93

For only the fourth time in franchise history, the White Sox completed an undefeated homestand of seven games or more with a come-from-behind 7-5 win over the Minnesota Twins. The red-hot offense continued to sizzle, racking up another double-digit hit total (11), with leadoff man Orlando Cabrera collecting three singles and a double. Paul Konerko provided the winning margin with a two-run home run in the seventh inning (his eighth), while the switch-hitting Nick Swisher contributed one homer from each side of the plate (his seventh and eighth). Monday's four-baggers raised the Sox's total for the homestand to 19 and kept the team on pace to break the 200 mark again, after missing for the first time in eight years last season.

Joe Crede, who was co-player of the week along with Milton Bradley (wasn't he once traded for the Parker Brothers?), had an o-fer, but still wound up raising his batting average 27 points during the seven games at the Cell. In fact, Crede was one of six Sox to manage a double-digit increase during the homestand: Alexei Ramirez (36 pts.); Swisher (27); Cabrera (22); Jermaine Dye (13); and Konerko (11). Jim Thome, who made a slick slide at home to score the first run for the Sox, broke even, while A.J. Pierzynski (-11) and Carlos Quentin (-16) were the only ones to lose ground during this stretch.

John Danks had a sub-par effort, allowing five runs, four of them earned, during his six innings. It would have been more but for a diving backhand catch by Crede with two men on base. The bullpen proved spectacular again, throwing three innings of shutout ball. Matt Thornton earned his second win for blanking the Twins in the seventh. Scott Linebrink notched his 15th hold for his scoreless effort in the eighth. And Bad Bobby Jenks rung up his 15th save by shutting down Minnesota in the ninth.

Beating the Twins again pared the Magic Number to 93. Just for comparison's sake, the Sox didn't reach 93 in the Magic Number countdown in 2005 until June 17, so they're a week ahead of where they were during the World Championship season. The win also pumped up the lead to 6.5 games, and permitted the Sox to reach a new high-water mark for 2008 of 11 games over .500. The Good Guys are now 20-9 at home and 17-17 on the road. Speaking of the road, the Sox head to Detroit with an opportunity to pad their 11 game lead over the Tigers. Go Sox!