| « LeBron, Others Cement Bulls Failed Offseason | Cubs Beat Dodgers 7-3 » |
White Sox Fri Jul 09 2010
Sox Pitchers Don't Miss a Beat Without Peavy
If you worried that Jake Peavy's season-ending injury would end the winning vibe the White Sox have been riding for the past month, perhaps you weren't paying attention to the recent work submitted by the rest of the starting rotation.
While Peavy is arguably the biggest name of the group, he has plenty of help. That came through loud and clear Thursday and Friday as the Sox closed out a sweep of the Los Angeles Angels and won the first of three games with Kansas City, giving them six straight wins and 23 in the past 28 games.
John Danks did the honors Thursday afternoon, winning 1-0 in the strongest performance of his four-year career. All the ingredients were in place: a day game after a night game, a getaway day, a hot and humid day, a few days before the All-Star break, against a punchless Angels lineup without the injured Kendry Morales and resting veterans Hideki Matsui and Bobby Abreu.
Danks made the most of it. He pitched his first complete-game shutout, allowing two hits, both seventh-inning singles, with no walks and seven strikeouts. That was good for a game score of 90, one of the 10 best pitching performances in a season chock full of them.
Mark Buehrle was nearly as good in Friday's 8-2 win. Despite starting the game by taking a Scott Podsednik line drive off his (non-pitching) wrist, Buehrle scattered six hits in seven shutout innings.
Can Gavin Floyd keep the magic going Saturday night? Chicago has pulled into second place in the AL Central, half a game behind Detroit.
The way this is going, I wouldn't bet against him.
