Thankfully, the A’s are gone, not to be seen until next year. I have highlighted their many injury woes, but I haven’t pointed out their offense is 2nd to last in the American League. That is, except against the Sox, when they become the bay area bashers. They almost came back today. If not for a possible wrong call at first to end the game, the A’s would have tied things up, and maybe even won.

So the Sox eek out a 5-4 victory, and now are only 3.5 games out of first. That’s the closest they’ve been since early April.

Sergio Santos is one of the nicest guys around. A lot of ballplayers are fake nice, not Santos, who genuinely treats everyone well. Just a couple years ago, when he made the team on the last day of spring training, he got emotional, but still spent time with every member of the media in attendance. It wasn’t that he spoke, but it was the emotion that he spoke with. Most players refuse to allow you to see the excitement or happiness they feel, so it was a revelation that he did.

It was great to see him close out today’s game, but boy did he ride the line. I was glad when Coco Crisp was called out at first, but without the benefit of a replay, he looked safe.

Not a fan of the blonde reporter for CSN today. The question should have been, ” You came in after 2 consecutive bad outings, what went through your mind when the A’s started put runners on against you today”, and, “What did Ozzie say to you, he appeared to be quite animated?”. Or something like that. Does every side line gal have to look like she just dipped her entire head in bleach?

One thing about Phil Humber, he starts off strong. For only the second time this year, he gave up a first inning run. Humber is now 6-3, that’s equals Mark Buehrle and Gavin Floyd for most victories on the staff.

I’m not ready to make Brent Lillibridge an every day player, but is there any question that he is a bone fide player.
Going over the wall taking a 2-run, go ahead home run away from Crisp on Saturday night was incredible. Let’s see, that makes at least 4 unbelievable grabs for Lillibridge. The 2 against the Yankees, the diving grab against the Mariners, and this one vs. the A’s. The amazing thing is that wall at the Cell is about 10 feet high, maybe higher, and Lillibridge is 5’8, at the tallest. What an athlete!

Lillibridge also scored the winning run on Saturday, doing it all on his own. He walked, stole second, took third on an error and scored on an error. What a season he is having. Sox won that won 3-2.

Make it two wins in a row for Danks, who looks a lot more relaxed. It’s amazing how the breaks are going his way after so many of them didn’t earlier in the season.

The White Sox are near last in the league in stolen bases, so they unleashed Carlos Quentin, who picked up his first this weekend.

Sox need to steal 2 of 3 starting Tuesday in Minnesota. They will miss Francisco Liriano, who nearly threw his 2nd no hitter today against the Rangers. His first? April 3rd against the Sox.

Different time, different team.

Go Sox!!