Back problems seem to be the injury of the season for the WhiteSox. With closer Dustin Her-manson and third baseman JoeCrede already nursing painful discs, first baseman Paul Konerko wasscratched before the game Friday as one more back casualty. Konerko,the Sox' RBI leader with 78, felt tightness in his back during thelast of his swings in batting practice.
I want to make sure he's OK," manager Ozzie Guillen said. I senthim in [to trainer Herm Schneider], but it's not serious. I don'twant to take a chance with Paulie. I would rather take him out so hecan play [today] and Sunday."
Guillen inserted Geoff Blum at first base and in the eighth spotin the order while moving catcher A.J. Pierzynski into Konerko'scleanup spot.
Thank goodness we have Blum," Guillen said of the utilityinfielder acquired July 31 from the San Diego Padres.
PLAYING CATCHUP: Major League Baseball wants the Sox and BostonRed Sox to make up Sunday's rained-out game before the end of theseason, an option the teams hoped to avoid should they clinch playoffspots.
But MLB officials apparently don't want to wait for thatpossibility, concerned about playing a makeup game Oct. 3, the dayafter the regular season ends and before the divisional series begin.
The Sox held a brief meeting before the game Friday to poll theteam's preference on when to play. The teams share only one remainingday off, Sept. 5 (Labor Day), when each is in the midst of ahomestand. The Sox would have to fly to Boston for the game afterconcluding a series against Detroit and return to start a seriesagainst Kansas City.
We'd rather not play it [unless necessary]," said Chris Widger,the Sox' assistant player representative. But we'll have to play it,and it's not up to us. All we can do is make a suggestion [on when toplay]."
BIG UNIT CHANGE: Yankees left-hander Randy Johnson (11-7, 4.22ERA) will start the game Sunday instead of Jared Wright (3-2, 7.62)against Jose Contreras.
The rotation isn't changing -- just an error in the notations ofSunday's pitchers.
Johnson made his last start against Tampa Bay after missing astart.
FIRST THINGS FIRST: Guillen is living a mixed-up life lately,hearing from fans worried about the team's fate and then gettingquestions about what his postseason pitching rotation might be.
I was at a stoplight, and a guy looked at me and said, Ozzie,please, you're driving me crazy.' We were nine games ahead when thesecond half started, and now we're [91/2] games ahead. But that's OK.It's good when people feel that way. If people didn't worry, it wouldmean they don't care about us."
Guillen is more patient with those emotions than assumptions aboutthe playoffs.
We're not in the playoffs yet," he said when asked if he wouldstart to cut back on starting pitchers' innings of work to rest them.They'll pitch as many innings as they can now, and if we clinch, thenwe'll look at the pitching staff [for the playoffs].
I hope we're in the playoffs, but I'm not going to think about howI can rest my pitchers and cut down on the innings until we clinch."
LOSING TALES: The last team the Kansas City Royals defeated beforetheir 19-game losing streak was the Sox. No one imagined then thatthe Royals would approach the 21-game record losing streak of theBaltimore Orioles of 1988.
That streak ended in the second game of a series at Comiskey Parkagainst the Sox, a team on which Guillen played.
We didn't think about it," Guillen said.
The Royals' woes during the streak include being outscored 148-63through Friday with 15 errors.
I think they have a better team than they've shown and betterpitching," Guillen said. That's so frustrating for a manager andcoaches and players. It's not easy to come to the ballpark every daywhen you're going through something like that."
JOE KNOWS: Guillen always has lauded Yankees manager Joe Torre,both for his field work and the way he deals with the intenseattention surrounding the team.
That's why he gets paid a lot of money," Guillen said, joking atfirst.
He has to deal with all those things, but he has the respect ofhis players. I don't know how people can talk about him and second-guess him when he has six or seven [championship] rings on hisfingers."
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