Sox swept out of Kansas City

August 19th, 2012 Bill Mahoney Posted in Game Stories, Main, Opinions

Some teams just have other teams numbers. Kansas City plays their best baseball against the Chicago White Sox. This past weekends 3-game sweep wasn’t a shock to me because–read my first 7 words of this paragraph.

The Royals have now won 5 of their past 6 games against the South Siders, and they still have 6 more games to play.

And it wasn’t like the Royals faced the back end of the Sox rotation. They beat Chris Sale and Jake Peavy in the first 2 games. Combined, Sale and Peavy sport a 23-13 record, but 5 of their losses have come to the pesky Royals. They didn’t pitch badly either, it’s just the Royals pitched, and hit better.

How much do Rockie fans hate Jeremy Guthrie? The guy was dog meat in Colorado, but now he is hall of fame material, at least against the Sox. His only 2 starts against them this year have been phenominal. 15.2 innings, 8 hits, 11 strike outs and 2 unearned runs. He took a no hitter into the 7th on Sunday.

Welcome back Paul Konerko, who went yard twice this weekend. Konerko, who sat out the last week after suffering a concussion against these same Royals, looked like he hadn’t missed a beat.

And congratulations to Adam Dunn, who belted his 400th career home run in game 2. That was also Dunn’s 35th of the year, vaulting him back into the A.L. lead.

I wonder if Dunn will help out the kid that jumped into the fountains at Royals stadium in an attempt to retrieve the historical ball. He doesn’t have the ball anymore, but did get a trip to the pokey.

I hope it’s nothing to worry about, but Alex Rios is in his first slump of the year. Rios is 2 for his last 30. His lone home run and 3 RBI all came in the same game. Rios’ average is now down to .301, the lowest it’s been since late June.

Dayan Viciedo isn’t driving in a ton of runs, but he is reaching base. He is on a 10-game hitting streak. .256 in his first year of big league ball isn’t bad, but you know one of these years he is going to explode.

I wonder if the Sox will continue to bat Gordon Beckham in the 9th spot.

The man can’t seem to hit that low in the lineup. He is hitting .185 from the 9th hole, but .250 or better from the 1st, 2nd or 8th spot. Coinciding with Youkilis arrival to the Sox, Beckham hit .188 in July, and is at .182 so far in August.

I know Kevin Youkilis is the #2 hitter, but maybe they can move him around a bit. It isn’t like he’s been hitting the cover off the ball lately. He has a .231 BA in the 8th month, so far.

Even with being swept the Sox still maintain a 1.5 lead over the Tigers. However, things won’t get any easier as the Sox now get to entertain the N.Y. Yankees the next 3 days. They’ll be followed by the improving Mariners. Then it is 7 road games at Baltimore and Detroit.

Doesn’t appear the Sox will be able to back into a playoff spot.

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Sox do a lot of yard work in Toronto

August 16th, 2012 Bill Mahoney Posted in Main, Opinions, Roster Moves

Good news for the Sox as Paul Konerko will be back in the lineup on Friday. The Captain has been out the past few days after suffering a mild concussion against the Royals. Like I said a few writings ago, you can’t, you won’t keep Konerko down for long.

I was watching Dwayne Wise the other day, and all I could think was what a good signing he was. Teams need guys like Wise. He understands his role with the team, which makes him that much more valuable. Teams need role players like Wise, guys who know they aren’t going to start, but when they do they come thru….big time. In the three games he played in Toronto, Wise went 4-13 with 2 home runs and 6 RBI’s.

It was quite a 4 games for the Sox. They scored 21 runs, and hit 10 home runs. The home runs were hit by 6 different players. Did anyone think that would happen with Konerko out of the lineup?

The leader of the home run brigade was Adam Dunn. The Big Donkey broke his 13 game homer-less streak by hitting 3 against the Jays, including 2 in one game. Dunn has 34 round-trippers this year, which ties him with Josh Hamilton, who has gotten hot again.

Once Dayan Viciedo finds his consistency, he’ll be deadly. Right now the Tank has tied his season high with hits in 7 straight games, in which time he has hit .400 with 3 homers and 5 RBI. In Toronto he hit .461, knocking 2 out of the park along with 3 RBI. I know a lot of people are down on the guy, but down the road he’ll make people regret counting him out.

