Once again I compliment a player, and once again he is sent packing. Remember how I spoke highly of Jeff Gray the other day? After that 3 inning performance against the Angels on Tuesday, the Sox DFA’d Gray, to make room for Jake Peavy. It was a nice trade of pitchers, but Gray was actually pitching well. The story does have a happy ending, as Gray was picked up by the pitching starved Seattle Mariners. Good luck man.

The Sox have a pretty good farm system, and no one has used that to their advantage more than the Oakland A’s. The A’s employ 3 former top prospects of the Sox: Brandon McCarthy, Gio Gonzalez and Ryan Sweeney. McCarthy was part of the Sox 2005 World Series team, and would have had a big career with the Sox, if he wasn’t traded for John Danks, etal. Injuries paved the way for him to join the A’s, and so far he has done well.

He gave up just 5 hits and 3 earned runs against the Sox on Friday. The majority of the hits, but all the runs, coming in the 2nd inning. His throwing error also led to his downfall that night.

A steal of home–and I miss the whole play! I go to the bathroom and take a phone call. 10 minutes go by and I come back to find out that Coco Crisp tried to steal home. He didn’t make it, one of the few times that an opponent didn’t steal a base. AJ Pierzynski still call a great game, but he sure has trouble throwing out runners.

What’s up with Juan Pierre and that mustache? Didn’t mustaches go out in the 80′s? I thought the hip thing was to have a goatee. I’m no fashion guru, but maybe upper lip hair has come back. I tried a goatee in the 90′s, to awful results. I kept catching beer pull tabs in it, and one girl said people who have goatees look like satan. Razor came out, goatee came off.

Sweeney didn’t fare to well against his former uniform, going 1-8. Gonzalez next start is against the Angels.

The Sox finished this west coast swing with a 6-3 record. It appears they have turned the corner, and may be ready to take off. Their pitching was good over the weekend, but it was their offense that carried the team. Paul Konerko, Omar Vizquel, Alexei Ramirez, and even Adam Dunn had a good 3 games.

Pierre is a fast player, having stolen over 500 bases. Hard to believe that he bounced in to 2 double plays on Sunday. Adam Dunn was thrown out on an embarrassing play on Sunday. He beat the Dunn shift by knocking one down the line, but Mark Ellis slid to get the ball on the line and threw out Dunn. Dunn’s introduction to the American League has been anything but smooth.

Is the frustration starting to get to Alex Rios? Rios was jawing with some Oakland fans mid game. I read his lips, he said, “Come on down, come on down”. Either he was auditioning for Price is Right announcers job, or he was inviting an idiot in to the dugout. FYI: Rios is a solid guy, with a short fuse. He may not be the guy to tangle with. The amazing thing is, no one on the Sox bench tried to talk some sense in to Rios. They looked at him, but no one said a word.

Sergio Santos is clamping down on the closers role. Santos, who still sports an ERA of zero, picked up 2 saves over the weekend. He actually had to work for the one on Sunday, finally getting Josh Willingham to bounce out to end the game. Don Cooper came out to chat with him before Willingham’s AB. I wonder what he said, because Santos looked refocused when he left. Wouldn’t it be great if we all had a person like Cooper in our life? We get frazzled, and he comes to our job, says a few words, and we work like new.

Sox should be 5-1 vs. the A’s this year, unfortunately they have split 6 games.

The Sox get the World Series runners up, as the Rangers blow in to Chicago for a couple games starting tomorrow.

Go Sox