60

Raise your hand if you thought the White Sox, coming off a 1-6 road trip, would take three out of four from the Yankees, who were tied for the best record in the Majors before the series started. Just as I thought ... no one's got his hand in the air, and that includes the entire Update staff.

But that's exactly what the Sox were able to do, with the Bronx Bombers winning on Sunday to avoid a sweep -- which would have been the Sox's first four-game sweep of New York since 1964. You remember -- or have read about -- 1964, don't you? The Yanks beat the Sox by one game in what turned out to be the last year of the Yankee dynasy.

The key to the Sox victories was hitting. Aside from Thursday's game, the pitching for the Sox was nothing to write home -- or in The Update -- about. But the bats finally woke up. The Sox knocked out 49 hits over the four-game series and scored 32 runs. That works out to an average of 12.25 hits and 8 runs a game. Of course, the Sox can't keep up that pace, but it's nice to think about them coming close.

A.J. Pierzyynski leads the club -- now that Clayon Richard and his .333 batting average are gone -- with an average of .315. Gordon Beckham is up to .311 and had six doubles in the series. Scottie Pods is sitting on a .302 average, and even Chris Getz has worked his way up to .271.

After the weekend's results, the Sox are 1.5 games behind Detroit and the same distance ahead of Minnesota. The Magic Number is down to 60, and falling. The Good Guys face another division leader in the Angels, who have won five in a row, starting Tuesday. We say, bring 'em on. Go Sox!

Peavy update: He threw in the bullpen and was pain free. He may be back in time for that horrible road trip coming up later this month, which would be would be faster than we first heard.