Is A.J. Pierzynski starting to cool off? haha. He did go hitless in the finale in Toronto, snapping his 16 game hitting streak. During the long streak the Sox catcher hit better than .360 with 7 round-trippers and 17 RBI. Many of those runs batted in came late in games, when he is at his best.

Did you all catch Tyler Flowers home run on Thursday? I don’t think I have seen a longer shot hit in that park, ever. He hit it into the upper deck.

An oddity. Gavin Floyd has missed time with arm soreness, and at times has pitched horribly, but even with that said he is still tied with Jake Peavy for second on the Sox with 9 wins. Chris Sale leads with 14.

Liked Floyd’s start on Wednesday. He got over his early game blues, and pounded the strike zone. No walks and 8 strike outs for the right-hander, who if he pitches like this will give the Sox 4, and possibly 5 solid starters.

I say 4 because you never know what the team will get out of Francisco Liriano. Liriano picked up his first win as a member of the Sox on Friday.

The best thing was that he only walked one. Weirdly, he walked the guy right when I turned the game on. I still believe Don Cooper will iron him out, and by September Liriano will be humming along.

Two guys the Sox don’t have to worry about is Jake Peavy and Jose Quintana. Peavy did throw 124 pitches the other night, which is one less than his season high. It sure looks like Peavy will go over the 200 innings pitched mark.

For those of questioning my sanity, I want to inform you that I, in no way, am saying Peavy and Floyd’s seasons are the same. Peavy should have about 16 wins by now. Lack of offense has done him in numerous times. Friday was a case in point as Peavy allowed 2 runs in 8 innings, but got another no decision. In his last 3 ND’s Peavy’s ERA is 2.68.

Quintana is still pitching his butt off. His 2nd straight great start saw him allow just 2 earned runs. Quintana is just 5-2, but if you didn’t know any better you’d think he had 10 wins.

Watched Donnie Veal pitch a couple solid innings the other night. He replaced Jordan Danks, who was sent out pretty much right after he hit his walk off last Friday.

Sox now get 3 games at Kansas City, which is never easy. Detroit starts a home series against the Baltimore Orioles. Sox hold a 2.5 game lead over the Tigers.

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Sox get all A’s this weekend, and on the home stand

August 12th, 2012 Bill Mahoney Posted in Game Stories, Main, Opinions

Yeah, I feel horrible. There I am talking about Paul Konerko and his lack of extra base hits, and now he’s out with a concussion. I watched Jarrod Dyson run into him last week, but I thought Konerko would shake it off and continue playing. He rarely misses time with injuries, so the fact that he’ll be out awhile makes the injury that much more serious.

The Sos didn’t need their Captain this weekend against the A’s, not with A.J. Pierzynski in the lineup. Pierzynski is half-way through the month of August and he is well on his way to being named Player of the Month.

In the 3 games, Pierzynski went 5-14 with 2 home runs and 3 RBI. He also scored from 1st in the finale on a ball that never left the infield. The A’s had a huge brain fart, allowing Pierzynski to take 3rd, and then letting him score after forgetting to cover home plate. I don’t agree with the Sox announcers that claimed him to be the smartest player in both leagues, but I will say he is in the top half.

I am surprised, with the way he’s been hitting, that he hasn’t been plunked more often. Former Sox pitcher Brandon McCarthy took care of that, hitting the Sox catcher in the elbow in the opener. I know he was just protecting one of his guys, but Pierzynski was none too happy. If McCarthy had looked his way, Pierzynski may have made a different kind of trip to the mound than the one’s he’s used to making.

More on Pierzynski. In the games he’s played, he has a 13 game hitting streak. His average in that time is .379, including 4 long balls and 10 RBI.

The only guy who can come close to matching him is Alex Rios. Rios had 9 game hitting streak snapped in game 2, but he has gone hitless just 3 times in his last 20 games. In that time he has gone yard 5 times with 15 RBI. Rios’ consistency this year has been astonishing.

Dayan Viciedo is doing his month to month swoon. The man hit .206 in April, .351 in May, .179 in June, .256 in July and he is at a robust .152 so far in August. He did have a hit in all three games vs. Oakland. His 2 hits in the finale gave him his first multi-hit game since July 25th.

