Four years after the White Sox made a trade that had Indians' executives dancing in the halls at Jacobs Field, they quietly concluded a bit of business that might have caused some fist-slamming in those same Cleveland offices.

Lost among the weekend's headlines -- the arrival of Fred McGriff at Wrigley Field, the Yankees' addition of Sterling Hitchcock, the Twins' bold swap of Matt Lawton for Rick Reed -- was perhaps the most significant transaction of the season by a team in the American League Central. That would be the three-year contract extension that Jerry Reinsdorf reached with right fielder Magglio Ordonez.

	Magglio Ordonez is on pace to drive in 100 or more runs for the third consecutive season.

For the moment, the White Sox are treading water in a season spoiled by cold bats in April and a merciless run of injuries. But by commiting $29.5 million to Ordonez, Reinsdorf signaled that there will be no repeat of the 1997 White Flag deal with San Francisco. Not now, and not next winter.

"They're keeping this team together," Ordonez said. "We're going to be OK. We have a good team, and I'm real excited to get it done."

In their offices, the White Sox firmly believe that Cleveland's run atop the Central is at an end. If the Tribe can wring one more postseason run out of its aging nucleus of players, so be it. But the Sox have stockpiled young talent while the Indians have consistently traded away their top prospects. Reinsdorf and GM Ken Williams are confident that the balance of power will soon shift to Chicago.

Privately, the Sox's decision-makers might feel they have enough talent in their system to win with or without Ordonez, a three-time All-Star in right field. Aaron Rowand (.333-1-6 in 36 at-bats since being promoted from Triple-A) and dynamite prospect Joe Borchard (.283-18-66 at Double-A) are waiting in the wings for an opportunity.

Trading Ordonez was a very real option if the alternative was two more years of salary arbitration and then free agency. But Reinsdorf, who had offered Ordonez only $24 million over four years last winter, dug in to get a deal done.

Ordonez, not two-time MVP Frank Thomas, has been the Sox's most consistent run-producer in recent years. He's hit 81 homers and driven in 307 runs in 411 games since the start of 1999. With Thomas expected to fully recover from surgery to repair a ruptured triceps tendon, the Sox will count on him to join Ordonez, Paul Konerko and Carlos Lee in the middle of the lineup in future seasons.

With Rowand and Borchard available as low-cost replacements, it's possible that Williams could eventually deal Konerko or Lee. But Konerko agreed to a two-year deal in spring training that will pay him $3.8 million next year, reducing the likelihood he'll be dealt.

While signing Ordonez, the White Sox also locked up reliever Bob Howry to a two-year deal worth a reported $3.2 million. He is seen as insurance against the departure of closer Keith Foulke, who could be deemed too expensive of a risk to take in arbitration.

Williams said the Sox will begin contract talks with Foulke after the trade deadline. "The timing is right to get something done," Williams told Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune. "The arbitration table is something I'd like to avoid."

With the Ordonez extension and a promise not to mess with Thomas, Reinsdorf has proven that he not only can keep the Sox's payroll above $60 million next season but also might bump it even higher. He's been chasing a World Series ring for his 21 years in baseball and isn't ready to give up.

Spotlight on: Sammy Sosa, RF, Cubs
Despite being intentionally walked a majors-leading 27 times, Sosa is turning in the best hitting performance of his career. That says something given the 129 homers he hit in 1998-99.

	Sammy Sosa Right field Chicago Cubs Profile
	2001 SEASON STATISTICS GM HR RBI R SB AVG 102 35 99 82 0 .300

But Sosa's performance should pick up now that he has Fred McGriff batting behind him. McGriff's .318 average is 78 points higher than the combined total of the men Don Baylor had used behind Sosa. That assignment mostly went to Matt Stairs, Rondell White and Todd Hundley.

"This gives Sammy an opportunity to kind of relax, maybe not go out of the strike zone, swing at pitches when (he) has a feeling like he's the only guy, it's up to him to do it," Baylor said. "That's what protection is."

Tony La Russa also believes the addition of McGriff will help Sosa. "Sure," La Russa said. "Any time you add a quality (run-) producer, you help your ballclub. Especially when your ballclub includes Sammy."

Before McGriff's arrival, Sosa's 99 runs batted in were 58 more than any teammate. His 35 homers were 22 more than any teammate.

Yet even with pitchers seldom challenging him, Sosa had built an OPS of 1.101. He's hitting .315 with men in scoring position and .324 with men in scoring position and two outs. With two outs and a runner on second or third, he's driven in 22 runs in 34 at-bats.

"Sammy's still going to get some intentional walks at times," McGriff said. "You have to look at matchups. A left-hander might be on the mound, so you walk Sammy to face me ... But Sammy keeps hitting no matter what, no matter how many intentional walks they give him."

McGriff's 436 career homers are 15 more than Sosa. "I can't let him catch me," McGriff said.

McGriff and Sosa are only the fifth tandem of hitters to play together after they've passed the 400-homer plateau. The others: Willie Mays and Duke Snider with San Francisco in 1964; Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews with Atlanta in 1966; Eddie Murray and Dave Winfield with Cleveland in 1995 and McGriff and Jose Canseco with Tampa Bay in 2000.

