Last season, Vizquel played a bench role with the Texas Rangers. In 177 at-bats, the native of Venezuela hit .266 with one homer, 14 RBIs and 17 runs. With the White Sox, Vizquel will continue play a utility role — likely spending time at shortstop, third base and second base.

The veteran won’t hesitate helping out the younger players on the roster.

Said Vizquel: “I look at myself as a mentor to some other guys. I don’t think that’s going to be an issue. I’ve always been there for younger guys.”

Vizquel’s deal is believed to be worth around $1.4 million.

“I feel pretty comfortable that I can do the job in the field,” said Vizquel, “that I can still run and hit and do everything that a major league player is asked to do.”

Omar Vizquel signs with the White Sox (Image: Zuma Press)

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Last year, Dye didn’t live up to expectations with the White Sox. He hit only .250 with 27 homers and 81 RBIs. In 2008, he hit .292 with 34 homers and 96 RBIs.

Throughout Dye’s career he has had many ups and downs. When teams take a look at him during the offseason, he may land a big contract from a team that hopes that Dye has a few more of those up seasons.

There’s even a possibility that Dye will return to the White Sox. He’s a popular player in Chicago and the team will likely have a need for either an outfielder or a DH.

At 35, Dye probably won’t be able to land a long-term contract. That said, getting or three-year contract isn’t out of the question.

Jermaine Dye - Chicago White Sox (Image: Zuma Press)

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In the third inning, Scott Podsednik hit an inside the park home run to put the White Sox up 2-0. In the tenth inning, Podsednik was able to score on a wild pitch to break a 3-3 tie.

“What I bring to the table is my ability to run,” said Podsednik, “so it’s always nice to round the bases like that.”

On the season, Podsednik is hitting .307 with six homers, 45 RBIs and 68 runs. His speed has also helped him swipe 27 steals this season.

The win by the White Sox brought them to one game of .500. They trail the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central by five games and would need a great finish to make the 2009 playoffs.

The Angels, on the other hand, lead the Texas Rangers by 5.5 games in the AL West. At 85-56, only the New York Yankees have a better record in all of the MLB.

Scott Podsednik - Chicago White Sox (Image: Zuma Press)

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And all things considered, Green ended up doing a great job. In his two innings of work, he walked three but gave up no hits and no runs. After the ballgame, Green said he hadn’t pitched in nearly a dozen years. The last time the 30-year-old pitched was in junior college.

Said Green: “I didn’t know what to expect.”

Junichi Tazawa, the rookie starter for the Red Sox, wishes he had Green’s success. Instead, the native of Japan gave up nine earned runs in four innings to raise his ERA to 6.65.

With the win, the White Sox evened their record at 64-64 and are now 4 games behind the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central. The Red Sox, on the other hand, now trail the New York Yankees by 6 games in the AL East and lead the Texas Rangers in the AL Wild Card race by only 1.5 games.

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Said Williams: “We’ve thrown away a dozen games that way this year. We’ve deserved what we’ve got. I’m not happy. I’m not happy with a lot of what I see, we’re underachievers, period.”

On the season, the White Sox are 61-58. In the AL Central, they trail the Detroit Tigers by two games. Manager Ozzie Guillen agreed with Williams’ assessment.

“Look at those guys we’ve got on the field, look at the guys we have on the bench,” said Guillen. “If we want to win this thing, we better get better than .500. Do we have the talent to do it? I think so. Do we have the right people on the field to do it? There’s no doubt.”

Williams has been willing to add a lot of money to the books to help the team on the field. He went out and traded for star pitcher Jake Peavy and acquired Alex Rios from the waiver wire.

If the White Sox don’t improve and get well over .500, expect Williams to make major changes in the offseason.

Ken Williams is mad at his Chicago White Sox (Image: Zuma Press)

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Although Toronto had a chance to reclaim Rios, the fact that he’s owed more than $60 on his contract helped the Blue Jays decide to shed the salary. On the season, Rios is hitting .264 with 14 homers and 62 RBIs. He also has 19 stolen bases and 52 runs scored.

