86

Boy, that was ugly. The White Sox almost blew a nine-run lead, but hung on to win 11-10 last night in Cleveland. John Danks was sailing along in an 11-2 ball game when he gave up a three-run homer that prompted Ozzie to call in the bullpen. Recent history has taught us that no lead is safe when the Sox relievers enter the game, and yesterday's game tested the limits of that theory. Nick Masset, who was sent down to Charlotte after the game, Matt Thornton, Ryan Bukvich, and Boone Logan couldn't put out the fire and it took Dewon Day and Bobby Jenks (25th save) to nail down what should have been an easy victory. A 15-hit performance by the offense, including a nine-run sixth inning, turned out to be just enough for the win.

Perhaps the Update should not have been surprised. Given Cleveland's MLB-best home record and the White Sox's sub-.500 road record, the Good Guys had only a 27% chance of putting a W on the board (according to the Bill James log5 method of calculating these things). Last night's result improves the chances slightly, but the Indians are still heavy favorites to hand the Sox another defeat. Despite the odds, however, the Sox did win, reducing their Magic Number to 86 and keeping them 13.5 games behind Detroit.

The Update believes there is only one solution to the Sox's problems -- realignment. Instead of playing in a division with heavyweights Detroit and Cleveland and the always-tough Twins, the Sox need to be in a division with the Orioles, Rangers, Royals, and Devil Rays. It might have to be called the A.L. Least or the A.L. Worst, but the Sox would lead Baltimore by 0.5 games, Texas by 1.5, KC by 2.5 and Tampa Bay by 6.0. Bud Selig are you listening? Probably not, so we'd better just close by saying "Go Sox!"