No beating around the bush today, here is the latest free agent and trade news:

The Yankees are sending disappointing second baseman (we won't even talk about his outfield abilities) Tony Womack to Cincinnati for a couple of minor leaguers.

Edgar Renteria is on the move again. Only one year after signing the shortstop as a free agent, Boston traded Renteria and $11 million to Atlanta for minor league prospect Andy Marte. The Red Sox have rebuilt three-fourths of their infield in the last few days, having sent Renteria to Atlanta and acquired third baseman Mike Lowell from Florida and second baseman Mark Loretta from San Diego. Having also sent Hanley Ramirez to Florida in the trade that brought in Lowell and Josh Beckett, it looks like the Red Sox will be turning to Alex Cora at short, who they acquired at the trade deadline in July from Cleveland. The Red Sox are also rumored to have interest in former Marlins shortstop Alex Gonzalez.

I mentioned yesterday that the Reds and Pirates were close to a deal to swap Sean Casey and Dave Williams. That move has apparently now been confirmed.

41-year-old Kenny Rogers is on his way to Detroit, where he'll be the veteran presence among a good young starting rotation after agreeing to a two-year, $16 million deal with the Tigers. I'm sure Bonderman, Maroth, and Robertson can use tips on how to properly attack a camera man and get off easy.

In one of the more surprising announcements, Baltimore and free agent catcher Ramon Hernandez have come to terms on a four-year, $27.5 million contract, which immediately inspires questions about Javy Lopez's future with the club. Judging by the fact that the Orioles did not offer arbitration to Rafael Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa, B.J. Surhoff, and Eli Marrero, it looks like the O's may be looking to get younger, and if Lopez isn't moved to first base, he could be on his way out as well.

The Yankees picked up another Boston cast-off, agreeing to a two-year, $2.4 million deal with pitcher Mike Myers. I'm still confused by the Yanks blowing so much money on offense, but only going out and picking up over-the-hill has-been's and never-were's to take the mound.

The White Sox beefed up their infield and offloaded surplus from the bullpen by sending Damaso Marte to Pittsburgh for utility infielder Rob Mackowiak. Chicago has proved to have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to late-inning pitchers, making Marte expendable.

The Mets have continued their offseason spending spree, signing 36-year-old infielder Jose Valentin. Along with all the new acquisitions, the Mets have cut ties with several veterans, having not offered arbitration to Mike Piazza, Braden Looper, Miguel Cairo, Danny Graves, Felix Heredia, Doug Mientkiewicz, Jose Offerman, or Shingo Takatsu (among others).

Veteran pitcher Jose Mesa is on the move once again, having agreed to a one-year deal with Colorado, with a club option for a second year.

And finally, two bits of Twins news:

Jacque Jones' career in Minnesota might not be over just yet. The Twins offered arbitration to the free agent outfielder, meaning there's still a possibility that Double-J could be back patroling right field at the Metrodome in 2006. Who knows?

And finally, the Rule 5 Draft. Minnesota took outfielder Jason Pridie from the Devil Rays. Because Pridie will have to stay on the team's 25-man roster for the full season (or be sold back to the Devil Rays), the Twins have quite the surplus in the outfield, meaning it would be quite surprising should the team actually retain Jacque Jones. The team also added three players in the Triple-A part of the draft, getting pitcher Jose Lugo from Oakland, pitcher Alexander Farfan from Cincinnati, and outfielder Erold Andrus from the Yankees. No Twins players were drafted in the Rule 5 Draft.

Whew, that's enough for today, isn't it?

» Reds acquire Womack from Yankees [mlb.com]
» Braves get Renteria, trade Marte [mlb.com]
» Notes: Gonzalez could fill shortstop gap [redsox.com]
» Bucs get Reds' Casey for Williams [mlb.com]
» Rogers agrees to deal with Tigers [mlb.com]
» Catcher adds pop to O's lineup [mlb.com]
» Lefty Myers, Yankees agree to deal [mlb.com]
» White Sox acquire Mackowiak [mlb.com]
» Mets sign infielder Jose Valentin [mlb.com]
» Rockies sign free agent RHP Jose Mesa to one-year contract... [mlb.com]
» Twins offer Jones arbitration [twinsbaseball.com]
» Twins take outfielder in Rule 5 Draft [twinsbaseball.com]

You can remove Paul Konerko and Brian Giles from the list of available free agents - both have agreed to return to their current teams. Konerko agreed to a five-year, $60 million contract with the White Sox, while Giles has apparently agreed to terms on a three-year, $30 million deal with the Padres. Both teams have been active this offseason, with Chicago sending Aaron Rowand to Philadelphia for Jim Thome and San Diego sending Xavier Nady to the Mets for Mike Cameron, and getting their big free agents back will be important pieces to the puzzle if both teams are to win their divisions again in 2006.

By re-signing Konerko and acquiring Thome, it appears to signal the end of Frank Thomas's career with the White Sox. Thomas could still sign with the team, but with Konerko and Thome to split time at first base and designated hitter, that leaves no room in the everyday lineup for one of the best hitters in baseball history. I guess we'll have to wait to see now how the rest of the offseason plays out.

