Four near no-hitters in two years. You knew it was going to happen soon.

April 12, 2008 against the Detroit Tigers: Gavin Floyd takes a No-Hitter into the 8^th inning against Detroit, only to lose it on a base hit by Edgar Renteria with one out in the 8^th. The Sox go on to win 7-0.

May 6, 2008 against the Minnesota Twins: Gavin Floyd takes a No-Hitter into the 9^th inning against Minnesota, only to have it broken up with one out in the inning by Joe Mauer, of the M&M boys. Nick Swisher laid out flat to catch the ball that split the gap, but he just couldn’t get it. The Sox go on to win 7-1.

August 11, 2008 against the Boston Red Sox: John Danks gives up nothing through 6 2/3 innings against the Boston Red Sox, but they come back to beat the White Sox 5-1.

May 7^th, 2008 against the Detroit Tigers: Mark Buehrle retires the first nineteen Detroit batters he faces, but gives up a late inning double to Placido Polanco. The White Sox go on to win the game 6-0.

July 23, 2009 against Tampa Bay: Perfection.

After going 3 1/3 innings and giving up eight runs in his start before the All Star Game, Mark Buehrle made his second start after the All Star Game and gave White Sox, and Baseball fans, something extremely special and extraordinary to watch. A 38^th round pick by the White Sox in 1998, Mark Buehrle has exceeded expectations in many an area.

Excluding his one season where he has recorded a season record below .500 (2006; 12-13; 4.99 ERA), Mark Buehrle has been the most consistent pitcher the White Sox have had in the past ten years (This might also be attributed to the fact that he’s also the elder statesmen on the staff…)

So much had to go right in order for Buehrle to accomplish what he did today. An early lead. Spectacular defense. Some luck. Dominance. And a ton of spirit, guts, and will. That’s how Buehrle was able to record the 18^th perfect game in Major League Baseball History.

Everyone knows that Buehrle doesn’t throw anything above 90 mph. When he tries, he gets hit. His bread and butter isn’t any of his pitches, it’s where he locates his pitches. If he can’t locate his fastball, he gets pounded. If his changeup isn’t landing where he wants it to land, or it isn’t working the way he wants it to work, he gets pounded. And when that cutter doesn’t cut…He. Gets. Pounded.

Not today. He was locating, he was cutting, and he was changing up. He only recorded three outs via his slider, with twelve coming on change ups and twelve on his fastball. He had the Tampa Bay batters off balance and guessing. Any pitcher who averages 86 mph on his fastball and then throws a changeup at 79 will keep any batter off balance. None of that happens without locating these pitches. None of it.

Scott Kazmir, on the other hand, had a real hard time locating his pitches in the second inning. Giving up a lead off single to Konerko, and then following that with a walk, Kazmir went to 3-2 counts on both Gordon Beckham and Jayson Nix, before both struck out. Ramon Castro though, hitting .166 until today, laced a single to left field, loading the bases for Josh Fields.

Yes, Josh Fields. The same Josh Fields who is hitting .221 with a .305 OBP and 70 strikeouts. The same Josh Fields who has a .222 batting average with Runners in Scoring Position, and two outs. That Josh Fields. That same Josh Fields ripped a 3-1 pitch way back in the left field stands, staking the Sox to a 4-0 lead, and the Sox, well, they never looked back.

Fortunately, the defense wasn’t too focused on Buehrle, making some stellar plays behind him. Alexei Ramirez made six of the twenty seven outs at shortstop, with Gordon Beckham making two plays in the bottom of the eighth that preserved the Perfecto.

However, when you talk about the defense, Dewayne Wise’s name must be included. Making, arguably, the best defensive play of the 2009 season, Dewayne Wise proved his worth to White Sox fans…if only for a day. On Monday, Brian Anderson, the one who was heralded as the successor to the throne held by Aaron Rowand, was sent down to AAA Charlotte as The Carlos Quentin returned to the White Sox lineup. Manager Ozzie Guillen and GM Kenny Williams were bombarded with questions as to why Dewayne Wise was kept over Brian Anderson.

For one day, those questions came to a halt. On a 2-2 pitch to Gabe Kapler, Buehrle failed to locate his cutter, and left it right down the middle. Kapler jumped on it. It went high. It went deep. And it was gone. Out of here. Perfecto. No-No. Shutout. Gone. No celebration. Just another win. The White Sox would still be in first place going into the Detroit series, and that’s all Sox fans could have asked from Buehrle.

