The second half of the season is in full swing and the White Sox are on a mission to continue the domination of the AL Central. With the Detroit Tigers moving rapidly in the division, this weekend was one that showed why the Sox are a first place team. Down by one run in the 9th inning of the series opener on Friday the Sox looked all but done in this game as Detroit's Todd Jones was about to close for the win.

Comerica Park was about to be introduced to the big bats of Jermaine Dye who stepped up to the plate and hit his 22nd homerun to lead the South Siders to a 6 to 5 win over Detroit. Another notable mention is the glove of Bobby Jenks who earned his 20th save with a perfect ninth inning effort. With the Twins loss this win moved the Sox into a increasing lead of 3 1/2 games over Minnesota and 6 1/2 games over Detroit.

The winning streak continued into Saturday with a thrilling win which provided Sox fans with a hitting show to remember providing a 7 to 6 win over the Tigers. Carlos Quentin and Jermaine Dye nailed back-to-back homeruns in the third inning to bring in a total of 4 runs. This was Quentin's AL-best 27th homerun along with Dye's 23rd. The bull pen stepped up to the mound to handle the Tiger hitting threats and to seal the win for a second night in a row. John Danks gave up 5 runs and struck out 5 through the 7th inning when he was relieved by Dotel who had some outstanding relief work. Bobby Jenks again closed down Detroit to lift the Sox to a 59-43 record.

Sunday's game provided the South Siders with their only loss of the series but led them to take 2 for 3 from Detroit. This was satisfying but most impressive had to be the batting skills of Jermaine Dye who is hot at the plate with 3 home runs within a 3 game series. This moves him to 24 for the season and 12 shy of 300 for his all time record. Pierzynski recorded his eight homerun of the season bringing in two runs in the first inning off pitcher Zach Miner. Javier Vazquez seem to be on fire with the strike zone but unfortunatly was not able to pull out a win against the offense of the Tigers with the Sox losing 4 to 6.

With the completion of the series the Sox are sitting on top of the AL Central with a mere 2 1/2 game lead over the Twins after their win over Cleveland. The next four days are going to be a proving point for the Sox when the road trip continues with the Twins hosting at the Metrodome. Let's hope Dye brings the same bat he used this weekend against Detroit.

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