The White Sox find themselves buried in fourth place in the AL Central, a mere 1.5 games ahead of Kansas City. Their starting pitching isn't the problem: they've received ERAs of 3.23, 3.71 and 4.15 from their top three starters, who coincidentally are the three men the Jays have to deal with this weekend.

With the trading deadline coming up, I thought that I would take a closer look at the most lopsided trades of my lifetime. Not all of them occurred at or near the deadline, but they did share a common theme of "present for future", at least from the perception of the trade partners. I am interested not in the how deals ended up, as the facts are pretty well known in all five cases. Rather, I am interested in how the deals looked objectively at the time that they were made.

Mike Green’s minor league report will run tomorrow. In the meantime, prepare to be enthralled with the accounts of four one-run games and 5 victories on the farm.

Syracuse was the only winner among the farm affiliates who went 1-4.

The Internet? I remember!

A 2-4 night in the minors.

Craig Biggio will retire at the end of this season.  It has been a long and interesting ride for Biggio, which will now almost certainly end with a trip to Cooperstown. His career is an example of what can be done with a player with adaptability and a broad range of skills.  Paul Molitor, Pete Rose and Biggio come to mind quickly as examples.  The list of the greatest leadoff hitters ever is fascinating: Henderson, Raines, Biggio, Billy Hamilton, Boggs, Rose, Molitor, and Ichiro. Not all of them were likeable, but all had some qualities that one could admire.  Biggio certainly fits in.

"Reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled."
-- Richard P. Feynman

Feynman was a great man, a brilliant physicist and one of the leading thinkers of the 20th century. But, at least as far as this chapter in Baseball's Hall of Names is concerned, when it came to PR, he didn't know jack.

Or, more appropriately, he didn't know Pete -- as in Rose (Sr. or Jr.) or Reiser or Runnels, just a few of the many players in big league history with a name that bore the initials "P.R."

But given my own chosen profession -- make that PRofession -- of corporate communications, maybe by invoking the help of baseball's marketing godhead Bill Veeck, we can formualate a decent roster of players from these PR (take your) "hacks." Maybe not.

Let's find out as we meet ...

The Jays hit a bunch of HRs to beat the Twins 6-4.

Jack Wilson?  Apparently not.  Of course, I think that just might be trying to drive the price down - there's not a lot of SS options coming up this offseason.  The John McDonald line is nice and all, but everytime McDonald starts to get regular playing time he eventually hits a big 0-fer slump.  And he still doesn't have a hit since the All Star break.

The affiliates located in New York State ruined what would've been a perfect night on the farm.  At least Auburn had an excuse, they had the night off.  Syracuse could only wish they had one after getting swept in a doubleheader by Buffalo but at least a rehabbing Venezuelan lefty got some work in.   Lansing wound up playing more than a doubleheader's worth of baseball but not by design and New Hampshire picked up an important win in a 4-and-2 night for the affiliates.

After neatly disposing of Felix Hernandez, the Jays move on to an even more daunting adversary: Johan Santana. He'll face Shaun Marcum in a quality pitching matchup tonight. Thereafter, the Jays will see two righties they've already seen twice this year.

Hitting was in short supply for the affiliates yesterday, in five games only two hitters had more than one hit.  Sal Fasano had two for the Chiefs and Manny Rodriguez had three for the Doubledays.  The affiliates managed to squeeze out two wins, Auburn won 2-1 on a solo home run by Rodriguez and the Cheifs won game two of a twin-bill with Fasano hitting a solo shot in that game.  Josh Banks and Ricky Romero had good starts.

Some pitchers are poker players.  Their faces tell you nothing, or a message that they want you to receive.  Jimmy Key might have been a boiling cauldron of emotion on the mound, but you would never know it by looking at him.  Dave Stewart's death glare was dishonest but quite effective in producing somewhat intimidated hitters. Other pitchers show anger, frustration and other lively feelings more  readily on the mound.  Yesterday's game in Toronto featured high anxiety from Josh Towers.

Initially Speaking, That Is

More than two years ago, we started a special "series" of Hall of Names features that sought to answer the apparently-not-so-burning question, "who are the best double-initial players for each of the ... letters of the English alphabet?" We kicked off in August of '05 by looking at teams of players with the initials AA, BB and CC. Then things ... slowed down a bit.

A couple of Gonzalez's produced star-worthy performances on Saturday as the affiliates went 4-1.  Reidier Gonzalez pitched a complete game shutout for Lansing.  Jesus Gonzalez went 4-5 as Dunedin won easily.  Joel Collins hit two home runs to power the GCL Jays's offense.  Brett Cecil got back on track as Auburn won in extras.  New Hampshire took the lone loss as Syracuse were flood victims.