he is in too much pain to throw at all. This is one more blow to a bullpen that already has been riddled by injuries.

Umpire Joe West and the White Sox have a poor relationship. Plain and simple, Joe West does not like Ozzie Guillen. Joe West probably doesn’t care for Mark Buerhle and his borderline balk move to first either. What happened last night is the icing on the cake.

Edwin Jackson, the Sox SP, warmed up in the bullpen, and then came into the game and threw 7 pitches. West then ordered everyone off the field. The game was eventually postponed and the teams will play 2 tomorrow. With this being said, Jackson probably will not be available for tonight’s double header. This is your old fashioned double header. Two back to back games beginning at 6:10 CST.

What’s so wrong with this scenario?? The White Sox potentially lose a start from a key pitcher in their rotation, and this could create a mess in the Sox rotation/bullpen.  Freddy Garcia will pitch game 1 and Tony Pena is slated for game 2. Uh Oh! On top of this, there is a game tomorrow afternoon! That’s 3 games in 24 hours.

Although West isn’t responsible for how the double header is set up, maybe one of his hidden agendas became apparent last night: a personal vendetta against the White Sox.

Well, the Sox have so far dropped two of three from the division leading Twins. Not to look too far ahead, but the Tiwns will be playing the Angles and  the Rangers next while the Sox will be playing the Royals and the Orioles. This is the time to turn on the heat. With a Sox win tonight, they will be 4 games out. They could gain some ground if things go well.

Other News/Notes:

Brad Hawpe was designated for assignment by the Rockies. He’s a left handed bat the sox could be interested in.

No one expected this, but the Chicago White Sox are 3 games behind the first place Twins. The Sox had multiple opportunities to stay right there with the Twins, but they squandered them. The last series against the Tigers pointed out some of the current shortcomings of the White Sox. I’m not saying that they can’t get better, but certain things must improve during this upcoming series in Minnesota.

The bullpen, one of the most consistent parts of the team all year, has been bad of late. With Bobby Jenks struggling to close and an ailing back, the bullpen has had to shuffle roles around. Putz has been inserted in the closer spot, and blown multiple saves. But if Putz isn’t closing games, then who will? It’s probably not a good idea to put Matt Thornton in that role, because most times he’s needed in the 7th or 8th inning. Sergio Santos can be erratic with his control at times, and the White Sox do not need a closer to put men on base with a one run lead.

The Sox need to shore up their defense if they expect to be competitive with the Twins this series. There have been poor decisions made by defenders and missed plays. Hopefully the off day refreshes the team and gets them to concentrate on Tuesday night.

If the Sox lose two games, they will be 4 games back. If they lose all 3, they will be 6 games back. That is not a manageable lead to overcome. The Sox better get it together and play solid baseball up in Minnesota.
Liriano and Pavano go for Minnesota on Wednesday and Thursday so it should be interesting.

Stay tuned for updates on the series.

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Any game against a division rival is important. This game was a little bit more important, perhaps. Freddy Garcia assisted the Twins in their pursuit of first place. Freddy left mostly all of his pitches up in the zone, and everything got hit hard. The Twins hit 3 tape measures against him, and  this is essentially what put Sox away.

More mediocre pitching ensued after Garcia’s early exit, and the Twins ended up scoring a total of 12 runs. Tony Pena, Scott Linebrink, and Bobby James came in as relief. This was a poor performance all around. Juan Pierre was picked off at first base in the third inning when the game was still manageable.

The Sox will look to John Danks to stop the bleeding in game 2. He will oppose Glen Perkins who was recently recalled from AAA.