Game Preview. White Sox vs. Twins Game 1

The White Sox will play the first game of a series against the Twins today at 7:10. The Twins will pitch P.J Walters and the White Sox will send Gavin Floyd out to the mound. Neither pitcher has great statistics this year, but both have proved themselves in previous years. Whichever offense can be more productive and take more advantage of every situation to score runs will win the game.

Paul Konerko is back for the first game since getting hit in the head by Jeff Samardzija during the first game of the series against the Cubs. He is the biggest producer on the team offensively and will likely make a difference for the better of the White Sox offense today.

Other notable players in the lineup is the fact that Escobar will be playing third again as Hudson is not quite ready to start a game because he was officially signed today by the White Sox. Beckham has been on a small hot streak since the series against the Angels and will hope to continue that in this series against the Twins and maybe finally have the breakout season that has been expected of him since his rookie year with the Sox. Rios and Dunn have been much better this season than last year and both of them will look to continue their hot streaks.

One of the most surprising stories of the year is that Alejandro De Aza is one of the top offensive producers on the team. He is second to only Konerko in WARP, which is essentially the way to measure a player's worth to his team. He has a good average and has been adequate in the lead-off role.

The White Sox offense is not very good, but there are some bright spots. If the little offensive pieces can all come together to form a pretty puzzle the White Sox can be a successful team and win this game and series. The key to beating the Twins and having the possibility to win the division is offense. The White Sox can have that offense if each player produces the best that they can. The true test will be to see if the White Sox offense can actually do that.

Series Preview. White Sox vs. Twins

The White Sox and the Twins are the two hottest teams in the AL Central right now. Both teams are 6-4 in their last ten. The White Sox are coming off a big sweep of the Cubs and the Twins just took 2 out of 3 from the Brewers. Interleague is over and both teams are ready to face division opponents to try to gain some ground in the Central. Paul Konerko is hoping to be back for the first and all three of the games against the Twins. He missed the final two games of the series against the Cubs after being hit in the head during the first game. If he is back, that will be a huge difference-maker for the White Sox. Konerko leads the team in almost every offensive statistic. The Twins have a very productive offense and will be a tough test for the White Sox pitching staff.

Game 1
Gavin Floyd (3-4, 3.44 ERA) vs. P.J Walters (1-1, 3.65 ERA)

This should be an interesting matchup. Floyd has been better this year than he was last year, but still has the potential to be better. If he has a good start, the Sox have a good shot at winning, but if his start is lousy, the Sox will probably lose. Walters hasn't been too impressive this year and if Konerko is back, the White Sox offense could get sparked and score some runs to help the Sox get a win.

I think the winner of this game will probably end of winning the series because of the momentum that this game will give. Neither team has a huge advantage in this game and neither pitcher is a dominate pitcher that you can count on to win games. Whichever offense shows up and scores runs in the first game will get momentum and keep playing well during the rest of the series.

Game 2
Chris Sale (4-2, 2.91 ERA) vs. Scott Diamond (3-0, 1.40 ERA)

Both Chris Sale and Scott Diamond have had good seasons so far on the mound. Diamond has not recorded a loss yet and Sale has been dominant in many of his starts. This game will likely be low scoring and will go to the team that plays the smartest game and takes advantage of every chance to score runs.

The White Sox are not very good at taking advantage of chances to score runs, so the the Twins will probably win this game. If the Sox can somehow get at Diamond early in the game, they could win by giving Sale a lead and confidence and having the confidence at the plate that hitting this guy won't be very hard. This will be an interesting game to watch.

Game 3
Philip Humber (1-2, 5.31 ERA) vs. Carl Pavano (2-3, 4.91 ERA)

Both Humber and Pavano have good reputations as pitchers, but neither pitcher has impressive stats so far this year. This game could either be an offensive battle or a pitchers duel depending on how each pitcher performs.

If this game comes down to being an offensive battle, I think the White Sox will probably lose. The Twins have a better offense than the White Sox have and are better at taking advantage of every opportunity to score runs as I mentioned previously. If the White Sox can get better at being smart offensive players and hitting when it's most needed, they will win more games like this and more games in general.

White Sox Sweep Cubs, Clinch Crosstown Cup

The White Sox clinched the BP Crosstown Cup with a game 3 win over the Cubs to complete the sweep. The White Sox won the first game 3-2. The highlight of that game was centered around Paul Konerko. One highlight was him hitting a two run shot that gave the White Sox their first lead. The second highlight isn't so high for the White Sox. Konerko was hit by a pitch to the face and sat out both of the final two games of the series.

