73

Finally, the Magic Number moved off 75. Detroit's loss to Oakland on Saturday and a White Sox win yesterday combined to cut the Magic Number to 73. The Sox are still 6.5 games behind the Tigers and hearing footsteps of the Twins, who come to the Cell tonight as the hottest team in baseball over the last month or so (29 wins in their last 36 games) and only three games behind the Good Guys. Friday's and Saturday's losses to the Rangers were nothing to write home about, so I won't waste time writing to you about them. Let's focus on yesterday's win over Texas. Jon Garland pitched a masterpiece (8.1 innings of scoreless ball, giving up only six hits and a walk) to win his sixth straight decision. Matt Thornton preserved the shutout in the ninth. The Sox used small ball (a couple of bunts by Ross Gload and two groundout RBIs by Pods) and the long ball (homers by Gooch and Pods) to tally five runs on five hits. The portion of the box score showing runs, hits, and RBIs looked like the start of a TV phone number -- 555. I won't even address Ozzie's tantrum over Garland's not hitting a batter. Been there done that with Sean Tracey. That part of the act is getting not just old, but ancient. C'mon Oz, get some new material.

Guillen was not the only member of management to be active over the weekend though. Kenny Williams reacquired Sandy Alomar -- his third stint with the Sox -- and designated Chris Widger for assignment. That's another member of the 2005 World Series Champions who's no longer on the roster. Kenny has also entered the Alfonso Soriano sweepstakes, where the Sox supposedly are one of four finalists to obtain Soriano's services before the trading deadline. I saw Fonzie in person on Saturday as the Nats beat the Cubs (Nats swept the series -- sweet!) and Soriano had three doubles and a triple in five at bats. He's awesome and I'd love to have him on the Sox, but he's only going to be there for the rest of the season. Word in DC is that he won't sign a new deal without dipping his toe in the free agent waters. I don't want to go back to the days of renting players like the team did when Bill Veeck couldn't afford to pay anyone, but I do want to win this year. I'm undecided, so let me know what you think.

Meanwhile, after all this crappy baseball, the Sox are tied with Boston for the second-best record in the Majors and are in the lead for the Wild Card berth. Minnesota is in town and there's a chance to put some distance between us and them, and we don't have to face Liriano this series. Go Sox!