» Konerko re-signs with White Sox [mlb.com]
» Giles reaches agreement with Padres [mlb.com]

The temperatures may be dropping, but MLB's offseason action is just starting to heat up. Following the news announced earlier this week that the Florida Marlins would be shipping Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell to the Boston Red Sox for a trio of prospects, the Fish are making headlines again with the news that Carlos Delgado is on his way to the New York Mets for Mike Jacobs and a minor league pitcher. The Mets, of course, already sent Mike Cameron to San Diego for Xavier Nady, and are said to still be interested in bringing Manny Ramirez to New York. Not to be outdone, the Phillies and White Sox are said to have reached a deal to swap Jim Thome for Aaron Rowand. Rowand will likely find his place in the middle of an outfield that already contains powerhitters Pat Burrell and Bobby Abreu. The acquisition of Thome likely means that either Frank Thomas or Paul Konerko - if not both - has played his last game in a White Sox uniform.

Especially interesting are these moves on the part of Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria. Florida appears to be on a fire sale to rival the one that followed their World Series win in '97. Although offloading Lowell and Delgado will considerably reduce Florida's payroll while simultaneously making them a considerably younger team - Lowell is 31, while Delgado is 33 - sending Josh Beckett to Boston seems to make little sense. Beckett is only 25, and his salary should be considered negligible for a former World Series MVP. Should Florida choose not to re-sign A.J. Burnett, they'll be looking to Cy Young runner-up Dontrelle Willis to carry the load for a young team.

And, along with the confirmed deals, the race to sign closer Billy Wagner is still on, but the Mets look to be frontrunners in that deal. Wagner is holding out to see if any other offers come in, but the acquisitions of Delgado and Nady - along with talk of the potential acquisition of Ramirez - have to be making a move to Shea sound pretty enticing.

» Delgado and Thome headed to new teams [Yahoo! Sports]

The Chicago White Sox just completed a three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox in the ALDS. After the game ended, former pitcher Rick Sutcliffe - doing color commentary for ESPN - said the stupidest thing I've heard a baseball telecaster say all year: He said that they learned something new - that Chicago has the deepest bullpen of the postseason teams. WHAT?! You just learned this?! Where have you been for the last six months? Sut, buddy, welcome to 2005. Jesus.

I forgot the game was this afternoon, so I missed the first eight innings. It didn't matter much, because I saw everything I needed to see in the final two innings. Down 1-0 in the bottom of the ninth, Justin Morneau picked up a one-out walk off of Damaso Marte. White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen lifted Marte for closer Dustin Hermanson, who got Matthew LeCroy to pop out to short. Luis Rodriguez was then brought in to pinch run for Morneau - a move which would be critically important later to the outcome of the game. Michael Ryan stepped up and slapped a hard liner down the first base line. The ball hit off of first baseman Paul Konerko's glove and rolled over by Chicago's bullpen. Konerko was too busy arguing that the ball had been foul (television replays were inconclusive) to chase down the ball. Luis Rodriguez - in disbelief both that the ball was in play and that Konerko wasn't bothering to chase after it - kept looking back, but eventually made his way around to score. Second baseman Geoff Blum grabbed the live ball and threw it to Konerko, who could have easily thrown out Rodriguez at the plate, but he dropped the ball again, which allowed Rodriguez to score and Ryan to reach second. Astonishingly, there was no error called on Konerko for either fuck up.

A tie ballgame meant we were headed for extra innings. Rodriguez stayed in the game at third, and Terry Tiffee moved from third to first for Morneau. Geoff Blum led off with a double to the wall in center. Joe Crede stepped into the box next and tried to bunt. Jesse Crain threw high-and-tight, and the pitch hit Crede's hand as he tried to bunt it. He was then lifted for pinch hitter Pablo Ozuna. Ozuna tried to bunt, Crain again threw high-and-tight, and Ozuna also bunted foul. With the 0-2 pitch, Crain and Mauer incorrectly guessed that Ozuna wouldn't bunt, but that wasn't the real mistake on the play. Ozuna's bunt went right back to Crain, who picked it up and threw to Rodriguez at third. The throw easily beat Blum to third, but Rodriguez missed the tag by over a foot, and then, instead of trying to tag him again, he spun around off the base and tried to flash his glove at the umpire as if to claim he had tagged Blum, even though it was visible even to the fans sitting in the last row of the upper deck that he had fucked up the tag. Timo Perez followed with a single that scored Blum, the Twins rolled over and died in the bottom half of the inning, and that was the ballgame.

So, with consecutive losses last night and this afternoon, the Twins are quickly extricating themselves from the Wild Card chase. Having Shannon Stewart and Jacque Jones out of the lineup the last two games hasn't helped any either. The good news is that the Twins are considering moving Joe Mays to the bullpen. There's a possibility that Scott Baker could get called up and get the start in Mays's place on Monday at Kansas City. Anything that gets him out of the rotation has to be a good thing, as he has clearly lost whatever stuff he once had.

After losing two of three against Chicago at the Metrodome, it's back on the road for the Twins. They open a three-game series with the Texas Rangers Friday night in Arlington. Kyle Lohse (8-11, 4.09 ERA) is expected to get the start against Kameron Loe (5-4, 4.17 ERA) for the Rangers. Lohse is 1-1 in August with a 2.39 ERA in 4 starts. His lone loss of the month came in the 1-0 loss to Seattle on August 9. It's his best month since May, when he was 3-1 with a 2.30 ERA in 4 starts and one relief appearance. As for Loe, Friday night's game would be his first start of the season and second of his career. He has made 40 relief appearances for the Rangers this season.

