<table> </table> Zack Greinke, for the record, is emphatic about this: He&#8217;s not the best pitcher in baseball, mounting evidence to the contrary. He doesn&#8217;t even put himself in the conversation.</p><p>&#8220;I think Johan (Santana) and Roy Halladay are the two best pitchers,&#8221; Greinke said. &#8220;Without a doubt. You&#8217;ve got to do it for at least three years. That&#8217;s my (guideline). When you do it for three years, then you can put your name in stuff like that.&#8221;</p><p>Even so, at this moment, nobody is better than Greinke. His latest effort Monday night resulted in another complete game, another shutout, another victory.</p><p>Another masterpiece.</p><p>The Royals beat the Chicago White Sox 3-0, and by the end the White Sox admitted they were overmatched &#8212; on this night anyway &#8212; at Kauffman Stadium.</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s just kind of riding that wave,&#8221; Chicago first baseman Paul Konerko acknowledged. &#8220;It&#8217;s not always going to be that easy as it is right now. But there&#8217;s no question he&#8217;s as good as there is right now.&#8221;</p><p>Greinke became baseball&#8217;s first six-game winner, at 6-0, by scattering six hits while striking out 10. He lowered his earned-run average to 0.40 and reclaimed the league lead in strikeouts with 54.</p><p>&#8220;Today, that was the best I&#8217;ve seen Zack throw,&#8221; Royals catcher Miguel Olivo declared. &#8220;Today, everything was perfect. Wherever I put the glove, he hit the glove.&#8221;</p><p>Greinke&#8217;s shutout was his second of the season and the second of his career. He has the only two shutouts this season in the American League. He posted a 2-0 victory on April 18 at Texas.</p><p>It&#8217;s a good thing Greinke was, well, Greinke &#8212; because the Royals squandered a boatload of opportunities against Bartolo Colon and Clayton Richard. The Royals stranded 10 runners, including more than one in four different innings.</p><p>Or perhaps they just knew they had enough after scoring once in the second and twice in the third.</p><p>&#8220;We felt real confident with three,&#8221; said Royals left fielder David DeJesus, who had a homer in the third. &#8220;When we had three, and the way Zack was rolling through those middle innings, we felt real confident about it.&#8221;</p><p>Colon, 2-2, allowed three runs and seven hits in five innings. He also struck out seven and stranded five runners, including three in the third inning. Richard blanked the Royals over three innings.</p><p>The victory boosted the Royals to 15-11 and increased their lead in the American League Central Division to 1 1/2 games.</p><p>&#8220;It was definitely my favorite game of the year so far,&#8221; said Greinke, who has won nine straight starts dating to last season. &#8220;The biggest difference, probably, was the fans. They were great today.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;And the White Sox are the second biggest reason.&#8221;</p><p>Greinke admitted the Royals wanted to send a message to the reigning division champs &#8220;because they&#8217;ve bullied us around&#8221; at times in recent seasons. Chicago entered the night with a 98-54 edge in head-to-head games since 2001.</p><p>&#8220;(Jos&#233;) Guillen pulled me aside (Sunday),&#8221; Greinke said, &#8220;and said, &#8216;All right, let&#8217;s show the White Sox that we&#8217;re for real this year.&#8217; That got me excited a little bit because Guillen can feel it, too.&#8221;</p><p>The White Sox put together their best threat in the eighth inning when A.J. Pierzynski led off with a single off the glove of third baseman Mark Teahen. Alexei Ramirez followed with a bloop single into center.</p><p>Greinke never wavered. He induced a double-play grounder from Scott Podsednik before stranding Pierzynski at third by striking out pinch hitter Wilson Betemit.</p><p>Chicago got a one-out double in the ninth from Jayson Nix, but Greinke retired Carlos Quentin on a fly to left before ending the game by inducing a pop-up from Jim Thome.</p><p>&#8220;I think that&#8217;s the best performance I&#8217;ve seen in a long time by any major-league pitcher,&#8221; White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. &#8220;To me, he&#8217;s the best in the league right now.&#8221;</p><p>Greinke disagrees. Anyone else?