Morning Box Score

Cubs Pound Pirates
With apologies to my Pittsburgh peeps, it's really hard, even with the Cubs in the thick of a pennant race and playing so well, to get excited about a series with the Pirates. And the Cubs proved me right with a 12-3 trouncing of the Pirates thanks to big offensive nights from Aramis Ramirez and Kosuke Fukudome. Ramirez had a three-run homer and Fukudome knocked in four runs on three hits. Ted Lilly struck out seven over seven innings to get the win, his 13th of the season. The Cubs had 17 hits overall and Geovany Soto was the only starter without a hit. From the Tao of Lou: "We swung the bats tonight...It was a good night offensively. You've got to come prepared to play every day. Today we were prepared and swung the bats and got good pitching and won a baseball game." Ace Carlos "Molar" Zambrano takes the mound tonight for the Cubs in game two of the series.

Sox Lose One, Then Win One Against O's
In a game that took over four months to complete, the Sox lost to the Orioles 4-3 in 14 innings last night. The two teams played the final innings of a contest originally started on April 28 but suspended due to rain after 11 innings. The teams played three additional innings last night before the O's finally won in the 14th.

But the White Sox later technically won their second game in a row as they turned right around and beat the O's in last night's scheduled game, 4-3. It was a collaborative effort pitching-wise, with starter Clayton Richard getting the win thanks to good relief work from Octavio Dotel, Matt Thornton, and Bobby Jenks, who recorded his 26th save of the year. A three-run fourth gave the O's the edge, but the Sox took the lead for good on Jim Thome's sixth inning solo home run, his 28th on the year. With the home run, Thome passed Jimmy Foxx for 15th all-time on the career home run list and is now just one behind legend Mickey Mantle, but, ever the modest player, Thome was more excited about the win: "Yeah, it's big any time you can hit one that puts the team ahead...We've talked about it before, how any time you tie or move ahead of the greats that played the game, it's very humbling. It's something you look back on and feel very honored." Gavin Floyd goes for the Sox tonight against the dreaded To Be Determined.