The happiest person for Paul Konerko yesterday must have been Paulie himself.  Buried under the Mendoza line most of the season, the White Sox captain hit two majestic home runs as the Sox bombed Baltimore 6-1 yesterday.

Jose Contreras had full command of all of his pitches yesterday and was the beneficiary of strong bullpen work from Matt Thornton and Octavio Dotel.  Ehren Wasserman, just recalled from Charlotte, pitched to one batter and surrendered a questionable walk.  It looked like Wasserman was a little jazzed yesterday from the recall and was overthrowing a little bit.

Overall, the Sox played a solid game on offense and defense.  Carlos Quentin was again in the thick of things getting plunked by a pitch in the seventh with the bases loaded.  He also came around to score on a passed ball on a play where I thought Hawk Harrelson was going to wet himself praising Quentin's running ability.  Brian Anderson continued to draw positive attention to himself by tagging and advancing on a fly out to right field. 

The Sox play the Orioles in a critical game this afternoon.  Critical in the sense that a win will give them a 4-3 home stand before embarking on a trip to Minnesota and Toronto, two venues the Sox traditionally have problems in.  Javy Vazquez, who was spanked by the Yankees last time out, takes the hill for the Sox.  Javy is usually pretty good in coming back from being beaten up the day before. so the Sox have a chance at taking the series without the help of Oriole killer Jermaine Dye who is still nursing a sore groin.

Lightning Round

• Now that I have rid the universe of Mike MacUseless, I'm happy to present the next (and perhaps final) name on my 2008 White Sox hit list: Toby Hall.  Can't hit.  Can't throw.  Can't really do anything but give A.J. a break every once in awhile and color hair in the locker room.  The Sox have at least two catchers (Paul Phillips, Donnie Lucy) who are as good if not better than Hall is right now and one other catcher (Cole Armstrong) who is on the rise.  Yes, I know there is some commitment to Hall because of the way he was injured (playing first in spring training, 2007) and the way he came back, without surgery, but if Ozzie is true to his word that everybody has to contribute, then Toby needs to get on the bus.  Maybe a stint in Charlotte will rehab him to the point where he can come back, but for now he does nothing for the Sox except let runners go crazy on the bases because they know he makes A.J. Pierzynski look like Pudge Rodriquez.
• The best deal about the 6-1 win Sunday was that Scott Linebrink and Bobby Jenks didn't have to pitch.  The more often this happens in April, May and June, the better off the Sox are in July, August and September.