Yankees currently have 7 ex-Sox

Just an observation while watching Cy Kuroda baffle Sox hitters this afternoon.

7 of the 25 members of the current Yankee squad are ex-White Sox players.

Dirty .230 in 2008 with the White Sox

Nick Swisher
Dewayne Wise
Boone Logan
Chris Stewart
Andruw Jones
Jayson Nix
Freddy Garcia


That's a lot of crap wearing the pinstripes.

Sox do what they needed to do on and off the field

With the pitching staff that the Twins trotted out for this three game series there was no reason the Sox should have lost this series. Really, they should have swept the Twins but their usual problems with Francisco Liriano reared its ugly head in Monday night's lifeless 4-1 loss.

On Tuesday and Wednesday the Twins ran out Liam Hendriks and Nick Blackburn. Both starters have ERAs over 6 and were a combined 4-9 heading into this series.

The Sox squeaked by with a 3-2 win on Tuesday night then blasted Blackburn this afternoon with a 21 hit attack leading to a 12-5 win to capture their second consecutive series win.

With the score already 2-0 in the fifth, Adam Dunn hit a two out 3-run home run. Dunn's 24th home run snapped his 0-24 streak at the plate. Alex Rios batted next and belted a home run to continue his hot hitting.

Rios' home run was the sixth and last run Nick Blackburn would give up for the day. Fortunately, the guys coming out of the Twins bullpen didn't fare much better. The next three Twin relievers combined to pitch 2 2/3 innings giving up 6 runs and 11 hits.

The balanced offensive attack was even done with Paul Konerko, Dayan Viciedo, and Gordon Beckham getting the day off to back another stellar Chris Sale start. Newly acquired Kevin Youkilis went 3-4 at the plate with 2 RBIs.

The low point of the game was Will Ohman who came on to pitch the final two innings of the blowout. Ohman gave up three runs, hit two batters, gave up two hits and one home run.

Apparently that's what you've to do to get your ass kicked off the team. After the game, Ohman was given his walking papers and DFA'd. 

Yes, it is you, Will.

So really, the crap Ohman pulled during the game benefited the team as a whole as we'll no longer have to deal with his bullshit.

With the Indians loss the Sox open up a 2 1/2 game lead in the AL Central. Their largest lead since June 3.

Thursday opens up a big four game series in New York against the Yankees. Dylan Axelrod, Jose Quintana, Jake Peavy and Gavin Floyd will start the four games for the Sox. Ivan Nova, Adam Warren, Hiroki Kuroda and Phil Hughes will pitch for the Yankees.

Trade for Youkilis already equals a win

Toward the end of this afternoon's game word was spreading throughout the ballpark that Zach Stewart and Brent Lillibridge were traded to the Boston Red Sox for Kevin Youkilis. The funny thing was, Lillibridge came in the game to pinch run for Paul Konerko in the 9th inning.

In a repeat of Friday night's ballgame the Sox and Brewers went into extra innings scoreless only this time the game saw the Sox pull out a run.

After a walk to Adam Dunn to put runner's on 1st and 2nd, Brent Lillibridge was due up to bat in the 10th inning. Due to the trade happening while the game was in extras, Brent was pulled for pinch hitter Eduardo Escobar who hit a walk off single in the gap in left center field to give the Sox the 1-0 win and their first series win since early June. (They had dropped their previous five series.) Even better, the win puts the Sox back in first place by a 1/2 game since Cleveland lost earlier in the day.

So in essence, the Youkilis trade has already shown some benefit to the team.

Zach Stewart had been sent down to the minors after his joke of a start last week against the Cubs. Stewart gave up six runs in 5 2/3 innings of work that Monday night and Brent Lillibridge wasn't doing much with the bat this season batting .175 with 2 RBIs in limited playing time this year.

All in all, this is a good trade seeing that the Sox sent off two players that weren't doing anything, got some cash from the Red Sox, and now have a real third basemen as Orlando Hudson has been an ass at third and is batting .194 in 28 games. Hudson will most likely be used as a utility man off the bench.

I don't expect Youkilis to be the player he was a few years ago but he should be a steady glove at third and provide something off the bat...at least more than what Morel and Hudson were. Hopefully.

4th series loss

Things are getting rough for the south siders as we hit mid-June. Series losses to the Blue Jays, Astros, Cardinals, and Dodgers have the Sox sitting at 35-31 before starting round two of the Crosstown Classic tonight.

The Sox still sit in first place by a 1 1/2 over the Indians but now just 3 games over the Tigers who have seemed to wake up during interleague play.

Yesterday Jose Quintana was throwing a gem in LA. Just 77 pitches though 8 innings kept the Dodgers off the board while the Sox were hanging onto a 1-0 lead.

For some reason Robin (Or Coop) decided to take Quintana out and have Addison Reed start the 9th. Don't get me wrong, I totally get the whole "Reed is the closer" argument. But Quintana was effortless Sunday afternoon and didn't have any stress in the 8th. I would've liked to see him at least attempt the close out his own masterpiece.

The normally steady Addison Reed gave up the tying run in the 9th and Matt Thornton wasted no time in the 10th to give up the game winning run for the 2-1 loss.

Brutal.

The series was bookended by bad losses as Friday night was similar when Thornton uncorked a wild pitch to let the winning run score in the 8th just after the Sox tied the game in the top half of the frame.

