2008 State of the Sox

May 16: White Sox 2, Giants 0

Gavin Floyd continues to be a beneficiary of extraordinary luck -- and now it's happening when he's not even on the field.

Alexei Ramirez's first career home run broke a scoreless tie and provided the only runs Floyd and the Sox would need, as Floyd pitched six scoreless innings ... somehow.

It wasn't easy.  Not only did he not record one single 1-2-3 inning, but he stranded a runner in scoring position in every frame.  He allowed the leadoff hitter to reach in three of them, and even when he recorded the first two outs, he still found a way to have to pitch from the stretch.

The game did get a little easier for Floyd as it went on.  He faced immediate pressure in the first when he walked Fred Lewis on five pitches.  Lewis stole second and advanced to third when A.J. Pierzynski's throw sailed on him.

Floyd got Break No. 1 five pitches later when Omar Vizquel hit a hot shot stopped by a flopping drawn-in Paul Konerko.  Lewis couldn't advance.  He also couldn't advance on Randy Winn's weak pop-out to short, and he'd stay there when Floyd froze Bengie Molina on a curve.

Break No. 2 came in inning No. 2.  He hit Aaron Rowand to start the inning (the first of two Rowand HBPs on the day), and he'd go from first to third on Ray Durham's single to put runners on the corners with one out.  Jose Castillo then smashed a grounder, but Floyd made a great play to glove it and a good throw to second to start a 1-4-3 double play.

Molina was the early favorite to win White Sox Player of the Game.  Floyd would strike him out again with a runner on second in the third, and got him to ground out to Crede with a runner on second in the fifth.

Fortunately, Ramirez would take the title away from him in the top of the seventh.

The Sox offense had scuffled up until that point.  They threatened to score the first run of the game the previous inning when Pierzynski hit a two-out triple and Carlos Quentin walked, but Jermaine Dye went down swinging on a low and inside slider to end the inning.  Pierzynski had been only the second Sox runner to reach scoring position.

The seventh inning didn't look like much, either.  Paul Konerko and Joe Crede struck out, and Swisher barely kept it alive with a broken-bat single.  Up came Ramirez, who had lined out against Jonathan Sanchez earlier in the game and appeared to be seeing him well.  He removed all doubt of that when he took a 1-1 fastball and sent it into the left-field seats for a 2-0 lead.

Great relief work made the lead stand.  Ehren Wassermann worked his first successful outing -- one batter, one out -- and Boone Logan took care of the other side of the plate for the seventh, and Scott Linebrink went 1-2-3 in the eighth.  Bobby Jenks did allow a Ray Durham double in the ninth, but he was stranded on third when Rich Aurilia grounded out to short to end the game.

Record: 21-20 | Box score | Play-by-play