Cubs- White Sox has lost some of its buzz, eh?

The 39,015 fans who turned out at U.S. Cellular Field for Friday's sun-blessed resumption of the City Series seemed intent on proving otherwise.

The band Sister Hazel still was meandering through the final strains of the national anthem when chants of "Let's go Sox" took over the ballpark. The sound may have lacked the call-to-arms urgency that accompanies the anthem at Blackhawks games, but it established the crowd's bona fides as pro-White Sox.

The boos that greeted Cubs leadoff hitter Alfonso Soriano were further verification, as was their immediate conversion into cheers when Soriano took a called third strike to open the game.

The day had begun as it usually does, with manager Ozzie Guillen holding court in the home dugout. On Thursday, with White Sox great Luis Aparicio in the house as the '59 pennant-winners were honored, Guillen had spoken of the tradition of great Venezuelan shortstops -- Chico Carrasquel, Aparicio, Dave Concepcion, Omar Vizquel -- and how proud he is to be mentioned with them.

Friday's topics were more mundane, and familiar: interleague play as an entertaining sideshow, less important than upcoming division business with Cleveland and Kansas City, and The Cell's vast superiority to rat-infested, hopelessly outdated Wrigley Field.

In the Cubs' dugout across the way, Lou Piniella was assuring his own audience that he had lost none of his fire and that he retained faith in his ballclub even as it struggles to fulfill its fans' lofty expectations.

The assembled writers then moved inside for a much anticipated tribute to one their own, the late, great Jerome Holtzman, a Hall of Fame baseball "scribe" who lived for days like this.

Holtzman, who served as Major League Baseball's official historian after retiring from the Tribune in 1999, died in July 2008 and bequeathed his trusty Olivetti typewriter to White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf. The Sox took it from there, commissioning a display case to house "the Dean's" favorite writing implement and other mementos of his distinguished career.

They unveiled the case Friday, with Reinsdorf officiating and Guillen in attendance. It sits in the main lobby at U.S. Cellular Field, and all who view it will be reminded of a classy tribute to a classy professional who enlightened and entertained two generations of Chicago baseball fans.

Back on the ballfield, the Cell's cozy dimensions on pleasant days were the talk of batting practice -- seven dingers had left the yard in Wednesday's Sox-Dodgers game and two more in Thursday's.

No wonder the hitters were flexing their muscles -- it was an inviting 73 degrees and sunny at game time, a vast improvement over the slop the teams had slogged through in the first round of the series at Wrigley last week, which postponed one game and cast a dispiriting pall on the two that were played.

Sure enough, Jermaine Dye got the White Sox on the scoreboard first with a long homer to left in first inning, but rookie Jake Fox continued his feel-good rise to prominence as a Cub three innings later, connecting for a two-run shot that gave the Cubs the lead.

Jim Thome tied it in the fourth with No. 554 of his career, but Geovany Soto went really deep with two runners on in the seventh, putting the Cubs up 5-2.

Their mojo appeared to desert the Cubs in the eighth. Reliever Carlos Marmol walked two batters, and classic miscommunication between Soriano and shortstop Andres Blanco on a popup to short left gave Dye a single and loaded the bases. Thome's broken-bat, pillow-soft double off first baseman Derrek Lee's glove brought two runs home to cut the deficit to 5-4.

After an intentional walk to Paul Konerko, Sean Marshall relieved Marmol and induced a nicely turned, inning-ending 3-2-3 double play from pinch-hitter A.J. Pierzynski.

The crowd was pensive, but well-behaved and into it, hanging on every pitch. The City Series buzz was back.

dmcgrath@tribune.com