2008 Central Division Champions

We started the Magic Number countdown at 163 and it took 162 regularly scheduled games plus one tiebreaker to get it down to zero, but that's exactly what the White Sox did Monday night by beating the Minnesota Twins 1-0. John Danks, Ken Griffey, Jr., and Jim Thome were the stars of the game. Danks, pitching on short rest for the first time, threw eight innings of shutout ball, giving up only two hits. Junior made a two-hop throw that A.J. Pierzynski fielded on the short hop and blocked the plate to nail Michael Cudduyer. Thome blasted his 34th home run of the season and 541st of his career 461 feet to the deepest part of the park in center field to provide the winning margin. That's the short version. Here's the inning-by-inning synopsis.

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  Pregame: There's a trivia question that says the day before and after the All-Star Game are the only days of the year when no MLB, NFL, NBA or NHL game is scheduled. Well, but for this tiebreaker, the same would have been true on Tuesday.... Monday night, Peter Gammons and John Kruk on Baseball Tonight both picked the Sox to win.... The Sox called for a "blackout," asking the fans to wear black -- and a full house complied-- but why didn't the Sox wear their black unis?
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  1st inning: Denard Span walked and was ready to steal when Alexi Casilla hit a rocket to Juan Uribe, who threw to first to double off Span.... Danks struck out Joe Mauer, who was 8 for 12 against him before this game.... Orlando Cabrera got the Sox off to a good start with a line single to left, but ran his way into a double play, confirming our view that he's not a good baserunner.
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  2nd inning: Danks sets the Twins down 1-2-3, including a strikeout of Justin Morneau.... Thome drew a walk. Paul Konerko just missed getting all of one, hitting a sky-high ball to the warning track. Junior struck out and Alexei Ramirez walked but was stranded along with Thome when A.J. grounded out to short.
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  3rd inning: Danks walked Nick Punto but had no trouble otherwise.... The Sox went down 1-2-3 in their half of the inning.... Dick Stockton mentioned that the Sox and Cubs had not both made the post-season since the 1906 World Series, which the Cubs won. Cubs? C'mon, Dick, don't take away our bragging rights. The Sox won that Series as every Chicagoan knows.
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  4th inning: Another 1-2-3 inning for Danks, this time on only nine pitches.... In between innings, I checked on the radio broadcast, and Steve Stone was back in the booth. Not exactly Sandy Koufax in the World Series, but Stone left early the night before because of Rosh Hashanah.... Jermaine Dye singled to left, and Thome had a great chance to move him along with the shift on -- why doesn't he just lay a bunt down the third base line? He didn't and wound up striking out. Konerko grounded into what should have been a DP, but the throw was high and Paulie was safe after hustling down to first. Griffey fouled out, causing me to wonder why it was that we traded for him.
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  5th inning: Cudduyer doubled down the line, Delmon Young's fly ball to center moved him to third, and Brendan Harris's pop fly to center led to Griffey's great throw home. Now, I'm feeling bad for having questioned him last inning.... The Sox did nothing in their half of the inning.
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  6th inning: After two outs, Danks walked Span again and looked like he was off. Boy, did I get that one wrong, as he came up big, striking out Casilla.... Again, nothing from the Sox.
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  7th inning: Mauer tries to bunt his way on, but A.J. throws him out on a close play. Harold Reynolds, doing the game for TBS, pointed out that A.J.'s throw almost hit his catcher's mask that he had flipped off -- no, not that kind of flipped off. Danks deflected the next ball to Cabrera, who made a good play to nail Morneau at first. The Twins lasted only six pitches.... In the Sox seventh, Thome hit his bomb to center, which turned out to be the only run of the game. After Junior doubled, Brian Anderson pinch ran for him and stayed in to play center in the eighth. After an intentional walk to Ramirez, the Twins brought in Jose Majares, who retired A.J. and Uribe.
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  8th inning: Young flied out to right. Harris singled to left and Matt Tolbert ran for him and stayed in the game to play third. Nick Punto hit into a 6-4-3 double play, featuring a nifty jump in the air pivot by Ramirez. Cabrera and Wise went down without a fight, and after ace closer Joe Nathan came in a bit earlier than usual, Dye singled to left. Thome flied out to left-center to end the threat.
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  9th inning: Bobby Jenks came in to finish off the game, and Nick Swisher replaced Paulie at first.... Jason Kubel, pinch hitting for Gomez struck out on five pitches. Span grounded sharply to the just-inserted Swisher. Wonder if Konerko would have made the play. Another of Ozzie's moves worked out as B.A. made a diving catch in center to end the game.

Now, it's on to Tampa to play the Rays on Thursday afternoon. The fourth different opponent in five days. The Magic Number for the A.L.D.S. is 6. Go Sox!