44 (30*)

"Babe Ruth's dead. Throw strikes!" Javier Vazquez took that legendary advice to heart last night and led the White Sox to a 9-0 win over the Royals. Vazquez was on fire, pitching eight shutout innings, scattering five hits, and notching 10 whiffs, while allowing only one walk. His control was about as good as it gets, with 81 of his 109 pitches being strikes. Adam Russell pitched a perfect ninth to preserve the shutout and Vazquez's ninth win of the season.

The Sox offense was also in high gear, chipping in three home runs to increase their league-leading total to 168. Jermaine Dye hit his 28th homer in the first inning to give the Sox a 2-0 lead. Nick Swisher added another run when he ripped his 17th of the season into the seats in right in the fifth inning, and A.J. Pierzynski hit his 10th of the year into the first row of seats in left in the sixth. Carlos Quentin, the A.L. home run leader sat out the game with swelling and numbness in his left forearm, likely the result of having been hit by a pitch in five consecutive games before last night. Even recent call-up, rookie Chris Getz got into the offensive act, garnering his first Major League hit -- a single to left-center in the eighth inning that plated the final run.

The win by the Sox, combined with a loss by the Twins, catapulted the Good Guys back into first place (by a half game) in the A.L. Central. That's five days in a row the division lead has changed hands. The Magic Number is now down to 44, and with KC at the Cell for two more games, there's no reason why the Sox can't shrink it even further and maintain or pad their lead over the Twinkies. Well, unless you think the absence of a fifth starter might hinder the team's chances. At least Javy's innings-eating performance allowed D.J. Carrasco to be available to start on Thursday. We're not sure that's the answer, but for now, it's the one the Sox are going with. And speaking of the Sox going, Go Sox!

* Starting today, which happens to be wife Judy's birthday (Happy Birthday, Jude!) we're calculating another Magic Number -- number of days until our future grandson's due date. The Update tried to call him KOJAK (Kid of Jeff and Kate), but no one else seems to like that acronym. Jeff's grandfather calls him Pancho (flashbacks to the Cisco Kid), which has its fans. Jeff and Kate apparently have a real name picked out, but they're not telling. Anyway, the due date is September 12, so that means the other Magic Number is 30.