Thome, Griffey play huge roles in getting Sox past pesky Twins

If you were wondering who that young White Sox player who was zigzagging all over the infield to find and hug teammates like they were long-lost relatives after the Sox clinched a spot in the ALDS Tuesday night, the answer is it wasn't a kid at all.

It was Jim Thome, and the veteran designated hitter might just go down as the happiest man in Chicago.

And who could blame him? After all, his rocket shot to the center-field deck in the seventh inning helped propel the Sox past the pesky Minnesota Twins and into a date with Tampa Bay starting Thursday afternoon.

"It's a dream," a winded but smiling Thome said. "Growing up as a kid and watching Chicago baseball and to be here right now, there's no better feeling."

"I talked to (former Twins outfielder) Dan Gladden before the game and he said he just keeps expecting Jim to hit a big home run," Sox hitting coach Greg Walker said. "And there it is - he did it.

"He's had an unbelievable career and that will go down, I'm sure, as one of his greatest home runs."

It will for sure go down as one of the longest. Thome's 541st career home run was calculated at 461 feet, tying it for the sixth longest by a Sox player in U.S. Cellular Field history.

And it capped off a wild final week of baseball in which it seemed time and again the Sox had used up their final lifelines.

"Unbelievable," Thome said. "To keep battling and battling like we did and winning big games when we needed to ... unbelievable."

Thome's game winner ensured him a return trip to the postseason for the first time since 2001 when he was with the Cleveland Indians.

Thome wasn't the only Sox veteran relishing an extension of the season. Also making it in for the first time in a decade is center fielder Ken Griffey Jr.

"Yeah, it's a dream come true," Griffey said. "The last time I was a 27-year-old. Today at 38, having the guys here open their hearts. To be able to go out there and try to win championship, I can't say enough for the guys in that locker room."

Like Thome, Griffey also provided a key play Tuesday, making a perfect strike to home on a short fly to center in the fifth inning to cut down Michael Cuddyer at the plate.

"All I had to do was make a good throw," Griffey said. "The credit is all A.J. (Pierzynski). I put a two-hopper in there and he was able to get it and block the plate. That's the key there.

"He put his body on the line for us."

Something that comes as no surprise to Griffey.

"They've been doing it all year," he said. "These guys have worked their butt off for this."