Man, what a series. I know, the Kansas City Royals are pretty bad, but a one hitter and a three hitter? One run given up in three games? Good teams take care of the bad teams, so while this sweep was expected, it’s nice to see it actually happened.
Jose Contreras got things rolling on Monday in the White Sox 7-0 win. He gave up one hit in seven innings. Boone Logan and Cliff Politte both threw a no hit inning to finsh things out. On the hitting side, Paul Konerko continued to tear it up. He hit his fifth homerun of the season and he drive in four runs. Joe Crede hit his second homerun of the season and Tad Iguchu went three for five with two runs. It was a beatdown, plain and simple.
Yesterday, things were a little more even, but the White Sox came out on the winning side of things. Both teams had seven hits in the White Sox 4-1 win, but a two run single by Juan Uribe in the fourth inning capped off a three run rally to put the Sox ahead. Jim Thome drove in a run in the seventh inning for a little extra insurance, but they didn’t need much in Jon Garland’s best start of the season. He gave up a single run on six hits and he struck out three in 6 1/3 innings. Brandon McCarthy continued to pitch well and he picked up his fourth hold with 1 2/3 shutout innings and Bobby Jenks picked up his fifth save of the season with a perfect ninth.
This afternoon, it was Javier Vazquez who threw the gem. He had a no hitter going through the sixth inning and he finally gave up a single in the seventh. He left the game in the ninth with a runner on first and Neal Cotts put another runner on. Bobby Jenks got the job done though and got the final batter out to earn his sixth save. Juan Uribe hit his first homerun of the season and Scott Podsednik drove in two runs in the White Sox 4-0 win.
The Sox hope to keep their five game winning streak going on Friday against the Twins, who come to town for a three game series. If the Indians lose tonight, it’ll be the first time this year that the White Sox have been in sole possession of first place.
