Eight Straight! First Place Sox Sweep Indians With 3-1 Win at Home (Game 47, '08)

The Chicago White Sox look more locked in than they have since at least 2006.  Eight wins in a row, and a little help from the Rangers over Minnesota have put the Sox in first place and 3 1/2 games up in the American League Central.  They will have a challenge to extend that lead to 9 with tonight's matchup with the Angels and a tough pitcher in Saunders who is 7-1 on the season. 

Last night's ballgame was just plain good baseball.  The Sox got some clutch 2-out hitting from Jermaine Dye and Carlos Quentin, each with the only RBI on the night.  Mark Buehrle was fantastic, having surrendured just 1 run and 2 hits over seven innings.  The bullpen was lights out as usual with Linebrink and Jenks giving up zero hits or walks. 

It is good to see the defense, the pitching, and the clutch hitting.  Speed is nice, but when you have reasonably fast guys like Carlos Quentin and Brian Anderson who can force the issue by taking the extra base as they did last night to score a couple runs, I think a speedy leadoff guy is not necessarily what has most ailed the White Sox offense during their bad slump earlier.  The Sox need the clutch hits.  They've been getting them lately.  It was also nice to see a game won without the benefit of a home run.  Let's see if they can capture number nine tonight!