64

So, maybe three runs is enough to win a ball game. At least it is when you get a brilliant pitching performance like Gavin "Pink" Floyd provided last night in the White Sox's 3-2 win over the Yankess. Floyd lasted 7.2 innings and gave up only one run on four hits and a walk. His curve ball was working so well that eight of the ten men he struck out just stood there and watched it go by.

Unfortunately, Matt "New Daddy" Thornton blew the save by yielding a home run to Nick "Dirty Thirty" Swisher (although this year, he's wearing No. 33) in the top of the ninth. When the Sox rallied in the bottom of the ninth -- more on that later -- Thornton got the W. (That doesn't seem right. If you blow a save for someone and go on to pick up the win, the pitcher who handed you the lead should get the credit for it.) By the way, Thornton faced six batters and struck out four of them.

Why was Thornton pitching in the ninth inning? Was it because Ozzie has lost faith in Bobby Jenks, as Bob Costas suggested on his broadcast for the MLB Network? Nope. Jenks wasn't even in the Cell due to kidney stones. I've had them three times and I can tell you I've never experienced anything more painful. Hey, a female nurse who was treating me one time said that she thought they were worse than going through labor. I have no way of confirming that of course and I think women are goddesses for the whole childbirth thing, but I offer it for what it's worth. Anyway, that's why Big Bobby didn't work the ninth.

Enough about pitching. Let's look at those three runs the Sox got that usually aren't enough to win -- that's only their fifth victory of the season when scoring fewer than four runs. The first one came in the third inning when the two hottest hitters on the team combined to give the Sox a 1-0 lead. Chris "Go Blue" Getz singled and scored on Gordon "Bend It Like" Beckham's double. Getz is now up to .263 and Beckham leads the Sox with a .310 average.

After the Yanks tied it up, the Sox put another run on the board in the seventh when Jim "Legs" Thome checked his swing and hit a dribbler down the first base line. Andy Pettitte, who was masterly on the mound himself, slipped as he went to field the ball, and Thome wound up on first on the error. Paul Konerko, 2 for 4 on the night, struck out, and A.J. Pierzynski had an infield hit that was originally ruled an error. Carlos Quentin hit a tailor-made double play ball to A-Rod, who threw cleanly to Robinson Cano at second. A.J.'s hard but clean slide forced Cano to throw while backing away and resulted in a wild toss to first that allowed Thome to score.

The winning run came in the bottom of the ninth. Thome singled through the shift and Pods came in to run for him. Paulie singled Scottie to second. And the defensive hero of Mark Buehrle's perfect game (it was Mark Buehrle day in Illinois yesterday), Dewayne Wise, who again entered the game as a defensive replacement for Q, came to the plate with two out. Wise laced a single up the middle that scored Pods with the winning run. To quote Hawk, "This game is o-vah."

Detroit and Minnesota were idle yesterday, so the Sox picked up a half game on each of them. The Good Guys are 2.5 behind the Tigers and 0.5 behind the Twins. The Magic Number is 64. More fun with the Yankees tonight. Go Sox!