76

"And I wonder, still I wonder, who'll stop the rain?" Last night, the answer to Credence Clearwater Revival's question was A.J. Pierzynski. A.J. hit a walkoff home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the White Sox a 6-5 win over the Indians and to get the team in out of a driving rain. The heavy precip didn't stop the Sox from celebrating their second consecutive extra-inning victory, their sweep of the Tribe, their seventh straight triumph overall, and the ninth consecutive time they've sent the fans home from the Cell happy.

A.J. not only finished things off, he got them started too with a homer in the first (his sixth). Two batters later, Jermaine Dye stroked his 19th dinger of the season to move into a tie for second place in the A.L. home run derby. The other runs came courtesy of Nick Swisher's broken-bat single to left in the second, which regained the lead for the Sox, and Brian Anderson's two-run double in the seventh, which also put the Sox ahead of the Tribe. If you're getting the idea that the game was a seesaw affair, you're right. It was tied six times, the highest number possible in a 6-5 game. (In case you're wondering, the fewest ties in a 6-5 game is one, at 0-0.) It was the 22nd time the Sox came from behind to win and the ninth time they won in their last at bat.

It was Jose Contreras's turn in the rotation, and No Way Jose delivered a Quality Start, allowing four runs (only three of them earned) on six hits and four walks in his six innings. He also struck out six before giving way to Nick Masset and Octavio Dotel, each of whom shut out Cleveland for an inning, Scott Linebrink, who gave up a home run to Grady Sizemore that sent the game into extra innings, and Adam "I've won 40% of the games I've appeared in" Russell, who picked up the win by pitching a scoreless 10th. So where's Bobby Jenks? Resting the sore upper left side of his back. Good thing the bullpen is deep enough to allow him to take the time to heal.

The Magic Number is 76, and the lead is 2.5 games over the Twins, who took another from the Tigers. That puts Detroit 7 games back of the Sox; Cleveland is now 12.5 out and almost certain to trade last night's starter, C.C. Sabathia. You can tell he's on the way out by the plethora of scouts who were at the Cell to see him pitch. Two of the scouts were from the Tigers and the Yankees, the rest from N.L. teams, which is where we'd rather see him wind up. Go to the National League. Go Sox!