With Konerko out, Adam Dunn has to step up. Right now it’s tough going for the big man. Not only has he gone 13 straight games without hitting a home run, but he is also 6 for his last 47.

He went 1-11 this weekend. He also lost him home run lead to Josh Hamilton, who now has 32. On a positive note, Dunn is playing stellar defense, making a number of sparkling plays at 1st base.

Great to see Dwayne Wise back. I’m sure the Sox are happy to have him back on their side, especially after he tattooed them when he was with the Yankees. Obviously, he’ll always be known for his catch to preserve Mark Buehrle’s perfect game a few years back, but he is a good guy to have around.

He doesn’t talk much, doing most of his speaking on the field. In his return to the South Side, Wise went 2-4.

I guess Tyler Flowers isn’t washed up, after all. Flowers is gonna be a fine MLB catcher, whether in Chicago or somewhere else.

On Saturday, he exploded, going 3-3 with a 3-run blast.

And kudos to Jordan Danks, who hit his 1st walk-off on Friday. Danks was drafted 3 times by the Sox, and this past off-season was left unprotected, and off the Sox roster.

No other team took a chance on the younger Danks proving the old saying that, “Sometimes it’s the deal that you don’t do, that turn out to be the best”.

How come Chris Sale isn’t being mentioned as a Cy Young candidate? Sale won his 14th game of the year on Sunday putting him one off the A.L. lead. His 2.60 ERA places him 4th in the American League. If the Sox make the post-season, and he keeps pitching like he has, he has to be considered.

Every breathe at The Cell was held after Sale went down chasing a ground ball on Sunday. He turned out to be fine, finishing with 11 strike outs. This is the 3rd time this year Sale has finished with more than 10 K’s.

Gavin Floyd’s fastball looked good on Friday, hitting 94 MPH a few times.

It was his other pitches that had no bite. For the 2nd straight start Floyd gave early runs, but like his last outing against the Angels he settled down to make it through the 6th inning.

We’ve seen the good Francisco Liriano, and now we’ve seen the bad. Liriano looked awful on Saturday in his less than 4 innings of work. Well, the entire Sox staff couldn’t slow down the A’s. It was so bad that Oakland even scored on Brett Myers, who allowed his first runs as a member of the Sox.

In that 2nd game, the Sox battled back from 6-2 to lead 7-6. They would ultimately lose 9-7, but their resiliency is impressive.

After a 5-4 home stand, the Sox now head to Toronto and Kansas City with a 2 game lead over the Tigers in the Central.

No, I didn’t talk about the Youkilis HPB injury. If I don’t talk about it then it won’t be serious.

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Le Grand Royale–Sox get chewed up by Kansas City

August 9th, 2012 Bill Mahoney Posted in Main, Opinions

The Sox were on roll, having won 9 of 12 before their series against the Royals. They spirits had to be buoyed even more having gone 4-2 against two of top teams in the A.L.West, the Texas Rangers and the pretenders from Anaheim, the Angels.

They even won game 1 against the Royals, so things were still going the Sox’ way. Unfortunately, KC decided to get up off the ground and play. Kansas City always gives the Sox problems, and they did just that by winning the final 2 games.

It does appear that every thing I write always starts with A.J.Pierzynski. The past 3 games saw the catcher take center stage once again. Pierzynski went 5-11, with 2 RBI in the 3 games. He was also strong in the clutch, bringing home Adam Dunn in the 9th inning of game 3. I still wonder why they pitched to the guy. I know they would have put the tying runs on base if they pitched around him, but he is hitting out of this world right now.

Doing damage against the Central Division is nothing new for Pierzynski, who is hitting better than .300 versus the other 4 teams.

Adam Dunn is in a home run slump. Make it ten straight games without going deep for the Big Donkey, matching his 2nd longest streak this season.

His longest non-homer streak is 11 games. With the A’s coming to town, he may not get any in that series either.

Paul Konerko is still the heart and soul of the team, but he is basically a singles hitter. The Captain has only 11 extra base hits since June 1st. He had 24 in the same amount of time last year, 28 in 2010, and 20 in 2009. In his big years, 2004 and 2005, he had 28 and 20 EBH from 6-1 till 8-8. That averages to a 12 EBH difference.

