In the continuing road trip, the Sox leave Canada and head back to the midwest and stop again in Kansas City to visit the PITAs. It seems we just saw them (oh, they did) but not nearly with the annoying frequency early in the season that they saw the Indians. Here is what you should know about the upcoming weekend series:

2012 Record: White Sox 65-52, 1st in AL Central. Royals 51-66, 4th in AL Central

2012 Season Series: 4-5

All-Time Series Record: 346-307 (The Sox are 151-169 at Kansas City)

The following pitchers are expected to pitch this weekend:

Chris Sale: 14-3, 2.60 ERA, 132K vs. Luis Mendoza:  6-8, 4.37 ERA, 67K

Jake Peavy: 9-8, 3.04 ERA, 144K vs. Bruce Chen: 8-10, 5.56 ERA, 98K

Jose Quintana: 5-2, 2.77 ERA, 53K vs. Jeremy Guthrie: 5-12, 5.75 ERA, 71K

Friday’s game begins at 7:10 pm, Saturday’s game is at 6:10 pm and Sunday’s game is at 1:10 pm. All times CDT. 

What a rough game last night! Despite winning, there was the delay when a fan had a heart attack and play was stopped while paramedics and others tried unsuccessfully to revive the man who died. Naturally, the players were shaken by the incident even though they had to go on and continue playing. Jesse Crain even said a prayer for the man when he was back out on the mound to pitch. But go on the players did. And win the series.

A series win in Toronto turns out to be a huge thing. The Sox hadn’t won a series since forever at Rogers Centre. And in the process, continue to play well on the carpet this season. Perhaps these hurdles they are getting over (beating Toronto in Toronto, winning two games in a row) means this team is really on to something incredibly special this season.

The Royals on the other hand are . . . the Royals. They have climbed out of the cellar in the AL Central, but they seem to be embracing their role as spoilers. In their last 10 games, they have won six of them. In their last three series, they won two of them and split the other one. One of those series happened to be against your Chicago White Sox. They are coming off of a loss to the Athletics in their last game, but given how they’ve played in the last 1o games, this series should be interesting to watch. And yes, this series for the Sox is yet another critical series for the Sox to get through. Although, if things hold as they have this season, the Sox should win this series. The road team has won each series so far this season.

Who’s Hot: AJ Pierzynski had his career-high hitting streak end last night, but he did have hits in 16 straight games. Jeff Francoeur had a hit in nine of his last 11 games. Who’s Not: Gordon Beckham was hitting .143 in his last 13 games. Eric Hosmer had just five hits in his last 29 at-bats.

For more on the Royals, be sure to visit Drinking the Royals Blue Aid.