But, wait. Dewayne Wise was sprinting, keeping his eye on the ball, and thinking he could make the catch. No one thought he would. As soon as that ball jumped off of Kapler’s bat, it was gone, right?

The stadium fell silent, the groans ready to emanate from the crowd. Wise leapt and stuck his glove out, hoping that the ball would somehow find his glove. Wise hit the wall, rebounded off of it, and fell onto the grass. The crowd was silent. A million thoughts may have run through Wise’s mind, and I can’t help but think that he was praying he hadn’t dislocated his shoulder again. Not lost on anyone, however, was the fact that in his glove and as he fell to the ground, rolling onto his back, Wise was holding a baseball. That same baseball that almost flew out of the park.

Perfecto. No-no. Shutout. All preserved. The crowd went insane. Buehrle tipped his cap to Wise. The crowd couldn’t be stopped. They knew, at that moment, that they were about to witness history. They were going to see a Perfect game.

Mark Buehrle had this in the bag.

The next batter, Michel Hernandez, strikes out on a 3-2 pitch. The crowd gets louder. Jason Bartlett, the former Twinkie, the man who struck out on a 3-2 pitch from Bobby Jenks on Monday night with the bases loaded, worked the count in his favor to 2-1. This was Jason Bartlett, former Twinkie, who is hitting .338 this season. Jason Bartlett, the All Star. He’s going to be the one to ruin this day. This moment.

No. Not today. On a 2-1 pitch, Buehrle induced a ground ball to Alexei

Ramirez. Ramirez didn’t try to do to much, throwing across the diamond to the first basemen, Josh Fields (It’s slightly ironic that his last name is Fields, and yet, he can’t field anything).

Mark Buehrle. A perfect game. Yes.

How improbable was this? Dan Bernstein of the Boers and Bernstein show said it best: A team that has a rookie third basemen, a shortstop who has only played shortstop in the Majors this season, a backup rookie second basemen, a first basemen who can’t field, a left fielder playing on one foot, a center fielder who’s career was finished just four months ago, and a right fielder with horrible knees, this game was not supposed to happen. With an infield that has committed 68 errors on the year (fifth most in the majors), this game was not supposed to end this way. Someone was supposed to mess up. Someone was a mistake. Two weeks ago, Juan Uribe, now of the San Francisco Giants, made an error that cost pitcher Jonathan Sanchez a perfect game. Juan Uribe, a verteran, made an error, and the rookie at third for the White Sox, Gordon Beckham, played flawless third base. Dewayne Wise, a career minor leaguer, makes, under the circumstances, one of the greatest catches of all time.

Magic? No. Luck? Maybe. But really, this was fate. When a pitcher like Mark Buehrle, a man who isn’t overpowering, is able to stymie the number three offense in the Major Leagues, it’s more than magic or luck…It’s fate.

The first time Buehrle threw a no-hitter, he faced the minimum, picking off Sammy Sosa (that bastard) at first. The first time he threw a no-hitter, no one could believe it. The second time he threw it, well, it was just a little bit sweeter. He allowed no base-runners. He was perfect. Did anyone believe it? No. Would anyone have believed that two starts after giving up 8 earned runs in 3 1/3 innings, that same pitcher would come out and be perfect? I know I sure as hell wouldn’t have believed it, and I doubt anyone could honestly say they would have either.

Mark Buehrle becomes only the sixth pitcher, along with Randy Johnson, Cy Young, and Sandy Koufax, to throw both a No-Hitter and a Perfect Game No-Hitter in the course of his career. He becomes the fourth pitcher ever to win a World Series, throw a No-Hitter, and to throw a Perfect Game in his career, joining Cy Young, Randy Johnson, and Sandy Koufax. He also may havebeen the first pitcher ever to win a World Series, throw a No-Hitter and a Perfect game, and record a save in the World Series.

Mark Buehrle.

King for a day.

Perfect for a day.

Yes.

It looks like Mark Buehrle likes extra days of rest. He liked it so much that he almost threw a perfect game tonight against the Tigers as the White Sox blanked Detroit 6-0. Buehrle went 8 innings, gave up only one hit, a double to Placido Polanco in the 7th inning, walked 2, and struck out 5 to earn his fifth victory of the season. The White Sox scored early and often as 5 men came across in the first inning off of Armando Galarraga, all of which came with two outs. Pierzynski and Nix both homered while Konerko recorded a two hit game with two RBI.

