It's part two of the Oil Spill Cup Crosstown Classic and to be honest with you, I wish i was feeling a little better about it.  And to be honest, I am not really focusing on the fact that the White Sox are playing the Cubs.  I am far more focused on the fact that the White Sox are 2½ games behind the Twins and three games above .500.  I am hoping that the Sox gained some momentum from beating the Braves and will defend their ballpark against whoever comes in, be it the Cubs, Angels or Red Sox.

The White Sox come into play today having won their last nine games and you figure something has to give there.  In addition, Carlos Zambrano is on the mound for the Cubs today and he gets amped up during these games.  Jake Peavy will be amped up too and you hope whatever issues he's had with his shoulder are behind him because when he's right, he's pretty dominant. The best strategy the Sox could employ would hope that the umpires and crowd will cause Zambrano to blow a circuit early, thus forcing Lou to have to go to his pen early and often.

The Cubs are coming off an extra inning win over Seattle which taxed their bullpen a bit.  What would have been nice would have been if Seattle could have pushed a run over yesterday and beat the Cubs, but the Cubs hung in there and pulled one off.  You hate to see a team win one like that the game before they come to play your team.

Of course, because the Cubs played thirteen innings in the Pacific Northwest yesterday, they no doubt didn't get back to Chicago until after midnight. It will be a short night before heading over to U.S. Comiskey Park.  Sometimes that works to your advantage and sometimes it doesn't.  The first game of the 2005 ALCS is an example of a situation where it didn't work to your advantage.

The White Sox have their swagger back, but playing the Cubs has been, in some years, a punch in the gut.  The fact is, this series is do or die for the Cubs.  Based on some really crappy play over the last week against the Angels and Mariners, the Cubs badly need to win this series.  If not, many fan favorites like Ted Lily and Derrick Lee will modeling new uniforms during the pennant drive.

Aramis Ramarez returns for the Cubs today.  He is a notorious Sox killer who didn't play in the previous series.  Fortunately for the Sox, he's had a hand injury which are a pain to come back from (right Q?).  With any luck, he won't hit until at least Monday.

The Sox have their own struggling players, like Gordon Beckham.  I like the idea of Ozzie starting Omar at second and the Cuban Sandwich at third.  The Sandwich looked good yesterday, not butchering in the field and making contact each time he came up.  When you look at him, he resembles Frank Thomas run through a trash compactor.  He's a lot better than I thought he would be at this point.

The series makes me nervous because the White Sox have been playing so well and the Cubs not so well.  How many times has this eries offered a reversal of fortune for the team that has been struggling?  Let's hope the Sox can win two out of three before a tough road trip to Kansas City and Texas.