Series Preview. White Sox vs. Indians

The White Sox start a three game series against their division rival Indians today. This is a very important series because the Indians are leading the central right now and the White Sox are not that far behind them in the race. The Indians are a hot team coming off a sweep of the Tigers and they are 8-2 in their last 10 games. The White Sox are also hot as they are 7-3 in their last ten and just won a series against the Twins. This will be a tough series and will be a test for both teams in all three parts of the game. Whichever team wins the series will have a great advantage in the division heading forward.

Game 1
Jose Quintana (0-0 0.00 ERA) vs. Jeanmar Gomez (3-2 3.19 ERA)

Jose Quintana will get his first major league start because John Danks was recently put on the DL for having shoulder soreness. In AA, he pitched 35.1 innings and had a 3.06 ERA, 26 Ks, and 11 BBs. He made his big league debut in the bullpen for the White Sox and will now have a chance for his first start. Nobody knows whether or not he will have a good start, but the White Sox can hope that he comes out confident and by having stuff that none of the players have seen, he can fool some of their batters.

Gomez has been pretty good recently. In his last three starts he is 1-1 with a 3.60 ERA. He had a pretty strong start against the Marlins on Saturday and hasn't allowed a run in his last 16 innings. The last time that he pitched against the Sox, he gave up 6 runs in one inning. His pitching could go either way against the Sox and if players like Konerko, De Aza, and Rios keep up their hot streaks the White Sox can easily win this game.

The key to this game will be whether or not Quintana has the stuff to beat a major league team. The White Sox offense will have to back him up by scoring quite a few runs, but I think the Sox have a great shot to win this game.

Game 2
Jake Peavy (5-1 2.39 ERA) vs. Derek Lowe (6-2 2.15 ERA)
Jake Peavy has probably been the best pitching story of the year. He had a terrible year last year and came back this year and is dominating teams. He isn't up to the level he was when he won the Cy Young, but he is doing a great job being the second pitcher in this rotation. In his last three starts, he is 2-0 with a 3.38 ERA and 16 strikeouts. If he continues to pitch like he has previously, he gives the Sox a great chance to win this game.

Derek Lowe has pitched well this season and recently. He's had two quality starts in a row, one in which he pitched a complete game shutout. In his last three, he is 2-1 with a 2.71 ERA and 5 Ks. He'll be a tough test for the White Sox offense, but since they are so hot recently that challenge might not be a challenge at all. In 64.2 innings pitched against the White Sox he has a losing record at 1-2 and has 3.34 ERA and 43 strikeouts. The White Sox haven't really struggled against him and if they can score 3-5 runs, they can win the game easily.

Game 3
Gavin Floyd (3-5 4.66 ERA) vs. Ubaldo Jimenez (5-3 5.02 ERA)
Floyd has been Mr. Inconsistent this year having a good start and then the next time he goes out, he is horrendous. If Floyd has one of his good starts, the White Sox have a good chance. If Floyd has a bad start it kills the entire team's momentum and they will probably lose.

Jimenez is having an alright year. He has a winning record, but his ERA isn't something to get worked up about. The same story goes for his last three starts (he is 2-1 with a 7.16 ERA). The White Sox will be able to score runs against him, but the key to winning will be stopping the Indians offense from backing him up like they have done so far this year.

Story of the Week
Paul Konerko is the story of the week for the White Sox. He has been extremely hot and is on a 10 game hitting streak. He leads the team in almost every hitting statistic and might even have a shot at MVP if he keeps hitting like he is. Right now he is .384/.462/.649 with 10 HR which is quite impressive and is obviously leading the team. In the last week he is batting .615 with 3 HRs and 6 RBIs which is the reason he is the story of the week.

Series Recap. White Sox win 2/3 against Twins

The White Sox had a tough series, but ended up winning 2 out of the 3 games. The first game was the worst of the entire series, but the only game that was even close to easy was the second game. The pitching by the White Sox was not stellar in the series, but Chris Sale did have a great start in the second game.

