Floyd, White Sox continue series with Yankees

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Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Posted: 9:01 a.m.

(AP) -- The Chicago White Sox avoideda third straight shutout by posting one of their own. They may liketheir chances of limiting the New York Yankees again based on who theyare sending out to the mound.Gavin Floyd has an excellent historyagainst several of the Yankees' key hitters, and he'll get the ballTuesday night when these teams continue a four-game set in the Bronx.Chicago (9-14) won for just thesecond time in 12 games, 2-0 on Monday behind Phil Humber. Theoft-traveled Humber made his sixth career start a successful one bytaking a no-hitter into the seventh inning before Alex Rodriguezsingled for one of New York's three hits.Chris Sale and Sergio Santos combinedto record the final six outs for the White Sox, whose relievers haveposted a 2.35 ERA over the last seven games after registering a 5.21ERA over the first 16."We needed that," manager Ozzie Guillen said. "Our bullpen's been better over the past five or six days."Before the game, the White Sox werevisited by general manager Kenny Williams, who made the trip toreiterate his support for the team and Guillen's staff."All I can do is come to theclubhouse and give some hugs, some support in that way," Williams said."The good thing is we have the ability, we have the talent."The Yankees (12-7) may not find theirtask much easier against Floyd (2-1, 4.00 ERA), who is 1-1 with a 3.29ERA in four starts against them. Perhaps more important, the Chicagoright-hander has fared well against numerous current New York hitters,including Derek Jeter (3 for 14), Robinson Cano (1 for 13), Rodriguez(1 for 8), Mark Teixeira (1 for 6) and Nick Swisher (1 for 6).Floyd was the last White Sox pitcherto win before Humber, allowing two runs over six innings Thursday in a9-2 victory at Tampa Bay.The series-opening loss marked boththe second time this season the powerful Yankees were shut out, and thesecond time they failed to get an extra-base hit. New York leads themajors with 36 home runs and a .486 slugging percentage.Teixeira - born in Annapolis, Maryland like Floyd - was 0 for 3 on Monday after going 6 for 13 over the previous three games.Cano also went 0 for 3 as his 13-game hitting streak ended. The second baseman batted .345 with 12 RBIs during that run.New York's Ivan Nova (1-2, 7.63) mayhave good memories of facing the White Sox entering his second startagainst them. The right-hander earned his first major league victoryAug. 29, 2010, by giving up one run over 5 2-3 innings in a 2-1 roadwin over Chicago.Nova has not started since April 15,when he yielded five runs over 4 1-3 innings in a 5-3 home loss toTexas. He pitched in relief last Tuesday and recorded only two outsbefore giving up the winning run in a 6-5, 10-inning loss at TorontoCopyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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