It’s FINALLY over! The long barren months of no baseball unless you were watching games you might have put on your DVR or saw some archived games is gone. Today, we have baseball at 35th & Shields! And how fitting is it that the Chicago White Sox will open up at home against the Kansas City Royals? A team that some fans insists sucks, but in the past few years have given the White Sox a run for their money. So much so that last season, the Royals came away winning the season series.

This year, I’m hopeful this will not be the case, but you never know until those 18 games are played. Here is what you should know about the upcoming three games:

2013 Record: White Sox 0-0 Royals 0-0

2013 Cactus League Record: White Sox: 14-14 Royals 25-7

2012 Record: White Sox: 85-77 Royals: 72-90

2012 Season Series Record: 6-12

All-Time Series Record: 348-314 (The Sox are 196-140 against the Royals at home)

The following pitchers are expected to start each game this series: 

Chris Sale: 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0K vs. James Shields: 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0K

Jake Peavy: 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0K vs. Ervin Santana: 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0K

Gavin Floyd: 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0K vs. Jeremy Guthrie: 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0K

Monday’s game is at 3:10 pm, Wednesday and Thursday’s games are at 1:10 pm. All times CDT.  » Continue reading “The Long Nightmare Is Over! Series Preview: White Sox Versus Royals”

The Sox had the wonderful opportunity to face Bruce Chen again, and just like every other time, they made him look like a Cy Young winner, dropping this game 3-0. » Continue reading “Cy Chen Strikes Again”

oh em gee! he is capable of not sucking!

A win in Kansas City? Against the Royals? Surely you jest! But no, the Sox actually did get a win tonight at Kansas City by beating the Royals by a final of 3-2.Tonight it was all via the home run that the Sox scored their runs.

Alejandro De Aza led off the game with a solo shot. That was nice to see considering that Mr. Consistently Inconsistent was starting tonight. Gavin has typically given up runs right away in a game that makes you think the Sox have no hope for a comeback. And he lived up to that tonight by giving up the lead right away to the Royals by walking the first batter and having two hits following to put them up by a score of 2-1 in the first inning. Fortunately, Luke Hochevar was feeling in a giving mood tonight and surrendered the tying run to Gordon Beckham in the sixth inning when he hit a solo shot.  » Continue reading “Solo Jacks Keep Sox Ahead”

why, WHY is Kaufmann the new house of horrors where the White Sox just cannot win?

You know things won’t be good when your lead off man gets on base, gets to third and doesn’t end up scoring in the first inning. Doesn’t help either when in the bottom of the first inning, “fundamental” get ‘em on, get ‘em over and get ‘em in works perfectly.

And of course, who can forget all the errors. It was clown shoes tonight for the White Sox who generally catch the ball. The Royals had an error as well, but unfortunately, the Sox were unable to capitalize on that error. The Royals on the other hand? They were all over scoring on miscues of the White Sox.

At least the Sox were not shut out. There was danger of that as Bruce “Cy”  Chen was mowing the Sox down. Retiring countless batters and just making the hitters look . . . turrible. The second hit of the game wouldn’t come until the fifth inning when Dayan Viciedo led off with a single. More followed, but just like the first inning, nothing doing in terms of scoring.

Paul Konerko FINALLY got the White Sox on the board with a two-run home run in the sixth. After the home run, Cy got the rest of the outs in the sixth and then departed the game. » Continue reading “New House Of Horrors: White Sox 4 PITAs 9″

The White Sox always make things interesting.

Tonight, they faced the Kansas City Royals, who once again tried to prove why Cheryl calls them PITAs. Luckily, the Sox put together some good hitting at the right time and pulled out a 4-2 win. » Continue reading “Timely Hitting Earns the Win”

Welcome back to meaningful baseball. The All-Star game went to the National League so should the Sox make it to the World Series, they won’t have home field advantage. This might actually be a good thing since the Sox do play much better on the road. They have managed to get their record above .500 at home. But, really I feel better about their play when they are on the road. Hopefully they prove me wrong on the next homestand.

