Sox Sweep Royals, Dominate Road Trip

I could talk about this road trip as a whole for hours, but I'm going to try to keep this one short because we don't need to get too high about being 4 games out of first. But that being said, what a week for the Sox. 5 wins in 6 road games including a sweep of the then 2nd place Kansas City Royals. The pitching was awesome, bullpen was stellar, and the hitting was good and clutch.

This Royals series particularly could go down as the turning point for the 2009 White Sox. They were ready to turn the corner of the poor baseball they were playing in the early half of this month and make some legitimate strides in a positive direction, and this weekend they did exactly that. They are getting great production out of the top of the order from Podsednik to Ramirez to Dye, Konerko, and Thome. And the pitching has been out of this world. Great starts from Buehrle and Floyd and a gutsy effort by Danks today. This is good baseball.

The Sox are now heading home for a mammoth of a home stand. 4 against the A's, 3 with the Indians, and then a huge 5 game set with the Tigers. Oakland and Cleveland have been struggling as of late so there's a great opportunity to win some games there. Then the Detroit series will be a golden opportunity for the Sox to put a signature on the first half of the season. If they find a way to win 9 of the next 12 and/or win 4 of 5 from the Tigers they should be right next to, if not in, first place as they head off to Milwaukee and into Wrigley for the first of the Crosstown Classic.

There is a major opportunity for the Sox that they need to take advantage of. Not too often are you as hot as they are AND heading home for 12 games straight. 2 weeks more of great baseball will put the Sox right in the thick of things, and give Kenny even more motivation to go get that extra pitching help he so desperately feels we need. There's no denying how well the Sox have been playing, but this is no time to let up. Go home and continue on the winning ways. Protect the Cell and make a run towards the top that we can look back on happily come September.