71

The White Sox won a seesaw affair last night, beating the Royals 8-7 in 13 innings in the opener of a six-game road trip. The Sox took the lead in the second, lost it in the bottom half of the inning, tied it up in the eighth, went ahead again in the 11th, allowed KC to tie it, and then scored what proved to be the game winner in the 13th.

Orlando Cabrera drove in the winning run with a double to right center on a hit-and-run play that scored Alexei Ramirez from first base. Ramirez, who racked up four of the Sox's 16 hits on the night and raised his batting average to .310, made another play worthy of the old Go Go White Sox. In the 11th, with Joe Crede on third and the Cuban Missile perched on second, A.J. Pierzynski smashed a ball to deep right-center that Joey Gathright caught while falling down. Crede scored easily on the sac fly, and Ramirez, who never hesitated, beat the throw home with a nice slide to score as well.

Alexei wasn't the only Sox player to reach the four-hit mark, as Jim Thome went 4 for 5 and boosted his average up to .240. While that doesn't seem like much, it's way better than when he was flirting with the .200 mark. Speaking of low averages, Paul Konerko made his return from the DL last night and went 1 for 3. Unfortunately, the popular Pablo Ozuna was"designated for assignment" to make room for Paulie. Meanwhile, All-Star Crede poked his 16th home run into the bullpen in left and hit his own sac fly to tie it in the eighth inning. Nick Swisher also drove in a run, plating Brian Anderson with a single to left.

The pitching was less than spectacular. Jose Contreras didn't have it and was unable to last six innings. Boone Logan, Octavio Dotel, Matt Thornton, and Nick Masset did their jobs and gave up no runs in relief, but Scott Linebrink couldn't hold the lead in the 11th. Linebrink, who has been the closer the last two games in Bobby Jenks's absence -- Jenks is on the DL until July 15 -- blew his third save of the season by giving up two runs on three hits. Not having a reliable closer hasn't hurt the Sox yet, but it will eventually, so make sure to send Big Bobby a get-well-soon card.

Not only did the Sox win, but the Twins dropped their second straight to the Red Sox, so the Magic Number dives to 71 and the Good Guys' lead surges to 2.5 games. The Sox and KC go at it again today, as do Minnesota and Boston. Let's pick up two more on the Magic Number and increase the lead to 3.5 games. Go Sox!