2008 State of the Sox

July 5: White Sox 6, Athletics 1

Gavin Floyd picked up his 10th win, stopped a two-game losing streak and thwarted the always-tough Oakland A's in one night with 7 1/3 shutout innings, but it wasn't his best work.

Brian Anderson, on the other hand, enjoyed one of the greatest days of his White Sox career.  He gave Floyd much-needed breathing room with a two-run homer off Greg Smith.  It was a rare big hit for Anderson, especially considering the Sox blew a great scoring opportunity when Carlos Quentin popped up with runners on second and third and one out two innings prior.

Without Anderson's homer, it would've been another dreadful 1-0 lead.  And without Anderson and the rest of the Sox's stellar defense, that narrow of a lead could've been erased in a hurry.

BA himself had six putouts, many of them an average center fielder -- or worse, Rob Mackowiak -- probably wouldn't have made.  He ran down a Rajai Davis fly to right-center in the third that would've meant one run if it dropped, and made a couple other nice warning-track gap catches as well.

His catch of a line drive helped set up a play Floyd would make himself.  Following a single to center, Floyd snagged a comebacker and flipped to first for a 1-3, inning-ending double play.  Floyd snapped off a few good curves, especially in the early going, but he left a lot of pitches up all night.  This Oakland lineup just didn't make him pay.

The Sox offense, however, did enough damage off Smith and the Oakland bullpen to seal win No. 50.  Nick Swisher matched the Sox's run total the first time they saw Smith with a solo shot to left in the second inning, and they made him work hard all night, as Smith issued six walks.

Smith's last walk led to his departure, when Nick Swisher worked his way on base to lead off the sixth.  Alexei Ramirez would single, but the rally appeared to hit a wall when Toby Hall failed to lay down a sac bunt and flew out to center, the second time the Sox failed smallball.

Orlando Cabrera, however, would pick up Hall with a double down the third-base line that scored Swisher and Ramirez.  Ramirez himself had a terrific day, and he capped it off with a solo shot in the eighth to make it perfect, 3-for-3, one-walk performance.

Unfortunately, Scott Linebrink couldn't preserve the shutout, as Ryan Sweeney took a knee-high changeup over the wall in right-center.

Record: 50-37 | Box score | Play-by-play