Sox Good- Even At Home

If I was to give Gavin Floyd a nickname, it would be Butter. … Because he’s on a roll! Ba-dum-chhh! Over the last 4 games, he has pitched 29 innings and given up only 3 runs. That’s good for a 0.931 ERA. And in all this time, all he’s managed to pick up is a loss. No wins. Regardless, he has pushed his ERA from 6.64 to 4.80! I was absolutely impressed with him. He pitched 7 innings and held the Braves scoreless, complete with 9 strike-outs! By the way, he’s had 31 strike-outs over this 4-game run.

The Sox completed their 3rd consecutive sweep, shutting out the Braves, and because of a Twins loss, sitting just 2.5 games out of first place. And, as of today, the Sox are playing .500 ball at home.

Gushing complete. As excited as I am for the win, I can’t help myself from mentioning that today’s game was played somewhat shorthanded. Instead of Rios in CF, we had Jones. Instead of Vizquel, we had Viciedo, and instead of Beckham, we had Lillibridge. Well, Rios was pretty cold at bat yesterday, and he probably deserves a day off. Vizquel is old and Viciedo needs a day where he can see (and smoke) some live, Major League pitching. But Beckham… well, he can’t be as bad as Lillibridge, but he has been as good at bat as Nick Swisher was at the end of 2008. Gordy has had a team-high 48 strikeouts. Then again, the last time I counted, Scotty Pods had 44 and was batting close to .300. And the league leader has around 81. His strike-outs aren’t worrisome. It’s his lack of hitting. Honestly, he’s had a lot of bad luck at bat. But at what point do back luck and poor plate mentality cross?

This is a frustrating subject for me to visit because it seems like he just isn’t getting better. But how was he doing so well last year, if he is really the rally killer he has been this year? Was it just the losing mentality that the majority of the team had the last couple of months? Did it have something to do with the move to second? It makes no sense, but think how much better Uribe did when he moved to third. If anyone has an explanation, please help me out here.

I don’t know if moving Gordon back to the minors is the right thing. And it’s not really helping the team to have him in the lineup. Then, what IS the right thing to do? I’m glad I’m not Kenny or Ozzie on this one.

One matter on which I had some say is Juan Pierre. Why is he still leading off? Every SINGLE time I see him try to bunt himself on with no outs, I want to hit him upside the helmet. He’s not Ichiro. If he’s so bad of a hitter that he can’t hit his way on base, well there’s something wrong with that picture, isn’t there? Admittedly, I’m sure he’s not the only one making the decision, but he’s the one failing at the task of getting on base.

That’s all I have for you today. Tomorrow starts the second half of the worst idea ever thought of. Or to quote the Sandlot, “If you were thinking, you wouldn’t have thought that!” Hopefully, the Sox sweep them at the Cell, shutting Cub fans up for the rest of the season. I don’t promise that I’ll cover this series until the last day, but I’ll keep an eye on the AL Central standings, hoping the Twins lose a few to the Mets and the Sox win a few from the Cubs, putting them a bit closer to first place.