So the White Sox *won the opener against the Angels by a final of 8-6. In spectacular walk off fashion thanks to a tenth inning home run by none other than ALEX RIOS!  Of course, this all capped off a great Elvis Night.

There were plenty of highlights and lowlights, but first enjoy some Elvis and a song that asks why do we like this team? Why do you keep falling in love with them despite the agony some of the players put us through.

*The game was played under protest last night. Things started off with usual angst with Philip Humber giving up a run early. I don’t know about you, but EVERY TIME he goes out and does that, I get a feeling that there is no hope for the Sox to come back and win the game.

Fortunately, this wasn’t the case, but the immediate comeback would lead to Mike Scioscia playing the game under protest. It all began with Zack Greinke getting off to a shaky start and allowing the first three runners to get on base. At this point, The King then bounces a ball on the infield which leads to a force at home plate of Alejandro De Aza. No big deal there. However, the bases REMAINED loaded because the umps blew the call.

In lumbering (let’s not kid ourselves and pretend like Paul was hustling because he is sloooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwww) toward first base, he was clearly running on the wrong side of the baseline. Because of this, the throwing lane for catcher Chris Iannetta was blocked and his throw drew Albert Pujols off the bag. If Iannetta had thrown the ball like he normally would have, Paul would have been hit in the back and he would have been immediately out. As it was, that didn’t happen so Scioscia went out to argue his case. After all four umps couldn’t be bothered to get the call right, Scioscia protested.

Seems the delay did affect Zack because then Rios was up to bat and got on base on another place that resulted in Big Donkey trying to bowl over Iannetta at the plate, but Donkey was out because Iannetta held on to the ball. Cue AJ Pierzynski who would then launch his 19th home run and make the score 4-1. In protesting the game, Scioscia has absolutely nothing to lose. as clearly if the right call had been made on Paul Konerko, then it is quite possible that some of the four runs scored would not have scored.

In any event, as per usual with Philip Humber home starts, more runs were given up. Seems that Philip just couldn’t seal the deal when he got two outs, then he would walk a batter or two or three and then those batters would score. Of course, the Sox did manage to get all over Greinke last night unlike in June when they first saw him. Fortunately, Rios would take everyone off the hook and hit that two-run home run in the bottom of the tenth to win the game for the hometeam. A wonderful way to start off the homestand and cap the game on Elvis night.

Other highlights of the game include the home run that AJ hit was a new season-high in home runs for him. And Sarah Kustok, who worked for Comcast Sportsnet Chicago got a pie from AJ Pierzynski while interviewing Rios post game. Sarah was doing her final post game interview as she is off to New York to work for YES Network. She did promise to get AJ back for the pie. FINALLY, the Sox are now a season-high 11 games over .500. Previously, they were only able to get 10 games above before losing. Hopefully they can extend the high further.

Today, the teams will go at it again and hopefully, there won’t be any drama leading to another protested game. As for the game protest, if successful, the game will have to be replayed.

And as a finale to the excitement, I will leave you with a final bit of Elvis.