Morning Wood

Chicago White Sox 6 Minnesota Twins 2

While I'm glad that the White Sox finally won another series, and an important one, I'm still waiting for the offense to really show up. The Sox did show signs of life on Thursday afternoon, as Jermaine Dye and Juan Uribe both went deep in the 5th inning to quickly answer Minnesota's two runs in the top half, and take a 3-2 lead. For Dye it was his third homer in this series, and fourth in his last six games.

Still, the Sox could have put a lot more than 6 runs on the board as the offense did waste some chances. They had runners on second and third with no outs in the 6th inning, and didn't score a run as Paul Konerko grounded out, Nick Swisher struck out (one of the three on the day for Dirty Thirty), and Joe Crede popped out.

Had it not been for Uribe's hustle in the 9th, they probably wouldn't have gotten any runs after loading the bases with only 1 out. Toby Hall grounded to third, and Uribe hustled from first to take out Brendan Harris and let Jermaine Dye score. Then the Twins gave the Sox another after Alexei Ramirez reached on a throwing error.

Carlos Quentin also drove in his team-leading 25th RBI, and thank God Kenny Williams was smarter than me when it came to him. He's the only guy who hasn't been struggling since he got into the lineup.

The pitching was as good as it has been all season, as John Danks allowed only two runs, but couldn't go any longer than five innings. On the bright side, it gave the bullpen a chance to pitch with a lead to protect for once, and they didn't disappoint. Octavio Dotel struck out five batters in a row in his 2 innings, and Scott Linebrink combined with Bobby Jenks to pitch a hitless 8th and 9th.

Arizona Diamondbacks 8 Philadelphia Phillies 3

In the On Deck yesterday, I kind of said the Phillies should just skip their game against Arizona because they weren't going to beat Brandon Webb anyway. I didn't actually mean it, and it pissed off some, but for the most part it looks like they listened. Webb improved to 8-0 on the season with a complete game. It's Webb's first complete game of the season, though he wasn't exactly dominant. He did give up the three runs, and he only struck out four, but he didn't walk anybody either.

AL

• Yankees 6 Indians 3
• Red Sox 5 Tigers 1
• Rays 8 Jays 3
• Orioles 4 Royals 1
• Rangers 5 Mariners 0
  

NL

• Pirates 5 Giants 4
• Braves 5 Padres 4
• Rockies 9 Cardinals 3
• Marlins 7 Brewers 2
• Nats 8 Astros 3