Twins 3, White Sox 1: The Good, Bad, And Indifferent

Box Score

Good

Gavin Floyd

Floyd didn't deserve to lose this game, as he turned in a very solid outing after struggling against New York on April 24.

Say what you will about his K/BB ratio in the game (1:3), but he threw six innings and allowed three runs, one of which he didn't deserve to give up (see: Orlando Cabrera's poor play at SS and AJ Pierzynski's poor throw on a SB attempt).  

Of course, Floyd hasn't been nearly as good as he was early in the year when he was facing Detroit, but he's still been a very solid pitcher at the back of the rotation. He deserved the run support today, but didn't get it, and will have to take a tough loss. 

Boone Logan

Logan tossed 1.1 scoreless innings in relief, doing everything he could to keep the White Sox in the game. His breaking stuff looked especially good in that time and his fastball had good pace on it.  

Bad

Playing the Twins in the Metrodome

It's absolutely unbelievable just how bad of luck the Sox seem to have in the Metrodome over the last decade or so.

Today, of course, was no different. A Michael Cuddyer bloop double on a pitch well off the plate led to a Jason Kubel two-run home run and errors on Cabrera (the official score credited Delmon Young with a hit on a play that a Gold Glove shortstop/Juan Uribe should have made) and Pierzynski allowed the third run of the game to score, all coming in the fourth inning.

Then, in the top of the sixth, Jim Thome doubled with one out and it appeared the Sox were ready to mount a rally when Paul Konerko laced a low line drive up the middle.

But this was a game in the Metrodome, so the ball skipped high off the mound, allowing second baseman Brendan Harris to easily make a 4-3 putout. If that ball gets through, the Sox have runners on the corners with one out. Even if Jermaine Dye still struck out, it would have brought up AJ Pierzynski, who was 2-2 at that point.

It's really quite odd—every time the White Sox play the Twins in Minneapolis, everything just seems to go wrong. It's incredibly frustrating. I almost get that "helpless" feeling everytime the White Sox hit a ball hard and it's caught despite a horrible route by an outfielder (Delmon Young, that means you).

I personally cannot wait for the Twins to move out of the hellhole that is the HHH Metrodome.

The offense

Of course, the above point is no excuse for the horrible effort put forth by the White Sox offense today. After stranding 12 runners in yesterday's unfinished, 11-inning game against Baltimore, the White Sox left five men on base, including two in scoring position. 

I'll give Boof Bonser credit—he was throwing strikes and had a great curveball working for him. But I have to wonder if the Sox hitters couldn't pick up what Bonser was throwing, as numerous hitters in the White Sox lineup swung at 58-foot curveballs. That tells me that these hitters were really struggling to pick up the ball, whether because Bonser was hiding it well or they were unprepared to hit in the Metrodome for the first time in 2008.

Bonser finally left one of those curveballs up in the seventh, and Joe Crede nailed it for a solo home run.  

This is one of those games the offense is going to have to put out of its head, but they've been having a lot of them lately. Greg Walker needs to do something to re-energize this group, because again, if the White Sox want to contend in the AL Central deep into the season, they're going to have to win these games against marginal opponents such as the Twins and Blue Jays. The pitching has been there, but the offense hasn't as of late.

Indifferent 

Ehren Wassermann

After allowing a leadoff single to Nick Punto, who was batting lefthanded, Wassermann got Carlos Gomez and Brendan Harris to weakly ground out.

Wassermann's always been billed as somebody who has trouble getting left-handers out while dominating right-handers, which is exactly what he did today. I'd like for him to face primarily right-handers as a situational righty, but he's going to have to learn how to get lefties out if he wants to take that next step towards being a top-of-the-line setup man.