What can I say? Buehrle dazzled tonight. He had a perfect game going through the first 6.1 innings until Placido Polanco doubled to left in the 7th with one out. Buehrle then went on to load the bases in the same inning, but got out of it by getting Gerald Laird on a fly ball to Scott Podsednik. Buehrle would then go on to retire the side in order in the 8th. He threw 110 pitches tonight in 8 innings and could have easily pitched in the 9th had there been a no hitter in line. Jenks got some much needed work in the 9th inning. He would not allow a run, but the Tigers got a runner to third base. Unfortunately, Buehrle could not finish off Polanco in that 7th inning even though he was ahead in the count 0-2. The most important thing tonight was not Buehrle's near perfect game, but rather that the White Sox won. They haven't won since Buehrle's last start.

Offensively, the Sox scored early. What was encoraging is that they did the scoring with 2 outs. Jermaine Dye singled in the first run with a liner to left in the first, scoring Chris Getz. Paul Konerko then doubled down the right field line, scoring both Thome and Dye. A.J. Pierznyski then launched a two run home run, his fourth of the season to cap off the 5 run first. Jayson Nix added an extra run in the 4th with his first career home run. Nix, who was playing for the struggling Alexei Ramirez at SS, is now hitting .400 in limited at bats and has looked very good defensively. It looks like the White Sox have themselves a nice new backup infielder. Carlos Quentin continued to struggle. After going 3-5 in Wedensday's 11 inning marathon against Kansas City, Quentin went 0-4 today as he left 3 runners on base. The 2008 all-star is now only hitting .242. Josh Fields is also struggling. After his hot start, he is now hitting .250 and struck out twice today. Ozzie might have to do some lineup flipping. Fields not getting contact is a huge concern in the 2-hole. Maybe they should put Nix there until Alexei figures it out again. The White Sox only had 6 hits, but they got 6 runs, which was very nice to see. The team capitalized on every oppurtunity they had today, which is very encouraging.

Like I said earlier, the most important thing to come out of this game was the win, not the fact that Buehrle almost had a no-hitter. The White Sox needed this badly. At 13-14, they're in 3rd place in the AL Central, 4 games back of the 17-11 Royals. They'll face the Rangers tomorrow. It'll be Matt Harrison vs. Jose Contreras. Contreras is on the hotseat right now as he is 0-4 on the season. He has only pitched well in one game and has been abysmal in the rest.

- Stan (White Sox writer)

Manny Ramirez, a juicer? Who saw this coming? I sure as hell didn't. Red Sox nation didn't. The pretty people of Los Angeles didn't. Who did then? Yankees fans? Cubs fans? The fans who hated him because he killed their team one at bat after another? I think the answer here is nobody. Although Manny's always been a selfish douche bag for most of his career, he has never been a bigger douche than Barry Bonds and he was never more selfish than, well, Barry Bonds. But Manny's always been a fan-favorite anywhere he goes. He's not the most friendly of players, but he's not Barry Bonds. There goes that name again. In fact, I actually liked Manny last year. He had a spot in my heart for harrasing the Cubs in the NLDS. He also showed me that one man can be the thing that turns an entire team around from an offensive anemic team to an elite offensive team. He went to the NL and helped me prove just how much better the AL was compared to the NL. But I guess all of that is moot because Manny Ramirez cheated and now has a nice 50 day vacation in front of him.

