The White Sox believe. They believe they can catch the Twins and the Royals and have put their money where their mouth is to bring back an old expression.

With the acquisitions of Roberto Alomar and Carl Everett, the Sox now have two things. One, some speed on the bases and two, lefthanded hitting to go with those big slow righthanded batters, Frank Thomas, Magglio Ordonez, and Carlos Lee.

More importantly they didn’t give up anything from their major league roster and now can chase the division leaders with Bartolo Colon, Esteban Loaiza, Mark Buehrle, Dan Wright, and Jon Garland.

If you follow the Daily Dish, I’ve opined that Chicago has had great potential in this race because of its starting rotation. Now, let’s see if they can get it done with Sox catcher Sandy Alomar’s little brother, Robby and Carl Everett, a handful to deal with, but a very talented player.

I like the moves.

Terrence Long adds to the A’s bench. Funny but one scribe called the following move Ken Macha’s finest of the season, the A’s manager called upon Terrence Long to pinch hit for Adam Piatt when Jeff Nelson came into the game in the eleventh inning. It was a basic move that every manager in the game makes, lifting a platoon right handed hitter for a platoon lefthanded hitter to face a tough righty pitcher. Long came through and tied the score with his single. This is the way the game is played and Long is an excellent player off the bench. Key word is bench.

More on the game below.

Gil Meche matched Tim Hudson pitch for pitch in another tense game won by the A’s with a terrific two run rally in the bottom of the eleventh. The character of this team is showing as they continuously fight back in the late innings to salvage games almost frittered away by early inning hitting mistakes.

Seattle is beatable. Seattle’s defense is outstanding, but its bullpen is absolutely overworked and it is only July 2nd. Bob Melvin doesn’t trust Rafael Soriano, Julio Mateo, or Aaron Taylor in crucial late inning situations. Consequently, he overuses Jeff Nelson, Arthur Rhodes, and Shigetoshi Hasegawa on a nightly basis.

Ichiro and Bret Boone are the keys to this offense which doesn’t have the punch of half the teams in the league. What they do have is a very intelligent team which makes the most of its opportunities. They may win, but trust me the A’s will fight them the whole way and have an excellent chance of catching them down the stretch.

Give the A’s a better bench with a righthanded stick to use in the late innings, another reliable arm in the bullpen, a healthy Eric Chavez and Jermaine Dye and I think they are in business.

Despite Jarrod Washburn giving up another three homers, the Angels hung on to win 7-5 over Texas. Ismael Valdes got rocked once again which means he is either hurt and heading back to the DL or on schedule for his usual July departure from wherever he is employed.

The Angels still have a strong team with a reliable pen and will spoil someone’s summer along the way.

Toronto hits these unexplainable slumps away from SkyDome on a regular basis. Losing again to Detroit highlights the strength of the Tigers starting staff and the inconsistency of the Blue Jays as a whole. Roy Halladay goes for number 12 tonight against Adam Bernero who also goes for number 12, unfortunately his current record is 1-11.

The Red Sox almost pulled one out in Tampa Bay, but did see the value of Byung Hyun Kim in the bullpen as he threw two scoreless innings late in the game. Pedro loves pitching in the Juicedome and is an overwhelming favorite to beat the Devil Rays and Rob Bell tonight.

Kyle Lohse and Dan Wright are pitchers going in opposite directions. Lohse has been hit hard recently while Wright has given the White Sox six strong innings more often than not. Let’s see how the Sox play tonight knowing help is on the way. A win puts them at .500.

Rodrigo Lopez pitched 6 1/3 innings, gave up 12 hits, threw 120 pitches and stopped the Yankees. Key stat: no walks, no homers, no hits for Jason Giambi.

Orioles have been patsies for lefties lately, let’s see how they do against the fat man, David Wells who is not as effective out of the Bronx as he is in the Bronx.

How about my Marlins? Knocked the socks off the Braves 20-1. What a game this baseball is. Casey Stengel said that 50 years ago and it holds true today.

Dontrelle Willis goes for Miami tonight against Horacio Ramirez, anyone in Miami nervous about tonight’s game? The Braves crush lefthanded pitching, but Willis is anything but ordinary. This one is worth watching.

The Phillies won 4-3 as their bullpen was better than the Cubs. Both Mark Prior and Randy Wolf were gone before the end of the 7th inning, leaving a 3-3 tie behind. The Cubs blinked first and continued their slide which is looking fairly serious.

The Giants are a very solid ballclub and got past the Cardinals again. Jerome Williams will have to be on his game tonight because the Cards are not going to go quietly this whole series. Good news for the Giants is the bullpen is looking stronger with Felix Rodriguez gaining momentum with each good outing.

Dodgers can’t hit, but you already knew that. Padres are playing better, but we knew that after the Mariner series. The real test for San Diego will come this weekend when they face the Giants, a team they simply fall apart against.

A’s trail Boston by 1/2 game in the wild card with Toronto 2 1/2 back.

Phils lead the NL wild card by 1 1/2 over LA, Arizona by 2 and Montreal by 2 1/2.

Good baseball stories: Phillies, White Sox, Diamondbacks, and Marlins.

A lot of front runners are watching these teams, too.