I Love Joe Crede

Give me a minute, I'm Hawkerventalating. It's a nice win. Not sure how the White Sox pulled it off. They were out hit, out homered, and out walked, which is a recipe for losing. Five double plays helped, obviously, especially Crede's clutch play to end the game. A lot is being made about Ozzie's decision to walk Mark Grudzielanek to get to Mike Sweeney. Sweeney was apparently 3 for 6 against Jenks going into the at-bat. Even Jenks said, "I glanced over and said, 'Really. This is gutsy. He's hitting .900 off me right now.'" Come on people. That is a meaningless sample size. Literally. Three for six means nothing. Clearly, setting up the double play, as well as the force at home, changes the likely outcome of the game far more than Sweeney's past results against Jenks in six whole at-bats. Regardless, the move paid off, as did a couple of other buttons Ozzie pushed. Podsednik scored on Konerko's double after running for Thome. And Ozuna looked great in the lead off spot. It won't happen, but I'm telling you, Pods ought to be on the bench with Mackowiak and Ozuna platooning in left.

The real test is just beginning, of course, with trips to the Twins and Tigers coming up. Hopefully, the real Mark Buehrle will be back for his start in the upcoming series. Yesterday was his first win since June. The whole team needs to be calling on its second, third or fourth wind to get up for the final 10 games of this key 24 game stretch without a day off. The Sox are now 9-5 through the first 14 games. I'd say 7-3 over the last 10 takes the Sox to their off day in control of the wild card race.