Somebody told Gavin Floyd that the first batter of each inning doesn’t matter and the poor S-O-B believed them. It wasn’t until the 4th that he finally decided to cut out the act of serving up solo HRs to start off frames. 1st inning to Ichiro, 2nd inning to Smoak and the 3rd inning began with another solo shot for Ichiro. Just because the innings began with outs, and some outs are created luckier than others, doesn’t mean the runs stopped coming. The Sox put up homeruns of their own, coming from AJ, Rios, Gordo and Viciedo but couldn’t push any runs across in the final 4 innings and the winning streak came to an end.

Chris Sale will bring his stellar stuff to the mound and try to keep the team from embarking on the wrong kind of streak. Long winning streaks don’t grow on trees, and it’s highly unlikely that the Sox embark on another one that settles in the 9 or 10 range but not supplementing your wins with losses is the important part. Playing good baseball, winning series, before the streak started that was the mindset. It’s still the mindset.

When last the Sox faced Kevin Millwood, April in Seattle, he gave up 5 runs in 5.1 innings. A line that is quickly becoming known as the Gavin Floyd line. Anything approaching that today should be enough for Chris Sale to keep the Sox in the game without issue.

Today’s Lineup:

1. Lillibridge – CF
2. Beckham – 2B
3. Dunn – 1B
4. DHayan
5. Rios – RF
6. Fukudome – LF
7. Alexei – SS
8. Flowers – C
9. Escobar – 2B

Robin Ventura has elected to let some other folks in on the action today. De Aza, Konerko, AJ and O-Dog all out of the lineup to start. I just hope Gordon Beckham’s parents are there.

Gavin Floyd’s inconsistency will get another jolt in one direction or another, but which direction is anybody’s guess. Gavin’s last start wasn’t pretty, 5 runs in 5 innings but as you could deduce from the current 9 game Sox winning streak, the offense picked him up.

Today’s Lineup:

1. De Aza – CF
2. Gordo – 2B
3. Big Donkey – DH
4. Paulie – 1B
5. Rios – RF
6. AJ – C
7. Dayan – LF
8. Alexei – SS
9. Hudson – 3B

It’s refreshing. Changes to the lineup are more the exception than the rule nowadays, a far cry from how the season began with the shuffles, switches and not yet necessarily needed rests that dictated the lineup.

Mariners (23-31): 4
White Sox (30-22): 7

Slayer gonna slay. (Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE)

Jake Peavy started the game on cruise control and Gordon Beckham sat shotgun in what seemed like an easy victory. After Alejandro De Aza lead off the game with a hit-by-pitch Beckham squeaked a shot over the left field wall to give the Sox a 2-0 lead. Gordo wasn’t done; in the 5th he would launch a solo shot, yes his second of the game, setting up a back-to-back opportunity for Adam Dunn that would not be missed.

Kyle Seager cut the Sox lead in half in the top half of the 7th with a 2 run HR and after a Justin Smoak walk, Peavy would exit the game in favor of Matt Thornton. The first batter Thornton faced, Mike Carp sent a pop fly to deep short that Alexei Ramirez seemingly had handled when he let it fall to grant the tying run first base. Thornton kept his focus, though, and escaped the inning without any further damage.

The M’s added a pair in the 8th to tie the game with a barrage of singles off of the combination of Thornton and Crain. Giving up the lead late, in the mind of Sox fans, often spells doom. It may have even meant doom on this cool June evening if it wasn’t for Michael Saunders. Saunders tracked a fly ball to center field by Paul Konerko for a sure out when he lost it briefly between where it should have landed in his glove and where it smacked him in the face. With Lillibridge on second as a pinch runner following the error, Alex Rios grounded out to move him along. An intentional pass to A.J. Pierzynski followed and Alexei would hit an infield single to short to plate the winning run. Alejandro De Aza would send two insurance runs home with a single to bring the final Sox tally to 7.

Plus: Gordo! I was literally in the midst of a conversation about how great it would be for Gordon Beckham to continue to build on the progress he’s made in the last handful of games when he sent his first homer of the game over the fence. You may have not been there for the conversation, but I’ll spare you as I’m sure you understand the significance of Beckham coming through. Gordon Beckham: the last piece of the 2011 underachiever triumvirate.

Minus: A pitcher’s duel it was not. But Peavy did pitch well with a final line of 6.1 innings, 2 runs and 3 hits. Hard to place a guy in the minus column for putting up a line like that but expectation is a funny thing.

Source: FanGraphs