Floyd's effort doesn't go unnoticed by Guillen, Sox

The suddenly unstoppable White Sox offense spent Sunday afternoon recording more hits than Motown, but the hit parade didn't obscure another solid outing by Gavin Floyd.

The 6-foot-5 right hander has found his own rhythm and is moving up the major-league charts with a bullet. He improved to 7-3 by fanning nine Twins in a 7-inning, 2-run, 6-hit performance.

"I just tried to be aggressive with every pitch," Floyd said. "The curveball was a strikeout pitch, but the slider was good and I was trying to get fastballs by them. I just tried to mix it up and (catcher) A.J. (Pierzynski) called a really good game. I just tried to make my pitch."

The No. 4 overall selection in the 2001 draft (taken by Philadelphia two picks after the Cubs selected Mark Prior) has gained the confidence of his manager.

"Awesome. Great job," Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said of Floyd's performance in a 12-2 victory. "This kid, every time he goes to the mound I think he grows up more. I think he's maturing now and the comfort is there.

"He's got great stuff. Every day he pitches he keeps us in the game and gives himself a chance to win."

Unlike in earlier starts this season, Floyd was given plenty of run support by his teammates, who clubbed the Twins for all 12 runs in the first five innings.

"Baseball's a weird sport," Floyd said. "You can go 7 innings with 1 run and lose a game 1-0. You can't control anything like that."

Floyd's teammates did appreciate the fact that he was able to keep the slugfest one-sided.

"That's a good sign because you can score a lot of runs and win games, but if you're giving up runs to the other side, it takes even more out of the team and those are tougher games to play," Paul Konerko said. "Gavin did a heck of a job today. He's been throwing the ball great."