Expectations were high going into yesterday’s against the struggling Minnesota Twins. Jake Peavy has been very solid this year and the new presence of Kevin Youkilis was reason to be optimistic.
Dunn struck out four times in yesterday’s loss
Unfortunately, the Twins’ Francisco Liriano was on top of his game as he held the Chicago White Sox to only one run. That hasn’t been hard to do lately, though. The Sox have been limited to one run in four of the last six games. Nonetheless, Liriano was stellar as he allowed only five hits over seven innings. The only run for the good guys was in the seventh inning from a sacrifice fly by Alexei Ramirez.
Jake Peavy was on the mound and even though he only let up three runs through six innings, he was not quite himself. Dealing with the recent loss of his former San Diego pitching coach Darrel Akerfelds, Peavy was with a heavy heart on Monday and it showed. He gave up ten hits during his six innings.
The Sox were fortunate in that the Cleveland Indians lost yesterday as well, preserving their spot atop the AL Central. What isn’t fortunate is the recent performance of Paul Konerko and Adam Dunn. Between the two of them, they went 0-7 in yesterday’s matchup. Konerko has only seven hits in the last ten games and Dunn has been even worse. The big man has struck out a whopping twenty times over that span, managing only four hits. If the Sox want to continue this playoff push, those two need to turn it around in a major way.
The Sox are poised for big things with the addition of Kevin Youkilis, who went 1-4 in his White Sox debut. The lineup is finally coming together and if Alexei Ramirez can remain consistent (along with fixing the problems of Dunn/Konerko), there won’t be a weak spot in the whole nine. Those are some big “if’s” though. Tonight Gavin Floyd gets the start as the Sox play the Twins in the second of this three-game set.
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