One of the things that separates the good teams from the average teams is swagger.  You've got to have some swagger to compete for a playoff spot and win a championship.  All great teams have it.  The Chicago White Sox have lacked swagger this spring, largely because offensively, they couldn't hit their butt with their left hand.  But there is one man who plays with swagger all the time, and yesterday, he strapped the floundering team on his back and carried it across the finish line. 

A.J. Pierzynski cam up as a pinch hitter in the top of the eighth and promptly deposited Scott Shields second pitch in the right feild stands to tie the game at 3.  Then, in the top of the tenth, Pierzynski's duck snort into short left scored Ryan Sweeny and the Sox beat the Angels 4-3 for their second consecutive win. 

Beginning Tuesday, the Sox open an important series against Minnesota.  Important because it is against a division rival they need to pass in the standings.  Important because they need to serve notice in their division that they are not going to roll over and die. Important because they will miss tormentors Johan Santana, who is not scheduled to pitch and Joe Mauer, who is on the DL. 

True, the Sox are still without Scott Podsednik and Jim Thome, but it seems like they have finally gotten used to that idea and are starting to play through it.  What needs to happen is that Jermaine Dye and Paul Konerko quit standing at the plate on 3-2 and assume any borderline pitch will result in a walk.  It won't.  And your constant bitching to the umpire about it is not going to help you in your next at bat. 

So, boys, here's my unsolicited advice: Score early, score often, keep Joe Nathan out of the game and let the Tigers and Indians know what you are made of.  It's time to kick some ass.

Lightning Round

• In the chase for Lord Stanley's cup, although for a period and a half it looked like a struggle for the Buffalo Sabres, they outlasted a very game and resiliant Rangers team 5-4 to move on to the Eastern Conference finals.  Buffalo and Ottawa will be THE series and no matter who plays in the west or who plays in the finals, this is the series to watch.  These two teams hate each other and are very evenly matched.  Tonight, Detroit tries to polish off San Jose.
• Hey look, baseball's back!
• Freddie Garcia, Equipment Cart.  Equipment Cart, Freddie Garcia.  This may be the strangest warmup accident since the tarp tried to eat Vince Coleman.
• In addition to drawing up plays, recruiting talent, keeping players out of trouble, monitoring workouts so players stay heathy and don't collapse, keeping out of trouble with the NCAA, making sure players graduate, fending off ESPN and dealing with parents who feel their kids deserve more PT, college coaches are now expected to be fund raisers. Now you know why they are making so much money.
• This week's winner of the Hendrick Motor Sports Invitational is Jimmy Johnson.
• Roger Clemens is back with the Yankees.  Sooner or later, this pitch when I feel like it crap will bite him in his sizeable buttocks.
  
• Reports out of Houston say Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy will be leaving to persue opportunities outside basketball.  You know, like dwarf bowling.
• In New Zealand, a Subway employee shares her free drink with a friend.  Jarad shows no mercy.
• The man who might be king, Fred Thompson is beginning to waffle like Mrs. Butterworth.
• The cicadas are coming!  The cicadas are coming!
• Here's a reporter who doesn't like bloggers.  Why? Because bloggers write things without editors and without training.  They are just regular people with opinions that like to write and now have a forum to do so.  This makes newspaper columnists nervous because many blogs are a lot more interesting and entertaining not to mentioned unrestrained than newpaper columns.  Probably not this one, though.
  
• In Rossville, Georgia, a crematory has burned to the ground.  I wouldn't call it tragic, I would call it efficient. 
  
• Do not mess with the new "indestructible traffic pole."