Hello everyone! I'm back and ready to continue my coverage of the Minnesota Twins and the rest of Major League Baseball. I left off last week after the second game of the three-game series between Minnesota and Chicago at U.S. Cellular Field, and tonight is the second game of a three-game set between Minnesota and Chicago at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

Since I last posted, the Minnesota Twins went 5-1. They finished off the sweep of the White Sox with a 5-1 last Wednesday night. They then returned home for a four-game series against the Seattle Mariners, taking three of the four games. The only loss came in Saturday's 8-3 10-inning affair that saw Seattle score six runs in the tenth.

Last night's game was October baseball played in late August. Minnesota managed only one hit off White Sox started Freddy Garcia, but it was a big one - Jacque Jones's leadoff homerun in the eighth - that propelled the Twins to a 1-0 win. Johan Santana pitched another second-half gem for Minnesota, going 8 innings, allowing 3 hits and a walk, striking out 7, and holding Chicago scoreless. Joe Nathan came on and pitched a scoreless ninth for his 32nd save. Both teams were helped by tremendous defense, but one of those plays was a tough blow for the Twins, as Shannon Stewart left the game with an injured shoulder. In addition to the loss of Stewart, Jones will miss the rest of the series attending a funeral, leaving the Twins - already depleted in the outfield by the loss of Torii Hunter - extra thin.

So now we come to tonight's game between the Minnesota Twins and the Chicago White Sox. Taking the mound tonight for the Twins is Joe Mays (6-8, 5.00 ERA). Mays picked up his first win since the beginning of July last Thursday night against Seattle. Mays gave up 9 hits, 2 walks, and 3 runs over six innings in the game, but yet another offensive output by the resurgent Twins powered him to victory. He will face Mark Buehrle (13-6, 3.07 ERA), who took the loss in his last start - last Wednesday's 5-1 loss to Minnesota.

The Twins present a totally reshuffled lineup tonight with loss of their three starting outfielders. Nick Punto will lead off and play second base, followed by Brent Abernathy playing left field, and Joe Mauer as the designated hitter. Matthew LeCroy gets the start again at first base and hits cleanup, followed by center fielder Lew Ford and right fielder Michael Cuddyer. The bottom third of the lineup sees Terry Tiffee batting seventh and playing third base, Mike Redmond batting eighth and catching, and Jason Bartlett batting ninth and playing shortstop. Bartlett is the only opening-day player playing tonight in his opening-day position.

The Twins are aiming to make it five straight victories over Chicago tonight, but the first-place White Sox will have something to say about that. First pitch is coming up....

UPDATE: It didn't take long for Joe Mays to show why he's the weak link in the Twins starting rotation. After getting Timo Perez to groundout to short on the first pitch of the game, he got an 0-2 lead on Iguchi before throwing four straight balls to walk him. Carl Everett stepped up and sent a 1-1 pitch into the bleachers in right field for an early 2-0 lead.

Konerko and Pierzynski followed with back-to-back singles before Dye flied out to right on a 3-1 pitch for the second out and Rowand flied out to right on a 3-2 pitch to end the inning. Mays threw 28 pitches in the first inning, including 12 balls. Middle of the first, Chicago leads 2-0.

UPDATE: You should have seen the look on Gardy's face! With one out in the top of the third, Carl Everett hit a long fly ball to left field, which Brent Abernathy caught as he crashed into the wall. Abernathy looked a little shaken up, and FSN's cameras showed Gardy standing at the top of the dugout shaking his head. Minnesota's bench tonight consists of Justin Morneau, Luis Rodriguez, and Michael Ryan.

In the bottom of the inning, Terry Tiffee finally got the first hit for the Twins, but Redmond hit into a double play, and Buehrle has still faced the minimum through three.

UPDATE: The Twins still aren't getting much off Mark Buehrle, but at least they might make him work the second time through the lineup. He needed only 32 pitches through the first three innings, but Punto, Abernathy, and Mauer combined for 21 pitches, including a seven-pitch at-bat by Punto and a ten-pitch at-bat by Abernathy. At the end of four, still Chicago leading 2-0.

UPDATE: A bunt-single by Perez, a double to left by Iguchi, and a two-run single by Everett put Chicago up 4-0. With the role Buehrle is on once again tonight, that could be enough.

That wasn't all the excitement in the inning. With one out, Pierzynski hit a double to left-center between Abernathy and Ford. Ford fielded the ball of the wall, threw it to cutoff man Bartlett, who spun around and threw a strike to Mike Redmond at the plate. Everett was trying to score from first, but Redmond's tag got him at the plate. Pierzynski progressed to third on the throw. Jermaine Dye followed with a double off the baggy in right-center that scored Pierzynski and finally chased Joe Mays. Mays has pitched 4-2/3, given up 5 runs, and is still responsible for Dye on second. Matt Guerrier is coming in out of the bullpen.

UPDATE: The Twins had a scare when Rowand fouled a pitch off Redmond's helmet, and he sat dazed behind the plate for a few minutes, but decided to continue on. The Twins would be in a tough spot if Redmond were to need to come out, as all three catchers are in the game. If Mauer took over at catcher, the pitchers would have to hit. The only other option would be for LeCroy to catch and Justin Morneau to take over at first. Guerrier got Rowand to ground out to get out of the inning, but the White Sox lead now 5-0. Mays's final numbers on the night: 4-2/3 IP, 9H, 5R, 5ER, 1BB on 93 pitches.

