The Closer: In Which We Inadvertantly Prop Up The White Sox

Notes from a day in baseball:

• 1. Sox And The City. The other day we called the AL Central race in favor of the Tigers, which of course means that the team is horribly jinxed in a Joe Lieberman kind of way, and that the second-place White Sox many never lose again. On Tuesday Paul Konerko (tying home run in the ninth off of Mariano Rivera) and Jermaine Dye (game-winning single in the 11th off of Scott Proctor) led Chicago to a 6-5 win over the Yankees. Meanwhile, Detroit lost to Minnesota 4-2.

• 2. Greg, There's Someone Here To See You. Is a major Dodgers winning streak a good thing? It means people sticking around at Dodger Stadium until the game is over; increased traffic in the area of Chavez Ravine; insufferable Tommy Lasorda observations; Don Drysdale visiting your house to offer pitching tips ... sorry, that last one may have been an old Brady Bunch episode. On Tuesday Greg Maddux went six strong innings in a no-decision as LA won its 11th straight, 4-2 over Colorado, to come to within a half game of first-place San Diego in the NL West.

• 3. At Least They Didn't Do The Wave. Mike Piazza was 1-for-4 — and got a healthy amount of applause — in his return to Shea Stadium; but it was the Mets who got the last laugh over the Padres, 3-2, powered by David Wright's two run-scoring singles.

• 4. Reds 10, Cardinals 3. We were going to show you video of Ryan Freel's catch, but it somehow got broken. Into small, hopelessly irreparable pieces.

• 5. Calling All Angels. Angels' rookie Jered Weaver, who started the season with seven straight wins, is now working on seven straight no-decisions. He got his third no-decision on Tuesday, but LA still beat the Indians 5-4 on Adam Kennedy's two-out, run-scoring single in the eighth.