35

Oh me of little faith! When the Sox fell behind 3-0 in the first inning, I turned off the radio (XM is wonderful for an out-of-town fan). I just couldn't stand to listen to the team lose another game it should win. The Sox had rarely come back when trailing after seven innings -- 8-45 going into last night -- and they had been playing better against teams above .500 (44-31) than against those that aren't (33-23). Well, last night was the exception. Come back they did against the below-.500 Devil Rays to win 5-4.

They did it on the strength of Tadahito Iguchi's two-run homer in the eighth to tie it and Jim Thome's RBI single in the same inning. Thome, who was back in the lineup for the first time since injuring his hamstring (but may sit out today after tweaking it again), went two for four while batting cleanup. Jermaine Dye continued his torrid hitting, going three for five, and added two stolen bases for good measure. By the way, Iguchi's homer was the 199th of the season for the Sox, who look certain to extend their streak of at least 200 homers for an MLB-record seventh consecutive year.

The win went to Jon Garland, who gave up three runs in the first and then pitched well for the next six innings to earn his Major League-leading 16th win (against only four losses). The Sox are now 40-16 when their starter goes at least seven innings and only 38-38 when he doesn't. Bobby Jenks notched his best-in-the-Majors 38th save.

The White Sox victory combined with Detroit's split with the Yankees moved the Sox to 4.5 games behind the Tigers, which the Tribune reports is the closest they've been since July 19th. The Magic Number is down to 35. Had Scott Proctor retired Craig Monroe instead of giving up a three-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning, Detroit's lead would have been only 3.5 games and the MN would have been 34. That begs the question: where was Mariano Rivera? Apparently, Joe Torre didn't want to overtax his arm since Rivera had saved the first game. C'mon. Rivera threw only 14 pitches in the opener, not exactly a full day's work, and the Tigers didn't accumulate the best record in the A.L. by giving up. I would have gone with the most dominant closer ever to put away a game against a possible postseason opponent. But what do I know? Well, I know that the Sox have a 1.5 game lead in the Wild Card race over the Twins, who lost to KC for the second night in a row. Let's keep it going. Go Sox!