The power from the White Sox was the biggest story of the entire series. The players that hit home runs this series are Beckham, Rios (2), Konerko (2), Pierzynski, De Aza, and Viciedo. The power was especially helpful to the White Sox in their win in the third game of the series as they came back in the 6th after their terrible 5th inning.

The Indians swept the Tigers, so the White Sox did not gain any ground in the central division race. The Sox will have a great chance to do that though as they are going to play a three game series against the Indians starting tomorrow.

Game Preview. White Sox vs. Indians

The White Sox go from Texas to Cleveland without a day of rest as they play the Indians today. This might be a small problem because of the little rest, but I'm sure manager Robin Ventura has them ready to play today. Playing the Indians shouldn't be as much of a struggle as playing the Rangers was, but who knows because the White Sox weren't exactly stellar against division opponents last year.

Chris Sale is on the mound for the White Sox making his first Major League start. If he can control his pitches and not leave that slider hanging, he'll have a good game. During spring training, he looked like one of the best pitchers on the staff and he'll hopefully keep that going into the regular season today against the Indians.

The White Sox offense will need to back Sale up with a few runs. They had big troubles with runners in scoring position against Texas and need to do a better job of bringing those guys home in this series and game. Brent Morel, who is still without a hit, will probably start today and will hopefully get on track against the Indians. Rios and Dunn have been pretty good so far and they'll look to continue that. Konerko is solid as he always is. De Aza and Beckham haven't really gotten it going yet this season, so I'll look to them to have big games. Neither Pierzynski nor Flowers have been great at the plate so far, but whoever is playing today will hopefully get a base hit or two and get on track for the season.

The White Sox can win this game if Sale pitches well. The offense will have to score some runs because I don't think Sale will shut them out. The short rest could hurt the White Sox, but this game is still winnable for the Sox.

Series Recap. Sox take 1/3 from Rangers

The first series of this season did not go the way the White Sox would have wanted, but I think they played well against one of the better teams in the American League. The Rangers came ready and they were good. The White Sox had to struggle and play a really good game just to beat them once. It was a good series and other than a few mistakes in the last game, the Sox were pretty close with the Rangers.

Opening Day didn't go the White Sox' way for the first five innings, but managed to score a run thanks to Dunn and his home run. (Wow, there was a lot of rhyming in that sentence). They scored another run that inning driven in by Alexei. For a first game it wasn't bad, but Danks could have used a little bit more run support. It's not fun losing when the other team only scores three runs.

The second game was by the far the White Sox best game. Peavy pitched well and only gave up 3 runs on 8 hits. Not bad for a guy that was a big question mark coming into the season. The offense played well, mostly led by Paul Konerko who drove in 3 of the 4 runs that the Sox scored. Only four players actually recorded a hit, but the offense seemed to be doing fine. The Sox did just enough to win the game thanks to the home run hit by Rios in the ninth inning.

The third game was not good at all for the White Sox. They didn't play good offense and Floyd didn't pitch a very good game. The Rangers came ready to hit Floyd's fastball and they sure did hit it. The Rangers had three home runs and scored 5 runs off Floyd. The bullpen did pitch well and fans got a nice taste of what Nate Jones can do. There were positives in this game, but the most important thing it did was point out the weaknesses in the team.

The story of this series was the White Sox continued struggles with runners in scoring position. In the second game, it wasn't as much of a problem as the Sox were 2-4 in that game with RISP. In the other two games they were 0-7 and 0-8, respectively. They aren't going to win games if they keep leaving runners on second and third with one or less outs. They have to get better at getting clutch base hits and bringing runners home. That's the key to this offense.

Game Recap. White Sox lose 5-0 to Rangers

The White Sox did not play a very good game today. They didn't score a single run and gave up 5, including three homers. The Sox end up losing the series 1-2.

The first few innings of the game were great pitching. The problem is that Floyd made three mistakes and all three of them were driven out of the park. The Rangers only scored one run that didn't come from a home run. After Floyd got out of the game, the bullpen was good. Nate Jones got to play in his first ever MLB game. His first two batters were a little shaky and he walked both, but then he got a double play and struck out Josh Hamilton. The thing that worries me most about this game is that Floyd didn't pitch well. If the White Sox want to be successful, Floyd has to pitch well.

