It's day three of the Ken Griffey Jr. era and the White Sox are 1-1.  Why? Because Ken Griffey Junior can't pitch. And in his last two starts, neither can Mark Buehrle.  Yesterday afternoon, the first place Sox fell to the fourth place Royals 9-7.  Yeah, okay, nice rally, but you didn't come all the way back.  Thank goodness the Indians took care of business yesterday or the Sox would be looking up at them this morning.

These are the games you think about if you don't make the playoffs.  These are the games that cost you a trip to the playoffs.  These are games in August the White Sox can't afford to lose. Period.

And here's even more perplexing news: The Sox have already announced that Junior is going to DH today.  This after Jim Thome has been red hot lately, raising his average to .255 and having a four game hitting streak and homers in two of his last three games.  Not a good time to give Jim a day off.  He's not the problem.  So now, we're seeing our first attempts to force Junior into the lineup at the expense of other players who don't want, need or deserve a day off.  Yeah, this will work.

Lighting Round

• Here's the difference between C.C. Sabathia and Junior Griffey: C.C. pays $13,000 for a full page newspaper ad to thank fans in Cleveland.  Junior issues a statement through Reds P.R. 
  
• This is interesting: I guess Junior is an idol in the Sox clubhouse and a lot of the players grew up with his posters on their wall when they were growing up. 
  
• Scott Linebrink is on the road to recovery.  How long that road takes is not clear, but for now, I would say don't count on him for the stretch run.  I saw this somewhere (I can't remember, so I apologize to the guy who wrote it) that there was concern that Linebrink would "go Dustin Hermanson" on us.
• I know Ron Gardenhire got a bit ticked off the other night, but how can you possibly hold him responsible for the crowd going nuts and acting like a bunch of drunk deer hunters?  Ihardly think his actions warranted a suspension.  Once again, baseball, and major league sports in general try to stifle expression with fines and suspensions because sponsors worry about their association with these actions. 
  
• What's in your wallet?