2007 State of the Sox

September 10: Indians 6, White Sox 2

Gavin Floyd's start could've turned disastrous over the course of three pitches in the fourth inning.

No. 1:  With one out and Asdrubal Cabrera on first after a leadoff walk, Floyd threw a beautiful 2-1 fastball to Victor Martinez that tailed back to clip the inside corner, but didn't get the call.

No. 2:  To make sure he didn't walk the batter, he gave Martinez a get-me-over fastball that he shot into right field to put runners on the corners.

No. 3:  He then drilled Ryan Garko with the first pitch.

So there he had the bases loaded with one out and Jhonny Peralta, a lifetime .324 hitter with the sacks packed, at the bat.  Normally this is where Floyd falls apart, but instead, he came back with two perfect pitches on the outside corner.  The second, a fastball, Peralta grounded right to Danny Richar, who started an inning-ending 4-6-3 that got Floyd out of the inning unscathed.

Unfortunately, Floyd took a loss he didn't deserve, as he pitched well.  Only one earned run scored on his watch -- Kenny Lofton led off the seventh with a bunt, advanced to second on a sac bunt, then scored on a single to left.  Josh Fields got the ball before Lofton had even rounded third, but the soaked field made a perfect throw nearly impossible.  Lofton scored without a play at the plate, as Andy Gonzalez cut it off.

Mike Myers came in and allowed a two-out, three-run homer to Cabrera to put this game out of reach.  Then came the rain delay, one that lasted nearly 2 1/2 hours.

Gonzalez was the source of the other run while Floyd was in the game.  Picking up where Alex Cintron left off, Gonzalez had a grounder bounce off his chest.  He chased it, picked it up, and fired the ball into the Indians dugout.  A single later, the Indians cut the lead to 2-1.

Meanwhile, the Sox had no answer for Fausto Carmona, who, to his credit, was dealing.

When play resumed after the delay, the Sox managed to look worse.  Ryan Bukvich couldn't find the strike zone for about seven pitches, and walked Ryan Garko to put runners on the corners.  Up came Lofton, who rocketed a grounder to first, snagged by Darin Erstad.  Erstad looked Martinez back to third ... then looked ... then pumped.  By the time he actually got rid of the ball, Martinez got back to the bag and everybody was safe.

Hawk Harrelson was forced into the uncomfortable position of having to criticize Erstad, which he did fairly.  That ended up being the non-Floyd highlight of the night.

Record: 61-83 | Box score | Play-by-play