A couple days ago, I wrote about the Sox missing a great chance at picking up ground in their division by blowing a 5-3 lead in the ninth inning to the A’s.  In that article, I mentioned that the team is still capable of going on a long winning streak, something that has eluded them, even during their recent string of good play.  But in order for that to happen, they needed to take the remaining two games with Oakland, and come out with a positive record on their homestand.  And that they did.

Saturday night’s game was a close one, with solid pitching by John Danks and an amazing, game-saving catch by Brent Lillibridge to preserve a 3-2 Sox victory.  It was a good, solid performance all around following the blown save the previous evening.  But that game was made even more important because the Sox followed it up with another victory on Sunday, winning 5-4.  It was another nail-biter in the ninth, as Sergio Santos entered with the same lead as his last time out.

And for a little while, it looked as though the result would be the same.  Santos had iffy command again, and walked some batters before getting Coco Crisp to ground out to end the A’s threat, which had already pushed a run across.  The key moment of that ninth inning, though, was manager Ozzie Guillen’s trip to the mound when it looked like Santos was in trouble.  It seemed that a pitching change to lefty Chris Sale was imminent, but Ozzie never raised his left hand to signal to the pen.

Instead, Guillen walked to the mound and looked at Santos, talked to him for a bit, and turned around and walked back to the dugout, Santos still on the mound, Santos still his closer.  I will go into detail about this situation later today, but for now suffice to say this was a key moment for Santos.  He validated Ozzie’s decision by finishing the inning and earning the save.  It was a perfect example of a manager trusting his players.  And it worked out.

And the Sox finished 6-4 on their homestand, and gained substantial ground on their divisional rivals.  The Indians’ slide continued, and after all was said and done on Sunday, the Sox find themselves only 3.5 games back of the Tribe for division lead.  The Tigers are clamping down on the Indians as well, so every game going forward is very important, but the Sox were able to take advantage after giving away Friday night’s game. 

Though they are still two games under .500, the Sox find themselves in great position after their putrid start to the year.  Battling back from 11 games down to their current position is a fantastic achievement, and more signs of life from the offense are showing up by the day.  But there is a lot of work still yet to complete, but they know that.  Check back in a little later as I look at the Sox’ upcoming road trip to Minnesota and Wrigley Field.  It’s up to them to keep the momentum going, but at least they re-captured it after gift wrapping it the other night.