87

The White Sox have the sixth best all-time record in interleague play; the Pirates are No. 30, dead last among Major League teams. So it was no surprise that the Sox emerged with an 8-2 victory last night at the Cell. Mark Buehrle cruised through eight innings, not allowing a hit until the sixth and giving up only four hits and two runs on the night, to post his fourth win of the season. It marked the third consecutive outing that Buehrle lasted eight innings, a stretch in which he's given up only four earned runs. And Buehrle's three strikeouts last night raised his career total to 998, which means he should reach the 1000 K milestone when the Good Guys play the Dodgers in L.A. next week.

Sox batters, who have not supported Buehrle very well this season (4.26 runs per game going into last night), continued their hot hitting. Eight of the 10 Sox batters reached base safely, with only Alexei Ramirez and Jermaine Dye taking the collar. Orlando Cabrera and Carlos Quentin had two hits apiece, including Q's 17th homer. Brian Anderson's hit was his third homer of the season, and Toby Hall's was his first dinger for the White Sox.

Ozzie continued his streak of repetitive quotes after the game: "Everybody has to contribute. Everybody has a job to do. Everybody has to chip in a little to be what we want to be.... It's not an easy job ... performing the way they perform." It's not "double talk," but there ought to be some term to describe his speech pattern.

Last night's triumph took another bite out of the Magic Number, which is now down to 87. The lead remains 4.5 games over the Twins and 6.5 over the Tigers, both of which won, but increased to 7.5 games over the Indians, who lost. The Sox, being at home, where they're playing .676 ball, now have a 78.8% chance of sweeping the woeful-on-the-road Bucs (.361 winning percentage away from the ketchup bottle). Get the brooms ready. Go Sox!