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The brooms were out last night, as the White Sox came from behind again to defeat the Mariners 9-5 and sweep the four-game series. The win was the 11th in a row at home, the 18th out of the last 19 there, and the 31st triumph out of 50 games at the Cell this season. Ed Farmer said on the radio broadcast that this was the longest home winning streak since 1989, which means it’s the longest ever at new Comiskey-U.S. Cellular Field. The sweep leaves the Sox with a 9-1 record against Seattle, the only loss being the game Bobby Jenks blew at Safeco Field in the bottom of the 11th inning on July 21.

Freddy Garcia contributed a Quality Start (6.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 0 W, 3 K) and got credit for the win to improve to 10-4 (who’d have predicted that at the start of the year?), but it was the bats that got the job done. The Sox pounded out 13 hits, with every starter save Mark Kotsay and Alex Rios notching at least one. Ramon Castro made the most of a rare start by knocking two balls into the seats for his fourth and fifth home runs of the season, and adding another base hit. Omar Vizquel also had three hits and raised his average to .287. Carlos Quentin had two hits, including his 20th home run, and Gordon Beckham also had a pair. Paul Konerko continued his assault of the Mariners, homering against them for the fourth straight game and seventh time this season. All of this suggests that the Sox do not need to trade for Adam Dunn, especially at the inflated price that the Nationals are demanding. Speaking of the Nats, they sent their All-Star closer Matt Capps to the Twins. Thanks a lot, Nats.

And speaking of the Twins, they were idle yesterday, so the Sox picked up a half-game on them and now lead by 1.5 games. It’s likely to be close again for the A.L. Central crown and right now, the one-game tiebreaker would be in Minnesota. This year, the record between the two teams determines who gets to be at home for that game, and the Twins lead the season series 6-3. There are nine games left, so the Sox need to go 6-3 in those games to even the record. I don’t know what happens if they’re tied 9-9. If you do, share your knowledge with the rest of the world by commenting below. Go Sox!