35

Manny Ramirez won the game for the White Sox last night just by warming up in the on-deck circle. Well, not quite. But according to Ozzie Guillen, A.J. Pierzynski saw better pitches to hit just because Manny – complete with dreadlocks – was looming. Whether that’s true or not, A.J. powered his seventh home run of the season deep into the right field seats, scoring Alex Rios and Carlos Quentin, both of whom had walked, and breaking a 1-1 tie in the eighth inning. The Indians put a scare into Sox fans everywhere by pulling to within a run in the ninth, but left the tie run on base to give the Good Guys a 4-3 win.

Edwin Jackson picked up his third win since coming over from Arizona, throwing 8.2 innings of seven hit three run ball. Jackson struck out 11 to reach double-digit Ks for his third game in a row. Jackson’s ERA over his five starts is a sparkling 1.47, so that trade is turning out all right. Ozzie gave Jackson a chance to complete the game, but E.J. couldn’t quite pull it off. After 129 pitches, he yielded to Bobby Jenks, who promptly allowed an inherited runner to score, but got the last out on a bouncer back to the mound. (Speaking of last, I’m tired of announcers saying that a team is down to its last strike. Cleveland’s radio guys said that last night, but it wasn’t true -- the batter got a hit and the next batter had three more strikes to use up -- and it never is for sure. You can only know the “last” strike in hindsight, so don’t say it beforehand.)

The Sox actually pulled off a rare feat for them by winning a game in which they were trailing after seven innings (1-0) for only the second time in 50 games. The team did post its 57th win (against only 25 losses) when getting a quality start -- the second most quality starts in baseball behind the Oakland A’s. They also won their 54th game (against 35 losses) when hitting a home run.

The win cut the Magic Number to 35, but it didn’t get the Sox any closer to Minnesota, as the Twins rallied late to beat the Tigers. The Pale Hose are 4.0 games behind with 30 left to play. Still doable, but the Twinkies need to start losing some games and we need to keep winning. Go Sox!