Carlos Quentin's walk-off against the Angels, May 25.

Before the season started, very few (if any) could have predicted the kind of season the White Sox are having. They're 2.5 games up on the Minnesota Twins, heading into the final week of the season with 86 wins.

And it's been an exciting 86 wins. There have been near no-hitters, spectacular plays (mainly by Alexei Ramirez), and, of course, a ton of home runs -- 223 so far, the third most in team history.

Yes, it's been a fun season of the longball on the South Side, and there may still be some exciting moments to come in the final week of the regular season and beyond. So let's put it on the board with the best home runs of the 2008 season so far:

The Joe Crede memorial walk-off blasts

May 25—Carlos Quentin off John Lackey: White Sox 3, Angels 2
With the White Sox facing a sweep at the hands of the Angels, Carlos Quentin did what he had done so many times in the first two months of the year—put the team on his back and carry them to victory. Quentin's was responsible for all the White Sox offense in the game—including a two-run home run earlier in the game—and his dramatic walk-off blast in the ninth inning capped what was a somewhat typical early-season game for the White Sox.

June 5—Paul Konerko off Jimmy Gobble: White Sox 6, Royals 4 (15)
After coming off an embarrassing series in Tampa Bay in which the offense was nonexistent, the White Sox were at a crossroads. Ozzie Guillen was hinting that change was necessary, and the team wasn't doing anything to pull away from a division that was looking increasingly weak. However, after losing the final game in Tampa Bay, the White Sox returned home and put on one of the greatest offensive displays in franchise history, scoring 54 runs on the six-game homestand. The Sox nearly dropped the second game to the Royals, but a slumping Konerko bailed the team out on a late, misty night in Chicago.

July 2—AJ Pierzynski off Masahide Kobayashi: White Sox 6, Indians 5 (10)
In CC Sabathia's final start with the Indians at U.S. Cellular Field, the White Sox and Indians were locked in a see-saw battle. Eventually, the Sox took a one-run lead on a double by Brian Anderson, and they held that 5-4 lead into the ninth inning. However, with closer Bobby Jenks injured, Guillen had to turn to Scott Linebrink to close the game out—and he promptly gave up a game-tying solo home run to Grady Sizemore. With a torrential downpour approaching, the game went to extra innings. After a scoreless top of the tenth, the rain began to come down harder. The game was likely no more than a couple of minutes away from being washed out, so when Pierzynski's home run came at the perfect time.

August 6—Nick Swisher off Joel Zumaya: White Sox 10, Tigers 8 (14)
The Tigers jumped out to a 6-1 lead after the top of the fifth, but the White Sox—who were coming off a 14-3 drubbing at the hands of the Royals—were resilient, scoring runs in the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth innings to tie the game at six and send it to extra innings. After four scoreless innings, Placido Polanco broke the stalemate with a two-run home run off Matt Thornton in the 14th. The Tigers brought in Joel Zumaya to close the game out, but the White Sox had other plans. After an error by Edgar Renteria allowed a run to score, the White Sox had men on first and third with one out. After Jim Thome struck out, the game was put on Nick Swisher—and he delivered with a long home run to right-center field.

September 6—Jim Thome off Justin Speier, White Sox 7, Angels 6 (15)
Nearly a year to the date of Thome's 500th career home run—a walk-off shot against the Angels on Sept. 16, 2007—Thome bested the Angels again in another wild game between Chicago and Los Angeles. After Brandon Wood hit a go-ahead home run in the ninth off Bobby Jenks, the White Sox rallied off Angels' closer Francisco Rodriguez to score a run on a Dewayne Wise sacrifice fly to tie the game and send it to extra innings. After a five-inning bullpen pitcher's duel, Thome nailed a running fastball for a mammoth walk-off home run that gave the White Sox three walk-off home runs against the Angels in their last six home games.

Grand slams, go-aheads, and comebacks

May 15—Quentin slams Angels
This game was much like the Sox/Angels game ten days later in that Carlos Quentin accounted for most of the White Sox offense. Quentin had an RBI single in the first inning, but the Angels tied the game up in the fifth inning. Jose Contreras and John Lackey—the same pair of starters May 25—found themselves in another tight pitcher's duel, but Lackey, who was just coming off the disabled list, was pulled earlier in the game. Scot Shields was no match for Quentin, who once again, won a game for the White Sox singlehandedly.

June 16—Cabrera caps six-run second inning
After a Pablo Ozuna error allowed Pittsburgh to score six runs in the top of the second inning off Gavin Floyd, the Sox looked like they were in danger of dropping a game to the lowly Pirates. However, the Sox led a charge back in the bottom of the inning off Bucs' starter Phil Dumatrait that was capped by this three-run blast off the bat of Orlando Cabrera. The Sox eventually went on to win the game 13-8 behind a seventh-inning grand slam by Jermaine Dye, but it was Cabrera's blast that put the Sox right back in the game.

