Before the Sox bowed down to the mighty Twins for the third straight time last evening, Hawk Harrelson, in his pre-game commentary, talked about the Sox gifting runs to the Twins in the first two games. Steve Stone mentioned the team’s second-worst-in-the-AL 75 errors, which now rests at 76 after Ramon Castro’s throwing error in the third last evening. Stone also pointed out another epidemic: the plays the Sox should be making and aren’t, the ones that don’t count as errors, but give the opponent a run or two. Case in point: Scott Podsednik’s play on Joe Mauer’s ground-rule double in left field on Tuesday night. It wasn’t ruled an error, but it certainly should have been caught. It helped the Twins take control of that game.

Before the season started, we knew the Sox defense wasn’t going to be doing them any favors. And, because of the high amount of errors, I figured it would follow they had near the worst, if not the worst defense in the league. But a look at FanGraphs tells a different story. Sure, the South Siders’ defense isn’t terrific. But here’s where they’re at compared to the rest of the American League:

As you can see (well, that’s sort of small, if you can’t see, head to this link for a larger view), the Sox have the No. 8 defense in the AL, which puts them smack dab in the middle. What’s interesting is that three divison foes: the Twins, Indians and Royals make up three of the final four spots. Only division-leading Detroit fares better than the Sox with their gloves at No. 3. The Sox defense has cost them almost 11 runs this season, which is good for a couple losses. But it’s nowhere near the Royals (-27.8) or Twins (-23.3).

So yeah, the Sox may have the second-most errors in the AL, but that doesn’t quite tell the full story. They’re defense is average, as compared to the rest of the American League.