Power sweep: Sox blast their way back to .500
Is there a better .500 team in baseball than the White Sox?
At the moment, probably not.
After completing an interleague sweep of a much less than mediocre Cubs team Sunday at Wrigley Field, the Sox are up to 21-21 and riding a four-game winning streak.
All in all, not so bad.
“We are excited,” starter Jake Peavy said after pitching 6<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>3</sub> solid innings in Sunday’s 6-0 victory. “We haven’t really clicked on all cylinders by any means this year.
“We are starting to pitch well, watching Johnny (Danks) get back to doing what he’s doing, Phil (Humber) bouncing back and having some good starts here.
“If they can keep going on the right track with the guys swinging the bats the way they have the last few days, we should be able to play a little more consistently.”
Manager Robin Ventura didn’t have Paul Konerko (eye) or Brent Morel (back) again Sunday, but he still emptied his bench and started Kosuke Fukudome (.167 batting average) in right field, Tyler Flowers (.167) at catcher and Brent Lillibridge (.158) at third base.
Toss in Peavy in the No. 9 hole and scoring runs figured to be a challenge for the Sox — even with the wind howling out at Wrigley.
It was, until the fourth inning.
That’s when Gordon Beckham led off with a home run against Cubs left-hander Paul Maholm and Adam Dunn followed with his 14th homer of the season.
That was more than enough offense for Peavy (5-1) and relievers Matt Thornton, Jesse Crain and Addison Reed, but the White Sox tacked on another run in the fifth inning when Flowers took advantage of the conditions with a mammoth home run to left field.
They scored 2 more runs in the seventh and added a solo run in the ninth to break it open while sweeping the Cubs for the third time since interleague play started in 1997.
“It is fun,” manager Robin Ventura said of the White Sox’ productive weekend. “Any time you get the crowds like this, where it’s split, it’s fun. They’re always fun, no matter if it’s at our place or over here, and they’re better if you win.”
Peavy was feeling a little edgy driving over to Wrigley on Sunday morning with Dunn.
“(Greg) Maddux always said if the lake was calm it wasn’t a good day to pitch, the wind’s blowing out,” Peavy said. “If it was choppy, it was probably a good day to pitch. This morning riding in the car, Dunner goes, ‘Look at that lake, Peavs. It’s glass.’ And I’m going, ‘Oh, Lord.’
“And the wind was blowing. All the boys coming in from batting practice were saying, ‘Keep it down Peavs.’ At the same time you have to attack the strike zone and can’t be scared, and their guy had to pitch in it, too.”
Peavy conquered the unfavorable winds, and the White Sox exited Wrigley Field with the BP Cup in tow.
“For us, any time you get a sweep it’s huge,” Dunn said. “It doesn’t matter who it is. Our ultimate goal, believe it or not, is not to win the (BP) Cup. It’s to play into October. Sweep, any time we win series, that’s the main goal.”
Getting over the .500 mark is the next goal for the Sox. They last had a winning record May 1 at 12-11.
“I think everyone knows the (AL) Central is always up in the air,” Beckham said. “Until September, you’re not going to know who is really in contention. We’ve just got to keep playing good ball. It’s nice to be at .500. Nobody wants to be below .500. Hopefully we can keep going with what we’re doing and keep moving forward.”
sgregor@dailyherald.com