The Morning After: Sox Streak, Cubs Stink

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Jun 24, 2010 2:40PM

Eight Is Great For Sox
The White Sox just can't seem to lose. After waiting out a rain delay thanks to last night's storms, the Sox still rattled off their eighth straight win with a 4-2 victory over the visiting Braves. Down 1-0 early, Paul Konerko singled in a run in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game at 1-1. And then Carlos Quentin stepped up and belted a two-run shot, putting the Sox in the lead for good. The Braves added a run in the fifth to get a little bit closer but it was Quentin who again came through with a solo shot in the seventh to give the Sox pitchers some insurance. Mark Buehrle allowed nine hits but just two runs en route to his sixth win of the year while Bobby Jenks threw a scoreless ninth for his 16th save. The Sox are now 36-34 on the year and still trail division-leading Minnesota by 3.5 games. They wrap up their series with Atlanta this afternoon in a bid to hit nine straight wins heading into this weekend's conclusion of the Crosstown rivalry with the Cubs (1:05 p.m., WGN).

Cubs Woes Continue, Fall To M's
While the Sox were busy winning their eighth straight, the Cubs were busy giving up eight runs, losing to the Mariners 8-1, their fourth loss in five games. A Tyler Colvin solo homer put the Cubs up 1-0 early, but that's all the offense they would muster in the loss, shut down by Cliff Lee. Meanwhile, Randy Wells gave up six runs on 10 hits over six innings with Sean Marshall allowing two more. If failure to drive in runners has been a theme for the Cubs over the past few seasons, last night's game perfectly embodied that: three times the Cubs had two runners on with no outs and all three times the Cubs ended their half of the inning scoreless. Said Lou, "We're getting on. We're just not getting them in." The Cubs try get them in in today's series closer (2:40 p.m., CSN).