The offense was a big problem in this game. Not a single player on the team had more than one hit. Everyone was equally bad. Konerko had two bad at bats today. Dunn didn't get a single hit and neither did Rios. Pierzynski really struggled today because for the entire game he had to face a left handed pitcher. I'm not sure why Ventura played him instead of Flowers against the lefty.

Right now everyone is to blame for this game. Neither pitching or offense was good and when neither is good,  it's hard to win games. The Sox should be able to get back on track against a team that's not as good in the upcoming series. They'll play the Indians in Cleveland next.

Game Preview. White Sox vs. Rangers Game 3

The White Sox aim to win the series today against the Rangers after tying the series last night thanks to the Alex Rios solo shot in the the ninth.

Eduardo Escobar will start in place of Brent Morel today. I like this change because Morel hasn't been good and because Ventura is being smart. He has said that he wants to get everyone in during one of the two first series.

This is what separates Ventura and Ozzie. Ventura knows that guys can't sit on the bench forever. He'll need more than one guy at certain positions and you can't expect a guy that has been sitting on the bench for six or seven days to just play a good game.

The White Sox can win this game as long as Floyd pitches well and the Sox get some runs early. Beckham hitting in the 2 hole could change things a little. He could either not play well or he could flourish in that spot. I like Ventura testing him there because if he does hit well there, he's a great 2 spot hitter.

Game Recap. White Sox win 4-3

Alex Rios was the hero in last night's game against the Rangers. Yes, Alex Rios. This game was very promising because both Adam Dunn and Rios had good games. They are both much improved compared to last year already. Rios looks a lot more comfortable playing in right field and won't make as many errors this year.

The first few innings of the game were kind of rough. The Sox started off well by scoring in the first. The Rangers scored to tie it in the 2nd and then in the third they both scored 3 runs to keep it tied until Rios' ninth inning heroics.

Paul Konerko had a great game getting 3 RBIs. Adam Dunn was good again and scored a run. Morel still hasn't gotten a hit this season. For that reason, he won't be playing today.

Game Recap. White Sox lose 3-2 to Rangers

The White Sox did not start their season is a good way as they lost to the Rangers on Opening Day. There was both good and bad in this game, but the bad overshadows the good because the Sox lost. If the Sox had won, like they should've, I think fans would be excited for the rest of the season.

Let's take a look at the good. Adam Dunn absolutely crushed the ball in the 6th inning. He now holds the record for most opening day homeruns. He did have an opening day homer last year, so let's not get too excited about that at the moment. Later in the sixth, Rios got hit by a pitch and then Alexei Ramirez hit a double. This allowed Rios to score from first with some nifty baserunning. It was the best inning the Sox have had all year (hardy-har-har) and it showed that Alex Rios and Adam Dunn might just turn it around this year. John Danks was good in the innings he pitched, but it's the same story for him. No run support, so he gets the loss.

The bad things in this game are numerous. The first thing is that the White Sox offense was invisible until the 6th inning and invisible after. Konerko was the best batter of the day going 2 for 4 (big surprise). Two White Sox batters did not record a single hit (Morel and Rios). Lillibridge also did not record a hit, but didn't have a single at-bat. Dunn was 1 for 3 while the rest of the team was 1 for 4. If the White Sox want to win, they have to score runs. Right now they're not doing that. Opening Day last year was more promising than this year (the Sox scored 15 runs).

The biggest problem today was the strikeouts. Morel and Beckham combined for a total of seven strikeouts. Morel also had an error in the field. This troubles me because getting a new hitting coach was supposed to help fix the problems in the offense especially in the young guys like Morel and Beckham. If they aren't going to hit this year, the White Sox have a problem. When only half of the infield is hitting, the team isn't going to do well. I'm anxious to see how long it takes Ventura to put Escobar in for one of those two players. Right now, that's the only solution, and I think it might work.

