43

The Sox outhit the Tigers last night, 15-9. Why lead with that fact? Because when they garner more hits than their opponent, the Sox win 89% of the time -- by contrast, their opponents win only 70% of the time when they outhit the Sox. (The only stat that comes close in terms of predicting a win for the Good Guys is quality starts. The Sox are 55-8 when their starters pitch at least six innings and give up no more than three earned runs.) And yesterday, the percentages held, as the Sox hung on to take Game 3 off the series from Detroit, 7-5. The big hits were supplied by Jermaine Dye, his 35th homer, and Joe Crede, his 26th and 27th homers, including a one-handed shot. The beneficiary of this offense was Freddy Garcia, who improved his record to 12-8, with 3.2 innings of scoreless relief from Sox fireballers Matt Thornton, Mike MacDougal, and Bobby Jenks. Jenks's effort in the ninth earned him his league-leading 36th save.

The victory came at a cost, however. Jim Thome pulled up lame while running out a ground-rule double in the second. The early diagnosis is a strained left hamstring. The Sox can ill afford to lose Thome at all, let alone now, but he won't be facing Detroit today in the series finale, and is in doubt for the upcoming Minnesota series. Here's to a speedy recovery, Jim. Hopefully, the team won't miss him too much and Jon Garland's recent success will carry over to today's game, when he faces Nate Robertson -- a pretty good matchup for the Sox.

Anyway, the win means that the Sox are 6.5 games back of Detroit in the Central Division race and a half-game ahead of the Twins for the Wild Card. The Magic Number is 43. By the way, don't look now, but our old nemesis, Oakland, is surging in the West. My man Frank Thomas hit his 475th career homer (27th of the season) last night and Estaban Loiza tossed a shutout. The Sox play them three times out in Oakland in mid-September, which is not what the doctor ordered. But we've got more immediate things -- the Tigers and the Twins -- to worry about. Go Sox!