UPDATE: Lew Ford got Minnesota's second hit in the fifth, and Cuddyer followed with their second double-play to end the inning. Through five, Buehrle has still faced the minimum, and Chicago still leads 5-0.

It's too bad the Twins are struggling tonight, because Wild Card leaders New York and Cleveland are both getting blown out tonight. Oakland appears to be headed to the winning end of a blow-out against Detroit after touching up Jeremy Bonderman early.

UPDATE: The Twins must have used up all their good luck last night. In the bottom of the sixth, Redmond hit a one-out single, and Bartlett followed with a double that moved Redmond to third. Nick Punto then lined out to Jermaine Dye in right, who threw out Redmond trying to tag-up and score from third. Once again, the Twins try to rally but are foiled by an inning-ending double-play. Terry Mulholland is taking over for Guerrier to start the seventh, Chicago leads 6-0.

UPDATE: At least the Twins have SOMETHING to cheer about tonight offensively. With two outs in the seventh, Matthew LeCroy hit his 14th homerun of the year to straight-away center. It was his third in his last two games against Buehrle. Through seven, Chicago leads now 6-1.

UPDATE: They rallied furiously in the ninth, but Minnesota couldn't overcome all the runs given up by Mays early. Chicago pulled Buehrle for Cliff Politte to open the ninth. Jason Bartlett opened with a double to right-center. Punto followed with a homerun to right-center to pull to 6-3. After Abernathy flied out to right, Politte was lifted for Damaso Marte. Joe Mauer slapped Marte's first pitch to center, and Marte was lifted for closer Dustin Hermanson. LeCroy then doubled to center, scoring Mauer from first, and pulling to within two with only one out. Luis Rodriguez came on to pinch run for LeCroy. Lew Ford flied out, bringing up Michael Cuddyer. It was Cuddyer's game-tying ninth-inning homerun in last week's 16-inning game that took the save away from Hermanson then, and here he came again with a chance to do it again. Li'l Rod advanced to third on a wild pitch by Hermanson, but Cuddyer ended up lining out to Timo Perez in left field to end the ballgame. Chicago wins 6-4.

The story of the game was Mark Buehrle. After losing his last two starts against Boston and Minnesota, respectively, he came back and threw eight strong innings and stymied the Twins most of the night. Minnesota finally put three more runs on the board after Buehrle was relieved in the ninth, but it ended up being too little too late. Nevertheless, kudos to the Twins for once again never giving up.

In tomorrow afternoon's rubber match at the Metrodome, Carlos Silva (8-6, 3.35 ERA) will take the mound for Minnesota against Jon Garland (16-7, 3.43 ERA). Gametime is 1:10pm ET/12:10pm CT.

Tonight is game two of the three-game series between the Minnesota Twins and the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field on the southside of Chicago. The Twins beat the White Sox last night 4-2 in the series opener behind starter Kyle Lohse. Brad Radke (7-10, 3.71 ERA) takes the mound tonight for the Twins. He's 14-13 in 30 starts in his career against Chicago with a 4.55 ERA. He had a no-decision in his last start - Minnesota's 14-inning, 7-3 victory over Seattle on August 10. Radke last picked up a win in Minnesota's 12-0 shutout victory over Boston at the Metrodome on August 5. Starting for Chicago tonight is Freddy Garcia (11-5, 3.64 ERA). Garcia is 5-3 in 11 career starts against Minnesota with a 4.48 ERA.

Perhaps looking for a bit of consistency and trying to find some momentum with last night's victory, manager Ron Gardenhire made no changes in the starting lineup from last night's team.

It's time for the first pitch.

UPDATE: Leadoff batter Shannon Stewart ended an 0-for-17 slump with a double to open the game.

UPDATE: Nick Punto moved Stewie over to third with a sac bunt, and Joe Mauer followed with a double down the right field line to score Stewie. Garcia then struck out Morneau and LeCroy to get out of the inning, but at the end of a half-inning, Minnesota leads 1-0.

UPDATE: Brad Radke had much-publicized struggles in the first inning of games earlier in the season, but once again, Radke escaped the first without so much as a baserunner. Perez and Iguchi grounded out before Radke struck out Carl Everett to end the first. At the end of one, Twins lead 1-0.

UPDATE: To update the info on Radke's improvement in first innings, the last team to score against Brad in the first inning was Kansas City on June 29. The Royals scored 2 runs in the first inning of that game, and went on to win 3-1.

UPDATE: Lew led off the second with a single that rolled slowly down the third base line, but never went foul. Michael Ryan apparently missed a hit-and-run sign, because Lew was hung out to dry in what appeared to be the worst attempted-steal ever, and was tagged out trying to return to first. Middle of the second, still 1-0.

UPDATE: Groundout, flyout, strikeout. 1-0 Minnesota at the end of two.

UPDATE: Welcome to the Majors, Brian Anderson, meet Brad Radke's changeup. Radke has ended all three innings with a strikeout. Through three, Minnesota leads 1-0.

UPDATE: Minnesota got back-to-back one-out infield singles by Morneau and LeCroy in the fourth, and both advanced a base on a wild pitch by Garcia, but groundouts by Ford and Ryan wasted the scoring opportunity. Middle of the fourth, still 1-0.

