A Successful Roadtrip

The Sox just completed a weekend sweep of the Kansas City Royals, finishing their 6-game trip at 5-1. The win also gives them 9 wins in their last 12 games and puts them a game under .500 at 24-25.

This is the kind of short run the Sox needed after their last abysmal roadtrip in Cleveland and Toronto. The team is playing better, getting a solid start in every game except for Bartolo Colon's outing in the 20-1 loss to Minnesota a week ago. The bullpen remained solid, but the hitting has been the story. The Sox's bats have started to come alive now, and have not relied on the long ball to give them large run totals. They obviously are still a homerun hitting team, but the less dependent they are on balls exiting the grounds for runs, the better off they'll be.

And it all starts at the top, where Scott Podsednik has been a very nice addition. He's not quite the Pods from 2005, but he definitely isn't pulling a Nick Swisher from 08, either. The #2 man is now Alexei Ramirez, and the Cuban Missile has responded lately. If he can really get going, better things will follow. Josh Fields had a nice series in KC, and if he can find his stroke from his stint in 2007, the lower part of the order will have some pop.

The rotation has been excellent lately, as I mentioned above. In particular, one Clayton Richard has really responded since he was put into the rotation in place of Jose Contreras. Richard was going to be traded in the Jake Peavy deal, but has definitely done all he can to show Ken Williams that he needs to stay on the South Side. Rumors are abound now about Roy Oswalt or Matt Cain coming to the Sox, and while it may be worth seeing Richard go, he's making the decision much more difficult. John Danks keeps battling, Gavin Floyd has turned in some good outings, Colon is still inconsistent, and Mark Buehrle is Mark Buehrle.

The goals now are to get to .500 and try to get a 5 game cushion in that regard and go from there. The Tigers won't disappear, so the Sox just need to stay close and see if they can add some more pieces to the 2009 puzzle.