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Chris Sale earned his first major league victory with 2.2 spotless innings of relief Monday. 

The win pushed the White Sox winning streak to 7, but thanks to Minnesota's 8-2 record over the last 10 they haven't really made up much ground. The con-Manny Sox have made a habit of coming back with dramatic late-inning rallies, a feature that was sorely missing in August and led to much consternation over the bullpen.

Ironically, now that the bullpen is shortened, Ozzie has been at his best managing them. He seems to be pushing all the right buttons on this trip. In the last 3 days he's allowed 3 different pitchers to close out a game; Jenks twice in a double header, Matt Thornton in his first game back from the DL, and Monday with Sale, a kid who was in a second, maybe-third-tier college program a little over 3 months ago. That takes balls, and is one of the skills that makes Guillen's other foibles more bearable.

And because I was in a beer, bikes and BBQ induced coma of laziness I didn't want to write a recap, do laundry, or homework (1.5 out of 3 ain't bad) HSA went through the trouble of writing a recap as well... Full post after the jump, including title and possibly featuring a ghostwritten sentence or clause or comma splice. 

Fire Sale! Hot Sox Streak Through First Week Of SEPTember

Now if only the friggin' Twins would lose a game.

The White Sox pulled off an extra-inning win today against the Tigers, in a battle that saw them behind as late as the 8th inning.  Another late offensive surge and an impressive outing from tonight's lone Sox bullpener, Chris Sale, led the Sox to their 7th straight victory, on this Labor Day weekend that treated us to no less than four White Sox winners.  

Not to mention some well-managed games, despite the frustration over seeing a Manny-less lineup yesterday and a small handful of starters sitting on the bench today.  Ozzie removed Kotsay at just the right time today, to pinch-hit Alexei in the 8th.  Alexei worked the count full before roping to left an 84-MPH slider that hung up in the inside of the zone, and scored Lillibridge from 2nd to tie the game at 4.

The bullpen has been back on track and also seemingly rested and revived these days.  After a double-serving of Jenksgiving in Saturday's 3-1 double-header victories at Fenway, Ozzie put the work on other shoulders the past two games, maintaining a fresh crop of rested bullpen arms.  Yesterday, Linebrink set up the win for himself and the save for Thornton.  

Today, Sale kept the stage all to himself, working for 2.2 scoreless, hitless, walkless innings; and struck out three to boot.  His ERA dropped down to 0.66, and the rest of us went from six to midnight.  There was a slight scare -  in the bottom of the 8th with the game tied at 4, Brandon Inge hit a rocket to left field, about 4 feet to the left of the foul pole.  The ump called it fair at first and the Tigers took the lead 6-4, warming Sox fans undergarments for an entirely different reason.  Instant reply proved the call incorrect, and Inge returned to the plate to finish his full count at-bat.  The second ending was a much preferred outcome; Sale got Inge looking at a slider to end the inning tied.

The 10th inning started with a Manny single-turned-double on a throwing error, followed by Rios and Pierzynski singles to give the Sox the one-run lead they needed to finish the game.  

September has been good to the Sox so far, but without some Twins losses, we're just treading water about 3-4 games behind them.

From the last recap, The Actual El Guapo provided this "Fun Fact":

Not counting head-to-head games (where we have won a whopping 2 of 6) or one day on which the Twins lost and the Sox split a doubleheader with KC, since the beginning of August, there has been exactly one (count ’em, one) day on which the Sox have won and the Twins have lost.

by The Actual El Guapo on Sep 6, 2010 8:59 AM PDT reply actions  

Now, I don't know what kind of "fun" Guapo is into, but I bet it's the kind that involves clowns with sharp teeth leading you into sewers and such.