I know it may not be that big, but consider if Konerko did hit another home run or two where the Sox would be. This is not a criticism, but eventually age, and wear and tear will take its toll.

Alex Rios has picked up a lot of the slack. The right fielder is on a 9 game hitting streak, hitting at a .394 clip. Rios has already had streaks of 13 and 11 this year. He’ll battle it out with Dunn for the A.L. comeback player.

Love the way Jake Peavy has pitched this year, but the Royals have his number. Peaves gave up 1 hit through the first 5 innings on Tuesday. The next inning and a two-thirds he allowed 6 hits and 3 runs. His season versus the Royals has been tough, as he has given up 9 earned runs in less than 14 innings of work.

His innings are also at 154 right now, but that doesn’t appear to be a problem. The KC bats do.

The Sox gave 9 days rest between starts for Chris Sale and Jose Quintana, and the results were astonishing. Combined, the two threw 15 innings, allowing only 4 earned runs.


With the Sox going back to a 5-man rotation, these two aren’t going to have the luxury of so much rest between starts.

That’ll put a lot of pressure on their newest member of the bullpen, Phil Humber. Humber tossed 1 relief inning in the finale, but I think he’ll be needed a lot more than that as the season moves into September.

Baseball is so hard to figure out. I thought the Sox would tee off on Jeremy Guthrie. What really happened is that Guthrie threw his best game since April 1st of 2011. 8 inning, no runs allowed for the righty, who picked up his first victory since May 31st.

If the Sox thought Guthrie was tough, wait till they get a look at Brandon McCarthy, Tom Milone and Jared Parker, who are scheduled to throw for the A’s this weekend. Oakland sports one of the top pitching staffs in all of baseball.

Not gonna be any easier for the Tigers, who finish up against the Yankees, before getting three games in Texas.

Sox still hold a 1/2 game lead over the Tigers in the now 2-team Central race.

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Led by A J ury of 1, Sox are Dunn with the Angels

August 5th, 2012 Bill Mahoney Posted in Game Stories, Main, Opinions

A.J.Pierzynski. One name, one scorching player. Every time A.J. came to bat he either put it over the fence, or came close. He hit 3 bombs over the weekend against the Angels, giving him home runs in 5 straight games. With 21 round-trippers, he has already surpassed his career high of 18. With 61 RBI, he is only 16 off his career best. With free agency staring him straight in the face, he picked a prefect time to have a career season.

And it wasn’t like Pierzynski’s bombs were inconsequential shots. His 3-run blast in game one turned a 1-0 Angels advantage into a 4-1 Sox lead.

His shot in game 2 pulled the Sox to within a run of the Halos. It basically turned the momentum of the game back to the Sox.

Finally in game 3, he came off the bench to jack a 2-run shot off Jason Isringhausen, giving the Sox the lead 3-2. They won the game 4-2, so except for the walk off, was the game winner.

Pierzynski has spent a career being a clutch player, but he may not have had a better weekend then this pst one. His price goes up after every at bat.

Pierzynski has also spent a career tormenting the Halos. We all remember his heads up play in the 2005 playoffs. He has to be enemy number one in the Angels clubhouse.

Enemy number two is no doubt Kevin Youkilis. Youk did a lot of damage against the Halos when he was with the Red Sox. His Sox may have changed, but he still beats up on the Angels.

He hit over .400 this weekend against the Angels, while adding 3 home runs (2 in game 2), and 4 RBI. He also reached four times via the base on balls.

The only other offensive here for the Sox was Alex Rios, but what’s new. Rios is the zone, where ever that is. Was there anyone in the Cell that didn’t think that Rios would tag David Carpenter on Friday.

His walk-off blast in the 10th inning on Friday gave his 2 for the game, and 18 on the year.

Adam Dunn didn’t do a lot with the bat, but he sure leveled Chris Ianetta. He was like a runaway mack truck when he blasted into the Angels catcher, actually lifting him in the air when he tried to score a run Friday night. I have no idea how Ianetta held on to the ball. No normal human being should have been able to do that.

Lets give kudos to the Sox pen. In 11.2 innings the guys only gave up 2 earned runs. The Angels bomb squad gave up a whopping 7 runs in 9.2 IP.

