38-3 this season

You would think with as bad as Minnesota has been, the Sox should be able to just cruise there and take games. Unfortunately, this is not proving to be the case. Kevin Youkilis made his White Sox debut last night and he picked up a hit. Tonight, he and the rest of the guys will try to get hits AND win the [expletive deleted] game.

Here is Robin’s lineup tonight for that purpose:

Alejandro De Aza CF, Youk 3B, Big Donkey DH, The King 1B, Alex Rios RF, The Cuban Tank LF, The Cuban Missile SS, Tyler Flowers C, Bacon 2B.

Mr. Consistently Inconsistent, Gavin Floyd, will start for the Sox. Right about now, Gavin based on previous years should be heading into one of his “hot” streaks. Gavin’s last start was a win where he threw 6.1 scoreless of innings in beating the Cubs.

That was nice to see Gavin bounce back after a string of starts where he was giving up runs (usually of the long ball variety) in every inning he pitched. That resulted in a 10.38 ERA over his prior six starts. Against Minnesota, things have been ugly. As much as Gavin seems to own the Tigers, the Twins seem to own him. In 16 career starts, Gavin is  4-11 with a 6.29 ERA. Hopefully tonight, the good Gavin shows up to the ballpark.

30-42 this season

Ron Gardenhire will send out the following guys to keep messing with the Sox’s heads:

Denard Span CF, Ben Revere RF, Dandruff Boy C, Josh Willingham LF, Justin Morneau 1B, Trevor Plouffe 3B, Ryan Doumit DH, Alexi Casilla 2B, Jamey Carroll SS.

Liam Hendricks will start for the Twins. The Aussie is still looking for his first win in the majors. So far, he has had 10 opportunities, but no wins to show for his efforts.

Liam’s last start was against the Pirates where he gave up six runs, three earned on eight hits in just over five-plus innings of work. His winless streak goes back to last season and he has a 6.84 ERA in the 10 career starts.

*Notes: The White Sox are 15-12 against the AL Central this season. That is a change considering that from 2009-2011, they were 98-118 against division rivals. Matt Capps was put on the 15-day disabled list with right shoulder inflammation. Gardenhire says Jared Burton and Glen Perkins will split closing duties. 

AJ Pierzynski was a late scratch. Probably just a night off as he has great numbers against tomorrow’s starter, Nick Blackburn.