Spotlight on: Corey Koskie, 3B, and Matt Lawton, RF, Twins

	Matt Lawton Right Field Minnesota Twins Profile
	2001 SEASON STATISTICS GM HR RBI R SB AVG 90 10 51 67 17 .311

	Corey Koskie Third Base Minnesota Twins Profile
	2001 SEASON STATISTICS GM HR RBI R SB AVG 84 15 60 55 11 .267

With All-Star shortstop Cristian Guzman on the disabled list, there's pressure on Lawton and Koskie to keep Minnesota's lineup productive. Both are having big months.

Koskie has gone 7-for-18 with three homers in four games since the All-Star break. He says he no longer frets about his high strikeout total.

"I think it's a maturing thing," said Koskie, who is hitting .326 with seven homers and 16 RBI in 11 games in July. "It's knowing I'm going to strike out and having the confidence to strike out and swing the bat. As long as I get three good swings in that at-bat -- I feel with three good swings I've got a pretty good chance to get a hit."

With Koskie and Doug Mientkiewicz carrying more of the offensive load, Lawon has been moved from the No. 3 spot to leadoff. With his speed and on-base ability, he's a natural at the top of the order.

Lawton has a .469 on-base percentage and .368 batting average in 81 trips to the plate as the leadoff man. He's hitting .375 with four homers in 11 RBI in July but did that damage before the All-Star break. In four games since returning to work, he's 1-for-17.

The Twins received great news on Guzman over the weekend. No structural damage was found in his injured right shoulder, prompting hope that he could miss only two weeks. David Ortiz, the designated hitter who had driven in 18 runs in 26 games before breaking his right wrist, has begun a rehab assignment and should be back by Aug. 1.

New face: Jay Gibbons, LF-1B, Orioles
Baltimore stole a good hitter from Toronto in the Rule 5 draft. The left-handed-hitting Gibbons has been on the Orioles' roster all season -- a condition of the draft of unprotected minor-leaguers -- but only recently has worked his way into regular playing time. His power numbers are impressive.

Gibbons is hitting .237 with 12 homers and 29 RBI in 173 at-bats. He's had four homers in his last nine games, including only four starts.

"It's been a tremendous opportunity," Gibbons told the Baltimore Sun. "There have been some ups and downs, a little bit of a bumpy road so far. But you've got to expect that in your first season." Toronto didn't give Gibbons a spot on the 40-man roster even though he was a career .333 hitter in its minor-league system. He hit .321 with 19 homers last year at Double-A Tennessee.

Gibbons says he was "just shocked" when the Orioles took him in the Rule 5 draft. He studied Baltimore's roster and concluced that he had "an uphill battle" to win a spot on the Opening Day roster. He earned one in spring training by hitting .352 but still might not have stuck around had Albert Belle been healthy enough to play.

"It was definitely a blessing the Blue Jays didn't protect me because I'm here," said Gibbons, who has hit .407 with five homers and nine RBI in seven games against Toronto this year. "I thank the Blue Jays for that."

Team to watch: White Sox
Here are the best teams in the majors since May 23: Mariners (33-13), White Sox (30-16), Braves (29-16), Yankees (28-16), Diamondbacks (28-17), Cubs (28-17) and Twins (27-19).

You've got to give Jerry Manuel and his hard-working team lots of credit for not cashing it in after a 14-29 start. But no team has ever made the playoffs after handicapping itself with that start. The Sox still believe they can be a playoff factor but it's a tough sell given their 12-game deficit in the AL Central and fourth-place standing in the wild-card race, eight games behind Boston.

Returning from the All-Star break to win two out of three at Wrigley Field, the White Sox won this season's Chicago series 4-2 over the Cubs. But Manuel concedes that his team used a lot of energy to get back among the ranks of the respectable. It will be hard-pressed to maintain its intensity thoughout the course of the second half.

"It's going to be a huge challenge for us," Manuel said. "We really have to step up to the plate and continue trying to win series."

With the announcement that David Wells will undergo surgery on Wednesday to correct two herniated disks in his back, the White Sox have lost eight players for the season with injuries -- Frank Thomas and pitchers Wells, Jim Parque, Cal Eldred, Kelly Wunsch, Lorenzo Barcelo, Antonio Osuna and Bill Simas.

The success of pitchers like Mark Buehrle, Kip Wells, Sean Lowe and Rocky Biddle has allowed the Sox to compensate for this run of injuries. But now Manuel must hold his breath to see if chairman Jerry Reinsdorf will order GM Ken Williams to reduce the $64-million payroll by the July 31 deadline.

Veteran starter James Baldwin, who works Monday night in Milwaukee, is the leading candidate to be dealt. But Reinsdorf's history of making bold, financially based decisions has other teams asking about some of the White Sox's top players. Among them: