White Sox Open Crucial Stretch; Quentin Activated from DL

The Chicago White Sox begin a stretch of 18 consecutive games against teams .500 or above tonight when the club opens up a four-game set with the defending American League Champion Tampa Bay Rays at U.S. Cellular Field.

Gavin Floyd will take the bump for the Sox against the Rays’ David Price. Floyd posted a 5-2 mark with a 2.40 ERA in his last 10 starts before the All-Star break.

The Sox opened the second half of the season over the weekend by taking two of three against Baltimore in Chicago, but the team now must gear up for the toughest part of the season’s schedule thus far.

After concluding their seven-game homestand on Thursday, the club travels to Detroit to battle the Tigers in a doubleheader to kick off a four-game series before visiting the always pesky Twins in the Metrodome.

The club then comes home to host the Yankees for four games and the Angels for three. The homestand concludes with three against a Cleveland team that most likely will sell off some more pieces before the July 31 trading deadline.

The White Sox activated Carlos Quentin from the disabled list late Monday afternoon and the left fielder is expected to be in the lineup tonight. With Quentin ready to play after being shelved by plantar fasciitis, outfielder Brian Anderson was sent down to Triple A Charlotte.

Anderson still had a minor league option remaining, whereas DeWayne Wise would have had to clear waivers. Anderson will get regular at-bats in Charlotte and would be called up immediately if Quentin’s injury flares up again.

Besides the return of a pain-free Quentin, the performance of fifth-starter Clayton Richard will be closely monitored, specifically in his Wednesday evening start.

Richard has pitched five or more innings only twice in his last seven starts, and with Bartolo Colon healthy and pitching effectively at Charlotte—and ready to pitch in the first game of the doubleheader with Detroit on Friday—Richard must have a strong outing to instill confidence in manager Ozzie Guillen.

If Colon falters on Friday, another option for the Sox could be Freddy Garcia, who is scheduled to pitch a bullpen session at The Cell before the game tonight.