38 (25*)

The White Sox again have a one-game lead in the A.L. Central, thanks to a 13-5 win over Seattle at the Cell and Oakland's 3-2 road win over Minnesota. The Sox hit four home runs for the second night in a row -- the best anyone's done since at least 1956 is three consecutive games -- accounting for eight runs via the long ball. Trailing 3-0 after a shaky first inning, Nick Swisher's 18th evened the score in the second. Orlando Cabrera's two-run shot (his 7th) gave the Sox the lead in the fifth, when they sent 12 men to the plate. Alexei Ramirez drove in three runs in the seventh, with his 13th round-tripper. (Ramirez added another RBI to bring his total to four for the game, the second time in two nights and only the second time in his career that he's plated that many in one contest.) The Major League home run leader, Carlos Quentin, was the fourth to set off the fireworks, slugging his 35th tater in the eighth inning. According to Hawk, it was his 11th first-pitch home run of the season.

The bats were booming all night long as the Mariners notched 15 hits and the Sox 11. Every Sox starter wound up reaching base, with Jim Thome and Juan Uribe making it to first on walks. In fact, Uribe walked twice -- only the 20th time in his 954-game career he's done that. Speaking of Uribe, he's one of three shortstops that started in the infield for the Sox, Cabrera and Ramirez being the others. You'd think that the defense would be pretty good with all those skill players out there, but you'd be wrong. The Sox butchered a tailor-made double play in the first inning. Nobody covered second on a ball hit back to the Mark Buehrle, who threw to the bag nonetheless. They wound up getting the runner at first, but not the force at second, which led to Seattle's first three runs. Hawk described it as a "brain cramp," which sounds about right.

Buehrle was not the sharp pitcher we've seen the last couple of outings, but the offense made up for his and the defense's shortcomings. Buehrle gave up five runs, 11 hits, and two walks in 5.2 innings. D.J. Carrasco and Horacio Ramirez shut down the Mariners for the remaining 3.2 innings while the Sox batters punished Seattle's pitching. Buehrle got the win to improve his record to 11-10.

After Monday's games, the Magic Number for the Sox is 38, with a couple more against Seattle on tap. Go Sox!

*number of days until our future grandson's due date.