No sooner do the White Sox come home from a disappointing 3-7 road trip coming out of the All-Star Break, they're home for just 3 this week before another 6 game trip starts in hot, steamy Arlington, TX this Friday night vs. the back-to-back AL Champion Rangers & 3 more at Target Field vs. the Twins in Minneapolis next Monday, July 30th through Wednesday, August 1st.

Speaking of Minnesota, they are here for a 3 game series starting tonight at U.S. Cellular Field. The Sox start play 1.5 games behind the Tigers in the AL Central. These are the mound matchups for the first of 2 series in 2 weeks between the two teams:

TONIGHT 7:10P: Comcast SportsNet Plus (CLTV on many cable systems; DIRECTV 666 in SD; 666-1 in HD) & 670 The SCORE/White Sox Radio Network
MIN: LHP 47 Francisco Liriano (3-9, 4.81 ERA) vs. CHW: RHP 34 Gavin Floyd (7-8, 4.54 ERA)

TUESDAY 7:10P: WCIU 26 (WGN Sports on The U) & 670 The SCORE/White Sox Radio Network
MIN: RHP 38 Cole De Vries (2-2, 3.95 ERA) vs. CHW: LHP 62 Jose Quintana (4-1, 2.30 ERA)

WEDNESDAY 1:10P: Comcast SportsNet & 670 The SCORE/White Sox Radio Network
MIN: RHP 53 Nick Blackburn (4-5, 7.46 ERA) vs. CHW: RHP 44 Jake Peavy (7-7, 3.22 ERA)

They lit up DeVries and Blackburn at Target Field back in May. Liriano once again had Sox hitters mystified. It would be nice if they could buck that trend. at least 2 wins this series is an absolute must.

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Sox win 2 of 3.

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I don't have a good feeling about this.

If Quintana pitches 8 stellar innings, is winning and Venutra pulls him for the 9th, I'm going to go full Ligue on his ass. It'll make the Gamboa beat down look like grabassery.

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RFDC thinks I'm retarded.

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Especially with Gavin Floyd on the mound and no one knows which Floyd shows up. Besides, Francisco Liriano's no-hitter came in the Southsiders' own ballpark. Not the best of omens in addition to an offense that was awful on that 10-game road trip to Kansas City, Boston & Detroit.

Best game ever pitched at the Cell.

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Haven't you forgotten about Mark Buehrle's date with perfection vs. the Rays?

So a perfect game is better than a no hitter?

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But neither are as good as the 4.1 IP that Elmer Jasporio threw in the Cuban League in 1986.

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The lineup is in for Game 1 of 3 vs. Minnesota tonight, and it better start producing...

30 Alejandro De Aza CF (L) .276
20 Kevin Youkilis 3B (R) .250
32 Adam Dunn DH (L) .204
14 Paul Konerko 1B (R) .323
51 Alex Rios RF (R) .314
12 A.J. Pierzynski C (L) .286
24 Dayan Viciedo LF (R) .257
10 Alexei Ramirez SS (R) .265
15 Gordon Beckham 2B (R) .234

Gavin Floyd does the chucking for the White Sox, while lefty Francisco Liriano starts for the Twins.

1B Justin Morneau is out of the Twins' lineup due to his wife giving birth. While he's expected to return tomorrow, he might not be a Twin much longer. There are rumblings that Morneau might be dealt to the Dodgers before the MLB Trade Deadline. With Morneau on Paternity Leave, the Twins go like this vs. Gavin Floyd:

2 Denard Span CF (L) .275
11 Ben Revere RF (L) .311
7 Joe Mauer 1B (L) .332
16 Josh Willingham LF (R) .275
18 Ryan Doumit DH (S) .291
20 Brian Dozier SS (R) .235
12 Alexi Casilla 2B (S) .224
41 Drew Butera C (R) .222
8 Jamey Carroll 3B (R) .241

KA-BOOM!!!

Holy shit Alex almost hit that one on the concourse.

^^^ Steve?

