Still In 1st Place…Barely

The White Sox won again on Sunday (4-1 over Oakland) and finished the homestand with 6 wins in 7 games. They also won their 7th straight series, have won 20 of their last 22 home games  and are a major league best 35-12 since the first week of June. And in spite of all the above gaudy numbers they have only a half game lead in the Central Division because the Twins are also red hot. Minnesota has taken advantage of a weak schedule and has now won 8 straight games.

Sunday's victory was paced by Gavin Floyd who has been likely the best pitcher in baseball over the last 2 months. Floyd took a perfect game into the 6th inning and got the win (his 7th). Floyd has an ERA barely over 1 over the last 2 months and hasn't given up a home run in his last 76 innings.

Other pitchers on streaks are Matt Thornton who has 18 straight scoreless appearances and Bobby Jenks had a perfect 1-2-3 9th inning for his 22nd save and is now 17 for his last 18 in save opportunities.

The Sox now have a heavy dose of divisional games coming up starting with a double header at detroit on Tuesday.