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Current Series

4 game series vs White Sox @ Metrodome

Chicago White Sox South Side Sox @ Minnesota Twins Twinkie Town Monday, Jul 28, 2008, 8:10 PM EDT Metrodome Mark Buehrle vs Kevin Slowey   Complete Coverage >
Tue 07/29	clayton richard vs glen perkins	8:10 PM EDT
Wed 07/30	gavin floyd vs livan hernandez	8:10 PM EDT
Thu 07/31	john danks vs scott baker	8:10 PM EDT

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Going In, In Brief

Losers of five in the a row, the Twins (57-47) bounced back over the weekend, taking the final two games in Cleveland to earn their first series win since taking three of four in Detroit prior to the All-Star break.  Minnesota is a team approaching a crossroads for their season, with many intriguing and telling choices to make in the coming weeks.  There's the ongoing hush-hush about third base, but there are plenty of questions inside the organization as well:  the outfield is full with Michael Cuddyer on his way back, veterans are taking up dollars and roster spots from younger players who are out-performing them, the the back end of the bullpen might be getting an overhaul very soon.

In the south side of Chicago (59-44), the White Sox have been one game better than the Twins since the break.  While Minnesota can thank timely hitting and great starting pitching for a good part of their winning streak, the Sox are in their position by overpowering the opposition on both sides of the ball.  Five hitters with double-digit home run totals, and Carlos Quentin and Jermaine Dye have 51 between them, while a pitching staff led by Mark Buehrle, John Danks and Gavin Floyd is one of the league's best.  Their weak spot, if they have one, is the bullpen after the loss of Scott Linebrink.  Getting to the bullpen early to avoid the three-headed monster of Jenks-Dotel-Thornton will be key.

Probable Pitchers

Mark Buehrle VS Kevin Slowey
Clayton Richard VS Glen Perkins
Gavin Floyd VS Livan Hernandez
John Danks VS Scott Baker

Opposition Focus

Mark Buehrle:  While he may have or may have not sold his soul to the devil, you can't argue with results--over his last 10 starts, Buehrle's ERA is 1.99.  It's definitely a Return of the Jedi battle on Monday night, as the Twins dominated the southpaw on May 7th but were struck down by the Dark Side of the Force on June 7th.  Round three, this time on Minnesota's home turf, will be one to watch.  If there's one stat that should make us optimistic, it's that Buehrle has been more hittable on the road (.300/.336/.436) than he has been in the comforts of the home ballpark (.233/.290/.374).

Clayton Richard:  The 24-year old left-hander had his first major league start on July 23, throwing 85 pitches in four innings versus the Texas Rangers.  He struck out seven and only walked one, but he also allowed seven hits and five runs.  It wasn't the best debut, but there was promise, and his team bailed him out of a loss.  At any rate, he's an extreme ground ball pitcher, acquiring percentages of 57, 65, 58, 52 and 61 at every stop in the minors since A-level in '06.  For his minor league career, he doesn't strike out a lot of guys, has decent control, and his 91-mph fastball can have a little sink to it.  Otherwise, he's strictly curveball/changeup.  If the Twins aren't careful, he could chew them up.

Gavin Floyd:  At just 25, Floyd is in his fifth year in the big leagues, and suffice it to say this is the knid of season everyone's been expecting him to have.  The biggest reason for his success is the drastic reduction in his home run rates.  Only 11.6% of his fly balls have been home runs this season, which isn't great, but it's much better than his 17.7% mark in '07 or his 19.7% mark in '06.  As a result he's been able to limit his damage this season, without getting more strikeouts, fewer walks or more ground balls.  One thing to keep in mind, however, is that his FIP and xFIP are well more than one full run higher than his ERA of 3.57, indicating that he's A) been lucky on balls in play and B) is likely to regress hard to the mean.  We'll see how he does on Tuesday, but it should be noted that in three starts versus the Twins this year he's done very well:  21.1 IP, 12 H, 2 HR, 6 R, 7 BB, 14 K.

John Danks:  Just 23 in April, Danks is enjoying a very successful sophomore campaign with the South Siders.  It's easy to see why:  better strikeout rates, better walk rates, home run rates cut in half, more gound balls, static line drive ratios and he's leaving more men on base.  Deciphering that formula is easy:  Danks is much better than he was in 2007.  He throws a good cut fastball now, in addition to the fastball/curveball/changeup/slider repetoire.  Also, he's been better on the road, and he handles right-handed hitters extremely well.  If there's one chink in his armor right now, it's that he's come undone a bit in his last three starts, totaling 17.2 innings with 15 runs and 24 hits.  He's still getting strikeouts and limiting walks, however, so it might be that he's just leaving the ball over the plate a bit too often.  That, or he's been unlucky.  Let's hope for the former.

