Life at the top is something the White Sox are growing quite comfortable with these days.
They like the fact the focus of the American League suddenly has turned to the upstart kids from the South Side. They enjoy waking up in the morning knowing that no one in the league has a better record.
“When they look up, they see you,” manager Jerry Manuel said. “Everybody.”
The Sox sweated out an 8-7 victory over Cleveland on Monday in the opener of their three-game showdown at Jacobs Field, moving three games ahead of their Central Division rivals.
After serving up a homer to Jim Thome with one out in the ninth, Keith Foulke loaded the bases on an infield single and two walks. But he induced Sandy Alomar to ground into a game-ending double play to register his 15th save.
Frank Thomas and Ray Durham both homered and drove in three runs apiece and Cal Eldred (7-2) won his fifth straight with another steady, workmanlike outing.
The Sox may have nearly twice as many errors as Cleveland (61 to 32) and a payroll that’s nearly $45 million less than that of the Indians, but they have an unmistakable swagger that’s growing more and more pronounced by the day.
“I don’t think we’re gathering cockiness,” Eldred said. “The players are kind of going home at night and realizing they do have the ability to win, they do have the ability to beat good teams. [But] it’s only one game, and it’s June.”
The Sox beat the Indians for the third time in four meetings, winning for the 11th time in their last 14 road games.
Eldred was far from dominating, but he managed to last six innings, allowing three runs on five hits and five walks. He threw 116 pitches and came out with an 8-3 lead, the seventh time in his last 10 outings that he has allowed three or fewer runs.
“Cal has shown as a veteran he can take it up another notch,” Manuel said. “The numbers may say he’s on empty, but the man is on a different level.”
After the Indians grabbed a quick lead in the second on a two-run home run by Russell Branyan, the Sox answered back with four in the third. Durham’s two-run double tied it up and Thomas promptly cranked a 426-foot home run to left off Paul Rigdon that left-fielder Richie Sexson didn’t even bother to move an inch on. It was the 16th consecutive game in which the Sox have homered, tying a franchise mark set in 1987.
Travis Fryman’s homer leading off the fourth cut the Sox lead to one, but Durham homered in the fifth and the Sox scored on Carlos Lee’s double-play grounder in the sixth to make it 6-3. Thomas and Magglio Ordonez drove in runs in the seventh, but Sean Lowe relieved Eldred and gave up a double, a two-run homer to Kenny Lofton and a single to Omar Vizquel.
Exit Lowe and enter Bob Howry. With runners on second and third and no outs, Howry struck out David Justice and Thome. Then, he watched catcher Brook Fordyce alertly pounce on a tapper in front of the plate by Fryman and tag him for the final out.
“If we lose that one, it changes the whole series,” Durham said. “You can’t let games like that slip away.”