June 27—Swisher's slam breaks Crosstown matchup open
Things weren't looking so great for the White Sox heading into the second installment of the Crosstown Classic after getting swept out of Wrigely Field the prior weekend. To make matters worse, they were facing Ryan Dempster, who hadn't had a bad start all year for the Cubs. However, the Sox jumped out to an early lead in front of a raucous crowd that was extended to eight when Swisher nailed this opposite-field grand slam that knocked Dempster out of the game and sent the South Side into a frenzy.

June 28—Quentin takes Marmol deep to give Sox lead
The momentum from Swisher's grand slam didn't exactly carry over to the second game of the Sox' three-game home series with the Cubs, as the North Siders jumped out to an early lead. However, the Sox would battle back to tie the game at five on an Alexei Ramirez home run. The game appeared to be destined for a long stalemate, but all it took was a flick of the wrist by Quentin—who hadn't homered since June 18—to give the Sox the lead and set the stage for a dominant performance by the bullpen to close the game out.

July 24—Quentin takes an enemy deep
On a hot, sun-soaked summer afternoon, the White Sox and Rangers went at it in a good, old-fashioned slugfest. Texas jumped out to a 6-3 lead behind some sloppy play behind Clayton Richard, who was making his MLB debut, but the Sox continued to battle back despite falling behind 8-4 at one point. When the deficit was cut to 8-7, Rangers' manager Ron Washington called on his closer, CJ Wilson, to try to keep the lead in Texas' hands. Knowing full well the feud between Ozzie Guillen and Wilson, Quentin stepped up and nailed the first pitch he saw for a go-ahead three-run home run that allowed the Sox to avoid getting swept.

July 25—Dye shocks Detroit
Heading into their series with the White Sox, the Tigers were playing like everybody expected them to at the start of the season. Just five games back of the division-leading White Sox, Detroit had an important opportunity to pick up some games and really get back into the division race. It looked like they would do just that after Carlos Guillen took Nick Masset deep in the seventh to put Detroit up 5-4 right after the Sox stormed back with three runs in the top of the inning to tie the game at four. With two outs in the ninth, it looked apparent that the Tigers would win and pull within four of the Sox, but Carlos Quentin poked a soft groundball single to right to set up maybe the most important home run of 2008. On a 2-0 pitch from Todd Jones, Jermaine Dye hit a home run to the opposite field at Comerica Park, giving the White Sox a 6-5 lead and a huge win that likely was a major factor in Detroit fading down the stretch.

September 14—Wise one-ups Thames with go-ahead slam
After a weekend that saw around nine inches of rain in Chicago, the White Sox and Tigers finally got to play some baseball that Sunday. The Sox took the first game of the doubleheader and appeared to have the second one locked down, holding a 7-0 lead after John Danks departed in the seventh inning. However, the bullpen fell apart, giving up seven runs—including four that tied the game on a grand slam by Marcus Thames off Octavio Dotel. With every game being so important down the stretch, the White Sox needed a win with a tough series in New York looming. Dewayne Wise delivered, hitting a grand slam of his own off Kyle Farnsworth with two outs in the bottom of the eighth to give the Sox an 11-7 lead and a huge victory.

Jim Thome is country strong.

The Jim Thome mammoth shots

April 14—Do a little turn on the catwalk
This ball was still going up when it hit the catwalk at Tropicana Field. Had the catwalk not been there and the field not been in a dome, this ball might have ended up somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico.

June 4—Fan [deck] appreciation night
Ever since the White Sox remodeled U.S. Cellular Field, I have never seen a ball be hit to the fan deck during a game—until that night against the Royals. For those familiar with the dimensions of U.S. Cellular Field, it's 400 feet to center, and the fan deck is elevated well above the wall and set back pretty far. Thome's home run reached the fan deck, and while it wasn't estimated at 500 feet, it well could have gone that far.

September 6—A man's way to walk off
Yes, this home run was already featured in the walk-off section, but it had to be featured again. This wasn't a cheap home run—Thome got all of this ball. Nearly hitting the concourse at U.S. Cellular Field is an accomplishment in its own right, but nearly hitting the concourse on a walk-off home run? Now that's how a full-blooded American man should do it. 

The "Kansas City's pitching is awful" home run award

August 14—Sox hit back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs
The last time the White Sox hit four home runs in an inning, Randy Johnson was on the mound for the Yankees and Tadahito Iguchi, Aaron Rowand, Paul Konerko, and Chris Widger contributed to the longball fiesta on August 21, 2005. However, they didn't hit them in succession like Jim Thome, Paul Konerko, Alexei Ramirez, and Juan Uribe did against Kansas City on the 14th. With the score just 3-2, Thome launched a three-run blast that was followed by solo shots off the bats of Konerko and Ramirez, all coming off Royals reliever Joel Peralta. Kansas City manager Trey Hillman then went to Robinson Tejeda to try and stop the bleeding, but Uribe would have none of it. His blast into the White Sox' bullpen made the White Sox just the sixth team in MLB history to hit four consecutive home runs in an inning.