Some Sox fans are in love with Youk. We've seen this movie before ...
Full Thursday scoreboard with recaps and box scores for every game
3 UP
Kevin Youkilis, White Sox: Youk and the White Sox may just have something here. That picture above is of Youkilis' walkoff single Wednesday. Tuesday he had a big enough game in front of his new home fans to get a spot in "3 Up." And Thursday, he's done it again. The White Sox beat the Rangers, 2-1. Youkilis scored both runs, one of them coming on his own home run. In three home games for the White Sox, Youkilis is 6-for-13 with two homers, six RBI, five runs and two walks. And the White Sox swept the best team in baseball. Like I said, they might just have something here.
Carlos Lee, Marlins: In his Marlins' debut, Lee went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored in a Marlins victory. Starting pitcher Mark Buehrle's brilliant outing was most responsible for the 4-0 victory, but it was a successful debut for Lee and that's worth noting.
The Padres: Guess who has won six in a row? Wow. The Padres needed an eighth inning home run by Logan Forsythe to tie it and a walkoff "single" (over the heads of the pulled-in outfield) from Everth Cabrera in the bottom of the ninth to win it. Despite having a seemingly infinite amount of injuries and being in full-on rebuild mode, the Padres have taken six in a row.
3 DOWN
Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer and company; Cubs: Earlier Thursday, CBSSports.com's Jon Heyman posted a piece about how coveted Matt Garza is on the trade market. So imagine the chagrin of the front office when Garza went out and laid an egg in Atlanta -- and the Braves are one of the contending teams that could use another arm. Some outlets were reporting that there were some scouts there watching Garza, too. His final line: Four innings pitched, five hits, five earned runs, three walks, three home runs allowed and six strikeouts. Obviously one bad outing won't scare everyone away, but it's less than a month until the trade deadline. The Epstein administration needs gems from here on out to drive up the price. So, even though it obviously wasn't their fault, it was a rough night for Epstein, Hoyer and their cohorts.
Jonathan Papelbon, Phillies: The Phillies are desperately trying to hang around in the NL playoff race and looked ready to win their second straight game after a tough losing streak. And Papelbon -- who the Phillies signed to a four-year, $50 million contract this past offseason -- went out and coughed up the game to the Mets.
The Arizona Diamondbacks: Both the Dodgers and Giants have endured a few rough patches of late, as if begging the 2011 NL West champion D-Backs to climb neck-and-neck with them. Instead, the Diamondbacks have now lost six straight and eight of their last 10. Thursday night their lone All-Star, starting pitcher Wade Miley, lost to a Dodgers' lineup without its only two scary hitters. Meanwhile, the offense only managed to scrape across one run. 
Who woulda thought? The Giants and Pirates are squaring off for a three-game series leading into the All-Star break. Guess which one has the better record and is in first place? Why, the Pirates, of course. If given the choice before the season started, what would the prediction have been? Meanwhile, the Pirates have won four in a row and the Giants have dropped three straight and fallen 1.5 games back of the Dodgers. Barry Zito (6-5, 4.00) looks to get the Giants back on track while Erik Bedard (4-8, 4.27) looks to keep the Pirates hot. 7:05 p.m. ET
Reeling Rangers: The Rangers have now lost four games in a row. If they lose again Friday, it will be their longest losing streak of the season. They'll face Francisco Liriano (2-7, 5.40) and the last-place Twins. Easy day, right? Not necessarily. Liriano has a 2.95 ERA since returning to the rotation in late May and the Twins had won five in a row before dropping the last two. Plus, rookie Martin Perez (1-0, 9.00) is starting for the Rangers. 8:05 p.m. ET
Rivalry alert: Yes, the Yankees and the Red Sox are facing each other. That's always news. Hiroki Kuroda (8-7, 3.17) will start for the Yankees while Josh Beckett (4-7, 4.06) gets the nod for the home Red Sox. 7:10 p.m. ET
• Not a cancer? White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski has been routinely named the "meanest" player or "biggest jerk" in baseball for years, in various polls among players. He's even been called a clubhouse cancer by an unnamed former Giants teammate in an article long ago. Pierzynski replied to the sentiment, via csnchicago.com:
“Well, [Brett Tomko] says he didn't,” Pierzynski said. “But I know Matt Herges, he said some things, some other guys said some things … you know, they have their right, and one of the things I was accused of was getting the other team signs. Anyone that knows me, I would never in a million years give the other team, tell the other team what's coming. What’s funny is the guy who wrote the article, wrote this article and never asked me about it. He just wrote the article, and then it became a national perception that I was doing all these things when nobody still had ever asked me about it. That's the one thing I get most mad about.”
• Picking up the pace: Hanley Ramirez is among the slowest in the majors when it comes to home-run trots. Baseball Prospectus chronicles his unbelievably slow trot times, and notes that Bryce Harper -- with the fastest trot-time of the season -- once had an entire home-run trot (8.21 seconds) that took less time than it took Ramirez to reach first base on his homer last Sunday.
• Fresno Batmen? The Fresno Grizzlies -- the Giants' Triple-A affiliate -- wore Batman uniforms last Friday and they're kind of awesome. Here are some pictures.
• The Drew Sutton Story: Almost everything about the Pirates is a great story right now, but among the best stories is Drew Sutton. He went from the Braves' Triple-A affiliate to the Pirates' Triple-A affiliate to the Rays and then back to the Pirates already this season. Triblive.com has the full story on Sutton and it's well worth the read.
• Still stirring ... something: Reggie Jackson does not believe Kirby Puckett, Gary Carter, Don Sutton, Phil Niekro, Jim Rice or Bert Blyleven should be in the Hall of Fame. And he says more than that about the PED -- or suspected -- users. SI.com has the interview.
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