113

According to the box score, the paid attendance last night was 28,040. However, they missed at least one fan in their count. Our future grandson ("OFG"), who is still in the Rookie League and not scheduled for a Big League call-up until the rosters expand in September, attended his first game last night with his parents: son, Jeff, and pregnant daughter-in-law, Kate. Jeff reports that it was a bit nippy, but OFG had his own kind of luxury box and managed to stay warm. We're happy to report that he can look back on it someday and say the White Sox won -- 3-1.

Mark Buehrle pitched well enough to win, limiting Cleveland (the only team to hold a winning record against him in his career) to two hits and one run in seven innings. Unfortunately, for Buehrle, Carlos Quentin, who drove in the first Sox run to stake him to a lead in the first inning, didn't drive in the go-ahead run until the eighth inning. By then, Scott Linebrink had thrown an inning of no-hit, no-run relief and was credited with his first victory of the season. Bobby Jenks pitched a flawless ninth to earn his 12th save of the year and 98th of his career -- tying Hoyt Wilhelm for fourth place on the Sox all-time list. But excellent relief pitching has become the norm. The bullpen pitched seven innings during the three-game sweep of the Indians without allowing a run.

Jermaine Dye also drove in a run, and Toby Hall, playing because the Tribe started a lefty, went three for three to raise his average to .351, but that was pretty much it for the Sox offense. The Update is not sure why lefties have beguiled the Sox so much in the past, given the heavily right-handed lineup they play, but it appears this year that they're having more success. Last night's win raised the team's record to 10-4 when the opponent starts a southpaw. By contrast, the Sox are 16-16 when they face a right-handed starter.

Hall of Fame sportswriter Peter Gammons, who was on Mike & Mike today, called the White Sox "dangerous" and said they have a "legitimate" chance to win the A.L. Central. Ya think? C'mon, Peter, we know the season's only a quarter over, but that's hardly a ringing endorsement of a team that has won eight in a row, is receiving great starting and relief pitching and timely hitting, and has a 3.5 game lead in the division and a 4.5 and 6.5 game lead respectively over the trendy picks to win it all -- Cleveland and Detroit. Get on board the Sox bandwagon early. Seats will be scarce later as the Magic Number drops from 113 today all the way down to zero.

Final thought: The Update is against instant replay even in limited situations like figuring out if a ball was fair or foul or a home run or not. The game has done just fine for more than a century without it. Wait a minute. Upon further review, we think it's a great idea in those limited circumstances. It won't take much time and it's more important to get it right on those kind of plays than to preserve incompetence in the name of some stupid tradition. Go Replay! Go Sox!