Castro leads home run parade as ChiSox extend home win streak
Baseball Betting Lines
07/30/2010 - Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ramon Castro homered twice and Juan Pierre stroked a two-run double, as the Chicago White Sox beat Seattle, 9-5, to sweep a four-game series and extend their home winning streak to 11 games.
Paul Konerko and Carlos Quentin clubbed back-to-back home runs in the seventh inning for the White Sox, who won for the 18th time in their last 19 games at U.S. Cellular Field.
Ichiro Suzuki doubled three times and scored three runs for Seattle, which finished 1-9 against Chicago this season.
Ichiro doubled to begin the game and scored on Casey Kotchman's one-out double. Kotchman drove in Ichiro again, this time on a sacrifice fly in the third inning.
The White Sox loaded the bases with no outs against David Pauley (0-3) in the bottom of the third on two singles and a walk. Pierre then ripped a double down the left-field line to tie the game. Omar Vizquel followed with a run- scoring single and Chicago led 4-2 after Alex Rios grounded into a double play.
In the fourth, Castro homered to left field for a 5-2 advantage.
The Mariners got a run back in the sixth on a Michael Saunders RBI single, but Castro went deep again in the home half and Vizquel contributed a run-scoring single later in the inning to make it 7-3.
J.J. Putz, who had made a club-record 27 consecutive scoreless appearances, replaced Chicago starter Freddy Garcia (10-4) to begin the seventh and gave up an RBI double to Ichiro, who scored on a wild pitch to trim the deficit to 7-5.
Konerko and Quentin restored the four-run cushion by going back-to-back in the bottom of the inning. Konerko homered in all four games of this series.
Game Notes
Chicago is an MLB-best 33-11 since June 9...The White Sox recorded their first four-game home sweep of the Mariners since turning the trick from September 15-18, 1983...The Mariners have dropped eight straight road games against the White Sox...The last time the White Sox won at least 11 in a row at home was a 13-game streak from July 1-August 5, 1989 at Comiskey Park...Garcia gave up three runs on seven hits over six innings...Pauley allowed four runs and six hits in 2 2/3 innings...Konerko has 25 home runs this season.
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Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa
Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.
Should be in:
Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?
Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.
Work left to do:
Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.
Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.
Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.
Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.
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