FanHouse D.j. Carrasco

Last Tuesday, I voted for the first time in my life. And hey, all political leanings and arguments aside, you know what's going to be nice? Having a confident man as President. I don't care if he comes to my door and smashes my belongings with a hammer and sickle, if he goes on TV and looks like he means what he's saying I'll call it a push.

Obama has appeared in one other Dugout, but we didn't give him the celebration strip he deserves. Tonight's unapologetically moderate Dugout is after the jump.

Every four years, Major League Baseball's postseason intersects with a presidential election. This is one of those years. In the spirit of the season, we here at MLB FanHouse have divided the playoff teams up for a series of debates. Tom Fornelli and Eamonn Brennan discuss the ALDS between the Rays and White Sox.

Eamonn and I took a look at this series and broke it down into six key areas: Starting rotation, Bullpen, Defense, Lineup, Bench, and Manager. Then for good measure we throw in our five-star lock of the week predictions, because we're psychic mediums in our spare time.

All of the debating goodness after the jump.

They're called the dog days of August for a reason. With the trade deadline in the books, major league teams are, barring a waiver trade, stuck with what they've got on the roster for the duration of the regular season. That means injuries, like the one suffered by Arizona's Orlando Hudson in the photo to the right, will shape the pennant races much more than they have over the last four months.

Five teams in the hunt for a playoff spot got bad injury news in the last 24 hours. Here's a look at who's hurt and how each team will cope with the absence of a key player over the final seven weeks.

- Carl Crawford, LF, Rays: The speedy Tampa Bay outfielder injured a tendon in his right middle finger on a check swing last night and was placed on the 15-day DL. The Rays are unsure how much time he'll miss, but a Seattle trainer told him he could miss six-to-eight weeks. If he's out that long, it could be devastating to their chances of holding off Boston in the AL East.

The White Sox lost more than first place in the AL Central last night after falling to the Boston Red Sox 6-2 at U.S. Cellular Field. In what was his first start since returning from a stint on the disabled list with elbow tendinitis, Jose Contreras had to be helped off the field after rupturing his right achilles tendon while trying to cover first base in the second inning.

Obviously the injury will put an end to Contreras' season, but there are fears that at 36 (if Jose Contreras is 36 years old then I'm 12) this injury could bring Jose's career to an end. It's something that crossed the mind of his manager, Ozzie Guillen.

"Those kinds of injuries, I don't know how you can come back," Guillen said. "The only thing I hope is that he can pitch again."

As for what the Sox plan on doing in Contreras' absence, they haven't announced yet, but the team did pick up Horacio Ramirez in a trade with the Royals earlier on Saturday. Guillen is also toying with the idea of having D.J. Carrasco, who came on to replace Contreras after the injury, move from the bullpen to the starting rotation.

There's also the possibility that the Sox may make a trade, with the recently waived Jarrod Washburn being a candidate. Chicago had shown interest in the left-hander before the trade deadline, but balked at Seattle's asking price. I wouldn't be surprised if Kenny Williams kicked the tires on current free agent, and member of the 2005 White Sox, Freddy Garcia either.

Well, this is hardly surprising: something Ozzie Guillen said may land him in trouble.

Guillen went on a verbal tirade following Sunday's brawl-filled game with the Royals, upset at being ejected in the fifth after umpire Tim Timmons decided that D.J. Carrasco was intentionally trying to hit Miguel Olivo. Guillen admitted that he's asked his pitchers to bean players in the past but denied doing it on Sunday, and then gave a not-so-subtle warning to the Royals, saying, "I signed a five-year deal with this club, and we're going to play Kansas City a lot."

The ironic thing is that Guillen was technically in the right -- the umpire crew chief eventually apologized to him after viewing the tape and realizing that Carrasco was simply erratic and not being a headhunter. But does being justifiably upset excuse what was said in anger? That's what the the league office is trying to decide.

Sunday was a pretty frustrating day for the Chicago White Sox. Not only were they getting their butts kicked by the Kansas City Royals, and saying goodbye to their position atop the AL Central in the process, but there was also a bench-clearing incident in the fifth inning of the game.

With the Sox down 7-0, reliever D.J. Carrasco threw three straight pitches at Royals catcher Miguel Olivo's head. All three missed making any contact (because nobody in the White Sox bullpen should be expected to hit their target these days) but after the third one, Olivo took exception and charged the mound. The typical baseball fight ensued where there's a lot of pushing and shoving, but aside from Olivo's haymaker on A.J. Pierzynski (who was trying to play peacemaker), not much happened.

The best part of the scrum was probably Ozzie Guillen's tirade after being ejected in which he slammed his hat on the ground and got into the umpire's faces. Luckily for all of us, Ozzie still had plenty to say after the game, and the never shy manager shared his thoughts for the world to hear.

Guillen said his eruption was due to the fact that the umpires ejected him because they said he brought in Carrasco for the sole purpose of plunking Olivo, which Ozzie firmly denied.

The White Sox are taking on the Kansas City Royals this afternoon at U.S. Cellular Field, and they're doing so wearing their throwback jerseys from the 80's. Unfortunately there's one player on the White Sox roster who isn't donning the old school jerseys today, and it's too bad, because Jose Contreras is the only member of the team who truly remembers those White Sox teams of old.

Jose was only 40 at the time. Now, in what I'm guessing are his 60's, Contreras has been placed on the disabled list with tendinitis in his right elbow.

"It's not serious," Contreras said. "I feel better now [after treatment]. It's better to take some days now and then I might be able to pitch later."

Taking Jose's place on the roster will be D.J. Carrasco who was just with the team last week while Bobby Jenks was on the disabled list. As for who will replace Contreras in the rotation, the Sox haven't said yet, but I'm guessing it will be Nick Masset.

Contreras could come off the disabled list as early as next Sunday, but it's possible he may be out even longer even if he is 100% healthy because his manager Ozzie Guillen isn't very happy with Jose right now for trying to hide his injury.

"I wasn't too pleased the way he handled the situation," Guillen said. "He didn't let [trainer] Herm Schneider know, myself or [pitching coach Don] Cooper know and he continued to pitch that way. When you're hurt, you're not helping the ballclub. I don't want any of my players to go out with pain and try to be a hero. I was -– I don't want to say upset -– a little disappointed when one of my players is hiding stuff for no reason."

Wow, can you believe it? Ozzie just said 75 consecutive words without dropping an F-bomb on us. I hope he's okay.