33-16: Like China[, Frankly]

May 28th was a wet day in North Texas for weather. Those of us who live here were certainly glad to see all the rain (or, more accurately, our lawns were). Today looks a little better, I think we can assume the game will get in.

The difficulty of the opposition over the last two and a half weeks will distort your opinion of the team, but the little cracks in the porcelean are starting to show and starting to cost the White Sox games. They weren't going to win Friday night's home run derby with Chris Young pitching the was he was (and Brandon McCarthy learning a difficult lesson), but they might easily have snatched a couple of games over the last couple of weeks if there were any real offensive options on the bench for the struggling starters. Changes are in order, and changes are obviously coming, and soon.

Frank Thomas returns Monday, after missing 150 or so games with a serious broken bone in his foot. He's unlikely to just step in and start hitting .310 again, but Carl Everett has been basically awful much of the year (.232/.291/.394, 3.60 RC/G) and the team can't stand much more of Dino's Decline on a daily basis. Thomas takes McCarthy's place on the roster, meaning the White Sox are back to 11 pitchers.

For some reason, Ross Gload has been rotting on rehab despite reports that he's fine. I think the White Sox are dithering, deferring a difficult decision on their roster with Timo Perez (.185/.241/.296, 2.12 RC/G); perhaps Kenny's looking for a place to dump him, or maybe the White Sox are being too sentimental.

El Duque will return in a few days; the Texas rainout may mean they can delay that a couple of days if they wish and skip his turn, but at that point one of the relievers has to go, probably Walker.

This probably isn't enough. The front office will need to make more changes, and soon, or the lead could be squandered. You can't forget that the team as currently constructed has won 2/3 or its games, but you also have to be mindful of the heavy footsteps of Dracula coming from Minneapolis.