Right now, there's no stopping Sox, Quentin
History says Paul Konerko is going to be in the 100-RBI range at season's end. Ditto for Jim Thome and Jermaine Dye.
The White Sox' fearsome threesome -- particularly Konerko and Thome -- are still trying to get it going.
Carlos Quentin, conversely, remains unstoppable.
"That's the reason he's batting third,'' White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said of Quentin after the left fielder delivered again in Thursday night's 3-1 win over the Indians at U.S. Cellular Field.
Quentin's RBI groundout in the first inning put the Sox in front 1-0. His run-scoring single with two outs in the eighth snapped a 1-1 tie and lifted the White Sox to a three-game sweep of Cleveland while extending their winning streak to eight.
"I was fortunate to get the ball through the hole,'' Quentin said of his eighth-inning single that split shortstop Jhonny Peralta and third baseman Casey Blake. "I just tried to relax and stay up the middle. I used to get amped up in those situations. Now I just try to back off and go up the middle.''
Quentin was quick to give credit to Sox starter Mark Buehrle, who deserved to get the win after pitching 7 innings and allowing 1 run on 2 hits.
"Burls was great all night,'' Quentin said. "He kept us in there.''
Quentin has been great all season, and his 12 home runs and 40 RBI are both team highs.
"You expect the big boys, with the numbers they've had in the past, to do that,'' Guillen said. "With this kid (Quentin), we didn't know what we were going to get from him. I always love to see kids come up and do the kind of job he's doing.''
Quentin was on the job again Thursday, but he had plenty of help from Buehrle, the bullpen, Toby Hall and Brian Anderson.
Hall had his second straight 3-hit game, and the biggest one came in the eighth inning.
After Hall led off with a single against Indians starter Aaron Laffey, Anderson came on to pinch run, and Masa Kobayashi came out of Cleveland's bullpen.
Kobayashi struck out Orlando Cabrera, but pinch hitter A.J. Pierzynski flied out to deep center field, and Anderson wisely tagged up and advanced to second.
Quentin's single scored Anderson with the winning run.
"It's kind of hard not to when (first-base coach) Harold (Baines) is yelling 'tag' in your ear,'' Anderson said of his decision to move up a base. "Anytime I can help the team off the bench, especially with something like that, it's awesome.''
The same can be said about the White Sox at the moment.
"Coming in today, my wife (Jamie) asked how I felt about tonight,'' Buehrle said. "I said it's tough to sweep teams no matter how good you're doing. To be able to sweep two straight teams, that shows you what kind of roll we're on.''
The Sox' first sweep came against the San Francisco Giants in a three-game interleague series. The latest was against an AL Central rival.
"Anytime you can take games away from a team like that, you jump on them,'' Quentin said. "They are definitely a quality team. It's a lot of fun right now, but try not to talk about it too much and just try to keep it going.''
White Sox 3, Indians 1
On the mound: Mark Buehrle pitched 7 innings and allowed 1 run on 2 hits. Over his last 2 starts, Buehrle has given up 2 runs over 132/3 innings. Scott Linebrink got the win after pitching 1 scoreless inning. Bobby Jenks earned the save, the 99th of his career.
At the plate: Carlos Quentin was 2-for-4 with 2 RBI. Toby Hall was 3-for-3, upping his batting average from .294 to .351. Jermaine Dye (1-for-4, 1 RBI) is hitting .390 over his last 10 games.
-- Scot Gregor