Want to know what really made Kenny Williams mad last weekend?  Besides the three losses to the Cubs, I mean. Ryan Theriot. Mike Fontenot. Rich Hill.  Felix Pie. Angel Pagan. Sean Marshall.  Carlos Marmol.  All products of the Cub farm system, all plugged in this year and all being productive for the resurgent Cubs.

Then Kenny looked at his cupboard.  Save for Josh Fields and John Danks, most of the kids the Sox have used this year have underperformed. Jerry Owens. Ryan Sweeney. To a certain extent, Nick Masset.  Most of the Sox kids haven't had the impact the Cubs kids have had.

Between getting his nose rubbed in the sweep and seeing what a stocked farm system can do, Kenny probably was mad enough to spit nails.  Because he saw the future and unfortunately it was on the wrong side of town.

Yes, the Sox have some decent prospects, especially from the pitchers that Kenny brought in over the off season. But, if Gavin Floyd were to be brought up, would he have an immediate impact or would he just become another Jon Rausch, Brandon McCarthy or Josh Stewart?  It's the failures from the past few years of not developing young, major league ready prospects that has Kenny so angry and cost scouting director Duane Shafer his job.

The White Sox, as an organization are about balance.  And in order to balance the addition millions that Mark Buehrle will be getting, Kenny will have to cut some payroll from the top.  Maybe Contreras.  Maybe Vazquez. Definitely Jermaine Dye.  Most likely Tab Iguchi.  Possibly Juan Uribe and Scott Podsednik..  And the guys he has to replace them with are all not ready for prime time players, a fact that is not lost on the seething Kenny Williams.

The moves that Kenny makes during the fire sale and the ones he makes in the off season are going to be critical to the long term success of the White Sox.  The organization's biggest fear is a repeat of 2003, where the Cubs get to the brink of the world series.  Although it is unlikely this season, don't ever discount a team that plays in the NL Central.  There is a lot of baseball left to be played and the kids in Milwaukee have never been through a pennant race, let alone the crush of attention that they are receiving.  If Ben Sheets would come up lame, and the bullpen cool off, there is a possibility that the Brewers, as we have already seen this season, could come back to earth.  Should the Cubs continue to play well, that could leave an opening.  And, for the record, it's hard for me to bet against Lou Piniella in a street fight.  The guy is just too smart.

So, hypothetically, if the Cubs even back into the playoffs, all the 2005 karma is gone.  And people will once again view the Cubs as the darlings and the Sox as the four A team down the road.  If all of the things insured by success diminish, so does the payroll in Sox economics 101 and that would make it even harder to compete with Cleveland, Detroit and Minnesota, three teams who are outstanding at growing their own.  And, don't sneer at the Royals either, because finally, after a long nuclear winter, they appear poised to at least be respectable.

So, if you run into Kenny Williams and he seems a bit stressed out, maybe now you'll understand why.  The boys on the north side have what he wants and needs and on the south side there is age, diminishing returns and little to replace them with.  I bet that would make you a little cranky too.

Lightning Round

• Alright, it's four in a row.  Now the Sox meet the Royals in a critical series.  Seriously.  If the Royals pull off a sweep, the Sox are in the basement.  When was the last time the Sox finished dead last in their division? 1989. And since that time, they have finished no lower than third, even, amazingly enough when Terry Bevington was their manager.
• At least at this moment, Mark Buehrle is signed, sealed and delivered, he's ours.
  
• Looks like Jermaine Dye is asking for a ticket somewhere else.
  
• A big series opens at Wrigley today for both teams.  Cub fans, do not take the Brewers lightly.  They are a very good young ball club.
• These boots were made for walkin' and that's just what they'll do, one of these days these boots are going to steal your team and take it to Kansas City.
• If the Nashville Predators are going to return to the playoffs next year, they will have to do so without Paul Karyia.
• Some people think that Jim Balsille not getting the Preditors and moving them to Canada is a slap in Canada's face.  I thought Canada was beer country, not whine country.
  
• Craig Biggio becomes the 21st player to get 3,000 hits.  He most likely will retire at the end of the year before his skills erode even further.
• Red Sox fans have a rooting interest in Sunday's Nextel Cup race in New Hampshire.  Personally, I think they should let David Ortiz be a relief driver just for fun.
• Here's an article on the state of US Soccer.  Here's my take on the state of soccer in general: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
• WMVP in Chicago needs to remove their boot heel from Dan O'Neil's neck.  I don't get it.  You guys are beating the pathetic Boors and Bernstein in the afternoon and Mac, Jurko and Harry is your biggest show.  Let up on the guy.  It's not like he did something bad.  And don't give me that "we have standards" crap. The only standards you have are the ones which command you to make the most money possible.  You won't do that with an anemic afternoon show. 
  
• Our firends at "Bugs and Cranks" propose replacing Yankee Manager Joe Torre.  No, not with Joe Girardi.  With Billy Joel.
  
• EDITORS NOTE: BI-ANNUAL NBA MENTION ALERT!  The Bulls draft Joakim Noah from Florida.  So, how does this help them at center exactly?  At least he'll show up at the day after press conference.  Larry Harris, what have you done?
  
• If you enjoy watching Braves games on TBS, you better enjoy it now.  Next year, they gone.
• Isaiah Washington, this blog supported you when you got in trouble, we supported you when they forced you into rehab, we supported you when you got canned and then you go and pull out the race card and say you got fired because "black people don't get second chances."  We are officially washing our hands of you, Isaiah.  Good bye and good luck.
• Be the first on your block to taste Donald Trump's meat.
• A chef has filed an intellectual property suit against a former assistant claiming that facets of the restaurant where the assistant previously was employed were ripped off for the assistant's new restaurant.  Now that chef's are big deals, you'll probably see a lot of this.  But truthfully, how many secrets are there?  Add one more ingredient to a sauce and it's your sauce.  Present your chicken slightly differently and it's you chicken. Feature a few different menu items and it's your menu.  There is a finite number of ways to cook and serve food.  And the best way to get back at the guy is to cook and serve yours better, not serve subpoenas.
  
• Yippie Ki Yey, MF. . .