Gavin Floyd carried a perfect game into the sixth inning before settling for another outstanding outing, leading the White Sox to a 4-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Sunday.Brent Lillibridge hit a three-run triple for the Sox, who’ve won six of seven. The White Sox also improved to 20-2 in their last 22 games at U.S. Cellular Field.Floyd (7-8) allowed one run and four hits in seven-plus innings, improving to 5-2 with a 1.06 ERA in his last 11 starts. The 6-foot-6 right-hander hasn’t allowed more than two earned runs in a game since a loss to Texas on June 2.Oakland starter Gio Gonzalez (9-7), who was drafted by the White Sox in the first round of the 2004 draft, pitched eight innings for his first career complete game. He had a career-high 11 strikeouts without a walk, and yielded six hits.Floyd walked Cliff Pennington with none out in the sixth for Oakland’s first baserunner. He then surrendered a one-out single to Matt Carson. Two more singles for Rajai Davis and Daric Barton cut the lead to 4-1 and left the bases loaded.But Floyd struck out Jack Cust and got Kevin Kouzmanoff to ground out, limiting the damage.Carlos Quentin hit a one-out single in the fifth for the first baserunner against Gonzalez. Ramon Castro then reached on an infield hit and Gonzalez hit Andruw Jones with two out to load the bases.Lillibridge, playing second in place of Gordon Beckham, followed with a hard liner to right field that got by a diving Carson before rolling to the fence. Juan Pierre added a bunt single to make it 4-0.Carson said he felt bad for Gonzalez.Floyd was backed by the bullpen. Matt Thornton induced a double-play ball by Barton in the eighth and J.J. Putz struck out Kouzmanoff to end the inning. Bobby Jenks struck out two in a perfect ninth for his 22nd save in 24 opportunities. NOTES—Beckham rested. … Oakland C Kurt Suzuki had the day off after only missing two games in July. He finished the month hitting .191.

NOTES—Rockies RHP Aaron Cook was taken to a hospital for precautionary X-rays Saturday after fouling a ball off his left foot during batting practice. Tracy said everything was fine and Cook should make his scheduled start Tuesday against the Giants. …Lou Piniella missed his second straight game to attend funeral services in Florida for his uncle. Trammell is managing the team in Piniella’s absence.

 

NOTES—Minnesota’s win moved them to within 1/2 game of the first place Sox…..Edwin Jackson joined his new team, a day after the White Sox acquired him from Arizona. Jackson is scheduled to start Wednesday against one of his four former teams, the Detroit Tigers. “It’s a great group of guys. They come out and play hard every day. I’m excited to be here and to be able to be thrown in the mix and make a playoff run,” Jackson said. …..Mark Teahen was 3 for 4 with two RBIs in his first rehab game. Teahen was placed on the DL with a broken right middle finger on June 1. 

The Cubs backing up the truck started up big time left-hander Ted Lilly was traded to the Dodgers by the Cubs on Saturday along with infielder Ryan Theriot for infielder Blake DeWitt and minor league right-handers Kyle Smit and Brett Wallach. Lilly pitched for Torre with the New York Yankees.Los Angeles also received approximately $2.5 million cash to cover part of what remains in Lilly’s $12 million salary. Los Angeles general manager Ned Colletti was looking to bolster his starting rotation by the trade deadline.Third in the NL West, the Dodgers already acquired former White Sox center fielder and leadoff man Scott Podsednik from Kansas City on Wednesday. Theriot is slated to be the team’s everyday second baseman, while Lilly could make his Los Angeles debut as soon as Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium against the first-place San Diego Padres.

“Hopefully it makes us better,” Torre said before the Dodgers played the San Francisco Giants. “That’s all you can do. I just talked to Theriot and he’s excited. Hopefully Ted Lilly will give us a little more stability in our rotation. I had Teddy before and I’ll tell you one thing, he’s a competitor.”

Lilly is 3-8 with a 3.69 ERA and hasn’t won since June 13. He pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings against Houston on Tuesday and has allowed four earned runs over his last 16 innings. He is eligible for free agency after the season.Theriot has a .284 average with one homer and 21 RBI.The 24-year-old DeWitt, a first-round pick in the 2004 amateur draft who bats left-handed, is batting .270 with 15 doubles, one homer and 30 RBI. He hit .295 with a triple, three doubles and six RBIs in 21 games in July.DeWitt isn’t sure what to expect with the Cubs, considering this is the first trade of his career.

