Sox look to shake K.C. slide

The Yankees are in town for a three-game series, and they own the best record (72-49) in the American League. After yet another miserable showing agaisnt the lowly Kansas City Royals, the White Sox are almost looking forward to stepping up in class. "It's the American League, it's the big leagues in general, there's just no pushover," Paul Konerko said. "Everywhere you go you can't look at any series any team is playing and say: 'Well, they should win 2 of 3 or they should sweep the series.' "Too many teams have too many guys with arms that if they show up the right way on a given night they can beat anybody. I guess it's good because there's a lot of teams that are close to winning or not far off. All in all I think it makes everybody better." Losing three straight at K.C. over the weekend hurt the Sox, but they have consistently shown the ability to get up off the deck and keep fighting this season. "We were unpredictable this weekend in that we didn't catch the ball very well," GM Kenny Williams said. "But that fortunately has not been the theme of the year. We've been very consistent in just focusing on the day's work ahead. Maybe we lost a little bit of that this weeked and we darn sure better have it this week against the Yankees." -Gavin Floyd starts for the White Sox tonight, and he could be in store for a quick exit if the breaking ball is flat. Left-handers are batting .306 vs. Floyd this season, and the Yankees have seven lefties in the lineup tonight, including Curtis Granderson (32 home runs), Robinson Cano (25) and Mark Teixeira (23). -Sox center fielder Alejandro De Aza is out for the third straight game with lower back pain. Manager Robin Ventura said De Aza might wind up on the disabled list.