Big crowd, big win!

(June 18)

Short Take:  Buerhle is awesome again.

What an emotional roller coaster this season has turned into.  First came a disastrous seven weeks to open the season.  Then there were all the debilitating injuries to virtually every key player from the 2000 division champion team.  Next came the a totally unexpected surge in June led by the young pitching staff.  Finally came the trio of punches to the stomach from three straight defeats to the Cardinals in St. Louis.  Next the front office starts whining about attendance again.  How do the Sox top this?

The answer came from a big crowd and a big effort from lefty Mark Buehrle, a gutsy 5-4 victory over Kansas City at Comiskey.  The Sox move to three games of .500 and 28,882 Sox fan witnessed it.  That ought to shut up the nabobs of negativity for at least another 24 hours.

Should we mention the Sox are less than 10 games behind the division  leaders?  Nah.

Buehrle was awesome again.  He got in trouble in second inning but wiggled out of it with just one run, getting a clutch strikeout and a double-play grounder to end the threat.  

Sox hitters responded in kind.  Magglio Ordonez and Jeff Liefer each hit dingers in the next half-inning and suddenly Buehrle had a 3-1 lead to work with.  Game Over!

The Sox added two more runs in the third, thank you Carlos Lee and Maggs!  Buehrle left after seven, and Bob Howry gave up a dinger in the eighth, but Keith Foulke was awesome in the ninth, even giving the Royals an extra two outs after Ray Durham botched a double-play ball.

Winning is sweet, Sox Fans!