The White Sox exercised an option for the 2010 season on Matt Thornton for $2.25 million bucks. He pitched in 70 games out of the bullpen for the Pale Hose last season and he was 6-3 with 4 saves, a 2.74 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP. In four years with the White Sox, Thornton has pitched in 275 games (0 starts) in which he is 20-13 with 9 saves, a 3.31 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP. Rumors abound that the White Sox will be shopping Bobby Jenks with the idea of using Thornton as the closer next season. He should be able to do a good job for the White Sox in any role they use him in next season. He only has allowed 211 hits in 250 innings with the White Sox while whiffing 268 batters which shows that he has the swing and miss stuff to be a good closer.

32-year old righty reliever D.J. Carrasco has been solid all year long for the Pale Hose this season. He has pitched in 49 games (1 start) for the Sox and he is 5-1 with a 3.76 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP. The most important thing about Carrasco is that he has worked 93 1/3 innings this season saving wear and tear on both the bullpen and the starting rotation.

The White Sox finally got a glimpse of what pitcher Jake Peavy can bring to their club, as he got the win in his first start of the year against the Kansas City Royals.  The 28-year-old right-hander battled through some obvious rust and control problems, but he looked healthy as he went five innings, giving up three runs on only 73 pitches.  Many were questioning why the White Sox would even play Peavy, as they are 5.5 games back of the Detroit Tigers with only 13 games left to play.  If he is healthy though, I don’t see why people have a problem with it.

The White Sox still have a chance, albeit an almost impossible one, and with the Minnesota Twins looking for the sweep of the Tigers today (which would put them 1 GB of the Tigers) there is nothing set in stone in the AL Central.  This does give White Sox fans hope for next year, as a healthy Jake Peavy will certainly improve the inconsistent White Sox.  The White Sox are still clinging to hope for this year though, as they still have six games against the Tigers and three against the Twins.

32-year old righty starting pitcher Freddy Garcia pitched the best baseball of his career when he pitched with the White Sox before. He appears to be getting back to being a solid starting pitcher after he missed basically almost two years in recovering from a injury. Garcia has started 6 games for the White Sox this season and he is 2-2 with a 4.41 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP. If he finishes the season strong the White Sox may bring him back next year.

The Chicago White Sox gained bragging rights this year as they topped the Chicago Cubs 5-0 today at Wrigley Field and won the season series 4-2.  White Sox rookie pitcher Carlos Torres gained his first major league win by going seven strong innings while giving up five hits, with six strikeouts, and no walks.  Torres showed great poise and control while pitching from the stretch the whole game, a rare thing to see from a starting pitcher.

Torres got some help from the White Sox offense as they had 13 hits with A.J. Pierzynski, Paul Konerko, Carlos Quentin, and Alexei Ramirez each getting an RBI for the White Sox.  Torres also got help from the Cubs defense, or lack-there-of, as the Cubs recorded two errors.  Jake Fox flat out missed a pick off attempt to first by pitcher Ryan Dempster which moved Chris Getz into scoring position who then scored on a Ramirez single.  Alfonso Soriano’s error in the 8^th cost the Cubs a run as well.  Soriano turned an everyday fly ball from Pierzynski into a three base error allowing Gordon Beckham to score from first.

The White Sox have now won two in a row after today’s victory and a rare win at their final game ever in the Minnesota Twins’ Metrodome on Wednesday.  This seems to be too little too late for the White Sox, as they went 3-8 on this road trip and are now 7 games back of the Detroit Tigers and 2 games back of the second place Twins.  With 27 games left to play, it seems as if the White Sox have played their way out of contention.

White Sox fans have to wonder why manager Ozzie Guillen had not gone to Torres earlier in the season, as he was 10-4 with a 2.39 ERA in 23 games for AAA Charlotte.  The recently traded Jose Contreras was a disaster this year and with Torres showing such strong numbers in AAA, it couldn’t have hurt to get him a few starts earlier this season.