There was good and bad in today's game. The White Sox could have won, but they didn't. They have to move on and get ready to play the Rangers again tomorrow. They have a lot to improve, but I still think they can have a good season.

Game Preview. White Sox vs. Rangers (Opening Day!)

The White Sox open against the Rangers today. It should be a good game and a good test of how well Danks will pitch in his first year as the ace for the White Sox. Lewis is a very good pitcher too. This should be a good pitchers duel.

The White Sox offense will have its first tough test of the year in their first game. If Rios, Dunn, and Beckham can all have a good game and good seasons, I think the Sox are a team to be afraid of.

The Rangers offense is pretty scary. They have Hamilton and others that are good hitters and will be a tough matchup for Danks in his first start of the season.

If the White Sox can score some runs to back up Danks, I think he can get the win. The bullpen will need to hold the lead after Danks leaves, which might be trouble. It will be interesting to see who Ventura has decided is the closer for the Sox this year.

Blind Optimism

Right now, every White Sox fan is probably going crazy. Buehrle is gone, Kenny hasn't made any big moves, and there are probably more players on their way out the door. There's not a lot of positives going through the fanbase right now, but why not? I think there are some things to be positive about.

The first is that despite losing Buehrle, the Sox still have a rotation that can do some damage. With the new manager and basically all-new coaching staff, things are going to be turned around. If Beckham, Rios, and Dunn can all have average years, the White Sox offense will be dangerous. If rookie outfielders Dayan Viciedo and Alejandro De Aza can preform, the offense will be even better.

Yes, these are all hypothetical, but lets look at the last time the White Sox won the world series. 2005. The first thought is probably that that team was perfect in chemistry on and off the field and this team has nothing to do with that one, but you're wrong. Before the start of the 2005 season the White Sox were picked to finish fourth in the division and had a lot of ifs on their team. Their entire pitching staff was a giant if and nobody knew if the offense would be as good as it was. The 2005 season also started with a brand new manager. You see, the similarities are endless.

Let us also look at last year's World Series Champion, the St. Louis Cardinals. Did anyone honestly pick them to win the World Series other than some meatball Cardinals fan? No. They fought hard and won series after series. They weren't a stacked team with a rotation like Philadelphia, they were just an average team that knew how to win games. So who says that the White Sox can't win the World Series this year?

Sox sweep the Twins

The White Sox had the best game of the series today and finished off the sweep in Minnesota. This is the first time the White Sox have swept the Twins in Minnesota since 2004.

Peavy was brilliant today and got tons of run support that he didn't even need. Peavy pitched eight innings only giving up 3 hits.

The White Sox offense was explosive including four homeruns. The homeruns were from Lillibridge, Konerko, Ramirez, and Rios.

Overall, this game was probably the best in the series. Yesterday was a good game, but today the Sox were even better. Hopefully this success will continue for awhile.

I feel like the season is over.

I've tried to be optimistic about this season. I want to believe that the White Sox can pull of some miraculous comeback and actually win the division and maybe go somewhere in the playoffs. Right now, I just don't see that happening in even the wildest scenario.

This team was supposed to be good. The great starting pitching combined with the hitting that Rios, Dunn, Konerko, Beckham, and Quentin were supposed to provide was going to make them a genuine threat in the American League. Well three of those players that were supposed to supply offense have not. Sure, Beckham is great in the field and I love him to death, but he has been terrible at the plate. Dunn has not lived up to the expectations at all and Rios doesn't even care about the game. He jogs to pick up the ball and can't hit for nothing at the the plate.

The team hasn't lived up to the expectations and the season is basically over. I don't see this team pulling off a dramatic winning streak and winning the division. I can't see that happening with how awful the offense has been. I will still watch this team and I will still love them next year, but I can't continue to write positive things and say that everything is going to be okay.

The White Sox start a series against the Twins today. The Sox have been terrible against the Twins and will probably continue that in this series, but who knows maybe they'll manage to win a game or two against them.

Series Recap. White Sox lose 2/3 against Red Sox

This was not a great series for the White Sox. They got a good win in the first game thanks to AJ Pierzynski's homerun. The second game was so terrible that I don't even want to talk about it and the third game was okay, but they could have done much better.