I've always thought of Manny as one of those guys who didn't need to cheat. He was one of the best pure hitters of the late 20th century. He, along with guys like Thomas, Griffey, Bonds, Guerrero, and so many others seemed to be just men who were sent by the baseball gods to bless the sport of baseball for the next 15 years. Sure enough, two of those 5 guys I just mentioned must pissed the baseball gods off. Maybe it was the fact that Manny was taking a drug that was made for women to somehow raise his testosterone or that Bonds was putting substances in his body that were meant for cows and horses. Whatever the case is, they did something wrong. What's worse is that they didn't need those substances to begin with. If you look at Manny's stats throughout the years. He was quite a hitter even before anybody can suspect that he was somehow on the juice. He had a slugging percentage well into the .500s before 1998 when he came out and nailed 45 home runs with a .633 SLG% with the Indians. Then he was pretty consistent throughout his career power-wise. That is until 2007 when he was hampered with one injury that kept his plate appearances down and limited him to only 20 home runs. It just so happens that the Mitchell report came out that year as well. Coincidence or not, all of that was erased in 2008 when he went on to become the old Manny once again and lit up the National League for the last two months of the season. Whatever the case is, the argument can be made that Manny Ramirez, like Barry Bonds, did not need steroids to become the great players. Will Manny still be lingering at 450 home runs without steroids? Perhaps. But 500 is nothing but a number. I'd rather hit 499 home runs and play clean than hit 500 and have all of my life's accomplishments tainted. Because that is exactly what Manny Ramirez has done to himself. Manny already had a tainted reputation for his personality, but he was never questioned in terms of his baseball skills. However, now that this mess has happened, we can no longer say that.

So what does this do to Red Sox fans? The same fans who saw their beloved team win the 2004 and 2007 World Series with Manny as their pilot. What about David Ortiz? He hit 50 home runs only 3 years ago, now he can't even hit 1. Bill Mueller? Mark Bellhorn? Nomar Garciaparra? And how did Kevin Youkillis get so huge over the past couple of years? Were the 04 and 07 World Series championships tainted? Even though the Red Sox fans will not feel the direct effect of the Manny suspension, they will have what Bill Simmons calls, "a mental asterisk" when they recall Manny's greatness with the Red Sox and his clutch play in 2004 and 2007. I'm willing to say that a lot of Red Sox fans don't feel the slightest guilt. When you haven't won in almost a century, you'll do it anyway you can. Just ask A.J. Pierzynski. Plus, there is no proof yet that Manny used the PEDs when he was with the Red Sox. But we can only speculate and guess for now. It's part of the fun for a sports fan.

When I heard the news today, my jaw was half way dropped. I really did not envision this happening. Who's next? Pujols? Quentin? Hamilton? I would be just as surprised as I was today. But then again, nobody's really truly surprised. Because deep inside us, every time some player comes out of nowhere to become the next best thing. We have that thought in our head questioning his integrity. That's what the game has become. A game of doubts and guessing as to who is legit and who is not. It shouldn't have gotten to this point. However, if it wasn't for steroids, baseball would not be what it is today. As great as it is, it's a tainted game full of suspicion and speculation and men who put illegal substances into their body. It's about time that the MLB cracks down on such activities. You don't need home runs to bring all the hot chicks into ball parks. Real fans of baseball appreciate a nice pitcher's dual. I think I've figured that out over the years.

- Stan (White Sox writer)

Just when you thought the center field problem was reaching a final solution, the problems start up again. This time Brian Anderson is a victim, once again. Anderson, who was hitting .288 before injuring his oblique muscle in Wednesday's game against the Mariners, will head to the 15-day DL. In order to respond to this move, the White Sox bring up 2005 World Series hero Scott Podsednik from AAA Charlotte.

Podsednik was one of the most lethal threats on the bases in the first half of 2005. However, a groin injury slowed him down in the second half of the season and he never regained his speed. Nevertheless, he still stole 59 bases in 2005 and went on to steal 40 in 2006. Podsednik hit just .253 with the Rockies in 2008 and stole only 12 bases in 162 at bats.

The White Sox also demoted Jerry Owens, who was only 1-11 in his short stint with the big club. In response to the move, the White Sox bring up infielder Jayson Nix, who also played with the Rockies before. Nix was part of the 2008 USA Olympic team.

Tonight's lineup features Scott Podsednik batting 9th. It looks as if Ozzie will start Pods against right handed pitchers and Lillibridge against left handed pitchers. Nix might also see some time against lefties in place of Chris Getz. We'll see how the Podsednik experiment goes. Unless he shows that blazing speed he had back in 05 and hits for a decent average and gets on base at a decent rate, he will make up for his not-so-impressive defense in center field.

- Stan (White Sox writer)

It sure felt like a crisis last night, as the White Sox were beaten down by the Blue Jays by two touchdowns (that's 14-0 if you're keeping score at home) last night in one of the most awful games I've ever witnessed. However, the story would be the exact opposite just 24 hours later as the White Sox trounced the AL leading Blue Jays 10-2. Alexei Ramirez finally came through in the clutch with a grand slam that capped off a 6 run 5th inning. Mark Buehrle was sensational, as he recorded another quality start, his 3rd of the season.