To think the Sox almost swept the Angels without their 2 stud pitchers says something about this series. None of the starters were particularly great, but Gavin Floyd did pitch longer than expected. He battled his way through 6 innings.

However, after allowing 4 early runs, he did throw 4 scoreless frames. Let’s hope this could be a sign of things to come.

Francisco Liriano took a ball off his knee in the finale, but he was pitching well. His pitches were much more manageable (72 in 5 innings), and he only walked one. If the Sox make the post-season, Liriano will be a huge reason why.

Just a great weekend to be a Sox fan. They played clutch baseball, and still hold a 1.5 lead over Detroit in the Central Division.

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Hook it up: Get your tix to the August 11th Sox game for prizes, fun and more

August 4th, 2012 Bill Mahoney Posted in Main, News

What a year so far for the White Sox. The team has surpassed even the most optimistic of expectations, as they sit atop the Central Division.

So how can you be part of the fun? Yeah, you can get your tickets to any game, but there is one coming up that I implore you not to miss.

On August 11th against the even more surprising A’s, the Sox have teamed up with the Outdoor Channel and Comcast’s XFINITY to host an end of the summer event that’ll be a blast for the entire family.

Lets start with the fun stuff. The first 20,000 people to enter the stadium will get a nifty camouflage cap, plus you will be entered to win prizes throughout the night.

Once you sit in your seats to watch another Sox victory, you be able to check out Chicago native and host Mark Zona of the Outdoor Channel’s “Zona’s Awesome Fishing Show,” toss out the first pitch.

You should check out Zona’s site ’cause there’s something fishy going on. http://www.markzona.com/

Re-cap-ping. You get to reel in a camouflage cap if you are one of the first 20,000 people to enter the stadium, plus you could win even more stuff the rest of the night.

Basically, you don’t lose, and if you’re lucky the Sox won’t either.

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Sox offense can drive a person batty, but they are still getting it done

August 1st, 2012 Bill Mahoney Posted in Main, News, Opinions, Roster Moves

The worst kept secret is no more. John Danks won’t pitch again until spring 2013. Having been out since May, I didn’t think he’d be back this year. He hadn’t even made any rehab starts, and it’s now August. Only the supreme optimist thought Danks would all of a sudden heal up than ride in and pitch the Sox to a division title. I hope his surgery is minor, because when he’s on, he’s good.

Who would have thought that Jordan Danks would finish the season with the Sox, while his brother John would be on the shelf.

In one other move, the Sox sent Hector Santiago to Charlotte which was surprising, to me. With Chris Sale’s innings creeping higher and higher, and Jake Peavy also at risk, I thought a guy like Santiago would be invaluable. They want him to go down and start some games, so I guess he could be back soon.

I think we found out one thing over the past 3 days. The Twins stink. The Sox took 2 of 3 with the majority of their lineup not hitting. One guy who keeps cranking them out is A.J. Pierzynski.

Pierzynski hit 2 home runs against his former team, and now has 18, tying his career high. Pierzynski is on pace to have his best offensive year of his career. I guess his oblique injury has healed.

The same can’t be said for Alex Rios, but he could come close to matching his production in 2007 & 2010. His average right now at .315 is a career high. Rios went 6-13 over the 3 games. He may not have smacked any out or driven in any runs, but being on base consistently put pressure on the Twins all week.

The other offensive star for the Sox was Alejandro De Aza. De Aza, his wrist injury a thing of the past, went 7-13 with 3 RBI and 2 stolen bases.

Quiet guys, De Aza and Rios have done all their talking on the field.

And about Kevin Youkilis, Adam Dunn, Paul Konerko, Dayan Viciedo, Alexei Ramirez and Gordon Beckham. Those group of guys combined to go 9-68 with 4 RBI. Like I said, the Twins stink.

If 6 guys in your lineup do that, and the opposing team can only win 1 game than they stink.

Jake Peavy’s inning keep going up, but he continues to mow teams down. He locked up the Twins on Wednesday, allowing 1 earned run in 8 innings, with 8 strike outs. Peavy doesn’t throw as hard as he once did, but his pitches have so much movement.


