--Pitching coach Don Cooper and manager Ozzie Guillen are trying to line the rotation up so that RHP Javier Vazquez will take the mound for the first game of the Minnesota series in the Metrodome on Sept. 22, but now they need to get Vazquez more excited about it. "I don't like pitching in domes," Vazquez said. "I've always felt like baseball should be played outdoors, and playing indoors is a little depressing. But you have to do it." Never mind the fact that Vazquez used to pitch -- and pitch well -- in Montreal, which played in a dome.
--1B Paul Konerko (sprained right knee ligament) hoped to be back this weekend, but manager Ozzie Guillen called Konerko's return against Detroit "doubtful." The way it looks now, Konerko might not return until the series at Kansas City the following weekend. --RHP Lance Broadway on Wednesday was tentatively named the Sunday starter by manager Ozzie Guillen, but the staff met on Thursday and is weighing the idea of going with RHP D.J. Carrasco. It may come down to which pitchers are used out of the bullpen on Friday and Saturday.
--RHP Javier Vazquez's mother-in-law was treated and released Tuesday night after being hit in the head by a foul ball during Game 1 of a doubleheader against Toronto. Vazquez was pitching in that game but said he was able to stay focused after his wife gave him in "OK signal" following the incident. "The CAT scan was clear, so they let her go," Vazquez said. Asked if he liked his mother-in-law, Vazquez joked, "Yeah, or she wouldn't have been at the game."
--CF Ken Griffey Jr. will continue to get playing time based on matchups. It seemed as if Griffey was going to be an everyday player once Carlos Quentin and now Paul Konerko went down with injuries, but manager Ozzie Guillen is mixing some speed into the lineup with the likes of Jerry Owens and Dewayne Wise. Griffey did get the start on Thursday, but Wise stayed in the No. 2 hole. "I still believe with the guys out there," Guillen said. "They have to know we're in the pennant race; this is not a September call-up. If they don't play right, if they don't play the way the way we think they should play, we put somebody else out there. We'll try to figure out the best lineup every day."
BY THE NUMBERS: 17-11 -- The Sox finished their August 17-11, which marked their sixth consecutive winning month since September 2007.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "Hopefully he'll be OK. It's unfortunate the way it happened. We have to move on. I won't make excuses, never did. We're in first place even with guys out of the lineup and even with guys struggling at the plate and hurt. But they give me the best they have and that's all you can ask." -- Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, on OF Carlos Quentin's wrist fracture.
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