UPDATE: Sox finally got to Radke in the fourth. Timo Perez led off with a double to deep left-center and scored on a bloop single to right by Iguchi. Everett flied out to left, but Konerko singled on a grounder to left. Pierzynski moved Iguchi to third with a fly out to center, but Aaron Rowand lined out to Radke to end the inning. At the end of four, the game is now tied 1-1.

UPDATE: Soft grounders and bloop fly balls. The Twins deceivingly have 7 hits in the game, but they haven't done much with them after the two doubles in the first. A pair of singles to lead off the fifth by Cuddyer and Abernathy were wasted when Stewie hit into a double-play. Punto grounded out to the pitcher, and that was it for the Twins in the fifth. Still 1-1 headed to the bottom of the fifth.

UPDATE: Radke worked his way out of a leadoff single by Uribe with a popout, a groundout, and a flyout. In addition to his 3 strikeouts, Radke has 2 putouts and an assist tonight. Through five, it's still 1-1.

UPDATE: The M&M Boys ride again! Mauer walked to lead off the sixth and Morneau sent a 92 mph 1-0 pitch to deep, deep right. 3-1 Minnesota with no outs in the sixth.

UPDATE: Following Morneau's homerun, LeCroy singled to left, but back-to-back forceouts by Lew and Ryan and a strikeout of Cuddyer ended the inning. Cuddyer was about 1/4-inch from a double down the left field line before striking out. Headed to the bottom of the sixth, it's Twins 3, White Sox 1.

UPDATE: Carl Everett sent a one-out, first-pitch changeup about 430 feet to right-center to pull one back for Chicago. 3-2 Minnesota headed to the seventh. Everett's homerun was the 26th given up this year by Radke, which puts him back in a tie with Cleveland's Scott Elarton for most in the American League.

UPDATE: Walks kill. With one out, Radke gave up his first walk of the night in the bottom of the seventh. After Crede flied out, Brian Anderson picked up his first Major League hit when he stuck the bat out and flipped the ball to left, moving Uribe to second. Gardy, as he often does, left Radke in one batter too long, and the Sox made him pay. Timo Perez stepped up and sent a 1-0 to deep left-center for a two-run double. Radke's night is done, but a little too late. Juan Rincon takes over and gets Iguchi to groundout to short. Nevertheless, the damage is done. Sox lead 4-3 headed to the eighth. Radke's final numbers on the night: 6-2/3 IP, 7H, 4R, 4ER, 1BB, 4K on 98 pitches.

UPDATE: Wild tenth inning in Detroit tonight. Tigers and Red Sox were tied 3-3 at the end of nine. Boston scored 7 runs in the top of the tenth, and Detroit answered with a grandslam in the bottom of the tenth, but could muster no more. Boston won 10-7.

UPDATE: Twins are down to their last 3 outs. Mauer struck out and Morneau lined out against Marte. Sox brought on Politte, who walked LeCroy, but got Lew to line out. Headed to the bottom of the eighth, Sox lead 4-3.

UPDATE: Matt Guerrier took over for Rincon to pitch the eighth. He gave up a two-out single to left to Pierzynski, but that was the extent of the damage. Guerrier has now pitched 17-1/3 innings without giving up a run. The last time he gave up a run was on July 9, when he conceded 2 runs to the Royals in the eighth inning.

Dustin Hermanson is on to try to pick up another save for Chicago. He'll face Ryan, Cuddyer, and Abernathy in the ninth.

UPDATE: HUZZAH! We have ourselves a new ballgame in Chicago! Cuddyer fouled off several pitches from Hermanson before sending a 2-2 pitch deep into the seats in left. 4-4 tie in Chicago in the ninth.

UPDATE: Abernathy and Stewie both flied out, but Cuddy-bear got the Twins back into the game with his ninth homerun of the year. We're tied at 4-4 going to the bottom of the ninth. Uribe, Crede, and Anderson will face Guerrier in his second inning of work.

UPDATE: Groundout, flyout, flyout. We're headed to extra innings in Chicago, tied 4-4.

UPDATE: More wasted opportunities by the Twins. Punto got a leadoff single and stole second, but Mauer struckout, Punto got picked off leading too far off second, and Morneau struckout. Headed to the bottom of the tenth, we're still tied at 4. Dye, Iguchi, and Everett will face Guerrier on to start his third inning of work tonight.

UPDATE: Strikeout, flyout, groundout and Guerrier has pitched three scoreless innings tonight to run his streak to 19-1/3 scoreless innings. Bartlett (pinch-ran for LeCroy in the eighth), Lew, and Ryan due up for Minnesota in the top eleventh to face new reliever Vizcaino.

UPDATE: I've said it before and I'll say it again - LEW FORD SHOULD NOT BE BUNTING. Jason Bartlett got a leadoff single, but Lew popped out on an attempted bunt, Michael Ryan popped out to short, and Cuddyer struckout to end the top of the eleventh. Headed to the bottom of the eleventh, Blum, Pierzynski, and Rowand will face Guerrier out for his fourth inning.

UPDATE: As if it hitting the game-tying homerun weren't enough for Cuddyer, he saved the game again in the eleventh. Blum got a leadoff single and was bunted over by Pierzynski. Rowand was walked to set up the double-play and Uribe popped out to second. With two out and men on first and second, Joe Crede hit a sharp grounder down the third-base line, but Cuddyer - guarding the line - snagged it and threw out Crede at first. Guerrier finished his fourth scoreless inning and we're headed to the twelfth in Chicago.

