64-52 this season

All that I know is that they’re . . . winning. (Bonus points if you know what song inspired the title and first sentence of this game preview. If you figure it out, I’ll send you a bobblehead!) The Sox finally got over a bugaboo with the Blue Jays and finally won two in a row at Rogers Centre. Tonight, they will try to make it three in a row. Robin’s guys for that purpose tonight are:

DeWayne Wise CF, Youk 3B, Big Donkey 1B, Alex Rios RF, AJ Pierzynski DH, The Cuban Missile SS, The Cuban Tank LF, Tyler Flowers C, Ray Olmedo 2B.

Francisco Liriano again will try to pick up his fourth win of the season tonight. Tonight will be the fourth start with the White Sox for Liriano. His last start was a no decision against the Athletics last weekend. He allowed six runs on seven hits in 3.1 innings. Needless to say, it was far from his best stuff in that outing. He did strike out five in the first two innings. Then things went to crap almost immediately. The Sox went on to lose the game, despite some great bullpen pitching that kept them in the game.

In his career against the Blue Jays, Francisco is 0-3 with a 5.09 ERA. This has been over four games, three of which are starts. The last time Liriano faced the Blue Jays was in April 2011 where he gave up four runs on four hits in 4.1 innings. He gave up five walks and two home runs in that start. Let’s just say, fans are hoping he has a REALLY good night tonight and makes the Blue Jays look silly. 

Of course this won’t be easy. Of the few current Blue Jays who have seen Francisco before, those guys have hit him hard. Rajai Davis, Edwin Encarnacion and Jeff Mathis have done well against Francisco. Encarnaion (2) and Mathis (1) have both taken him out of the park. The other hitters have either drawn the collar or hit below the Mendoza line against him in the last five years.

55-62 this season

John Farrell will send out the following guys in hopes of a series split tonight:

Rajai Davis LF, Colby Rasmus DH, Edwin Encarnacion 1B, Yunel Esobar SS, Kelly Johnson 2B, Moises Sierra RF, Jeff Mathis C, Mike McCoy CF, Adeiny Hechavarria 3B. 

Aaron Laffey will start for the Blue Jays tonight. Things haven’t been going very well for Laffey of late. In his first five starts of the season, he had a 2.70, but in his last four games, it is north of eight.

In his career against the White Sox, he is 3-4 with a 3.20 ERA with 26 strikeouts. Laffey’s last start was against the Yankees. In that game, he gave up five runs on seven hits. He also walked four and struck out two. needless to say, it was not a very good outing for him and the Blue Jays. Of course, if he can oblige tonight and do it again, that would be spectacular.

*Notes: Paul Konerko is expected to be back in the lineup tomorrow per reports. He most likely will be the designated hitter when he returns initially. Big Donkey is one home run away from 400. The White Sox are 5-1 this season on artificial turf this season! Moises Sierra hit his first major league home run in Tuesday’s game. That gave him a hit in seven of his first nine career games.