A forty pitch first inning is never a good sign for the rest of the game, let along the starter. That was the case tonight as the White Sox dropped the finale to the Washington Nationals by a final of 7-4 and also suffered a sweep in the nation’s capital. All in all, it was just not a good game. In fact, it was one of those games where you just don’t want to see it as it is just ugly all around.

sure does suck to have them used on you. . .

Dylan Axelrod, as good as he was against Seattle, was just as bad against Washington. He threw 40 pitches in the first inning. The second was a little better, but not by much. All told, Axe only lasted 3.2 innings and in that span gave up six runs, all of them earned, to go along with four walks and only two strikeouts.

Fortunately, Hector Santiago came in to work 2.1 innings and did a really good job. Although he walked two guys, no one scored on him. Matt Lindstrom and Jesse Crain also did good work when they came in for relief as well. Jesse did allow a run to score, but at that point in the game, it was seemingly inevitable that something further would happen. » Continue reading “Another Day And Another L For White Sox”

Today was a busy day for Rick Hahn in terms of speaking with fans. In addition to that, he also spoke to bloggers. Needless to say, I was quite excited when I heard there would be a chance to ask him questions now that he is “the man” in charge over at the White Sox.

As you know, I am a season ticket holder and this season the Sox have been having calls with various people on the Sox. Past guests have included pitching coach Don Copper and former GM Ken Williams. These calls have always been interesting because fans get to ask the questions. Sometimes, I think that fans really try to ask the stuff that the media won’t. And other times, they ask some stuff that I am left scratching my head about.

In any event, today’s questions were pretty good and of course touched upon the burning issues that Sox fans have at the moment. Namely, AJ and Kevin Youkilis. Below is a summary of the call with Rick and season ticket holders. For the transcript of his call with us bloggers, be sure to visit South Side Sox. There is some really good stuff in here including the advice that Ken has given to Rick. And thanks so much to U-God for doing the transcription, saving us a ton of work!  » Continue reading “Chatting With Rick Hahn”

The White Sox are making their one and only trip to Fenway Park these next four games. It will definitely be interesting for at least two members of the teams in that they will see their old buddies. They also might feel strange sitting in what might feel like the wrong dugout. Here is what you should know for the next four games:

2012 Record: White Sox 49-39, 1st in AL Central. Red Sox 45-44, 4th in AL East

2012 Series Record: 1-3

All-Time Series Record: 924-959 (The White Sox are 388-551 at Fenway)

The following pitchers are expected to start the four games:

Dylan Axelrod: 1-2, 6.16 ERA, 22K v. Aaron Cook: 2-2, 4.37 ERA, 2K

Philip Humber: 3-4, 6.01 ERA, 63 K v. Jon Lester: 5-6, 4.49 ERA, 94K

TBD v. Felix Doubrant: 9-4, 4.41 ERA, 97K

TBD v. Franklin Morales: 2-2, 3.16 ERA, 53K

All four games begin at 6:10 pm CDT. 

» Continue reading “Baked Beans. Series Preview: White Sox @ Red Sox”

Last night, the Sox faced the Blue Jays again, and the result was not exactly what fans were looking for, as the Jays topped the Sox 4-0.

Despite the disappointing outcome, Sox fans should be pleased with starter Jose Quintana. While John Danks has been on the disabled list, Quintana came out and posted a 1-1 record. He has played in five games this season, three of them were starts while Danks was out. In those five games, he has pitched 22 innings and logged a 2.05 ERA. That’s just five earned runs in those innings. For a kid who has only played five games in the Majors, that’s not a bad start to a career.

Will Quintana’s play stay at this level? That’s something to watch for. The question is whether we will get to see this level of play or if the Sox will send him back to the minors when Danks is ready to return. » Continue reading “Last Night’s Recap and a Look Ahead”

Finally, the White Sox will get to play someone other than the Indians or the Dirty Beast! The boys will be home for a brief five-game homestand and will start it off welcoming the Kansas City Royals.

