Of shutouts, Shingo, and bone marrow edema.

Just watched the Sox polish off the resurgent Tigers 6-4 at the Cell, a game which featured so-so pitching from Esteban Loaiza, great relief work by Cliff Politte, Damaso and Shingo (who obviously had the Tigers batters way off-balance), and timely O from Rowand, Uribe and CLee, who quickly tied the game at 2 in the first inning after ELo started poorly. This was the first game since the (potentially) devastating announcement that Magglio is being put back on the DL with bone marrow edema, essentially a bone bruise on his thigh bone where fluid has accumulated. They're saying he'll be out 4 weeks at least, after which he'll be given another MRI, but based on how painful the leg has reportedly been, I'm thinking Maggs will be lucky to be given the green light to return by mid-September, and even then he's going to have to do some intense conditioning to get back into baseball shape, and by then their season may be over.

I do wonder how this condition was missed when he was first diagnosed and had surgery, but it's too late to cry over spilled milk. Instead, with both Frank and Maggs out for the bulk of the rest of the season if not all of it, Kenny Williams again will have to pull a rabbit out of his ass a la the Carl Everett deal and get another bat to replace Maggs' output. Joe Borchard was recalled today, but he's been not very effective at the plate or in the field, and the other options the Sox have at RF (Timo Perez, Ross Gload, Everett) all just don't measure up. I mean, I still think it's possible the Sox can win their division "as is," but they will be destroyed in the playoffs with this lineup.

No posts the last few days; I watched about half of Mark Buehrle's 14-0 complete game masterpiece over the Indians on Wednesday, where he faced the bare minimum 27 batters and only gave up 2 hits, the first of which came with one out in the 7th. Probably the best pitched game by the White Sox this year. I always love the way MB works fast, and he was just *on* in a way that reminded me of Greg Maddux at his peak with the Braves. I caught a few innings of Freddy Garcia's 3-0 shutout of the Tribe the next night, where the Sox got just enough offense and Garcia improved to 4-1 with the Sox (a comforting fact in light of the Sox's hole at catcher with the departure of Miguel Olivo).

Looks like those pesky Twins are beating up on the hapless Orioles tonight, so the Sox will still remain 1/2 game back. Damn.