158

Jose Contreras took care of business last night, tossing six innings of one-run, four-hit, four-strikeout ball against usual Sox nemesis, the Oakland A's. Mike MacDougal, Matt Thornton, and Bobby Jenks preserved the 4-1 Sox win in Oakland with a combined three innings of scoreless, hitless relief pitching. The Good Guys got all the runs they needed from a Jim Thome solo blast in the fourth (only 26 to go to reach 500) and a Scott Podsednik solo homer in the fifth. Both Thome and Pods were 3 for 4, with Pods scoring another run the old-fashioned way and Thome driving in another one. Jermaine Dye had a sac fly for the other RBI. That's a good sign, since J.D. is mired in a terrible slump, which Ozzie blames on the cold weather.

Speaking of cold weather -- yeah, it seems like the Update is obsessed with it -- Ozzie told The Tribune that he talked to Chairman Reinsdorf about the Sox and other cold-weather city teams opening at home instead of heeding the Update's suggestion to schedule the early games in warm-weather and dome cities. MLB is moving the series between the Indians and Angels from Cleveland to Milwaukee because Miller Park has a retractable roof. (The Brewers could replace the Rockies in the Update's list of host cities, thus solving the Colorado problem we mentioned yesterday.) There's even talk of holding the upcoming Sox-Indians series scheduled for Cleveland there too, given the forecast of snow for the Lake Erie area. By the way, that makes at least four American League franchises to play multiple home games in Milwaukee: the Orioles (who started out as the Milwaukee Brewers in the inaugural season of the American League before moving to St. Louis, where they became the Browns, and then to Baltimore; the White Sox, who played a number of games there back when the Sox were struggling with attendance; the Milwaukee Brewers, before they switched leagues; and now the Indians. Add in two National League teams -- the Milwaukee Braves and the current Brewers -- and you've got quite a collection of home teams for the city of beer.

Last night's win evened the Sox's record at 3-3, and combined with the Twins' loss to the Yankees, sliced the Magic Number to 158 and Minnesota's lead to one game. Now that we've broken the Oakland jinx, it's time to get hot (more temperature talk) and take over our rightful spot atop the A.L. Central standings. And now that the Update has the MLB Extra Innings package, we'll be watching the ascent -- or at least part of it. Those 10 pm starts (EDT) make it hard to stay up for the whole game, which are not nearly as enjoyable with Hawk away for the 1967 Red Sox anniversary celebration. Go Sox! (White Sox, that is.)