Thanks, Margie!

Well.

What a run!  The White Sox went 7-0 in their last homestand.  You know, the seven games after the famous tirade Ozzie went on.  Everyone says he lit a fire under them, it was a calculated move by a shrewd manager, and he gave them just the kick in the pants they needed to start producing some runs.

If you ask me, well, that may or may not be the case.  It doesn't make a difference.  Know what does?  Having a 6.5 game lead in our division.  That, by the by, is the largest gap in between a first- and second-place team in all of baseball right now.  The White Sox won three home games against Kansas City (outscoring them 21-11), but they went on an absolute tear against the Twins.  In three straight games (I was present at the second) the Sox scored at least 11 runs on at least 15 hits!  If that doesn't deserve an exclamation point, I don't know what does.

Are there any surprises here?  In my opinion, absolutely not.  This is what we've been waiting for all year.  Nick Swisher has gotten hot, hot hot!  That's why we were excited about him in the first place!  At this rate, the warpaint in the locker room might even be cute again.  Hitting .200 it's not exactly something you want to see, you know?  But if he keeps playing like this, my goodness, he can goof around all he wants.  Show the swagger, dammit!

I don't need to break it down for you-- the pitchers are pitching, the hitters are hitting.  Paul Konerko is up around .220, which sounds bad until you hear that he was at .199 about a week ago.

What happened?  Was it really Ozzie's tantrum, or did they just decide to turn it on?  Did they realize that they needed to something big against the Twins to keep in the race?  I don't know.  Probably so.  I sure hope so.

Speaking of, those first three games against the Twins were exciting in their own right (when is scoring 10+ plus runs not a good thing?), but the real juicy one was game four.  

After Chicago picked up that third win against Minnesota, I got to thinking.  I had been there for the sweep against KC a few days earlier, and I wanted to be there for this one too.  That's the thing: there was no doubt in my mind that they were going to sweep the Twins as well.  I talked to my brothers, and we decided to go to the game (as it turned out, one of them had a final at De Paul that day, and so was unable to go).  So we made calls, got tickets (it wasn't very difficult-- it was a makeup game, after all), and arrived at the park just as the gates opened.  

That, by the way, is the way to do a baseball game.  Get there as absolutely early as you can.  Check out BP, try and get an autograph if you can.  Do it like you're a little kid again.  I promise you'll have fun.  Even better-- get there before the park opens.  Bring a friend and a glove and ball, and you've got yourself a game of catch.  What's better than that?  I'll tell you.  A game of catch right before a Major League Baseball game.  And what's better than that?  That's right: a sweep of the second-place team.

So we got there early, doors opened, we go in for a little BP, then find ourselves (for some reason) talking to this lady.  Who she is, we have no idea.  Does it matter?  Well, actually, yes.  A little, anyway.

I imagine she liked talking to us (and maybe looking at us, for sure at my brother)-- which is a little dismaying since she was, ah, a little (shall we say) advanced in age for his taste-- so she invites us to come  to her seats.  Her seats are the first row behind the visitors' dugout.  It was awesome.  We got to sit there for about two innings before the people whose seats they actually were got to the game and forced us out.  

But for those two innings we got to hassle the Twins!  Joe Nathan, Mark Redmond, Justin Morneau, Joe Mauer-- all of them were subject to our relentless taunts.  Of course, our taunts were actually far from relentless, but that's beside the point.  What amazing seats.  So I say again: Thanks, Margie!!

What a game though.  You've got to love any time the Sox come from behind to make it a sweep.  The energy in that place-- there was almost nobody there, but it was still nothing short of electric.  Plus, we got to see Nick Swisher hit a homer from either side of the plate.  How often do you see that in one game?  Not very, I'll tell you that much.  I think he was the fifth person to do it in White Sox history (could be wrong).  The pitching wasn't what it usually is, but we still got it done.  We still won.  Like I said, our hitters are hitting.  And as long as our pitching holds up-- and I'm not alone in saying that our roster is of World Series caliber in terms of pitching-- then we could take this to the playoffs, no doubt about it.

My brother, I should say, was in the Chicago Sun-Times this past week.  On the cover of the Sports Section is a collage of photos of various White Sox and Cubs fans, with a heading asking something along the lines of "Which team has the hotter fans?"  There is a picture of a guy, early twenties, dark hair, backwards cap, wearing a black zip-up sweatshirt (unzipped) over an '83 White Sox home jersey.  That's my brother.

I'm still waiting for my own photo to appear.

But until then (or until Hell freezes over, whichever comes first), guess what?  The White Sox and the Cubs are both in first place.  It's still early in the season (though we're fast approaching July!), but of course everyone's thinking it.  A Chicago World Series?  Hey, it's happened before.  It could happen again.

My own grandfather says he doesn't want to see it.  He doesn't want the White Sox to lose, and thus become a "second-class citizen" in his own city.  I understand that.  But I say bring it on!

I'm eagerly awaiting the six games against the Cubs this month (June 20-22 at Wrigley Field, June 27-29 at US Cellular Field).

In the meantime, we play the Tigers in the second of a three-game series tonight (actually, in about ten minutes), after which we head back to the Cell for a six-game homestand of Interleague Play (first the Colorado Rockies [25-39, 9.5 gb], then the Pittsburgh Pirates [31-34, 10 gb])!  Woo-hoo!   

Well, I know I'm excited.  Maybe you ask why.  The White Sox did lose last night, after all.  Well, I'll tell you what.  They had to lose sometime, didn't they?  You cannot expect a team to win every game.  It just doesn't work that way.  And beyond that, the White Sox still scored four runs on 12 hits last night.  Of course, that's leaving more men stranded on base than anyone would like.  But I will not say anything negative.  I refuse.  I'm too happy with how they're playing right now, and I and every true fan have nothing but faith our Sox right now.

So, lest you think me a phony, I need to depart.  The game, she starts!