7th Heaven

Well like Aerosmith sang, "train kept a rollin' all night long..."

You know things are going your way when you get four runs off one of the top pitchers in baseball, a guy who entered the game with an ERA of less than two.

Here's some interesting numbers:

* John Danks has now fired 19.1 consecutive shutout innings.

* The Sox have won 15 out of 20, seven straight and 15 of 19 on the road. Doing a quick check it looks like the best streak (i.e. the 15 of 20) since April 9th through May 9th, 2006 when the Sox blistered the rest of the American League going 22-5.

Now we'll see how the Sox respond to an afternoon game after a night one, and what Ozzie Guillen does with his lineup. Saturday's game starts a shade past high noon Chicago time. This is really odd since you'd figure a night game on the 4th of July probably draws more fans. Kansas City I think, still has the water fountain light display in lieu of fireworks and that probably doesn't show as well during the day.

Before the game recaps, here's the latest on Carlos Quentin. He starts his extended rehab assignment in Charlotte where he'll play three innings, then go five innings the next day. The 3rd day he'll DH and the 4th day he'll be out of the lineup. The Sox are taking a cautious approach (as well they should!) If there are no issues he'll be back right after the All-Star Game but with this type of injury, it can go at any time. If Carlos makes it through the season he might still have surgery this off season to solve the problem once and for all.

If he can come back, that's as good as a deadline deal in my opinion although the Sox can still use another piece or two even if he makes it back!

Now to the recaps:

Leading off, Scott Merkin at Whitesox.com

Hitting in the second spot, Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune

and finally the AP recap via the Chicago Sun-Times

Finally a thought on Joe Cowley's story about the possible trade of Brian Anderson. With all due respect to Joe, whom I consider a friend, I don't think the Sox would get much for Brian. He's the team's best defensive outfielder by far and a contributor. The odd man out without question (assuming Quentin makes it back) is Dewayne Wise, hitting all of .194

If there is any question about Quentin returning healthy and Kenny Williams can't swing a deal for an outfielder (Matt Holliday?) then you keep both and release Jimmy Gobble and his plus eight ERA.