Chicago White Sox: Almost perfect again

The Chicago White Sox bounced back from a five-game skid today versus the Red Sox.

Their Boston counterparts have really been handing it to the Sox during this four-game set. Thursday and Friday saw the good guys lose 3-10 both times and Jake Peavy’s fantastic one-run complete game was overshadowed yesterday by a shutout performance by Jon Lester. Luckily Gavin Floyd was on the mound today and led the Sox to a 4-1 victory.

Floyd flirts with no-no

With the Philip Humber perfect game still on everyone’s mind, no wanted to jinx anything when Floyd was perfect into five innings. Unfortunately, a walk to Cody Ross ended the perfect game bid. Floyd remained dominant, though, as the no-hitting persisted into the seventh inning.

The Sox offense was surprisingly better than it was the last three games despite the lack of Paul Konerko. Alex Rios continued his hot streak by singling in a run in the first. This was shortly followed by a towering two-run bomb into right field by Adam Dunn. It was nice to see Dunn give the fans something to cheer about. Having been at the game last night, I can attest to the crowd being less than friendly following yet another Dunn strikeout. Dayan Viciedo contributed by singling in an insurance run in the eighth.

In total, this was a disappointing series for the White Sox. Having been 10-6 just one week ago, the Sox are going into a series against division rival Cleveland Indians at 11-11. In fact, the next ten games are against the Indians and the Detroit Tigers. These three teams have been battling atop the AL Central since the season began and a good run here could establish any one of them as the dominant club. Hopefully the Sox can turn their 3-7 record at home around when the Indians come into town on Tuesday.

It was nice to see Floyd have such great control today. It was even better watching Jake Peavy yesterday as he continued to be one of the best pitchers in the league. The best part about it all? Having both of them on my fantasy team.