Here is what you might want to know about the upcoming three-game series:

2012 Record: White Sox 15-17, 3rd in AL Central. Royals 11-19, 4th in AL Central.

2011 Series Record: 7-11

All-Time Series Record: 343-302 (The Sox are 193-134 at home against the PITAs)

The following pitchers are expected to start the games:

Gavin Floyd: 2-3, 3.03 ERA, 37K v. Felipe Paulino: 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 6K

Eric Stults: 0-0, 3.00 ERA, 4K v. Luke Hochevar: 2-3, 9.00 ERA, 18K

Philip Humber: 1-2, 6.83 ERA, 28K v. Danny Duffy: 2-2, 4.00 ERA, 27K

Friday’s game begins at 7:10 pm, Saturday’s game begins at 6:10 pm and Sunday’s finale starts at 1:10 pm. All times CDT.  » Continue reading “Welcoming Fail? Series Preview: White Sox v Royals”

Jhonny Peralta with the walk off home run. White Sox lose the game by a final of 5-4 when the Tigers were hanging and clinging to hope.

For a brief moment, I thought the Sox would pull this one out. Dirt Bag pitched a pretty good game. Though, I think he was left in for one too many batters. That decision makes me wonder if Robin and Coop actually have control over Jake and will protect him from himself. » Continue reading “Walk Off Win For The Dirty Beast Is The Least of White Sox Issues”

Ah split-squad action! Sometimes, you can never really tell about what happens in those games. The Sox played the Rockies and the Padres yesterday and lost both the games. The Sox led in both the games. But then, well things just went awry.

The final against the Padres was 13-2. So much for offense and the hitting coming around. (Yes, I know it was just ONE GAME) That also happened to be the game where some of the regular starters were not playing.

In the game against the Rockies, Gavin Floyd gave up eight runs, all of which were earned. The final in that game was 8-5. Not terrible, but clearly not the Kool-Aid inducing stuff I was seeing the past few days. Coop and Robin did attend this game however to watch young rising players Addison Reed and Hector Santiago. » Continue reading “No Kool-Aid Yesterday From the White Sox”

This afternoon, the White Sox held a conference call for season ticket holders with new bench coach Mark Parent and senior VP of sales and marketing, Brooks Boyer. Cheryl is a season ticket holder, but since she was unable to attend, I had the honor of listening in.

Before I get into the actual conference call and the questions asked by season ticket holders, let me say that I think if every franchise is not already doing this, they should. A lot of media members can’t or won’t ask the questions that fans have. As a journalism major, I have learned that I can’t ask questions of athletes that come from my heart. I would never be able to get and/or keep a job that way. So as a fan, it’s a great way to get your questions heard and a great way to get them answered.

And if you have a site like this one where at least one writer is a season ticket holder, all non-season ticket holders get a chance to hear from the coaches and front office too.

Now to the actual call.

» Continue reading “White Sox Season Ticket Holders Speak with Mark Parent and Brooks Boyer”

(l-r) Pablo Ozuna, Cliff Politte, Darrin Jackson, Chris Widger, Neal Cotts, Joe Crede

SoxFest concluded yesterday. It turned out to be a pretty full day. Lots more questions that were similar to what was asked previously. There was also some possible annoyance from some of the panelists about some questions that were constantly getting asked in the same session. Oh, and of course, more digs at a couple of players who are deemed as the ultimate bums.

Like Saturday, I did end up in twitter jail for a time. Fortunately, they let me out after an hour. Just like before, if you have any questions, please ask in the comments. I know the typing may have gotten screwy, especially with auto-correct. Also, be sure you checked out some of the various other publications out there. There were some really good news nuggets and stories people got. Definitely worth your time. Later, I will try to get you links to some of those great stories.

Happy Monday and here are the tweets from the last day of SoxFest 2012:  » Continue reading “Final Day At SoxFest 2012. Now What?”

(l-r) Jeff Manto, Brent Lillibridge, Ken "Hawk" Harrelson, Adam Dunn

Yesterday was day two of SoxFest. It was another fun day. There were moments of testiness as well as some questions that were asked that left me scratching my head. Below are the tweets of the day. There are a couple of gaps. For the first time ever, I ended up in Twitter Jail for tweeting too much in an hour. Fortunately, it only lasted for an hour. If it had gone longer, I am not sure what I would have done. Maybe create an account just for the jail time. In any event, enjoy. I will bring you day three today as well on twitter. As always, if you have any questions, please ask. I know the spelling gets wonky at times so some of the tweets might not make a ton of sense. (Like Ichiro turning into i crap!)

Day Two Tweets: » Continue reading “SoxFest Day Two. A Bit Of Drama”