Friday also capped my summer baseball trip in LA as I witnessed the pathetic loss.

Dodger Stadium is a pretty interesting place. The massive 50,000 seat stadium didn't fill up until later in the game. The fans weren't as brutal as I expected them to be as they seemed more concerned about starting the wave.

Hopefully tonight the Sox can get back on track against the Cubs. Zach Stewart will get the start against Matt Garza.

Stewart is getting the nod so Peavy and Sale get an extra few days of rest.

Good Jake, Bad Gavin, Two losses

The Sox lost 2 of 3 in St. Louis but still managed to gain a game on the Cleveland Indians thanks to the Cincinnati Reds.

The Sox didn't get anything going against Lance Lynn during Wednesday night's 1-0 loss. On Thursday, Gavin Floyd was his usual piss poor self giving up all 5 Cardinal runs in 4 2/3 innings of work. Gavin walked Cardinal starter Jake Westbrook twice while having problems with Allen Craig (2-3) and David Freese (2-4, HR, 3 RBIs.) in the 5-3 loss.

The plus on the trip was seeing new Busch Stadium which was obviously filled with odd Cardinal fans but still has that new park feel. The downtown ballpark had nice sightlines and spacious concourses.

However, with the exception of the "make your own macaroni & cheese" stand, the ballpark food was nothing special.

The Sox now head to LA to play the Dodgers clinging to first place by 1 1/2 games.

Hopefully I'll see better baseball Friday night.

Going for some road watchin'

Tonight's nice 6-1 win over the defending World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals was a nice set up to my upcoming Sox road trip that will take place Wednesday and Thursday in St. Louis and Friday night in Los Angeles when they play the Dodgers

Jose Quintana did everything he could to make his case to stay in the rotation when John Danks returns next week.  Quintana sparkled in his 5 1/3 innings of work only giving up one run. He only had a two run lead to work with thanks to Orlando Hudson's two out  two run triple in the second inning. He then kept the Cardinals down until the sixth inning when he gave up an RBI single to Allen Craig.

Quintana left the game with two runners on but Nate Jones induced a double play off the bat of Tyler Greene to end the threat. From there the bullpen combo of Matt Thornton, Jesse Crain, and Addison Reed shut the door while the Sox bats put some separation between the two clubs.

Adam Dunn hit a massive solo home run in the eighth to put the Sox up 4-1 and  in the same inning A.J. Pierzysnki hit a two run home run to cap the scoring effort.

Robin Ventura and his coaching staff will have some tough decisions to make in a few days when Danks is ready to come off the DL. Do they move Quintana to the bullpen? Keep him in the rotation and send Floyd or Humber to the bullpen?

I would move the increasingly aggravating Phil Humber to the bullpen to straighten his crap out. I expect Gavin Floyd to get back on track and he has more of a track record than Humber.

Phil has been a career minor leaguer until he had a nice 1st half of the 2011 season and of course  a perfect game this past April. Hopefully the perfect game doesn't give him a free pass to get bombed out of the park for the rest of the season.

Regardless, Quintana has shown some balls since being put in the rotation. With the win tonight, he improves his record to 2-1 with a 1.98 ERA. Not to mention pitching for a first place team most of the time.

The Sox improve to 34-27 and increase their AL Central lead to 1 1/2 over the Cleveland Indians and now 6 over the Detroit Tigers. Both AL Central foes lost night.

I'll get photos, observations, and hopefully more Sox wins  from both St. Louis and LA this week as these are two parks I haven't been to.

Some nights you just lose, Stone Pony

There wasn't much to see at The Cell tonight and judging by the paid attendance, Sox fans thought the same. Even though the offense was able to put up five runs, the Blue Jays pounded Phil Humber early on and didn't let up when it looked like the Sox were trying to chip away at the deficit.

Humber walked three batters in the first inning leading to a Blue Jays run which served as an omen for the rest of his night. The Blue Jays then blasted two 2-run home runs in the fifth off Humber to give them a 5-1 lead which ended Phil's night at five innings of work giving up the five runs and four walks.

Zach Stewart provided no relief in his 2 2/3 innings giving up an additional four runs. It's a damn shame too because the Sox were able to put some runs on the board late in the game on a A.J. Pierzysnki 2-run bomb and Adam Dunn's 18th home run of the year.

All of that goes for not in the 9-5 loss on a cool evening on the South Side.

The Sox seem to struggle against the Canadians and perhaps that's the reason the marketing department decided to offer $5 tickets on select seats to this series. And when I mean select seats, I mean the worst possible seats you could get - the few sections in the Upper Reserved by the foul poles.

I applaud the Sox for recognizing fans' concerns over ticket prices and trying to get people in the park to see a first place team. But by putting the worst seats in the house on sale for $5 that's basically saying "We'd like to have a crowd, but really don't care that much." I understand lower level seats on the infield and down the lines aren't going to be discounted and nor should they, but at least put the bleachers on sale or some lower reserved outfield seats - make it more appealing than throwing rejuvenated fans in the upper barren corners of the 500 level.

With the loss and Indians win over the Tigers, the Sox hold a 1 1/2 lead in the AL Central over the Indians and a 6 game lead over the Tigers.

Tomorrow Jose Quintana (1-0, 1.69ERA) will make another start in place of John Danks against Blue Jay starter Brandon Morrow (6-3, 3.26ERA).