Chris Sale is Chris Sale and the Offense Supports This

I’ve done a bit of complaining about the sleeping offense and they have politely requested that I shut my mouth. The White Sox entered Wednesday’s rubber match with the Twins leading the central by 1.5 games and having scored just 5 runs in their last 3 games. With Chris Sale throwing 7 innings of 2 run ball the Sox offense exploded for 12 runs on 21 hits. The surge represents a season high for the Sox in hits and the nice, easy victory puts the division lead at 2.5 heading into a 4 game series with the Yankees.

White Sox (40-35): 12
Twins (30-43): 5

It was one of Robin’s patented B-team lineups that took the field, so who contributed to the hit parade? Everybody. Any White Sox position player to step to the plate notched a hit. Even Tyler Flowers who was a late replacement at first base came through and had a 1-1 day. Repeat offenders:

De Aza : 3-6
Escobar: 2-6
Youkilis: 3-4 (so far so good, amirite?)
Dunn: 3-4; HR (off the schneid)
Rios: 3-5; HR (keeping it hot!)
Jordan Danks : 2-5 (BABiP’n ‘em to death)
Orlando Hudson: 2-5 (Aaaaalmost at that Mendoza line)

Plus: Hitting and pitching come together. It’s a crapshoot getting both sides firing on the same day and when it does, it’s a thing of beauty. Chris Sale continues to make a case for being named starter at the All-Star game and Alex Rios continues to make a case for an extended period of time without me shaking my head mumbling “Alex Rios” under my breath.

Minus: Will Ohman sure has stunk lately. Will he pull out of it? Not with us. Sorry, Will. I wish it had ended better, but the release had to happen. A bit reactive by the White Sox to make this decision immediately following a poor effort, however it’s possible the decision was made before he even came in and with such a lead it was figured that the rest of the bullpen may as well get a little extra rest.

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