Blast Off! Pierzynski, Quentin, and Thome Homer White Sox to Series Win.

Tropicana Field has always seemed like a place of nightmares for the White Sox. We all remember last year's ALDS, last year's horrid series in June where the Sox barely scored any runs and Ozzie had to go on a rant, and of course, that series in 2003 when Carl Crawford made a name for himself to all Sox fans by hitting a walk-off homer off of the beloved Billy Koch. You guys remember him right? I was once told by our staff writer James that the Billy Koch signed baseballs at Soxfest were cheaper than baseballs without a signature on them. That should tell you how awesome Billy Koch was. Anyways, back to this historic rout that occured today. Pierzynski, Quentin, and Thome all homered to lift Gavin Floyd to his second victory. Floyd was stellar today, as he pitched 7 innings of 2 run ball while striking out 7. His only blemish was a Ben Zobrist two run homer in the 7th. I'm really starting to dislike Zobrist. Had it not been for him, the Sox could have swept this series. How cool would that have been? But as I said earlier, what's done is done and I'm glad with a 3-1 series win at Tropicana.

As mentioned before, Floyd was spot-on today. He worked out of some trouble in select innings and was cruising for the majority of the game. This was shown by his 7 strike outs and his 6 hits allowed. He also did not walk a single batter. Clayton Richard and D.J. Carrasco both gave up a hit, but did not allow any runs as they worked two innings of clean up work. On the other hand, Matt Garza was wild. It might just be the Sox hitters, but the Rays pitchers have been extremely wild in these past two games. Kazmir walked 6 last night and Garza walked 4 today in 5.2 innings of work. Due to his wildness, he fell behind a lot in the count and paid for it. He ended up giving 7 runs to the Sox on only 6 hits. The combo of Lance Cormier and Dan Wheeler did not fair any better, as they gave up 5 runs in only 2.1 innings of work. The Rays have walked 15 White Sox batters in the last two games. If that keeps going on, don't expect the Rays to contend at all this season.

Offensively, A.J. Pierzynski got the party started with a two run shot in the second inning. The Sox then added on another run on a Jim Thome ground ball with the bases loaded that thankfully did not turn into a double play. Paul Konerko added a sac fly in the 6th and then a throwing error by Garza allowed Anderson to cross with the 5th run of the game. The rest of the game would get out of hand as the Sox then scored another two runs in the 6th on a Chris Getz single. Paul Konerko also singled in the 7th to bring in the Sox' 8th run. Wilson Betemit would then single to bring in the 9th run. Then in the bottom of the 7th, Ben Zobrist would get two of those runs back with a two run shot to right field off of Gavin Floyd. But of course, the Sox stormed back with an answer of their own as Quentin went yard for the 7th time of the year, he has hit a home run in every game of this series, a two run shot, and Thome ended the fireworks with a solo shot in the 8th to give the Sox 12 runs. Every White Sox starter got a hit in this game as the Sox pounded out 17 hits in all. Notable contributions came from Getz, Quentin, Pierzynski, Thome, and Konerko, as they all drove in 2 runs each.

Let's just hope they saved some runs for Tuesday. Because that's 20 runs in the last two games. Sure enough, Ozzie won't be ranting about hitting coaches and lack of situational hitting this time around. The Sox will now head to Baltimore and take on the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday. Jose Contreras will look for his first win of the season against a mystery mark for the Orioles, who have yet to announce a starter for that game.

- Stan (White Sox writer)