Indians-White Sox: Series Preview

The Cleveland Indians are flying into Chicago to take on the White Sox in a three-game weekend series at U.S. Cellular Field.

The Indians are coming off of a tough stretch of baseball, losing two of three to Minnesota, and three of four to New York. In all, Cleveland has lost five of their last seven, and they find themselves seven back of first place Detroit in the AL Central.

Chicago is also reeling, losing three out of four to Oakland in their previous series. Chicago is in third in the AL Central, three and a half back of the Tigers.

Game one features Cleveland's pleasant surprise in Carl Pavano (5-4) against Chicago's John Danks (4-3). Both pitchers have had solid years for their respective clubs, and look to continue their quality pitching on Friday night.

Game two has Cleveland's Jeremy Sowers (1-2) up against Gavin Floyd (3-5) of the White Sox. Both pitchers have had high ERA's all year long, but are starting to find their form.

Sowers is coming off two consecutive good-looking outings, giving up one earned run in his last ten innings pitched. Floyd had a brilliant start against Oakland in his last outing, going seven innings and giving up two earned.

Game three schedules the Indians' David Huff (0-2), who has had some decent outings lately, throwing against former Indian, Bartolo Colon (3-5).

Colon has had two solid outings in a row. He went five and a third against Oakland in his last appearance, and six and two thirds against Los Angeles (AL), going 1-1 overall.

Look for this to be a heated series, as Cleveland looks to get back into striking distance of first place before the All-Star break. The next couple of series should let Cleveland know whether they will be buying or selling as we approach this year's trading deadline. Chicago will be looking to gain ground on Detroit as well in this very important AL Central showdown.