As much as I am prone to complain about in-game management and the wasting of outs, the White Sox main issue in Tuesday night’s loss was Doug Fister. Tonight it doesn’t get much easier, as Max Scherzer brings an 11.2 K/9 rate to the table. He’s not exited a game without going 5 innings since his first start in June and he’s lasted through the 7th and beyond in each of his last 5 starts while allowing less than a run a game over that span. That’s rough. Is he that good or is he just on an incredible hot streak? We hope, of course, for the latter, and will attempt to be the team to put an end to that.
Gavin Floyd isn’t instilling the same fear in the hearts of Detroit fans, I can assure you. Despite the solid performance record he has against the Tigers in his career, the same Gavin “Wild Card” Floyd that we’ve been watching all season long will be the Sox representative on the mound. This could be spun a couple of ways. Gavin’s last 2 starts were awful as he was unable to make it out of the 3rd inning in either. We could say that. Or we could look at the last time he came back after having arm trouble. He pitched 6 solid innings and allowed just 2 earned runs. I’m even going to ignore his walk rate that game (he walked 6…sorry). Let’s all just do our best to sit back and see what Gavin Floyd’s got for us tonight without worrying too much about what he’s given us in the past.
Tonight’s Lineup:
1.De Aza – LF
2.Youk – 3B
3.Wise – CF
4.Konerko – 1B
5.Rios – RF
6.AJ – C
7.Ramirez – SS
8.Johnson – DH
9.Hudson – 2B
While I was lighting another candle for Adam Dunn this afternoon I pondered what to do about Dayan Viciedo and his flailing 3 strikeout performance from last night. Robin Ventura was thinking about it too, and has elected to sit Dayan this time around in favor of Dan Johnson. Johnson, incidentally has just 6 plate appearances against Scherzer but has managed 3 walks in those efforts to go along with a single. Gordon Beckham is also getting the night off, or at least the 7:00 hour off. The O-Dog will get a go in his stead.
Defensively, Dewayne Wise and Alejandro De Aza have swapped spots as De Aza says that he is more comfortable in left.
Where to Watch
Game available in Chicago on Comcast SportsNet and FoxSports Detroit in the Tigers market. 7:10 Central start time.