Josh Fields:  With Joe Crede on the disabled list, Fields is back in black.  Last season, at 24, he filled in with good power in Crede's absence at the hot corner, but struggling with contact and plate discipline was sent back to triple-A when the Sox couldn't (or didn't want to) trade Crede.  In triple-A Charlotte, Fields hasn't faired awfully well this summer, but not horrible either:  .248/.325/.450 in 222 at-bats, with 12 doubles, nine homers, 25 walks and 77 strikeouts.  He has his weaknesses, so as long as Twins pitchers stay out of his wheelhouse they should be able to keep him under wraps.

Paul Konerko:  An old nemesis, the 32-year old first baseman has struggled mightily since returning from the disabled list in early July, hitting just .218/.283/.309.  He's having an off-season from start to finish, but he's liable to go off at any time.  Konerko is a hitter that shouldn't be ignored.

Carlos Quentin:  He turns 26 in August, and the guy just oozes talent.  There's a lot of power in his swing (.271 isolated power), and even though he has good plate discipline, if you can mix him up you can get him to expand and go outside of his comfort zone.  Mixing in regular breaking balls (that don't hang, by the way) will be a good idea, and could help keep a fly-ball hitter from hitting one over the fence.

Jim Thome:  He's 37, but he can still slug it with the best of them.  He's hitting .389/.522/.685 since July 8th.

Alexei Ramirez:  He's been Chicago's version of Alexi Casilla, just a bit older with more power and less plate discipline.  We've seen him a couple of times this season already, only once since he became a regular, and he's given the White Sox offense another weapon.  A .355/.381/.527 June and a .347/.363/.533 July have ensured he'll be a fixture for the foreseeable future.  Fortunately, he swings at an absurd number of baseballs, including a disturbing 43.9% of balls outside the strike zone.  Take that, Carlos Gomez!

Stats

 
Gavin Floyd pitches another career-highlighting game, brushes against history after nearly no-hitting the Tigers in April.

While The Perfect Game is rare, a No-Hitter is pretty damn close.  Floyd combined a masterful performance with some help from his defense, the end result of which was a great win for the White Sox.  There was a little trouble in the first inning, as he walked Brendan Harris and Joe Mauer in back-to-back plate appearances, but no damage was done.

Another walk to Mauer in the fourth led to Minnesota's only run.  With Joe on first, Justin Morneau took a strong cut and lined the ball hard into left field.  Carlos Quentin appeared to make the catch, but in the next instant the ball slipped from his glove.  Michael Cuddyer followed up with a long fly out to right field, advancing Mauer to third, and Jason Kubel completed the hitless scoring opportunity by lifting a sacrifice fly to Nick Swisher in center field.  It made the score 2-1, but Floyd wouldn't give the Minnesota offense another opportunity.

Cuddyer described what it was like for hitters in the batters box:

"He had late movement, and that's the best kind you can have," Cuddyer said. "It looks like a strike all the way to the zone and then maybe it falls out. To the naked eye, it looks like we are chasing, but when you're up there, it looks like a strike."

Gavin Floyd's curveball has always been his best pitch, but on Tuesday night his fastball and slider were just as effective.  Games like this are what can happen when guys with great stuff, like Floyd, can get it all working at once.

After retiring Brendan Harris on strikes to start the top of the ninth, Joe Mauer stepped in, 0-for-1 with a pair of walks.  On a 1-0 count, Floyd's slider broke over the plate and Mauer took advantage.  Mauer pushed it, lining the ball into the left-center field gap.  Swisher, who had been playing Mauer to pull, was out of position.

Knowing it takes a little luck to put a No-Hitter on your resume, Floyd mentioned he could only do what he could do:  throw strikes and get people out.  It was Swisher who sounded disappointed when talking about trying to keep that goose egg intact:

"In the sixth, I looked up and realized they didn't have [a hit]...I didn't care if I had to run through the wall to catch it. I was going for it, and tried my best superman impersonation, but I didn't get it. In my mind, it [stinks]. The win was great to get, but I wanted that for Gavin."

That one hit was enough, and Ozzie Guillen lifted Floyd from the game with a 7-1 lead, one out and Joe Mauer standing on second base.  It was Mauer's ninth double of the season.  Bobby Jenks came on and closed out the ninth.

It wasn't much fun to watch as a Twins fan, but as a baseball fan it's easy to appreciate what Floyd nearly pulled off.  We know first hand what it's like to cheer for someone or something that isn't extpected to do too much, and Gavin Floyd's career hasn't exactly gone as it once was projected.  Tuesday night he was effective as any pitcher in the game, and he nearly pulled off a No-Hitter.

Having said that, I'm glad Mauer broke it up.  It's a small victory, one of those "moral victories", but you take what you can get out of a loss.  Game two of the series is tonight, hopefully we can turn it back around and start another winning streak.

[Note by Jesse, 05/07/08 5:39 AM CDT ]  Be sure to check out our Q&A with Twins President Dave St. Peter from Tuesday moring!