Overall, I did not like what the White Sox did this series. I realize that it's only August 1st and that there is still a lot of time left. I just don't think the Sox have the will to win this division. They have the talent, but watching Rios play center I just don't see the desire to win.

The only guy I see with an actual desire to win games is Paul Konerko. He is busting his ass everyday to make this team a better team. He is taking pitches and getting hurt, yet still going to first base. That's why he is the captain of the team. Quentin has been stepping up lately, too. He hasn't been doing it to the same extent as Konerko has though. I want to see heart and desire and I want to see that they actually want to win. I haven't seen that lately. They all need a reality check so they get their butts in gear and start winning baseball games again.

Game Recap. White Sox lose 5-3

The White Sox actually had a good chance to win this game. Buehrle only made one big mistake and that the was the 2-run homer in the 2nd inning. In the bottom of the second the Sox came back and scored one run to cut the lead in half.

The White Sox scored one run in each of the next two innings to gain a 3-2 lead. They held that lead until the 7th when they gave up two runs. They also gave up a run in the 9th.

The game was not a very impressive one by the Sox. Rios had another play where he didn't really hustle and threw a dainty little throw that allowed a run to score.

Flowers looked good, but he gave up a passed ball that he should've blocked that lead to runs later in the inning.

Lillibridge played first base after Paul Konerko was knocked out of the game when he was hit in the left calf by a pitch. X-Rays were negative, but I don't know when he'll be back. Hopefully it will be soon, the Sox need him.

Game Recap. White Sox lose 10-2

This is probably going to be the worst thing I ever write. I don't really care. I need to rant about how Alex Rios doesn't try and how Ozzie basically gave up on this game. Don't try to tell me that it's just one game or that the Sox will be fine. I don't think so. This game was just an example of what is probably to come. Sure, the Sox were the best team after the All-Star break before the game today, but when I watch games like this I want to puke.

That Rios play was just terrible. Sure, he hasn't been hustling in the outfield and acts like he doesn't give a shit that the Sox are actually contending and need him to hit but this took it to a new level. Not even in little league do people score from first on a single to center field. That is just ridiculous.

Adam Dunn was batting .168 going into this game. That is TERRIBLE. I can't even explain how bad of an average that is. I want to whack something with a baseball bat every time I see his average.

Then, today in the 9th inning. That was basically the worst managed inning of all-time. First, Ozzie decides to keep Bruney in even though he is usually a one inning pitcher. He gives up a two run shot, Ozzie keeps him in, he gives up another homerun, Ozzie keeps him in, he gives up more runs, Ozzie keeps him in. Finally, Bruney was replaced by Thornton and he got out of the inning. Instead of being down 3 runs with a slight chance of winning, the Sox were down 8 runs without almost zero chance. Then, Ozzie just gave up. He pinch hit De Aza for Konerko for no reason and then pinch hit Lillibridge for Quentin for no reason. Lillibridge did get a hit, but either way. Why are you pinch hitting for the two players that have actually hit lately.

Sorry for anyone that read that and was hoping I would actually talk about the good things like my two favorite players Paul Konerko and Gordon Beckham getting homeruns.

Game Recap. Sox win 2-1

Alejandro De Aza was called up to replace Alex Rios for awhile. I figured he would play well, but wouldn't be great. I was wrong. In the second inning he hit a two run home run. Those are the only runs that the Sox would score, but also the only ones they would need. De Aza also made an amazing play in the field. Pretty good for his first day in the big leagues this season. I hope to see more of him soon and hopefully this helps Rios know that he has to hustle.

John Danks pitched very well today. He got himself into quite a few jams, but managed to get out of them. He pitched 6 innings giving up 6 hits and one run. That one run was an Austin Jackson home run. He got his 4th win of the season and now has a 4-8 record.

Chris Sale pitched 2.2 innings giving up no hits and striking out three before Sergio Santos came into the game to get the one out save. That save was Santos' 21 of the season.

A good game for the White Sox. The pitching was great again and the bullpen was lights out.