“This is the first time anything like this has ever happened to me. It definitely comes as a little surprise,” DeWitt said shortly after receiving the news. “I haven’t really had time to gather my thoughts yet. … It happened. I appreciated the opportunity I had here. I had a lot of fun here and I look forward to the opportunity in Chicago.”

Also, the New York Yankees have found a deal in Cleveland to acquire former Cub Kerry Wood.The deal has cleared the last hurdle, approval by the Commissioner’s Office, and Wood is on his way to the Bronx. The Yankees will send a player to be named later or cash to the Indians.The Yankees also reportedly will cover $1.5 million of the $3.6 million the Indians still owe Wood on his $10.5 million 2010 salary.Wood is the third player scooped up by the Yanks in the past 24 hours, following Houston’s Lance Berkman and Wood’s former teammate in Cleveland, outfielder Austin Kearns.Wood simply will add depth to a Yankees’ bullpen as they gear up for the stretch run. In 23 appearances for the Indians this season, Wood was 1-4 with a 6.30 ERA and eight saves in 11 opportunities. He recently returned from the disabled list, where he was placed because of a blister on his finger.

When Lucas Harrell woke up in the morning, he was preparing to make a start for Triple-A Charlotte. He ended the day with his first major league victory.Harrell pitched six strong innings in his major league debut, Dayan Viciedo had three hits, and the White Sox beat the Oakland Athletics 6-1 Friday night to get their 12th straight win at home.Harrell’s morning started with a call from White Sox director of player development Buddy Bell informing him of the news.Gordon Beckham also had two hits and drove in two runs for the AL Central-leading White Sox, who are 19-1 at home since June 9. With the win, The Sox moved to a eason-high 14 games over .500.The day was set up for Harrell when the White Sox acquired right-hander Edwin Jackson from the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for Friday night’s scheduled starter Daniel Hudson and prospect David Holmberg.After losing two out of three games to at Oakland last weekend, the White Sox have won five in a row and have their longest home-winning streak since they a 13-game stretch July 1-Aug. 5, 1989.Harrell (1-0) got out of a bases-loaded jam in the second inning and then coasted behind a strong offense for his first victory. He allowed one run on four hits and pitched around five walks with one strikeout. After the game, Harrell was optioned back to Charlotte. Kurt Suzuki had two hits for Oakland who have lost three of its last four after going 9-2 in its previous 11 games.Oakland starter Brett Anderson (2-2), who made his first start since June 3, gave up five runs and 10 hits in 5 1-3 innings. Anderson was activated from the disabled list before the game with left elbow soreness. Inflammation in his pitching elbow has limited Anderson to three starts since April 24.Juan Pierre led off the first inning with a bouncer to shortstop Cliff Pennington, who fielded the ball on the run near second base and bobbled it, allowing Pierre to reach safely with a hit. Pierre then stole second and scored on Alex Rios’ single to give Harrell and the White Sox an early lead.Harrell got into trouble in the second inning. He walked leadoff hitter Mark Ellis, but retired the next two batters. He then walked Pennington and Coco Crisp to load the bases. Daric Barton lifted a long fly ball to center, but Rios hovered under just a step from the center-field wall and made the catch.Ellis led off the fourth with a single and moved to second and third on a pair of infield grounders. He then scored after Pennington hit a liner off Harrell’s glove to tie the score.The White Sox regained the lead in the fourth as Paul Konerko led off with a double to center and scored on A.J. Pierzynski’s single. Viciedo followed with a double off the wall in center advancing Pierzynksi to third. Pierzynski scored on Andruw Jones’ infield groundout and Viciedo scored on Beckham’s single to make it 4-1. Beckham gave the White Sox an insurance run in the sixth with an RBI single and Alexei Ramirez scored on Konerko’s sacrifice fly in the seventh. Jackson was 6-10 with a 5.16 ERA in 21 starts for the Diamondbacks this year, coming off an All-Star season in which he went 13-9 with a 3.62 ERA in 33 starts covering 214 innings for Detroit. Jackson is scheduled to start Wednesday at Detroit.

