Lance Broadway Makes a Strong Case to Join the White Sox Rotation For Good

When Jose Contreras went down for the year, many people thought that the season had finally come undone for the White Sox. They had other injuries to worry about, the Twins constantly creeping up on them, and the starting rotation was already hurting.

If the Sox can keep this up, then there won't be much to stop them from making the playoffs.

Lance Broadway tried to make a repeat performance of his only start in 2007 for the White Sox, and did a fine job, picking up a victory after 5.1 innings of work. He gave up two runs, both earned, and allowed five hits, but it was hard to take any credit away from a young player who came up in the Sox time of need, and filled in wonderfully.

Just in case Broadway needed a little run support, the White Sox were more than happy to provide it, and break a record in the process. Jim Thome hit a three run blast in the sixth inning. The recent struggles of Paul Konerko are looking like a thing of the past, as he followed Thome with a homer of his own. Alexei Ramirez was looking for his first hit of the game, and he found it in a big way, knocking out the third consecutive long ball. Still, the Sox offense wasn't satisfied until Juan Uribe came up to the dish and put the fourth home run in a row over the fences.

When all was said and done, D.J. Carassco and Horacio Ramirez picked up holds in relief of Broadway, and Adam Russell closed the game out in impressive style, the bullpen collectively giving up just a single hit, no earned runs, and striking out four batters. The White Sox ended their home stand with a sweep of the Royals, winning 9-2. They hope to take their winning ways on the road when they head to Oakland, where they've had plenty of issues in the past.

Important stats of the series: The White Sox starting rotation gave up only 2 runs in this series, both by Lance Broadway, who was making his first start of the year. The bullpen was completely lights out, not giving up a single run in any of the three games.