With the White Sox, he will make Chicago a better team. He’ll get a lot of at-bats and will allow teammates to get days off as the team heads into the stretch run of the season.

Right now, Chicago is three games behind the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central with a record of 57-56. The addition of Rios combined with the addition of pitcher Jake Peavy has the White Sox primed for a strong finish to the 2009 baseball season.

Alex Rios - Chicago White Sox (Image: Zuma Press)

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Buehrle’s perfect game was the 18th perfect game in the history of the game. What will be remembered most, besides the perfect game itself, will be the incredible play that Dewayne Wise made in center field to save the day.

In the ninth inning, Wise sprinted to the wall, jumped and robbed Gabe Kapler of a home run. In one play, Wise saved Buehrle’s perfect game, no-hitter and shutout. A video of the great play is at the end of this blog entry.

Riding Buehrle’s perfect game, the White Sox beat the Rays by a final count of 5-0. Four of the five runs were scored when Josh Fields hit a second inning grand slam.

On Thursday, that was all the support Buehrle needed. The White Sox pitcher was magical. And with a little help, he was perfect.

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Jake Peavy Staying in San Diego (Image: Zuma Press)

The White Sox undoubtedly have to be depressed by Peavy’s decision. They desperately need an improvement in their starting pitching and he would have definitely made the team better. It has to hurt even more considering that the Minnesota Twins had just scored 20 runs against the White Sox.

Some league experts think that we haven’t heard the end of this deal. The Padres seem to be pushing for a Peavy trade and will likely continue to shop him up until the trade deadlines. If San Diego doesn’t get an improved offer, they may ask Peavy to once again consider a move to Chicago to play for the White Sox.

Sources close to Peavy seem to think that he’d be fine with a trade, however he’d like to stay in the National League and closer to the West Coast. Currently, Peavy is 3-5 with a 3.82 ERA.

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Jake Peavy Trade Rumors (Image: Zuma Press)

However, other sources indicate that the trade isn’t very close to happening. While a third commonly held opinion is that the Padres and White Sox have agreed on a deal and Peavy now has to decide whether or not accept the trade. Since Peavy has a no trade clause in his contract, he can decide whether to go to Chicago.

The 27-year-old Peavy has been named in many trade rumors over the last years. Previous rumors had him landing everywhere from the Atlanta Braves to the Chicago Cubs. This year in nine starts, Peavy has a 3.82 ERA with a 3-5 record. He has 69 strikeouts in less than 62 innings of work.

Peavy is such a hot commodity because he has had an ERA under 3.00 in four of the last five seasons. His best season came in 2007 when he had a 19-6 record with a 2.54 ERA. That year he took home the Cy Young Award for the National League.

If the trade with the White Sox is going to happen, expect it to be announced in the next 24-to-48 hours. If that traded doesn’t go down, expect to hear Peavy in a number of trade rumors up until the trade deadline.

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On Monday, Garcia sealed his fate with a poor pitching performance for Triple-A Buffalo. In five innings, he gave up seven hits and seven earned runs. That start gave him a record of 0-2 in the minor leagues with a 8.18 ERA.

Garcia had a lot of money on the line ($1.5 million to be exact) to make the Mets roster. But after getting pounded in the minors, it was clear the native of Venezuela wasn’t close to making the jump.

Breaking into Major League Baseball with the Seattle Mariners, the 6-foot-4, 260-pound righty quickly became one of the best young pitchers in the league. As a rookie in 1999, he had a record of 17-8. His best season was in 2001 with the Mariners when he had a 18-6 record and a 3.05 ERA.

In 2006 with the Chicago White Sox, Garcia showed he still had some juice. He finished the year 17-9 with a 4.54 ERA in 33 starts. However, after signing with the Philadelphia Phillies for the 2007 season, he has battled with injuries. Over the last two seasons, he has been able to make only 14 starts.

At 32, Garcia will likely be given another shot. However, if he doesn’t show improvement, his career could be over.

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