51

Jim Thome cracked his 21st home run of the season, and more importantly, the 493rd of his career last night to lead the White Sox to a 5-2 victory over the K.C. Royals. At his current pace of 21 dingers in 98 games, Thome will need to play in and keep up that pace for at least 33 of the Sox's remaining 37 games to reach the 500 mark. At his higher career homer rate, he'll need to hit at that pace in only 29 more games to join the 500 club this season.

Paul Konerko and Danny Richar also contributed round trippers to support Javier Vazquez's fine effort -- only one earned run in six innings. Who -- besides big Javy fan Mike Sehr -- would have thought that Vazquez would have the best record among the Sox starters (11-6)? Not the Update, which has roasted Vazquez in the past for his inability to get through the lineup three times in a game. This is one time we're happy to admit we were wrong.

Bobby Jenks extended his streak to six consectutive batters retired (that's 47 of his last 48 for those keeping score at home) and needs about 12 more innings like that to break the record of 41 he now shares. Oh yeah, he earned his 34th save in the process. Not too shabby.

The win chopped the Magic Number to 51 and allowed the Sox to move into sole possession of fourth place in the A.L. Central. We've got our sights trained on third place, although overtaking the Twins, who have a six-game lead, won't be easy. Go Sox!