Congrats to the White Sox fans, who likely took a great amount of satisfaction yesterday watching the Sox avenge last weekends' sweep with a 10-3 win over the Cubs. Jose Contreras was just effective enough to win, and Nick Swisher's grand slam in the 3rd inning proved more than enough to lead them to victory. If it makes Cubs fans feel any better, every team in the NL Central lost yesterday in inter-league play, helping the Cubs maintain a 4.5 game lead over the also-struggling Cardinals. So much for an improving NL.

Ryan Dempster was not this bad. However, injuries and the need to rest a few players lead to one of the most deficit and challenged lineup cards that you're likely to see this season. Consider for example Daryle Ward in right -- Kosuke Fukudome was in the lineup at DH --, Eric Patterson -- more on that debacle later -- in left, still hurt Jim Edmonds in center, and Mike Fontenot, who we all know should not be seeing his name in any major league teams lineup card more than once a week, at second. The result? Absolutely no support for Ryan, who tried to hold it together, but found himself toiling much too long in the early innings to be effective.

The 3rd inning was really the undoing for the Cubs, with the Sox doing the sort of grinding that they like to be known for. After AJ Pierzynski singles in Orlando Cabrera to give the Sox the lead, he advances to 2nd on an Eric Patterson fielding error, where Patterson simply let the ball roll under his glove. Carlos Quentin doubles to right to score AJ, and so the chain went. After consecutive walks by Dempster to load the bases, Nick Swisher promptly dumps a home run in the left field bleacher to completely put this game out of reach, and chase Dempster from the game. The Sox would score another three off of Cubs relievers in later innings, but it was a nice job actually by Lieber, Cotts, and Wuertz, giving up three runs in 5 1/3 innings of work.

Now all that said, let me give you my two thoughts of the day. First, enough with Eric Patterson in the outfield. He is not a left fielder, and it coming to the point where not only is he embarrassing himself, but quite possibly costing the club games. Watching Orlando Cabrera take 2nd in the 1st inning on a easy fly ball out to left was a move you will rarely see; for context, I don't recall anyone even trying that with Juan Pierre, the most weak-armed of outfielder. His fielding error in the 3rd sustained that inning, and likely killed whatever shot there was to win. And frankly, this clownish play isn't likely to change. Why? BECAUSE HE IS NOT AN OUTFIELDER!! It's time to let whatever issues there are with Matt Murton go. He's an experienced left fielder, who will make the plays that he's supposed to. And while Lou may like the matchup game, Matt's career line against right-handed pitchers is .283/.347/.424. For context, lefty Patterson has a career .250/.320/.361 line in the majors. And Murton is a natural two-hole hitter. Forget the speed Lou; you're killing yourself. And if you won't sit Patterson, at least have the sense to try him at second, and let DeRosa play a bit in left. It is his natural position, after all.

Second, I'm going to take a deep breath, and get ready for what should be ten days or so of hit-or-miss baseball; you probably should too. The Cubs will be fine. They can look forward to most of their injured players back by the end of the All-Star Break, and those few days off should help a great deal for the walking wounded. In the meantime, with bad lineups, average back of the rotation work, and some games against good teams coming up, they'll claw for wins. It's just their turn.