White Sox in first place at all star break

What a difference a month and 3 days make. On June 8th, the White Sox had lost 6 0f their last 10, were 5 games under .500 at home 4 games under on the road and 9 1/2 games behind the division leading Minnesota Twins. Pundits were calling for the dismantling of the team, and advocating trading Mark Buehrle, AJ Pierzynski, and Paul Konerko for whatever you could get for them. Since then, The Sox have won 25 of their last 30 games. 14-1 at home and 11-4 on the road. Sure, 13 of those wins came during interleague play which is where hurting A.L. teams can traditionally feast on their senior circuit counterparts. But during the same run the Sox have been 6-2 against the AL central where they had been struggling all year and went 6-1 against the Angels and Rangers the big guns of the A.L. West.

Baseball is a game of runs. It took the Sox 57 games to win 24. They've won 25 more in 27 fewer games. The Sox now find themselves 1/2 game in first place for the first time since opening day. Can it last? Who knows. But hopefully this will be the run that leads the White Sox to the World Series title I predicted at the beginning of the season. A prediction that looked none too promising a month ago.

Catching Up

Things Fortnightly time once again.

This week's theme is catching up.

Thing 1. Dropping in.

Sometimes we catch up with people when they drop in for a visit.

These paratroopers were a highlight of a wonderful visit to Cantigni park in Wheaton for Scout-A-Rama. Been meaning to post these pictures for a while and am just catching up to it now.



Thing 2. Has it really been that long?



I recently had the opportunity to catch up with several friends that I knew in my high school days. We got together last weekend, sang some of the old songs and had a great time visiting with each other. What's really odd with seeing people that you've known for pushing 30 years is that some of the things that you remember the person for, they have forgotten and vice versa.



Thing 3: Catching up on Labels



A few months ago when this blog celebrated 300 posts. I decided to write 25 tribute posts to my 25 most used labels up to that time. This has proved to be a little more difficult than I first anticipated. I've decided to give it another go.



Here is today's installment



#20 (7 way tie) Russia



From 1992 to 1994 I served as a missionary to Russia for the Southern Baptist Convention. In many ways it was the best time of my life. At least it was the best time of my life up to that point. From time to time it comes up in the blog.



Someday I'd like to take my whole family back to Russia. One of the books I am reading about now, is a memoir about a woman from Russia. It reminds me of the time that I spent there.



Thing 4: Speaking of Catching up.



On the June 4th installment of Things Fortnightly I mentioned the White Sox and my passion for them. I mentioned how they had lost the game the night before that I took my son to and how I was taking my youngest daughter to the game that day. The Sox had a record of 22-30 at the time. They were 8 games below .500 and 8.5 games behind the division leading Minnesota Twins. They were 5 games behind the Second Place Detroit Tigers.



Since then The Sox have turned their season around. They beat the Rangers when Lucy and I saw them which was the beginning of a 23-8 run they are currently on. They have gone from 8 games below the .500 mark to seven games above and with tonight's victory over the Angels they are in second place in their division only 1 game behinf the Tigers and have just pulled a half game ahead of the Twins.



Thing 5: Vote Pauly, Vote Often.



A big reason the Sox are doing so well is the monster season Paul Konerko has been having for them. He is one of 5 AL players who can be voted to next week's all star game. In tonight's victory he doubled twice. Click here to vote for him. He is currently in third and needs to catch up (you knew I'd have it somewhere) to make it to the game.