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1926-1931-1934-1942-1944-1946-1964-1967-1982-2006-2011

wow, i was expecting to turn this on and see the sox down like 5-1 in the 4th inning... instead they're up 7-2 in the bottom of the third and liriano is getting pulled? wow.

see i expected the twins to rise up and have a vintage fundamentally sound twins series and they'd throttle the white sox and leave them like 4.5 games behind detroit by the middle of the week and then everyone would focus on the wild cards that the sox aren't gonna get and within a week or two the bataan death march would have been over and yet another white sox season would have also been over....

but what's this? a giant sucking sound emanating from comiskey park that ISN'T the white sox? color me surprised. anyways, it's time for brian duensing to continue on the proud tradition of twinkies baseball that has created such transcendental talents as michael cuddyer lately. maybe this game will be a 17-3 type game that will act as an omen that effectively shuts down the white sox' bats for the next week? the return of ROBERTO HERNANDEZ, aka fausto carmona, means that the indians' rotation is going to be bolstered with the addition of another 5.50/1.50 pitcher.

also the mauer backhair guy is suitably epic.

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What the fuck was that?? De Aza just throws the ball in the general direction of 2nd base. Eh....someone will get it.

Your constant bashing of this guy is laughable. You better worry about your boy Beckham being able to hit enough to stay in a big league lineup.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

WHY IS VENTURA BRINGING THIS BUTCHER IN? Is Myers ready instead?

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RFDC thinks I'm retarded.

Good lord can any of these relievers get the damn lead off hitter out and make things a little easier on themselves.

Ok. It wasn't pretty but at least they broke the losing streak. Gavin was just good enough. Hopefully he'll have better command in his next few starts. Another big start for Quintana tomorrow.

The bottom three of RV's lineup went 0-for-11 with 3 K's in last night's 7-4 White Sox winner over the Twins. Ramirez & Beckham didn't get a hit between them, but they were part of a season-high 5 double plays defensively. Had it not been for those DPs, Gavin Floyd might have lost this game last night. He was far from sharp in his first start off the DL.

Who cares, SHARK? It was an ugly game but a W is a W and the Sox desperately needed a W. Some of those DP's were made possible because of the little dink and dunk hits/bunts the Twins used to get on.

I think the long layoff obviously hurt Gavin's control, and I expect him to be sharper in his next start.

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That part I will agree. The Sox did get sloppy with the glove with De Aza's bad throw & Youkilis committing 2 errors on 1 play. They needed the win last night, and in the end, that's what matters most.

A slight change for the White Sox this eve. You'll see that in BOLD type. If it were up to me, I'd flipflop the last 2 names in RV's lineup tonight. These are the guys who'll deal with Minnesota's Cole DeVries on the Southside:

30 Alejandro De Aza CF (L) .281
20 Kevin Youkilis 3B (R) .251
32 Adam Dunn DH (L) .204
14 Paul Konerko 1B (R) .328
51 Alex Rios RF (R) .313
10 Alexei Ramirez SS (R) .262
24 Dayan Viciedo LF (R) .253
17 Tyler Flowers C (R) .174
15 Gordon Beckham 2B (R) .232

Lefty Jose Quintana does the chucking in Game 2 of 3 with the Twins tonight.

Well you know what, SHARK? Its not up to you. This is clearly the lineup that Ventura feels works best for his team. We don't need daily nonsense about what you would do with the lineup. You have made your point clear to all of us more than enough times.

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There are some notable changes in BOLD for the Twins tonight vs. lefty Jose Quintana. These are the 9 that'll deal with Quintana:

2 Denard Span CF (L) .280
19 Darin Mastroianni RF (R) .276
7 Joe Mauer 1B (L) .332
16 Josh Willingham LF (R) .271
33 Justin Morneau DH (L) .249
18 Ryan Doumit C (S) .290
20 Brian Dozier SS (R) .239
12 Alexi Casilla 2B (S) .224
8 Jamey Carroll 3B (R) .242

No kidding...It's my own opinion. I don't agree with it, but that and a couple bucks gets you a ride on the CTA. It's not going to stop fans from continuing to bitch & moan about Adam Dunn batting 3rd on Rongey's White Sox Radio Network postgame.

If it makes anyone feel better, I think there will be changes tomorrow regardless of the outcome. I can picture Orlando Hudson giving Gordon Beckham a breather at second base, Kevin Youkilis at first base, Eduardo Escobar at third base and maybe another start for Jordan Danks in the outfield for the getaway game vs. the Twins. I can see that happening. Frank, these White Sox have been painful lately at the plate on the whole. I want them to win as much as the next guy, but I haven't liked what I've seen lately on the whole.

So you didn't like what you saw yesterday from the Sox bats?


These people have no brains and no scrotum.

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