Baseball is a game of numbers and inches.
The numbers are these: The White Sox' 4-1 victory over OaklandTuesday night moved them to within 4 1/2 games of the AL Westleaders. And it was their fifth victory in a row over the defendingworld champions.
"I can't explain it," Sox manager Jeff Torborg said. "I can justenjoy it. But if you get down to the obvious, we've gotten prettygood starting pitching in every one."
The numbers are these: In the last five games against Oakland,Sox starters have allowed four earned runs in 39 innings, an amazingERA of 0.92.
The inches are these: Four, which is how far Carlton Fiskfigures his three-run, pinch-hit, seventh-inning double was fair.
"It could have been a double play," Fisk said. "It happened to befair by four inches. It's a game of inches."
And a game of numbers. With a victory tonight, the Sox willhave their second consecutive three-game sweep over Oakland.
"We've got our work cut out for us," Torborg said of facing20-game winner Bob Welch. "But it's certainly good to beat the teamahead of you."
"It's always important to beat the team ahead of you in thestandings, and they definitely are ahead of us," Fisk said. "We haveto approach (tonight) like we do every game: Dig in the dirt andgrind it out."
There wasn't a whole bunch of dry dirt around Comiskey onTuesday. Two days of steady rain kept the crowd to only 31,172.
"I might put a hose on it myself (tonight)," Torborg joked.
It's no joke what the Sox have done to the Athletics.
Their winning rally started off Mike Moore (10-12), who hadallowed only two hits through the first six innings.
But in the seventh, Dan Pasqua led off with a double and was runfor by Phil Bradley. Frank Thomas, who earlier doubled to give himhits in 18 of his 21 big league games, and Ron Karkovice walked.That ended Moore's night, with left-hander Rick Honeycutt relieving.
Fisk, only 1-for-7 as a pinch hitter, batted for Craig Grebeckand skipped a double over third base, scoring all three runners.
Pinch runner Steve Lyons then scored on Ozzie Guillen's squeezebunt.
The flurry of runs made a winner of lefty Greg Hibbard, startingon three days of rest.
Hibbard (10-7) allowed only one unearned run in the firstinning, giving him 15 consecutive innings without an earned run. Forthe night, he gave up seven hits in his seven innings and took hisERA back below 3.00, winning for only the second time in his last sixgames.
Barry Jones pitched one perfect inning, including outs on JoseCanseco and Mark McGwire, and Bobby Thigpen pitched the ninth for hisbaseball-high 41st save.
It was the second straight strong performance by Sox startersagainst Oakland (Jack McDowell pitching a complete game the nightbefore). The three games in Oakland were started by Eric King (noruns in nine innings), McDowell (three runs in six innings) andtonight's starter Melido Perez (no runs in eight innings).
"I can't say enough about the starting pitching; it really setsthe tone," Torborg said. "Hibbard was really outstanding."
Hibbard's scariest moment came in the fifth inning with Cansecoat bat with two outs and two runners on base. Canseco slugged a ballto left field that went in the upper deck - but just foul.
A game of inches.
"I heard he was waving it fair," Hibbard said with a smile. "Iwas waving it foul, he was waving it fair. I think I won thebattle."
And so have the Sox against Oakland. They have closed threegames on the leaders in the last three days, Oakland losing three ina row for the first time since July 4-6.
"I don't think we've been in a bad position," said Fisk, whowill be honored before tonight's game for his record-setting home runas a catcher. "We've hit a few flat spots where we haven't firedright, but over the course of the season we've done pretty well."
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