UPDATE: Nick Punto picked up a two-out walk, but Joe Mauer grounded out to second to end the half-inning. So, we're headed to the bottom of the twelfth still tied at 4. Looks like Guerrier's night is finally done after pitching four scoreless innings. Jesse Crain is coming on with Anderson, Dye, and Iguchi due up for Chicago.

UPDATE: Crain walked Iguchi with two outs, but Everett grounded out to Morneau at first, so we're headed to the thirteenth.

I think it's about time to look around the AL tonight. Boston beat Detroit 10-7, Cleveland over Texas 8-2, Tampa Bay was victorious over New York 4-3, Baltimore and Oakland are tied at 1 in the sixth, Kansas City and Seattle are tied at 3 in the sixth, and Los Angeles leads Toronto 3-2 in the seventh.

UPDATE: Bobby Jenks came out throwing gas against Minnesota in the thirteenth with good results. He struckout Morneau, got Bartlett to groundout to short, and then struckout Lew.

Lew had 15 homeruns last year, but only has 4 this year. He hasn't homered since June 16 against San Francisco. He's about due, don't you think?

Blum, Pierzynski, and Rowand due up to face Crain in the bottom of the thirteenth.

UPDATE: Twins escaped again in almost identical fashion to the eleventh inning. Pierzynski hit a one-out double to left-center and Rowand was intentionally walked. Uribe flied out to center and Crede lined out to first to end the inning. Headed to the fourteenth for the second time in a week.

UPDATE: Chicago's turn to escape. Abernathy got a two-out single and stole second. Stewie hit a soft grounder fielded by the pitcher, but he had no play on Stewie, and Abernathy moved up to third. Punto then flied out to right-center to end the top of the fourteenth. Headed to the bottom of the fourteenth, Anderson, Dye, and Iguchi are due up against new reliever J.C. Romero.

UPDATE: Brian Anderson got a leadoff single, but Romero struckout Dye and got Iguchi to hit into a 6-4-3 double-play to end the inning. Headed to the fifteenth and Mauer, Morneau, and Bartlett are due up again for Minnesota.

UPDATE: Twins failed to capitalize once again. Mauer got a leadoff double to left-center that skidded under Rowand to the wall. Morneau moved him over to third on a deep flyout down the left field line. But, with Mauer on third and one out, Tiffee pinch-hit for Bartlett and popped out to third, and then Lew flied out to center. Headed to the bottom of the fifteenth.

UPDATE: Everett popped out, Blum singled to short, Pierzynski struckout on a check-swing foul tip, and Rowand flied out to center. Yes, folks, we're headed to the sixteenth inning. Ryan, Cuddyer, and Abernathy are due up for Minnesota against Jon Adkins. Adkins was the last man in Chicago's bullpen.

UPDATE: FINALLY!! Michael Ryan singled to lead off the inning. Michael Cuddyer bunted into a force at second. Abernathy walked to put men on first and second. And then - finally - Stewie came through with a single down the third base line, scoring Cuddyer and moving Abernathy to second. Punto fouled off many pitches, and after the ninth one, Stewie pulled up gimpy and was pulled for pinch-runner Jacque Jones. Punto then popped out on the tenth pitch of the at-bat. Mauer followed with a double to right that scored Abernathy and moved Jones to third. It was Mauer's third double of the night. Chicago then intentionally walked Morneau to get to Tiffee, who hit a single to right, scoring Jones and Mauer, and moving Morneau to third. Next it was Lew's turn. Lew singled to right, scoring Morneau and moving Tiffee to second. Michael Ryan - the tenth batter of the inning - popped out to short to end the top of the sixteenth. Minnesota now leads 9-4, and although it's no longer a save situation, Joe Nathan is on his way in to finish it off. With Chicago having used their entire pen and Minnesota having used everyone but Terry Mulholland (whoe is ailing with a sore back), both teams will be hoping starters Santana and Buehrle pitch deep into the game tomorrow night (or should I say tonight?).

UPDATE: Time for those West Coast finals. Baltimore beat Oakland 4-3, Toronto beat Los Angeles 4-3, and Seattle beat Kansas City 4-3. The Royals have now lost 17 games in a row.

UPDATE: Joe Nathan came one, struck out the side, and... THE BALLGAME IS OVER! Minnesota Twins beat the Chicago White Sox 9-4. J.C. Romero pitched two scoreless innings to pick up the win and improve to 3-3, while Jon Adkins got hammered for 5 runs in the sixteenth and takes the loss, dropping to 0-1.

The win tonight means Minnesota will win their second consecutive road series. The last time that happened goes all the way back to the first two road series of the year. Minnesota took 2 of 3 in Seattle April 4-6, and then took 2 of 3 in Cleveland April 15-17.

With the win and another Oakland loss, Minnesota pulls to only 5 games back in the Wild Card standings. Toronto won to also pull to 5 back. The Indians won to pull up to 3 games back, while the Yankees lost to stay at 1.5 games back.

Whew. So, Johan Santana (11-6, 3.48 ERA) will take the mound Wednesday night for Minnesota against Mark Buehrle (13-5, 2.99 ERA) of the White Sox in a battle between two of the best lefties in the American League. Gametime once again is 8:05pm ET/7:05pm CT.

As I am going on vacation, I will not be liveblogging any games for the next week. See you all next week!

