Thome's monster homer gets Sox 7-6 victory over Angels in 15th

As Jim Thome rounded third after hitting a game-winning solo homer in the 15th inning Saturday, he got an eyeful of what awaited him when he reached the plate -- a swarm of teammates buzzing and jumping around ready to pounce on the man of the hour.

But in a veteran move, Thome removed his helmet and tossed it toward the dugout and then sprinted through the sea of black jerseys toward home and touched it before sprinting away as fast as he could.

"I didn't want to get beat up at home plate," Thome said with a laugh. "I don't think they expected me to backpedal like that."

But even that didn't work. His teammates weren't going to let him off that easy following the Sox' 7-6 victory over the Anaheim Angels .

After all, consider what Thome's 438-foot monster shot to right field meant:

- It meant he passed Mickey Mantle for 14th on the all-time home run list.

- It meant he has hit at least 30 homers in 12 seasons.

- It meant it was the 11th walk-off homer of his career and fifth by the Sox this season.

But more importantly it meant the Sox lead in the AL Central increased to 2 1/2 games over Minnesota, which lost to Detroit just minutes before the Sox and Angels took the field Saturday.

"Woo," a worn out Ozzie Guillen said afterward. "I don't know if that was our greatest win of the year ... but it was nice to see."

And it was nice for his teammates to see Thome come through once`again after enduring a tough start to the season where he heard it from the fans when he didn't come through.

"He's the consumate professional," said first baseman Paul Konerko, who added a solo shot of his own in the sixth inning. "Jimmy's a man, he's big time. He can still bang them out."

Before Thome's heroics, it was Nick Swisher providing the thrills for over 30,000 at the Cell. His 2-run homer in the seventh tied the game at 5-all, and then his ninth inning single advanced the eventual tying run to third.

We're trying to get him that ring. There's a couple of guys on this team that have had great careers that it would be nice to top it off nicely.

"What a ballgame," Thome said. "They have a very good club, you've got to credit them. To do this against them is great."