The streak is over. Indians 8 White Sox 2

Aaron Boone was 4 for 5 and Jake Westbrook pitched brilliantly in defeating the Sox today, but the story of the game was that the streak is over. For the first time since the final day of the 2004 season, the White Sox are not going to end the day in first place in the American League Central division. The Detroit Tigers will take over first place courtesy of their victory over the Kansas City Royals yesterday and their day off today. The Twins can join Detroit atop the standings with a win over the Toronto Blue Jays tonight.

The story of this afternoon's affair, from the White Sox perspective, was Freddy Garcia. Last year's winner of the fourth game of the World Series was unable to top ninety miles per hour on the radar gun, and he relied heavily on curve balls and the the occasional sinker. He did not have good command of either, which is a necessity if you are not going to throw hard. It was an ugly affair, and he is going to have to pitch better if he does not want Brandon McCarthey to take his spot in the rotation. It will be interesting to see how he does the next time out.

On the positive, Jim Thome his a towering homerun that nearly made the councourse. The ball fell just shy of the section 102-103 sign atop the right field seats. Jim Croce once said that you don't mess around with Jim, and this appears to be true. Thome is on pace to whack 162 homeruns.