And so tonight the season series picks up again between the Minnesota Twins and the Chicago White Sox. The two teams last faced off in a two-game series in Chicago April 18 and 19 which the White Sox swept 5-4 and 3-1. Chicago leads the season series 4-1. Entering this three-game series, Minnesota trails Chicago by 15 games in the AL Central standings.

The starting pitcher tonight for Minnesota is Kyle Lohse. Like Joe Mays and Carlos Silva, Lohse hasn't won a decision since the July 2-4 series sweep of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Lohse pitched extremely well in his last start - a 1-0 loss to the Seattle Mariners on August 9. Lohse gave up only 4 hits, 2 walks, and 1 run over 7 innings in the loss. He'll be facing Jose Contreras, who allowed only 3 hits, 2 walks, and no runs in his start on August 9 - a 2-1 win over the New York Yankees.

In the starting lineup tonight for Minnesota, Stewie is leading off and playing in left, followed by Nick Punto, playing short. The M&M Boys are third and fourth, followed by Matthew LeCroy as the designated hitter. Lew Ford plays center and bats sixth and Michael Ryan gets the start in right again for injured Jacque Jones and bats seventh. Michael Cuddyer bats eighth and plays third base, and Brent Abernathy makes his return to the Twins lineup, batting ninth and playing at second base.

And now... time for the first pitch.

UPDATE: Chicago has held at least a share of the division lead ever since opening day, but the last time these two teams played back in April, they entered the series in a tie for first place, with both teams having lost the day before. Chicago swept the series to start an 8-game winning streak and hasn't looked back since.

UPDATE: Kyle Lohse had a long first inning (29 pitches), but escaped without any damage. With one out in the inning, he hit Juan Uribe and walked Carl Everett. Paul Konerko ended a nine-pitch at-bat by popping out in foul territory to Morneau, who stepped on first base for the inning-ending double play.

Clay Matvick just announced on FSN North that Jacque Jones will be sitting out the entire series with Chicago. Gardy is hoping that by sitting Jones three more days, he'll be ready to play on Thursday as the Twins open a seven-game homestand against Seattle and Chicago.

UPDATE: With two out in the top of the third, Brent Abernathy got the first hit of the game for either team with a single up the middle, but Stewie followed with a 6-4 force out that retired Abernathy at second to end the inning.

UPDATE: In Philadelphia, the Nationals lead the Phillies 5-2 in the bottom of the sixth. Starting pitchers in the game are Livan Hernandez for Washington and Brett Myers for Philly. I had to release a pitcher from my fantasy team earlier this week to open a roster spot for Todd Helton's return from the DL, so Hernandez was the casualty. Go figure that the pitcher I waived is beating the pitcher I kept. Grrr.

UPDATE: Geoff Blum for the first hit for Chicago with a leadoff double in the third, but Lohse struck out Joe Crede, and Timo Perez and Juan Uribe both grounded out to Punto at short to end the inning. Punto made a sweet back-handed snag to steal a hit from Perez and potentially save a run. As always seems to happen, Punto leads off the next inning... and singles.

UPDATE: The Twins finally put some runs on the board for Kyle Lohse in the fourth. Following Punto's leadoff single, he stole second, but Mauer was walked a pitch later to put runners on first and second. Morneau hit into a fielder's choice that got Mauer out at second, but moved Punto to third. Matthew LeCroy then walked to load the bases, and Lew Ford followed with a sharp single to left that scored Punto and Morneau and moved LeCroy to second. Michael Ryan followed with a single that reloaded the bases. Cuddyer struck out, but hot-hitting Abernathy singled to right, which drove home LeCroy and Ford, and moved Ryan to second. Stewie flied out to Rowand in center to end the inning, but the Twins got a couple big bases-loaded base hits and are now ahead 4-0.

UPDATE: Chicago finally got on the board in the bottom of the fifth, but while scoring one, they also wasted one. With runners on second and third and two outs, Juan Uribe singled to center. Geoff Blum scored easily from third, but Joe Crede - trying to score from second - was thrown out by Lew Ford. It was a good throw by Ford, but it was also poor baserunning by Crede. Uribe's hit was a line drive that got to Ford quickly and not very deep. Third base coach Joey Cora sent Crede anyway, and Crede's late slide allowed Joe Mauer to turn and tag his back before he could touch the plate. End of the fifth, Twins still lead 4-1.

UPDATE: Kyle Lohse's night is done with one out in the sixth. He gave up back-to-back singles to Carl Everett and Paul Konerko to open the bottom of the sixth. On Konerko's long drive down the line in left, Everett advanced first-to-third, and Konerko was called out trying to advance to second. Replays showed Konerko beating Abernathy's tag at second, but he was called out. Kyle Lohse then hit A.J. Pierzynski, which prompted Gardy to jump out of the dugout and pull Lohse for Jesse Crain. Jermaine Dye hit a deep sac fly to center, which allowed Everett to score, and Aaron Rowand followed with another deep fly out to Ford in center. Crain threw two pitches and got two outs, but Everett scored to make it 4-2. Lohse's final numbers: 5-1/3 IP, 7H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 1K and he hit 2 batters on 103 pitches.

UPDATE: Contreras's night is done for Chicago with 105 pitches in 6-2/3 innings. With two outs in the seventh, Nick Punto singled to right, and Joe Mauer followed with a bunt single to third, advancing Punto to second. Contreras is still responsible for the baserunners, but he has been replaced by Damaso Marte.

