Not much was decided between the White Sox and the Royals Wednesday other than the fact that neither team has a closer that can be relied on when the game is on the line.

Jon Garland acquitted himself quite well over the first six innings of the game before losing his spot in the seventh when Benito Santiago and Carlos Beltran took him deep cutting his lead to 6-5.

For five innings Garland looked like a more than decent third starter and that’s good news for Chicago.

On the other hand, Jeremy Affeldt is nowhere near the pitcher that KC needs to win this division. Affeldt is all over the place with his curveball and can’t command his fastball either.

Both teams can hit. Beltran can be an MVP, but only if this team develops some pitching.

Now the closers. Curtis Leskanic doesn’t have the stuff to get big league hitters out on a nightly basis (Mike MacDougal is still out). Billy Koch is a disaster every time he steps on the mound. Seeing Koch give up homers to Beltran and Sweeney, the latter giving the Royals a short lived 9-8 lead in the ninth, was painful.

Cliff Politte should be given the closers role before Koch destroys another good pitching performance.

The AL Central is wide open until someone comes up with a bullpen, then watch out.

Click below for more!Jermaine Dye continues his hot hitting. Two more homers Wednesday night plus aggresive defense in the field.

Mark Redman is a pro. He knows how to pitch, but it is obvious he loses something after five innings or so. Other than Jim Mecir and Arthur Rhodes to a large extent, the A’s bullpen is still an adventure.

Kenny Rogers against Rich Harden today. Rogers is persistent and a surgeon on the mound while Harden throws 98 mph on a regular basis. This one should be interesting in the daylight in Texas. The old pro against the kid.

Kevin Brown looks overpowering at times for the Yankees. He has now beaten the Devil Rays three times in a row. At times he is unhittable with a sinker that dives to the ground. Other times he is hittable. The Yankees need to give him some run support because teams can steal on him at will and in a close game it will come back to haunt Brown since Jorge Posada doesn’t throw that well behind the plate. He did win his 200th Wednesday.

The Cubs got loose against the Pirates. Matt Clement was strong and overmatched the Pirates. Raul Mondesi is the best thing going for Pittsburgh with the bat and that tells you where the Pirates are as a team.

Bret Boone can swing the bat and he is a gold glove second baseman. Freddy Garcia looks like a smarter pitcher this year and he has better control too. Unfortunately for Garcia and the Mariners, the Angels just keep swinging for the fences and they are hot right now.

Ned Yost finally figured it out in game three. With a 3-0 lead, two out and two on, seventh inning, Barry Bonds came up as a pinch hitter. This time Yost ordered Bonds intentionally walked by Jeff Bennett. Edgardo Alfonzo then was an easy out to end the inning.

Old habits doe hard, but this time Yost put winning the game above the instructional league approach he has followed the prior two days.

Wes Obermueller pitched one of the best games at SBC Park for a visiting pitcher that I’ve seen in a long time. He should be watched in his next start.

Danny Kolb is no slouch as a closer. No doubt KC and Chicago or even Minnesota would love to have someone like him.

Houston simply owns the Cardinals. Wade Miller is very strong and this pitching staff, at least the starters, are pennant material.

The Astros have some pop and are knocking the Cards around. Chris Carpenter made too many mistakes against this lineup and his pitches don’t have enough bite to them right now.

The Marlins are gaining confidence every day. Jack McKeon’s approach is perfect and is the antithesis of Larry Bowa’s.

McKeon lets his players play and realizes that if they are relaxed and just play the game they will be fine. Of course, it’s easy to do that when you have four starters who will give you power performances almost every time out.

Maybe the A’s and Marlins will meet in the series wouldn’t that be something.

Jason Schmidt faces LA on Friday night. I expect him to have a power game at home.

David Wells got crushed by LA. Somehow he looks overweight and slow to me. He was around the plate with mediocre stuff and LA hit him hard.

Seeing Kaz Ishii rip a two run single after Jose Hernandez was intentionally walked to load the bases with two outs should have finished Wells, but the Padre bullpen is a mess, so Wells hung around to get lit up.

The Angels are very vulnerable anytime a starter other than Bartolo Colon or Kelvim Escobar goes to the hill.

The Angel bullpen is keeping them in the game right now, most scores are 7-6 and you just can’t live like that all season.

Have a good day and remember number 42.