The story is the same as Sunday in the ALDS, the White Sox and Angels need to win to stay alive. Gavin Floyd hosts Andy Sonnanstine at 5 PM EDT. Andy improved his ERA about 1.5 runs versus 2007. His low walks and home run rates combined with a better defense did the trick. Unlike many pitchers on the Rays, Sonnanstine is very even home and road. He's also coming off a very strong September in which he posted a 3.16 ERA as his strikeouts picked up a bit. The Rays didn't help him much, however, as he end September 0-3.

Floyd owns an interesting home/road split. His ERA is lower at the Cell, but he allows more home runs there. His strikeouts go way up in his home park, leading me to wonder if he takes advantage of batters swinging for the fences there? With the higher K rate, his hits allowed are down. Maybe the right way to approach Floyd in Chicago is not to swing for the fences, but concentrate on putting the ball in play. The White Sox defense isn't that good, so ball will find their way to holes.

The second battle of the Jo(h)ns takes place in Boston tonight as Game 1 starters John Lackey and Jon Lester face off. Lester won that battle, but didn't pitch that much better than Lackey. The difference was one home run ball. Unfortunately, the Angels lost the battle in which they held the upper hand. Lester is 11-1 at Fenway this season with a 2.49 ERA. That's impressive for any pitchers, but more so for a lefty. His success comes from closing the gap between left and right-handed batters at home, pitching much better against right-handed batters at Fenway.

The Red Sox can send six lefties/switch hitters against Lackey tonight, which would play into his strength. He's shown a reverse platoon split this season, where lefties struggle against him much more than righties. That's exactly the kind of pitcher needed to neutralize switch hitters.

On top of that, it's going to be cold tonight. (I'm very aware of this since our furnace blew and I'm waiting for a new one.) I suspect we'll see a very low scoring game, which means fans of both teams will be on the edge of their seats the entire game.

Enjoy!