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White Sox Mon Jul 18 2011
Sox Stay Afloat With Series Win in Detroit
The White Sox offense showed signs of life in Detroit this weekend, getting a huge effort from Edwin Jackson and posting 13 runs in wins Friday and Saturday before the Tigers salvaged Sunday's rubber game.
A sweep of the AL Central co-leaders would have been huge, but the Sox did at least stay in the Tigers' and Indians' rearview mirrors. They're four games back, and the mathematicians at Baseball Prospectus give them a 21 percent chance of winning what will almost certainly be the division's only playoff berth.
That's not great, but it could be worse. For all the talk of the great second-half races we're supposed to have, six of the eight playoff berths appear all but settled, thanks largely to the wild card, which renders irrelevant the competitions between the Red Sox & Yankees and Phillies & Braves.
The Cubs, of course, are not anywhere close to playoff position, and the trend continued with three losses in four games against the visiting, semi-hapless Marlins over the weekend. But few teams do hapless like the Cubs. They're among seven teams with zero chance of making the postseason, according to Baseball Prospectus.
Compliment sandwich: Check out the snazzy throwback uniforms the Sox wore Saturday for Negro Leagues tribute day: Edwin Jackson, John Danks, Alexei Ramirez, Carlos Quentin.