The White Sox won the second game of the series 7-4. They lead the entire game and at one point led 7-0 until they have up 4 runs from two different 2 run shots in the bottom of the ninth. Viciedo, Pierzynski, and Dunn all recorder home runs in this game. Danks improved his record to 3-4 on the season after getting the win during this game.

The final game of the series is when the White Sox finally achieved the shutout. They beat the Cubs 6-0. Beckham and Dunn both got their second home runs of the series. Jake Peavy got an RBI in this game on a fielders choice that scored Flowers who led off the inning with a double. Other players who got an RBI are Flowers and Rios. Both Beckham and Flowers had a great game. Peavy was brilliant and helped the White Sox complete the sweep in Wrigley Field for the first time since 1999.

The craziest thing about this series is that fans care about the Crosstown Cup. Maybe I'm wrong and nobody cares, but I'm sure there's a Sox fan out there that's jeering a Cubs fan for losing the Crosstown Cup. The trophy is the most pointless trophy in all of sports. It's a way for advertisement to be taken into the game of baseball. Some fans look forward to when the Sox and Cubs face off, but it's probably my least favorite time of the year. I never did and never will understand why Cubs and Sox fans don't like each other. I have no problem with Cubs fans because I understand what it's like to be a kid in Chicago. You hit that age that you have to decide whether you're a Cubs fan or a White Sox fan. Once you make that decision, it's who you are forever. That's the thing about Chicagoans, they're loyal. Once the decision is made between Cubs and White Sox, the person sticks with it through thick and thin for the rest of their life. So why can't the fans get along and share in each others misery and rejoice when fans stay true to their team?

The Crosstown Cup is a nice idea, but it makes this series into an advertisement. Both the White Sox and the Cubs are not the greatest teams. The White Sox are lucky to be in 2nd place like they are, and the Cubs are already pretty far behind in last place of the central division. Who wins or loses this series doesn't make a big difference towards either team's season, so why argue over something that's so dumb? Chicago fans should know better.

Congratulations to the White Sox for winning the cup, but they should know that winning that doesn't mean anything for their season. It was a great series and a good three wins for the White Sox, but they need to be ready to move on and get ready for the next two series which will be very important as they are facing two division rivals at home.

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 Prevew. White Sox vs. Indians

The White Sox will get almost no rest after their loss to the Rangers before they have to play the Indians in Cleveland. The White Sox didn't play very well against the Rangers, but Cleveland is not as good as the Rangers and I think the Sox have a good shot at winning this series. Right now, the Indians have the same record as the Sox, but the White Sox are going into Cleveland looking to change that.

The bottom half of the rotation will pitch for the Sox, but I expect them to do well. The Indians don't have a high powered offense nor do they have a dominant pitching staff. The White Sox can get their offense going against Cleveland and use that momentum in the series after this one against Detriot.

Game 1
Chris Sale vs. Josh Tomlin
I'm expecting Chris Sale to have a good start. He was good all through spring training and I think he'll carry that over into the regular season. He's ready to be a starting pitcher and he'll prove that today. The Indians won't be too tough of a test, but Sale will still have to work hard to get the W.

The White Sox offense should be able to take advantage of Tomlin. He isn't a well-known pitcher and I think the White Sox offense is capable of scoring enough runs to win this game.

This game will be tough because the Sox don't have much rest coming off the loss to Texas yesterday. They can still win this game if Sale pitches well and they score a couple runs, but I think this might be the one game of the series that they lose.

Game 2
Philip Humber vs. Justin Masterson 
Humber was excellent last year, especially in the first half of the season. If he can start the season off the right way in his first start, I think he gives the Sox a good chance to win. If he has 7 solid innings of good pitching, the Sox will win because I'm very confident in the bottom half of the bullpen.

Masterson is a good pitcher, but the White Sox can beat him. This will be a tougher test than Tomlin, but the Sox offense can take momentum from that game into this game.

I think the Sox will score just enough runs to back Humber up and help him get his first win of the season from his first start of the season.

Game 3
John Danks vs. Jeanmar Gomez
I'm expecting Danks to have another good start like he did in Texas on opening day. He wasn't fortunate enough to get the win from that game because he was not backed up by his offense. The story of Danks not getting a win early in the season can't happen again this year. The offense will have to back him up.

Gomez won't be too tough a challenge for the White Sox offense. If they can get some runs early in the game and just keep building, they can win this game. Offense is very important in this game because the offense never backs up Danks and will need to in this game.

I see Danks having a quality start, and I think the White Sox offense will step up and back Danks up. Danks will get his first win of the season as the White Sox win the series.


I think the Sox can actually sweep the Indians in this series. If they do so, that would be a big improvement and the Sox would have a 4-2 start. If the Sox don't sweep, I think they'll win 2 out of the 3. I don't see the Sox only one of these games.

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.