Monday, June 14, 2010

108

Given the saturation coverage of the Sox-Cubs series, there's very little I can add.  The Sox meat-loafed the Cubs, taking Friday's opener 10-5, clinching the series with a 2-1 victory on Saturday, and losing an incredible pitching duel, 1-0, on Sunday. 

Most notable was the finale with both pitchers taking no-hitters into the seventh inning.  Gavin Floyd gave up a two-out double to Alfonso Soriano, and a single up the middle by Chad Tracy scored Fonzie with the game's only run.  Ozzie Guillen went against the book by pinch-hitting lefty Juan Pierre against lefty Ted Lilly in the ninth, but it proved to be the right move as Pierre broke up Lilly's no-no with a single.  The Sox eventually loaded the bases before Paul Konerko and Carlos Quentin succumbed to Carlos Marmol's offerings.

The win left the Sox with a 39-36 record against the Cubs since the start of interleague regular-season play.  (We all know that the Sox hold the edge in the only post-season play between the two teams, the 1906 World Series.)  But the South Siders' dominance is even more pronounced against the rest of the National League since 2005.  From the World Championship season through 2009, the Sox are a combined 54-36 -- a .600 winning percentage -- in games with the Senior Circuit.  (Given that the American League is in its 110th season this year, isn't it time to stop referring to it as the Junior Circuit?).  And that record includes the disastrous 2007 season, when everything went wrong, and the Sox were horrible overall and 4-14 in interleague play.  Tack on the 4-2 record this year, and Sox fans have to be excited about facing Pittsburgh and Washington this week and slicing the Twins' 7.5 game lead even further.

On second thought, Friday might not be so much fun.  Stephen Strasburg gets the start for Washington.  Strasburg followed up his phenomenal first game with a very solid second game yesterday against Cleveland.  In 5.1 innings, he allowed just two hits and one run while striking out eight.  It turns out that he and Indians' pitcher David Huff were landing on the same spot on the mound and essentially digging a hole that caused Strasburg to slip a number of times.  The bad footing led to five walks -- you could actually see how it was affecting his delivery -- and Strasburg's departure, although he had thrown 95 pitches by that point.  We'll see how he fares when he's up against the Sox.  Actually, I will see how he fares, since I'll be at the games on Friday and Sunday.  Go Sox!

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