86

And the hits just keep on coming. And the runs, too. Yesterday, White Sox bats remained hot, producing 15 hits in a 13-8 come-from-behind win over the Pirates. Pittsburgh jumped out to a six-run lead after Pablo Ozuna (playing third base in place of Joe Crede, who had the day off) threw wildly on a force play that would have ended the top of the second without any runs scoring. The Sox rallied for six runs of their own in the bottom half of the frame, took the lead in the third, allowed the Pirates to tie it up in the fourth, and regained it for good in the fifth.

Except for Brian Anderson, every Sox starter collected at least one hit, with A.J., Jim Thome, and Alexei Ramirez getting two, and Ozuna and Jermaine Dye garnering three. In fact, except for B.A., every Sox starter had a higher batting average for the game than he has for the season. The barrage of homers continued, as well. Jermaine Dye belted two, including a grand slam, and had 6 RBI. Orlando Cabrera's blast tied it up in the second. During the series, the Sox scored 37 runs on 44 hits, including 10 home runs, against Pittsburgh. During the month of June, the team's hit .316 and scored 115 runs. The Update is sorry to see the Pirates go.

Gavin Floyd, who is now 8-3, wound up getting the win despite allowing seven runs on five hits in 5.2 innings. Since six of those were unearned, coming as a result of Ozuna's error, that means Floyd came within one out of a quality start. Maybe he deserves the win after all.

The Sox cut the Magic Number to 86 and held steady at a 4.5 game lead over the Twins, who completed their own sweep of the lowly Nationals. But now the real excitement starts. Not that we need to tell you, but the Sox head 8 miles north to play the Paper Boys (they're still owned by The Chicago Tribune for a little while longer) in just a few hours. Les Reiter, who provided updates by cell phone from yesterday's game -- thanks, Les -- reports that today will be the first time that the regular season City Series has been between two first-place teams.

The good news is that the Cubs are on their longest losing streak of the year. The bad news is that it's only three games. Hell, the Sox have had three losing streaks that long and some much longer. The other good news is that the Sox get to sleep in their own beds during the series. The bad news is that they have a losing record on the road. The best news is that we're Sox fans. The other best news (never mind the grammar) is that we're not Cubs fans. Go Sox!