Nice job by the Sox, splitting the 4 game set in New York. With a little more offense they could have taken 3 of the 4, but with a little less offense they could have lost 3 of the 4.

I would give the pitching a B+ in this series. I will be the first to admit that I didn’t have a lot of confidence in Dylan Axelrod in the first game.

Nothing in any of the prior starts with the Sox made me think that he would give up just 2 earned runs in 7 innings. A few of the innings he came within a wisp of being knocked out, but he made the pitches when needed.

2nd game, Jose Quintana finally found out that pitching in the bigs isn’t as easy as he has been making it look. In his previous 8 appearances the rookie had given up 6 runs…total.

He gave up 6 through 4 innings on Friday. The most impressive thing was that he battled through 6 innings, and even got the victory. Sox roughed up the Yankees 14-7.

3rd game, The world now knows that, right now, Jake Peavy is the unluckiest pitcher in baseball. The Sox lost the game 4-0, but that’s not the story. They story is Peavy, who lost his 4th straight start. Looking at that you would think that he has been stinking up the joint.

You would be wrong, as in those 4 losses his ERA is 2.70. Peavy has pitched 4 complete games this year, and including Saturday, has lost 3 of 4. The one complete game he did win, he shutout Oakland, 1-0. In those complete games, the Sox have scored a grand total of 1-run for the guy.

The finale also went to the Yankees, 4-2. Gavin Floyd gave up his 16th and 17th home runs of the year, both 2-run shots. Floyd is so hard to figure.

Every time I think he’s turned the corner, he does what he did today, which is 8 hits and 4 runs in less than 6 innings of work. He also walked 5, which is the combined total of walks allowed in his past 3 starts, prior to Sunday. His walk to Mark Teixeira in the 3rd preceded Robinson Cano’s blast.

Now for some offense stars. A.J.Pierzynski has either found the fountain of youth, or is ratcheting up his game in his free agent year. Pierzynski hit a couple home runs this weekend, giving him 14. His career high is 18 set in 2005.

His career high RBI is 77, with a Sox high of 64. He has 44 as of Sunday. I don’t wanna jump the gun, but I will anyhow. I’d like to think he is good for 19 RBI over the final 3 months of the year.

I know because he doesn’t promote himself, or have a big mouth, Alejandro De Aza is not a guy on anyone’s, outside of Chicago that is, radar. He has been a godsend for the South Siders. This weekend he went 7-19 with 3 RBI. The guy just comes to play. Not a bad waiver claim.

Dayan Viciedo hasn’t had the best month, but he came up big when needed. David Robertson did throw him a meatball on Friday, but Tank did what he should have done, and that’s smash it over the wall in the top of the 9th for the eventual game winning runs.

Viciedo had only 9 RBI in June, but 7 of them came in 2 games. I would say July is gonna be a different month for the guy, but on Sunday he went 0-3 with 3 strike outs. Uh Ohh.

Who would’ve thunk that Alex Rios may possibly be the Sox MVP through the first half of the season. Over the weekend, Rios went 7-17, with an RBI and 2 stolen bases. He also made a tough grab on Thursday on Derek Jeter’s attempt to win the game.

Rios crashing into the wall at the end of the game looked like it hurt.

One guy who has turned his season around is Alexei Ramirez. Ramirez only had 4 hits in the 4 games, but he is now hitting .247. He was at .229 one month ago.

Dwayne Wise will always have a special place in the hearts of all Sox fans. However, he is using up all his good will with his weekend heroics. Coming in as a pitcher in Saturday’s blowout, Wise threw a perfect 2/3 innings, getting Konerko and Rios out. With the bat, he looked like Lou Gehrig, going 4-7 with a home run and 2 RBI. Wise had 3 hits total in May, and coming into the series against the Sox, he had 4 in June. 4 hits in the 3 games against the Sox–really!!

Back to the staff. Welcome Leyson Septimo to the Sox. The rookie took Will Ohman’s spot, and looked dominant in his 2 appearances. 3.1 IP, no hits or runs allowed, with 4 strike outs.

On Friday, he blew away A-Rod and Cano back to back.

The Sox also promoted Brian Omogrosso. I hope he pitches as well as Septimo, but I don’t have high hopes.

Sox pen was quite good, throwing 7.2 only giving up 2 earned runs. Hector Santiago, who’s from Newark, New Jersey got to pitch in front of his family, but I bet nerves go the best of him as he gave up 1 run in 1 inning on Friday.

Nice to see Robin Ventura honored before old timers game on Sunday. Ventura spent parts of 5 seasons with the Yankees back in the 90′s. His 120 RBI with the Yanks back in 1999 turned out to be his career high.

One final note. From the oh, that guy department. The Sox resigned Shane Lindsay. Lindsay, who pitched in some tough luck last year, was inked to a minor league deal. Here’s betting that he’ll be on the Sox roster in September.