Series to watch
Athletics at Indians, Tuesday through Thursday
Two of the best teams in the American League meet for the first time this season with a three-game series at Jacobs Field. Cleveland is clinging to a one-half game lead in the Central and suffering from a manpower shortage. Oakland is 4½ games behind Boston in the wild-card race and has yet to get a bump from last week's deal for Jermaine Dye.

While these teams split last year's series at six games apiece, the Indians are 8-4 at home against Oakland over the last two seasons. Cleveland will be without Bartolo Colon, who is serving a six-game suspension for throwing at Scott Servais, and both Ellis Burks and Paul Shuey, who are on the DL. Juan Gonzalez pulled his hamstring Saturday and Travis Fryman has been battling the flu.

The A's are 2-3 since adding Dye, who homered in Sunday's victory over Kansas City. Dye is 5-for-17 with four RBI since the deal. He appears to be pressing at the plate, however, as he hasn't walked since July 14.

Thursday's matchup is a good one -- Mark Mulder, coming off a four-hit shutout against Kansas City, vs. C.C. Sabathia, who has allowed only five hits in his last 12 innings. But the rest of the series could be a good one for hitters.

Cory Lidle faces Jake Westbrook in Tuesday night's opener with converted reliever Erik Hiljus going against Charles Nagy on Wednesday. Hiljus, who won in his only start on June 30 at Texas, is working for the first time since Art Howe pulled Gil Heredia from the rotation.

Heredia was 6-8 with a 5.84 ERA in 18 starts. He had given up 24 homers, which is tied for the league lead with Toronto's Chris Carpenter. He'll now work as a long reliever.

"If you performed like I have, then you're going to be replaced," Heredia said. "The move is disappointing, but I'll take it. All I want to do is go down there and throw strikes, and I think I can do that."

Hiljus went 8-5 with a 3.63 ERA for Triple-A Sacramento before being promoted. He has 20 strikeouts in 14 2/3 innings with the A's.

New face: Toby Hall, C, Devil Rays
This guy probably should have been with the Devil Rays all season. He played 94 games for Triple-A Durham, however, because GM Chuck LaMar had given long-term deals to catcher John Flaherty and Mike DiFelice.

Hall was hitting .335 with 19 homers at Durham when LaMar cleared room for him by including DiFelice in the trade that sent Albie Lopez to Arizona. His most amazing stat, according to Durham manager Bill Evers, was that he had 29 walks and only 22 strikeouts in more than 400 plate appearances.

Hall homered off Texas' Rob Bell Friday in his first game after joining Tampa Bay. He went 3-for-12 in the weekend series.

Hall, 25, was a ninth-round pick from UNLV in the 1997 draft. He has a strong arm and has benefited from working with veteran catcher Pat Borders and Evers at Durham. He flashed his potential on a big-stage by capturing MVP honors in this year's Futures Game.

Devil Rays manager Hal McRae figures to give Hall the majority of playing time behind the plate. "He should have been here a couple of months ago," McRae said. "If he's going to be the guy, he needs to come up here and play ... His attitude is very important. If he's going to be the guy, he needs to carry himself that way."

The Devil Rays are finally getting young. By trading Fred McGriff, LaMar cleared room for Steve Cox to become the regular at first base. Aubrey Huff and Brent Abernathy have taken over at third base and second base, respectively. Jason Tyner has become the regular center fielder. Nick Bierbrodt, acquired in the Lopez trade, joins left-hander Joe Kennedy to give McRae two rookies in the starting rotation.

Team to watch: Giants
By avoiding long losing streaks, San Francisco has sputtered but never fallen more than seven games out of first place in the NL West. The Giants were 6½ games out as recently as last Wednesday, but won the final game of a series at Colorado, then swept a four-game series at Arizona to knock the Diamondbacks out of first place and get within four games of Los Angeles.

That spurt was enough to convince aggressive GM Brian Sabean to put the pedal to the metal. He made manager Dusty Baker a happy man by dealing young right-hander Ryan Vogelsong and erratic right fielder Armando Rios to Pittsburgh for Jason Schmidt and John Vander Wal. And Sabean didn't stop dealing there as he then acquired left-handed reliever Jason Christiansen from the Cardinals for minor league pitcher Kevin Joseph and future considerations.

"To a man, this is what we live for," Sabean said. "We want to go for it. We have no idea how Armando's and Vogelsong's careers are going to turn out, but we live in the present and that's why we went forward."

Sabean made five trades in all in July, adding Andres Galarraga, Wayne Gomes, Brian Boehringer, Schmidt and Vander Wal and Christiansen.

Schmidt replaces rookie Ryan Jensen in the rotation spot that initially belonged to Mark Gardner, who was 4-5 with a 5.55 ERA when he went on the disabled list with a strained shoulder. Schmidt is 6-6 with a 4.61 ERA, but in his last six starts has had a 2.66 ERA. He will become a free agent after the season, but wants to pitch on the West Coast, which could help San Francisco to hang onto him.

Both Schmidt and Vander Wal will be in action against their old team this week. The Pirates play at Pac Bell Park Tuesday-Thursday.

"Playoff fever," Vander Wal told the San Francisco Chronicle. "That's what it's all about. I'm ready to rock and roll."

Never count out a Baker team.

Phil Rogers is the national baseball writer for the Chicago Tribune, which has a web site at www.chicagosports.com.