If you were in Vegas and had the choice to put money on which Sox starter would get a win over the Orioles, would any of you have put cash on Dylan Axelrod?

What’s the word? I guess surprising would be the one I am looking for, that Axelrod would be the guy to stifle the surprising Orioles. His great pitching in game 3 was the one Sox highlight since Monday.

Maybe I shouldn’t use the word surprising so much. Axelrod, yes, but the Orioles, no. Buck Showalter has never won the big prize, but he has been a key part of two different World Champion teams–in the sense that they won the year after he left. I’m talking about the Yankees and D’Backs circa 1996 and 2001.

He is performing his same magic on the birds.

The first thing that came to my mind when Chris Sale and Jose Quintana were hit hard was the innings are catching up to the guys. That may be too linear, and too easy of an excuse, but two of the top Sox starters didn’t look good.

Sale outing was his shortest of the year. I guess that’s to be expected since Lew Ford was in the Orioles lineup. Ford, who last played in the majors in 2007 with the Twins, can still hit lefties.

Ford came into the series with no home runs, but left with 2. Not only did he get Sale, but he got Francisco Liriano, too. Quintana found a way to get the guy out. This time of the year it’s not always the name players who get the big hits, it’s the no-name guys who do a lot of the damage.

Matter of fact, Sale looked a lot like the bad Liriano in his start. Averaging 19 pitches an inning, 76 im total in his 4 innings is not what we have come to expect from the Sox Cy Young candidate.

Quintana was even worse in his start in the finale, throwing 76 pitches in less than 4 innings, while allowing 5 runs. I think it was just an off start for the 2 guys.

Sale could have been looking forward a bit, knowing he squares off against Justin Verlander on Sunday.

I’m trying to avoid the offense, as it wasn’t very good for the most part. Alexei Ramirez and Gordon Beckham were two guys who did play well. Ramirez went 6-13, while the best 9th hitter in baseball went 5-15.

Baseball is a game of ebbs and flows, and right now some of the bigger Sox stars are ebbing–is that right?. A.J. Pierzynski is 0 for his last 17. He only hit one ball out of the infield during the 4 games, plus he got tagged out on a close play at home in the finale.

Paul Konerko only had 2 hits, while Adam Dunn picked up 3.

Loved the Sox get up before the series. Dressing as hipsters was awesome, and is needed from time to time in a very stressful season. No, I don’t think it had any effect on this weeks performance.

Rosters expend in a couple days, so Axelrod sent back down to Charlotte isn’t a huge deal. Well, maybe it is as the Knight’s are in the playoffs, and having a guy like him in the rotation can only help them as they vie for a title.

Congratulations to Tyler Flowers, who is a new father.

Welcome Jose Lopez, whose star has dimmed since his salad days in Seattle. He picked up a couple hits in his Sox debut on Thursday.

So the Sox dropped 3 of 4 to the Orioles. No one will remember a thing if they get 2 of 3 from the Tigers. I hope they can do it, but Fister, Scherzer and Verlander are 3 tough cookies.

Sox go into the 3 games with either a 2, or 3 game lead.