For now, the team is gathering in Kansas City where they will face my fail face PITA Royals. Before play gets back under way, I am sure they also checked out some of the many places to get amazing BBQ in KC. Here is what you need to know for the upcoming series:

2012 Record: White Sox 47-38, 1st in AL Central. Royals 37-47, 4th in AL Central

2012 Series Record: 1-2

All-Time Series Record: 343-304 (The Sox are 149-134 at Kansas City)

The following pitchers are expected to pitch this weekend:

Jose Quintana: 4-1, 2.o4 ERA, 37K v. Bruce Chen: 7-8, 5.22 ERA, 72K

Jake Peavy: 7-5, 2.85 ERA, 108K v. Luke Hochevar: 6-8, 5.14 ERA, 71K

Chris Sale: 10-2, 2.19 ERA, 98K v. Luis Mendoza: 3-5, 4.50 ERA, 44K

Friday’s game begins at 7:10 pm, Saturday’s game begins at 6:10 pm and Sunday’s game is at 1:10 pm. All times CDT.  » Continue reading “BBQ & Baseball. Series Preview: White Sox @ Royals”

Spring Training is over. Things will matter starting tomorrow. For the Sox, the things that will matter begin on Friday afternoon.

Before spring training really had begun, I made an early prognostication on how the AL Central would look come October. Now that spring is done and the season is about to begin, I thought I would revisit how the standings may look. I knew things could change, but how much still remains to be seen.

In addition to what I think, I also talked to fellow AL Central writers, Jen who writes about the Royals, Jessica who writes about the Tigers and Jen, a contributor here on South Side Hit Girl.

So far, everyone is in agreement that the Tigers are the team to beat. From there, opinions vary a great deal. I think the standings will end up with Detroit, Chicago, Kansas City, Cleveland and Minnesota. The White Sox the past few weeks had me thinking there might be something special happening. » Continue reading “Did Spring Make A Difference In Eventual AL Central Standings?”

So I am late, but happy thanksgiving! Hope it was a relaxing and good day for you. It is now officially the holiday season with yesterday being “Black Friday” and tons of people were out and about getting shopping done.

Hopefully, if you were among the throngs of people partaking, you were nice the salespeople. Especially if you were up and out on Thursday night looking to get door busters. Those folks are working hard, so be nice. If you are, you just might get something you really want.

As for Sox news, well, now we play the waiting game.

 The White Sox offered salary arbitration to Mark Buehrle. Now we just wait to see him turn it down and what team he offeres his services to.

 A feel-good community story involving new manager Robin Ventura.

 The final installment of the series on South Side Sox on how the new CBA affects the White Sox.  » Continue reading “South Side Hits: November 26, 2011 White Sox Links”

Even when there is weird defense, the PITAs STILL get outs

Cy Chen making the Sox hitters look like fools? Check. Bad defense? Check. Bad pitching? CHECK. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the Royals have for the first time in FOREVER (ok since 2000) won a season series against your Chicago White Sox.

Congratulations if you were at home instead of the ballpark to watch this game. That way, you could change the channel. It was ugly, ugly I tell you. Final score of 11-1. Things were terrible early on. Sure, the Sox got a hit off of Bruce “Cy” Chen in the second inning, but no scoring. No, that did not happen until the seventh inning when The King hit number 396 to left center field.

Zach Stewart just looked . . .  AWFUL. Nothing there at all. He was done after four innings and two batters and those four innings were just plain miserable. Royals in the last four games versus the Sox, have scored FORTY runs! Let me repeat that, FORTY RUNS!!!!! No doubt about it, this is just an ugly way to go out.  » Continue reading “They Done Gone Ahead And Done It”

The White Sox tried to take the series with a win over Cleveland. Unfortunately they fell, and they fell hard, losing to the Indians 11-2.

Pitching was less than good. OK, it was pretty awful. Phil Humber lasted six innings. He gave up seven runs on eight hits and two walks. Just not a good start for poor Phil. Addison Reed came on in relief. He pitched an inning and gave up two runs on three hits. And then we have Josh Kinney who pitched the eighth, giving up two runs on a hit and two walks. Utterly awful tonight.

The Sox only managed four hits. Two were from Juan Pierre, one was from Alex Rios, and one was from Brent Morel. Only one of the runs scored was earned since Asdrubal Cabrera committed an error in the fifth.

The Sox finish their season at home. This weekend they face the Royals, and Zach Stewart faces Bruce Chen. Who I’m still mad at for breaking my poor AJ. Don’t do it again, Bruce!

And how about winning these last six games, guys? Finishing above .500 would be lovely, and you’re currently sitting at 76-80.