They may toy with the rest of baseball, but the Red Sox have no answer for the White Sox. The Sox had won 7 straight against the boys from Beantown, including 4 straight in Chicago. You see I used the word had. The Red Sox finally stretched their considerable muscle in taking the final 2 games in the Windy City.

Does Alex Rios want to play? His inability to get the ball out of his glove on Saturday was the key play in the Red Sox victory. And on Sunday, he took a leisurely stroll to get the ball, allowing a run to score and another player to move in to scoring position. Add in his 1-8 in the 3 games, and it just wasn’t a good weekend for the Sox center fielder. Rios is now hitting .207. I’ve heard people say that you can have all the talent in the world, but it’s between the ears that counts the most.

Not too many time can you say the Sox pen has pitched badly. This weekend was one of the few times. in 9.1 IP the Sox pen had an ERA of 7.91. That is a little deceiving, as Brian Bruney was charged with 6 earned runs in just over an inning on Saturday. Jesse Crain even got hit a little, taking the loss on Sunday. Crain has been solid this year. He has given up runs in 2 of his last 3 outings, but before that pitched in 11 straight games without giving up a run.

2 of the 3 Sox starters were solid. What’s with Gavin Floyd. He has been nearly unhittable since the ASB. His ERA in the 2nd half is a minuscule 0.81. This may be the best Floyd has thrown since his 17 win season of 2008.

Phil Humber is tough to judge. He looked like the Humber of the first half though 4 innings on Saturday. He tired in the 5th, while giving up 5 hits, and 4 runs. That was the first appearance for Humber in 13 days, but he wasn’t pitching well then, sporting a 9.00 ERA in his last 3 outings. Has the shine come off the journeyman, or is it just a case of a guy who hasn’t pitched that much the past few years?

Mark Buehrle is always good, so why even talk about him.

Good to see the White Sox make Andrew Miller out to be a star. Miller, who has struggled in 2 of past 3 starts, handcuffed the Sox all afternoon. He even left his mark on Paul Konerko, who had to leave the game after taking a Miller pitch off his calf. His injury doesn’t appear to be serious. Let’s hope that’s the case.

Bobby Jenks might want to pull the knife out of his back, courtesy of Steve Stone. After Hawk Harrelson said that Jenks was on the DL for the 3rd time this year, Stone chipped in with this doozy, “I guess Terry Francona doesn’t know how to handle pitchers either”. That was a reference to Jenks remarks in March about how Ozzie didn’t know how to use pitchers.

It gets easier for the Sox now–haha. The Yankees come to town for a four game set starting Monday. CC Sabathia goes against Jake Peavy.

It nervous time in Chicago, as they still trail Detroit by 4 games. After finally climbing back to the .500 mark last week, the Sox are now back to being 2 games under. Sox have to take 3 of four, or at least split with the Bombers.

56 games left and counting..

Go Sox!