--RHP Jose Contreras threw 50 pitches off a mound for the first time since going on the 15-day disabled list with tendinitis in his right elbow and got rave reviews for how well it went. "Real good," manager Ozzie Guillen said of the session. "He's going to have a couple days and throw another one, and he should be ready for the rehab assignment. I like what I hear. He said he feels great, and the ball was coming out of his hand pretty well. Hopefully he's ready to go when we need him out there." The plan is to give him a few days off, have him throw again, then send him out on a one-game rehab assignment.
--1B Paul Konerko was expected to be dropped a few spots from his sixth place in the batting order, but manager Ozzie Guillen had a change of heart. "He's not swinging the bat that bad," Guillen said. "We've got other guys struggling also. I think I'm keeping him there to show him I have faith, to show I have confidence in him, I count on him. We're not going to win without him. He's got to help us, and I'm going to show confidence in him." --Manager Ozzie Guillen knows that a lot has been made of this big four-game series with Minnesota in the Metrodome, but he did a good job downplaying it. "I don't play," Guillen said. "I just do my routine. I take my nap, eat. I didn't even check the scouting report. I don't see why you have to change. It's good. I'd rather come here this year than last year. Last year, we just came here as a little vacation, nothing worked for us. But I think that's what baseball is all about, those days like today. It should be exciting for everyone. The players should take this as an experience, have fun with it and kick their butts. That's all you can do."
--RHP Scott Linebrink (right shoulder posterior inflammation) has yet to pick up a baseball while on the disabled list and is targeting mid-August as his best-case scenario for a return. "When you talk about not touching a ball for seven days, that's half of (the time of the 15-day DL) right there," Linebrink said. "I don't think once we do start playing catch, I don't see a week later me being on the mound or in a game. It probably will be a couple of weeks, of a throwing program and a bullpen. They might want me to go on a rehab assignment. It all depends how I look when I start throwing 'pens. I'm hoping mid-August. We've already pretty much wasted a week in July. So, middle of August will be a good three weeks, and hopefully it's not too much longer." RHP Octavio Dotel will stay in the eighth-inning setup role until then.
--RHP Clayton Richard takes the mound for the Sox on Tuesday night and will likely get at least one more outing before Jose Contreras is able to return. While it will be just his second big-league start, it is not his first performance in the Metrodome. The former Michigan two-sport athlete played both football and baseball in the dome, back when he wore the maize and blue. He also knows what's at stake for his new big-league teammates. "I think everyone is well aware of the importance of this series," Richard said. "It's definitely in the back of our minds, but once you take the field, you have to take it one game at a time. You can't really worry about the standings and all that. We have to worry about what we do out there."
BY THE NUMBERS: 68 -- The number of home runs for the Sox outfield this season, which leads the American League. The group also led the AL in slugging percentage (.506).
QUOTE TO NOTE: "I always feel good that we can do it. I'll keep doing that until someone can prove me mathematically wrong. And I don't get wrapped up in the trade deadline stuff, I really don't. Over the x-amount of years, there have been all kind of names, the whole hot-stove stuff, but that is kind of for the fans and drumming up excitement." -- Pitching coach Don Cooper on the idea that a frontline pitcher might not be coming over in a trade.