So after last night's debacle, Mark Buehrle needed to become the stopper and halt the bleeding. He did just the thing tonight with 6 innings of solid work. In which he gave up two runs (and they were very cheap runs), 6 hits, and 3 walks. He also struck out 4 Blue Jays in the process. The win now makes Buehrle 3-0. He is the first White Sox starter this season to own such a record. It looks like Buehrle's extra day of rest did not affect him, as he was sharp for most of the night. The home plate umpire did not give Mark the outside corner for most of the game, but Mark pitched through that. Buehrle also pitched through two bloopers in the 2nd inning, one down the right field line by Kevin Millar, the other by Jose Bautista that was flared into center between Jerry Owens and Brent Lillibridge. However, Buehrle was not phased by these hits, as he only gave up two runs in the inning, which is all the Jays would score for the night. Mark was also aided by some superb defense from Brent Lillibridge, who robbed Aaron Hill of a hit up the middle in the 4th inning that saved a run and maybe the ball game. Jerry Owens also made a nice diving catch along the warning track on a fly ball hit by Vernon Wells. Octavio Dotel, Matt Thornton, and Scott Linebrink kept the Jays off the board in the 7th, 8th, and 9th.

On the offensive side of things, it didn't start out so pretty. The Sox made it too easy for Brian Burress in the first, as Lillibridge struck out, Fields flied out, and Quentin also flied out. However, the Sox would nod thigns up in the 2nd with clutch RBI hits from Brian Anderson and Alexei Ramirez. Things really got started in the 5th when the Sox took their first lead of the game on a Paul Konerko single up the middle and then a Brian Anderson single to left. Then it was time for The Missile to finally shine this year. Alexei took some tough pitches in the at bat against Shawn Camp, but with a full count, Alexei flicked his wrist at a hanging slurve that Camp left out over the plate. Next thing you know, the ball is in the left field bullpen. This might be the game that officially takes Alexei out of his prolonged slump. Ramirez now has 5 grand slams in his young career and is a crazy 9-20 with the bases loaded in his career. Brian Anderson also had an encouraging game, as he drove in two runs early in the game and went an impressive 2-3. Konerko went 3-4 with an RBI and Jermaine Dye went 1-3 with a 2 run homer. It was nice to see the Sox finally hit the ball well for a change after getting shutout last night and being limited to only two runs the night before. The right handed heavy lineup which includes Corky Miller and Brent Lillibridge is now 3-0 on the season. With those two in the lineup, the Sox offense has scored a combined total of 26 runs. It looks like Ozzie needs to give those guys more starts.

Today's game definitely makes up for last night's disaster. It was also kind of a must-win because Halladay is pitching tomorrow against Jose Contreras. Let's all hope that Jose doesn't suck as much as he did in his last start at Baltimore. The White Sox have actually hit Halladay fairly well. However, he's still Doc Halladay. Believe it or not, the Sox are 5-0 on weekend games so far. How weird is that? Let's hope the trend continues tomorrow. With the Tigers beating the Royals today, three teams are atop the AL Central once again, as the Sox, Tigers, and Royals share it with 9-8 records.

- Stan (White Sox writer)

Every baseball season, there's something on the mind of every baseball fan that resides in either Boston or New York. And it has absolutely nothing to do with their own teams. These two cities hate each other. In fact, they hate each other so much, they think about the other team almost as much as they think about their own. This will be on full display this weekend as the beasts from the AL East collide for the first time in 2009. There's only 19 chances to see these teams beat the shit out of each other, so don't miss it.

Even if you can care less about these two teams, the pitching matchups will sure catch the eyes of every true baseball fan. Today, it will be two young studs going at it in Lester and Chamberlain. Tomorrow afternoon's matchup features two of the premier power pitchers in the game with Beckett and Burnett. Then youngster Justin Masterson will face off against veteran Andy Pettitte for game three on Sunday Night Baseball (you just know ESPN has every one of these Red Sox vs. Yankees games covered).

The Red Sox come into this series winners of their last 7 games, including a sweep of both the Twins and Orioles. Meanwhile, the Yankees just came off a succesful series against the A's, where they won both games, while the third was rained out. On the New York side, Posada, Damon, Jeter, and Swisher have been hot as of late. Meanwhile, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkillis, and Mike Lowell have been swinging hot sticks for the Red Sox.