The Sox also got their first look at Francisco Liriano. He pitched good enough to win, but man he throws a lot of pitches. 113 in 6 innings, including 4 walks isn’t gonna get it done. I still think Don Cooper will correct the flaws in his delivery. Remember Chris Sale was throwing a ton of pitches early in the season, and now he isn’t. Watch the same happen to Liriano.

Is anyone concerned about Jose Quintana? Could he have hit the innings wall? He has pitched more innings this year than he has ever before.

Including his minor league stint this year, the lefty has tossed more than 132 innings, giving him over 30 more than his past career high. In 3 of his past 4 starts, Quintana has allowed 4 or more runs three times. He allowed that many runs just once in his prior 9 starts. Something to keep an eye on.

Matt Thornton ended July on a strong note. In 5.1 innings he gave up just one earned run, with one walk and 2 strike outs.

Sox now get a day off before facing the Angels over the weekend. The Halos are coming off a tough 4 game set at Texas, so they may be a bit tired. Time for the So to take advantage. Right now the Sox have a 2.5 game lead over the Tigers, and a 7 game lead over the fading Indians.

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Sox continue to be movers and shakers

July 29th, 2012 Bill Mahoney Posted in Main, News, Opinions, Trades

The Sox, well Ken Williams, did it again. Seeing that his rotation needs an upgrade, the Sox GM went out and picked up Francisco Liriano from the Twins for Eduardo Escobar and Pedro Hernandez. It was another in a series of great moves. Kevin Youkilis, Brett Myers and now Liriano. And he almost got Zack Greinke. If nothing else, he plays to win every year.

You hate the move? You are sure that Liriano walks too many guys, and is a shell of the pitcher he once was. I’ll reserve my judgement until after pitching coach Don Cooper gets ahold of him. Cooper has transformed pitchers that aren’t even close to being as talented as Liriano. Phil Humber comes to mind. That’s not a shot at Humber, I just think that Liriano is more talented.

Liriano will be caught by A.J. Pierzynski, who as we all know, was traded by the Twins for a package that included Liriano 9 years ago.

With Liriano going into the rotation, who comes out? It won’t be John Danks, who will be hard-pressed to come back this year.

The guys he might be replacing pitched well this weekend in Texas. Humber and Gavin Floyd combined to throw almost 13 innings, while only allowing 2 earned runs.


You never know with the Sox, they could go with a 6-man rotation. That would give Jake Peavy and Chris Sale an extra day rest, which would be good at this point in the season.

Is Sale slowing down, or are his last 2 starts an aberration? 10 earned runs allowed by the left-hander over his past 2 starts. They were against the Tigers and Rangers, so that has to be taken into account too. I’ll give it up to Sale, who allowed 4 runs in the 1st and only 1 run the rest of the game. He is now 12-3, putting his 2 behind A.L. leader David Price.

It’s hard to talk about the Sox offensively because it’s not like they are hitting the cover off the ball, they are just getting hits at the right time. It also doesn’t hurt that they keep hitting the ball over the fence. The Sox hit 4 home runs in their two victories, all of them came with a man on. Narrowing it down even more for you, the Sox scored 14 runs in two games, 8 of them crossed the plate via the home run.

Adam Dunn has a 3 home run lead in his quest to lead the A.L. in home runs one year after having possibly the worst season in MLB history. Dunn’s blast on Saturday was his 11th of left-handed pitching this year, but all told, he is hitting .184 against south paws. He also nabbed his second stolen base of the year.

The Sox are winning even though they keep falling by the wayside. Pierzynski is already out with an oblique strain.

Joining him on the sideline is Ale De Aza, who suffered a wrist injury after colliding with Alexei Ramirez on Friday.

The Sox beat the two Ranger aces, Yu Darvish and Matt Harrison, but they lost to Scott Feldman, who twirled his best game in years on Sunday. Can you say let down game..That’s not a question, that’s a fact.

Did you see who got the save on Sunday? It was Joe Nathan, who was also part of the Pierzynski package in 2003. The 3rd guy in that deal was Boof Bonser, who is pitching in Fresno. I doubt if Williams will be picking him up.

Just 2 more days left in July and the Sox find themselves in 1st place. They hold a 1.5 game lead over Detroit.

Sox go to Minnesota, while the Tigers play in Boston.

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