Milkman Delivers! 

(August 16)

Short take:  He came, he played, he conquered

Welcome to respectability, Sox Fans.  The long wait to get over .500 has at least temporarily ended.  Jerry Manuel really lets his hair down, gives forgotten  Herbert Perry a start at third base and is rewarded with a 7-6 victory over Texas for the sweep

The Milkman delivers!

Another fine pitching performance looked to be squandered.  Jon Garland went five effective if not overpowering innings.  RBI's by Paul Konerko, Carlos Lee, Jose Valentin (playing shortstop!) and Magglio Ordonez put up four runs for the Sox.  Garland left in the sixth and looked to be the winner.  The man of the night Herbert Perry made his first big contribution with a solo homer in the sixth.  The score was 5-3 and Garland looked to be the winner

Nope.  Kip Wells blew it in the seventh inning giving up a two-rbi double to tie up the game.  Let's face it.  The kid hasn't been the same since getting hit with a pair of batted balls.  Maybe Kip needs a pitching screen to bolster this confidence.  Besides, he's been serving nothing but batting practice for weeks.

With the game slipping away and a seventh inning rally about to go bust, Jose Canseco got the lead again for the Sox with an rbi single, batting in Valentin.  In the eighth our man Herbert Perry struck again with a lead-off dinger.  Keith Foulke nailed down the save.

Ray Durham did not play which doubtlessly gave him more time to contemplate the loss of James Baldwin.  Lead-off man Tony Graffanino was 1 for 5, scoring twice.

Big bad Oakland is next, just the team to test our newly-achieved respectability against.