It will be an interesting series that's for sure. These games mean a lot to both the people of Boston and New York. As an outsider, I'd like to see nothing but some entertaining games. And when I mean entertaining, I mean Varitek shoving his glove into A-Rod's face or Pedro Martinez pushing down Don Zimmer. But even if those things don't happen, great baseball should be upon us.

- Stan (White Sox writer)

Just when you thought that Chicago sports could go nowhere but up, the opposite occurs. Like one of Kanye West's hit songs, "All Falls Down", everything fell down, or apart, for Chicago sports teams yesterday. Nevermind the Cubs, they're not in this discussion. I'm talking about the teams on the South and West side of town. Not only did the Bulls get a reality check last night with a 21 point loss to the defending world champion Celtics at home, the White Sox also got a reality check in Baltimore where Bartolo Colon pitched like his jersey number and Adam Eaton became one of those horrible pitchers that looks like Cy Young against the White Sox. To add on to that, Carlos Quentin, who is also called God or the Chuck Norris of Baseball (either way, he is God), left the game in the 8th inning after getting hit by a pitch on his left hand. It appears that Quentin (or God) is alright, the worst thing that will probably happen is that he might be listed as day to day. As for Colon, he really did pitch like a 40 year old. Ozzie got tired of his fatass by the fourth inning and took him out of the game. The Orioles would not score another earned run after Colon's departure. Meanwhile, the Sox offense was stymied by Adam Eaton, who came in with an ERA of 11. Chris Getz was the only bright spot offense, collecting 2 of the teams 7 hits.

Bartolo Colon's box score line probably looked horrible. Thing is, it should have been worse. I probably could have hit this guy up there yesterday. 10 of the 19 Orioles batters he faced got on base. Luckily for Colon and the Sox, only 5 somehow scored. Colon only had two pitches yesterday and both were not Major League caliber. His fastball was flat and was around the mid to high 80s. He only got it above 90 once. He also had no movement on them, so these were basically batting practice meatballs. His changeup also sucked and he was afraid to throw his slider that had good movement at the tail end. Looks like Bartolo didn't have his pre-game meal yesterday. Let's hope this isn't his arm acting up and that he rebounds in his next start. I had thought that we only had one bad old man at the end of the rotation in Contreras, let's try to not make it 2. D.J. Carrasco was about the only good thing that came out on the pitching side of things yesterday. He worked three innings of one run ball, the run he gave up was not earned though. If Contreras, Colon, and Richard all fail as starting pitchers, I would be the first to vote Carrasco into the starting rotation. This guy is spot on in long relief mop up situations. Dotel and Jenks came in for even more mop up duty. Both pitched a scoreless inning while striking out one apiece.

The offense had a promising start, Chris Getz singled to lead off the game and stole second. Unfortunately, the next three batters, Fields, Quentin, and Thome would all strike out. It would get even worse, as the Sox managed only 6 more hits all game against Adam Eaton and the O's bullpen. The Sox' only runs came in the 8th. Adam Eaton left the game with men on the corners and Carlos Quentin got hit on the thumb with a pitch from Jim Johnson. Quentin would leave the game and seems to be okay. Jim Thome would then flare a shallow single into the left field gap to scoring both Ramirez and Getz. That was it for the offense as Chris Getz and Paul Konerko were the only players who had more than one hit. Looks like the White Sox offense is very inconsistent at this point. Fields, who went 3-5 the night before, went 0-4 last night with 3 strikeouts. Brian Anderson, A.J. Pierzynski, and Carlos Quentin also went hitless. Let's hope this offense wakes up against a banged up Blue Jays pitching staff.

The White Sox have always had some trouble against the pesky Orioles. Their hitting usually ends up owning our pitchers somehow and our hitters rarely hit some of their horrible pitchers. Seems really weird if you ask me. Maybe the O's are just one of those teams we have to struggle against. Whatever it is, this team better pick it up on this homestand. The Blue Jays also seem to be one of those teams that gives the Sox a lot of troubles. How much trouble? Let's just say the Sox won only one game against them all year last season. It'll be Gavin Floyd vs. Brian Tallet tonight at U.S. Cellular Field. Luckily, the Sox are still in a first place tie with both Detroit and Kansas City for the central division, as all three teams are 8-7.

- Stan (White Sox writer)