Act III Set to Begin

Interesting that pitching coach Don Cooper painted the Sox early-season struggles as a confrontation with mortality.  "We saw death," is how he described to Mully and Hanley the feeling of being all but out of contention in the first week of June.

The classical hero myth always involves such a thing, before the protagonist can reap reward and begin the road back (if not achieve apotheosis).  And this point in the regular season for the Sox has the feel of the gathering pause before the last flurry of action.

One more in Baltimore tonight before the Twins arrive in Chicago, and Paul Konerko said this to the Score's Joe Cowley:

''We were hot for a really long time, but it's August now, and this is really the time where you've got to dig down,'' Konerko said. ''These little momentum shifts that are going to happen ... we have like 50-some games left, so there are going to be a lot of little day-to-days, where you feel great about things on some days and then terrible about things, but you've got to keep showing up to the park every day and grinding. This is where it starts to get fun but also really tough. You've got to dig down.''

Little injuries to both Gordon Beckham (groin) and Bobby Jenks (back [bad?]) may start to matter as bodies tire in the relentless heat.  Tempers get short, and the old "turbocharged" coffee pot simmers no more in MLB clubhouses.  Konerko is right.

Longtime emailer Stonecutter points to a scary question after examining some numbers and seeing that Juan Pierre has the lowest OPS of any qualified MLB OF, AJ Pierzynski is MLB's worst offensive catcher by that measure, and Mark Kotsay, if qualified, would be the second-worst DH.  Has any division-winner ever had three regular players that bad?

Laurence Holmes and I broadcast from Bears practice in Bourbonnais this afternoon.  First kinda-live-fire test Saturday in San Diego, as we see if a freshly-molded offensive line can block any of this stuff.

And Carlos Zambrano rejoins the Cubs' starting rotation tonight in San Francisco, mainly because they have no games in backwoods Alaska, the Ugandan jungle, or the temperate grasslands of Mongolia-Manchuria.