Blue Jays (43-43): 11
White Sox (47-38): 9

Robin Ventura won't be short on comments about the day's umpiring. (Dennis Wierzbicki-US PRESSWIRE)

The White Sox would make a game of it, the first two surges coming courtesy of Alex Rios who lined a 3 run HR in the first and an RBI double in the four run Sox 5th. Rios went 3-5 on the day with 4 RBI. Alexei Ramirez tripled home a pair of runs in that 5th frame and the Sox cut what was an 8-3 lead to an 8-7.

In the top of the 6th inning Septimo came in having inherited Rajai Davis as a baserunner, who was walked by Brian Omogrosso. Septimo paid no mind to Davis as he stole second, less mind to him when he stole third, and while in the process of walking Colby Rasmus, threw a ball past Flowers that brought Davis in to score. Nate Jones entered to face Jose Bautista and he lined a ball over the bag at third that was interfered with by a stadium security guard and was ruled a ground rule double. The replays were not definitive on if the ball was fair or foul in the first place, but to add insult to injury, Rasmus was awarded home despite being on first for the at-bat. When the interference occurred, Rasmus had just rounded second, leading one to believe a play at the plate would have been imminent had the ball’s path not been interrupted. One more run would be notched in the inning stretching the Jays’ lead back to 4.

As close as this game was in the end, it’s hard not to look at the poor strike calling of home plate umpire D.J. Reyburn. Strike calls in White Sox offensive innings ranged well outside of the plate while not being consistently made on the other side. Blue Jays pitchers wisely kept pounding the mark a couple inches out, forcing Sox hitters to protect and racked up quite a few strikeouts using this process. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen so many strikes called on pitches that clearly had none of the plate. After a particularly poorly called bottom of the 8th that squashed another potential rally, Robin Ventura had seen enough. As Jeff Mathis took a strike ball that crossed the plate above the knees in the top of the 9th, Robin came storming out of the dugout and let Reyburn know how he felt. I’m not sure anybody has ever seen Robin that hot, certainly not Reyburn, who tossed the skipper from the game.

A 9th inning rally did occur, but fell short of the mark and that frame, at least, didn’t seem to need any help from the umpiring crew to push it in the Blue Jays’ favor.

Plus: More clawing for the Sox. For every run that Toronto put on the board the White Sox worked to keep the game close. Unfortunately more than a couple of attempted comebacks fell victim to faulty umpiring and they never scratched their way to a victory.

Minus: It’s getting to be difficult to watch Tyler Flowers with a bat in his hand. His average dropped to .164 on Sunday afternoon as he was the only Sox starter not to reach base, and he never seemed too interested in getting there. A couple of helpless looking strikeouts summed up his day before being pulled for A.J. to enter the game in the 7th. Options aren’t there and the pitching help is more urgent as far as trade acquisitions, so Tyler is going to either have to figure out how to get hot or A.J. Pierzynski is going to be a very tired man.

Source: FanGraphs

It’s official. Chicago loves Kevin Youkilis. For the second time in three games the Sox had all of their offense provided by Mr. Youkilis, again it was 2 runs worth, and again it was enough to secure a win. The key beneficiary of that offense: one Gavin Floyd. Gavin went out and pitched a beauty. “The Good Gavin” went 7.2 innings and allowed just 4 hits and 0 runs.

Blue Jays (42-43): 0
White Sox (47-37): 2

Kevin Youkilis has been having some trouble keeping from supplying game-winning hits. (Mike DiNovo-US PRESSWIRE)

It became apparent early on that my prediction of a high scoring game wouldn’t come to be. I’m gladly wrong on this particular occasion. After allowing the lead-off batter a hit, Floyd cruised through the Blue jay lineup, inducing some weak contact, catching breaks on the hard hit balls, and becoming friendly with the double play ball when necessary. We love Good Gavin. We hate Bad Gavin. If I may pass out a little homework, we need to come up with a quality nickname that captures the duality of Gavin Floyd. Now taking suggestions via Twitter, Facebook or in the comments section.

On the Sox side, Alex Rios got a break in the 1st with runners on first and third on what should have been a strike 3 call but was overturned on some confusion regarding whether or not he foul tipped the ball into the dirt. He could not capitalize, as Yunel Escobar made a nice play to end the inning anyway. It appeared that the lone chance for scoring was squandered, the Sox would only notch 3 more hits on the afternoon. That’s where the Youk comes in. Alexei Ramirez lead off the 5th with a single, two batters later, Kevin Youkilis would knock him in, along with himself on a towering HR to centerfield for the only scores of the game.

A little excitement in the top of the 9th for Matt Thornton, on for the 4 out save. Jose Bautista hit what should have been a routine fly ball into left field that Dayan Viciedo lost in the sun and was unable to put a glove on. As the ball rolled to the wall, Bautista ran the bases, making the turn and heading for third while Viciedo helped to covered up his mistake by getting the ball back in to Alexei Ramirez who relayed to Youkilis for the tag. A Cuban relay to help secure the White Sox victory.

Ricky Romero had his best outing since May 18th, and received the loss.

Plus: Ever since Kevin Youkilis started wearing a White Sox uniform in Chicago he’s been in the middle of everything, passing out game winning hits like they’re candy and making plays he wasn’t supposed to make as a third baseman. He has driven in the winning run in each of the last 4 games. I’ve already marveled at it and I’ll marvel at it again: What a great trade by Kenny Williams.

Minus: Let’s talk about turning a minus into a plus. Dayan Viciedo’s staying on the botched fly-out is a huge play. If he lags, and De Aza has to get that in, Bautista is standing on third and anything can happen. If Carlos Quentin was still out there he would have pounded the ground before bothering to look where the ball ended up.

Source: FanGraphs

My first-place vote went to Justin Verlander who won our Pitcher of the Year award. To me Verlander was more valuable to the Tigers than Ellsbury was to the Red Sox. Not to take anything away from Jacoby’ season, he was great, I just thought Verlander had a bigger impact on his team. Runs don’t mean anything if you have a pitcher who gives them right back. Ellsbury scored a lot of runs, Verlander barely allowed any.

Check out my post in that link to read my thoughts on Ellsbury.

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