Every night The Big Guy breaks down the action in the American League.
Best Win
White Sox 7-Twins 4: Why do we fall, Master Wayne? So we ca learn to pick ourselves up. Fresh off of losing the AL Central lead by dropping three straight to the division rival Tigers, not to mention five games overall, Chicago kicked the AL Central dog Monday night. After going 1-11 in Detroit over the weekend, Adam Dunn hit his MLB-best 29th homer. Gavin Floyd went 6 IP, 2 ER, 6 BB and Paul Konerko awoke with 3 RBI. The Sox trail Detroit by 1 game going into Tuesday.
Best Hitter
Nothing like chilling through 7 1/2 innings, taking one hack, and earning hero honors for the day. Los Angeles Angels DH Kendrys Morales had the day off Monday until the bottom of the 8th. With the bases loaded and the score knotted 3-3, Morales singled to deep right to clear the sacks. Half an inning later and the Angeles sealed a 6-3 victory over the hapless Kansas City Royals.
Best Pitcher
Don’t look now, but Hiroki Kuroda is pitching light out for the Yanks. Kuroda went 7 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 9 K against the Ichiroless Mariners. The $10 million man allowed only 4 fly ball outs on the way to his 10th win of the season. Kuroda lowered his ERA to 3.34 and has won his last four decisions. The Yankees have won his last six starts.
Stat to know
Cleveland Racists reliever Vinnie Pestano has not allowed an earned run in his last 11 appearances. The 27-year-old righty has a 1.54 ERA and a 0.98 WHIP. After making 67 relief appearances in 2011 with a 2.32 ERA, Pestano is only improving.
Tomorrow’s note
Seattle fans will experience mixed emotions Tuesday when traded hero Ichiro Suzuki will face current Mariners franchise face, and Big Guy favorite, Felix Hernandez. Prediction: Ichiro goes 1-3 against King Felix.
The Sports Guys 