UPDATE: Punto the thief? Nick Punto has three stolen bases in the game, and now Mauer just stole second, but it was all for naught, as Marte struck out Morneau to get out of the inning. Nick Punto has three hits and three stolen bases in the game. Punto's three stolen bases in the game give him nine on the season, which tied him temporarily with Mauer and Jones for tops on the active roster, but Mauer's 10th stolen base on the next pitch regained him the active team lead (Torii Hunter has a team-leading 23 stolen bases on the year).

UPDATE: Elsewhere around the American League tonight, New York beat Tampa Bay 5-2 for their fifth straight victory. Curt Schilling blew a save as Boston lost to Detroit 7-6, ending their six-game winning streak. Oakland has an early 1-0 lead against Baltimore. The Blue Jays and Angels are scoreless early in Anaheim.

UPDATE: I lamented earlier Livan Hernandez winning the duel with Brett Myers in Philly. Well, as some consolation, Todd Helton hit a two-run homerun against Ben Sheets in the fourth out in Colorado. After a slow start to the season, Helton has been on fire since June 21. He has hit successfully in 32 of 35 ballgames played stretching back to June 21. Helton just singled again in the bottom of the sixth, giving him yet another multi-hit game. Through the sixth inning tonight, Helton is hitting .397 (52/131) over that 35 game stretch. Wow.

UPDATE: Bottom of the eighth in Chicago, Juan Rincon replaced Jesse Crain, and Luis Rodriguez took over defensively for Brent Abernathy at second base. After giving up a leadoff single to Juan Uribe, Rincon struck out Everett, Konerko, and Pierzynski in order to end the inning. Going into the ninth, Minnesota still leads 4-2, and Joe Nathan is getting warmed up in the bullpen.

UPDATE: Cuddyer reached and advanced to second on a throwing error by third baseman Joe Crede to start the ninth, but 6-3 groundouts by Luis Rodriguez and Stewie and a lineout to first by Punto wasted the baserunner. So, we're headed to the bottom of the ninth in Chicago, and Joe Nathan is coming to attempt his 30th save of the season.

UPDATE: Triple-A pitcher Francisco Liriano's scoreless innings streak ended tonight when he gave up 3 runs in the first inning of a doubleheader against the Pawtucket Red Sox.

UPDATE: There it is: a groundout by Dye and flyouts by Rowand and Blum, and Joe Nathan picks up his 30th save as Minnesota beats Chicago 4-2. Kyle Lohse finally gets another win to improve to 8-11, while Jose Contreras takes the loss and drops to 7-7. Nick Punto's three stolen bases are a single-game team high for the season. FSN said the last time a Twins player stole three bases in a game was Cristian Guzman on May 15, 2001 against Boston. And, all of a sudden, a team which looked dead in the water just a week ago, has now won 4 of 5 and is trying to work their way back into the playoff race.

Taking the mound for Minnesota Tuesday night will be Brad Radke (7-10, 3.71 ERA). Radke got a no-decision in his last start - Minnesota's 7-3, 14th-inning win over Seattle on August 10. He'll be facing Freddy Garcia (11-5, 3.64 ERA) for the White Sox. Gametime once again is 8:05pm ET/7:05pm CT.

UPDATE: Top of the seventh in Oakland, one of the broadcasters for FSN Bay Area just announced that Chicago beat Minnesota 7-4. What?! Where is he getting his information from?

I have questioned several times on this site White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen's reluctance to use closer Dustin Hermanson in save situations. It turns out that the back problem that has bothered Hermanson all season continues to be a problem. Being a niggling injury, a spell on the DL doesn't look likely, but it could mean that Guillen will be forced to look elsewhere in his bullpen on days when Hermanson's back is too painful to pitch. Despite not having started the season as the team's closer, and despite missing occasional games because of the back pain, Hermanson has still racked up 30 saves on the season - including two in the last two days against the Yankees - in 31 save opportunities. That's tied with Mariano Rivera for second in the AL behind only Bob Wickman's 31. Hermanson's 1.60 ERA is fourth among AL closers with at least 10 saves, trailing Rivera (1.06), Huston Street (1.31), and Eddie Guardado (1.35).

» Hermanson's back an issue for Sox [mlb.com]

The Yankees-White Sox series in the Bronx ended with Chicago winning the third game 2-1 in 10 innings to take 2 of 3 in the series. The Yankees won on Monday 3-2, while the White Sox won on Tuesday 2-1. The two teams combined for eleven runs in three games - something you don't see often out of a series involving the Yankees. The fact that Yankees pitchers combined to keep Chicago to only 6 runs was impressive for their beleagured staff, but I think New York being held to only 5 runs over 3 games at home says more. I think it says that, just like Minnesota, New York's going to be spending October watching the postseason instead of participating. When Aaron Small is far-and-away your best starter - and you have Randy Johnson in your rotation - you're in trouble. The only Yankees batter to have a good series was Alex Rodriguez, who was 4-11 (.364) with 2 homeruns. If the Yankees had 9 A-Rods they'd be fine, but without him....

UPDATE: This is amazing. Listening the guys do the post-game show on YES, this has to be the most humble I've ever heard them. I'm used to these guys being so cocky as they invoke time and again that the Yanks have won 26 World Championships and they're the greatest team in the world and nobody else compares and Why do other teams even bother? and blah blah blah. A bit of humble pie sounds quite tasty.