NOTES—Before the game, the Athletics placed closer Andrew Bailey on the disabled list with a strained right rib cage muscle. Bailey, coming off his second All-Star appearance in as many years, hasn’t pitched since July 20 with the injury. He has 20 saves in 23 opportunities with a 1.56 ERA. The club expects him back Aug. 6 against the Rangers. … Jackson issued eight walks in his 149-pitch no-hitter against the Rays on June 25, and averages more than four walks per nine innings, well above the league average.3 opportunities with a 1.56 ERA. The club expects him back Aug. 6 against the Rangers. … Jackson issued eight walks in his 149-pitch no-hitter against the Rays on June 25, and averages more than four walks per nine innings, well above the league average.

DENVER—Leading 5-2, the Colorado Rockies were looking for an insurance run with two outs in the eighth. Fourteen batters later they were comfortably ahead.Carlos Gonzalez, Ian Stewart and Dexter Fowler homered and Colorado used a record-setting 12-run eighth inning to rout the sinking out of sight Cubs 17-2 on Friday night.

“I’d never seen an inning like that,” Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. “We had two outs and two strikes on a hitter and they score 12 runs. I’d never seen an inning like that.”

Gonzalez had four hits, two in the eighth when the Rockies set a major-league record with 11 straight hits in the inning. The Rockies had 13 hits in the inning, a franchise record.Fowler and Stewart both hit two-run homers in the eighth as the Rockies piled up a club-high 12 extra base hits in the game. The Rockies batted around twice in the inning against relievers Sean Marshall, Andrew Cashner and Brian Schlitter. Troy Tulowitzki had two doubles and three RBI, Clint Barmes and Melvin Mora also had two hits and Brad Hawpe and Chris Iannetta reached base twice in the inning.Every batter got at least one hit in the eighth.It was a welcome explosion for a Colorado offense that has struggled of late. In the last four games of their losing streak that reached nine Wednesday, the Rockies scored 11 combined runs — or one less than they did in the eighth inning Friday.Jeff Francis (4-3) had his second straight quality start in picking up just his second win since June 13. He gave up two runs and four hits, struck out five and walked one in six innings.The Cubs have lost three straight and four of five.The Rockies got to starter Ryan Dempster (8-8) in the third. With one out Francis singled to center, Fowler hit a ground-rule double to center and Seth Smith doubled to score both runners.Dempster struck out Gonzalez but then walked three consecutive batters to allow Smith to score and make it 3-0.The Rockies padded the lead in the fifth. Gonzalez led off with his 20th home run, Tulowitzki singled and Hawpe and Iannetta walked to load the bases with no outs.James Russell relieved Dempster and gave up an RBI single to Stewart to make it 5-0. Russell retired the next three batters to end the rally.Dempster allowed five runs and seven hits, struck out five and walked five in four-plus innings.

“I wasn’t aggressive. It was embarrassing,” Dempster said. “I would rather have given up the 11-straight hits than to not be aggressive.”

The Cubs got two back in the sixth off Francis. Jeff Baker led off with a single, Tyler Colvin tripled and then scored on Derrek Lee’s groundout to make it 5-2.

NOTES—The Cubs reinstated RHP Carlos Zambrano from the restricted list. Zambrano was placed on the restricted list June 29 after getting into a verbal altercation with teammates during a June 26 game against the White Sox.Piniella will miss the last two games of the series and the opener of the home series with Milwaukee on Monday to attend his uncle’s funeral in Tampa. Bench coach Alan Trammell will manage the team in Piniella’s absence.Rockies 1B Todd Helton (back stiffness) began a rehab assignment with the Casper Ghosts of the Rookie League.

The Rush will open the 2010 Arena Football League playoffs with a National Conference semifinal game against the Milwaukee Iron next weekend at U.S.Cellular Arena(former Milwakee Arena) since the Bradley Center is under renovation and not available. The playoff matchup was determined after the Iowa Barnstormers defeated the Arizona Rattlers 67-47 Friday night in Phoenix. Arizona’s loss gives the Rush and Rattlers identical 10-6 records at the close of the regular season. Since the Rush swept the season series from Arizona, the Rush wins the tiebreaker between the teams and earns the No. 3 seed in the National Conference, while the Rattlers fall to the No. 4 seed. As the No. 3 seed, the Rush now faces the No. 2 seed Milwaukee (10-5), while Arizona must travel to Spokane to take on the top seeded Spokane Shock (13-3).The Rush and Iron split their 2010 season series, with the Iron winning 71-48 on May 7 in Milwaukee and the Rush evening the series with a 63-56 win June 19 at Allstate Arena.More details regarding the date and time of the game will be available soon. Fans should continue to check the Rush Web site for more information.We’ll also update here on grobber.com