The White Sox are still on the road. After stunning us with a series win in Minnesota, they are now off to Southern California to see the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Again. These two teams just met up last weekend and now will get an immediate rematch. Here is what you need to know for this weekend.

2013 Record: White Sox 17-21, 5th in AL Central. Angels 15-25, 4th in AL West

2013 Series Record: 1-2

All-Time Series Record: 349-349 (The Sox are 164-185 at Anaheim)

The following pitchers are expected to start the four games this weekend: 

Jose Quintana: 2-1, 3.72 ERA, 30K vs. Jerome Williams: 2-1, 3.06 ERA, 20K

Chris Sale: 4-2, 2.88 ERA, 49K vs. C.J. Wilson: 3-2, 3.88 ERA, 47K

Hector Santiago: 1-2, 2.23 ERA, 31K vs. Joe Blanton: 0-7, 6.46 ERA, 29K

Jake Peavy: 5-1, 2.6 ERA, 51K vs. Jason Vargas: 2-3, 4.03 ERA, 34K

Thursday and Friday’s games begin at 9:05 pm. Saturday’s game starts at 3:05 pm and Sunday’s game begins at 2:35 pm. All times CDT.  » Continue reading “West Coast Kindness? Series Preview: White Sox At Angels”

A win! A win! Somehow the Sox pulled off another win! I know, I’m surprised too. With the way they’ve been playing, it’s a miracle that they actually score runs. But they did tonight, and I’ve been doing a happy dance. They managed to beat the Twins, 4-2. » Continue reading “White Sox Win? White Sox Win!”

It used to be that when the Sox would be facing the Twins, I could easily make fun of how bad the Twins were playing. Now, not so much. In any event, after an abysmal homestand, here is what you need to know for the upcoming road trip the White Sox are embarking upon:

2013 Record: White Sox 15-20, 5th in AL Central. Twins: 17-17, 4th in AL Central

2013 Series Record: 2-0

2012 Series Record: 14-4

All-time Series Record: 385-420 (The Sox are 175-226 at Minnesota against the Twins)

The following pitchers are expected to start the three games:

Hector Santiago: 1-1, 1.69 ERA, 25K vs. Pedro Hernandez: 1-0, 5.6 ERA, 11K

Jake Peavy: 4-1, 3.03 ERA, 45K vs. Kevin Correia: 4-2, 3.0 ERA, 20K

Dylan Axelrod: 0-3, 4.17 ERA, 22K vs. Mike Pelfrey: 3-3, 6.03 ERA, 15K

Monday and Tuesday’s games begin at 7:10 pm. Wednesday’s game starts at 1:10 pm and is the free MLB dot TV game of the day. All times CDT. » Continue reading “To The North! Series Preview: White Sox At Twins”

After being one-hit last night, the White Sox looked to get back on their winning ways against the Mets. Jake Peavy took to the mound for the first time since suffering from back spasms. The Sox beat the Mets, 6-3.

» Continue reading “White Sox Rack Up Hits, Beat Mets”

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Keith Allison

Tonight was not the night for the White Sox. For the first time ever, the Sox faced the Mets in New York, and it was not a pretty sight. The Sox sent Hector Santiago to the mound to face Matt Harvey, and it was definitely a pitchers’ duel. The Sox ended up losing 1-0 in ten innings.

On any normal night, Santiago would have probably pitched a winner. He went seven solid innings, giving up four hits and two walks. No runs, just seven baserunners, as he also hit one batter. He struck out eight. EIGHT! But tonight it wasn’t enough for a win. Matt Lindstrom pitched a perfect eighth, but Nate Jones picked up the loss in the tenth. Jones pitched the ninth and one out in the tenth, giving up the lone run in the game.

Unfortunately for Santiago, he had no run support. Mainly because the Sox had no answer for Harvey. None. Zero. Zip. Harvey pitched nine innings. He struck out 12 batters. TWELVE. He didn’t walk a batter. But he also gave up just one hit. Alex Rios broke up Harvey’s perfect game in the seventh with a single. Bobby Parnell came on for the tenth, and he didn’t allow a hit or a walk either. Rios was the saving grace for the Sox tonight.

Of the starters, Jeff Keppinger was the only one who didn’t strike out tonight. Alejandro De Aza had three strikeouts in four at-bats. Rios had two, Adam Dunn had two, and Conor Gillaspie had two. Even Jordan Danks, who pinch hit for Lindstrom in the ninth, struck out.

This performance tonight was bad. The highlight for the Sox was that Santiago looked great. It looks like he’ll do well as a starter now that Gavin Floyd is out for the season. If he keeps this performance up, he’ll likely be ahead of Dylan Axelrod for a rotation spot when John Danks comes back.

The Sox end this short series with the Mets tomorrow night. Jake Peavy will finally be back on the mound. He was experiencing back spasms, but he felt good after a bullpen session on Monday. He’ll be facing Jeremy Hefner who had a great start unravel his last time out against the Marlins. He basically dominated the Marlins’ lineup but picked up the loss after some shaky pitching in the ninth and a blown save by Brandon Lyon.

Can you believe it? This is the first time the White Sox will play the Mets IN NEW YORK? In all the years of this interleague plague crap and this is the first the the Sox visit NY to see the NL team. Craziness for sure. Here is what you need to know about the Mets:

2013 Records: White Sox 13-17, 5th in AL Central. Mets 12-16, 4th in NL East

2002 Record: 2-1

All-time series record: 2-1 (All those games were played at US Cellular Field)

The following pitchers are expected to start in the two games:

Hector Santiago: 1-1, 2.29 ERA, 17K vs. Matt Harvey: 4-0, 1.56 ERA, 46K

Jake Peavy: 3-1, 3.38 ERA, 39K vs. Jeremy Hefner: 0-3, 4.34 ERA, 20K

Tuesday and Wednesday’s games both start at 6:10 pm CDT.

» Continue reading “A First! Series Preview: White Sox At Mets”

A win? In Kansas City? Were we dreaming today in seing the final score from Kansas City today? Nope as the White Sox actually pulled out what seemed the impossible and picked up a 2-1 victory over the PITA Royals in 11 innings. Things as usual didn’t start out well with Chris Sale throwing a ton of pitches early and giving up a run.

Fortunately, he settled down and managed to pitch 7.1 innings. Early on, it looked like he was due for a very short day. As usual, there was no offense to support his efforts once he settled down. It was starting to look like James Shields might get a no-hitter today as he was just cruising.  » Continue reading “White Sox Do The Rare With A Win In Kansas City”

Is it wrong that I have just started to expect that White Sox baseball is going to suck? That there will be no hitting, terrible defense and then something else that will happen to make me want to throw stuff at the television? Today had some moments like that, but then it was very interesting. I thought perhaps I might see the PITA Kansas City Royals perhaps get no-hit.

so Addison Reed wasn’t watching a home run ball sail out today, but those walks sure did suck!

Yes, you read that right. The Kansas City Royals for a while were not getting any base runners. By a hit or free pass. It took until the fifth inning for the Royals to finally break through with a base hit. This coming off the bat of Mike Moustakas. The the flood gates opened for the Royals as another defensive gaffe by Jeff Keppinger allowed the PITAs to take a 3-1 lead. Given how the season has gone, you’d be excused if you walked away thinking, so much for a pretty good pitching performance by Jose Quintana.

But WAIT! The Sox would come back and add four more runs in the top of the seventh inning to take a 5-3 lead again. Could it be that this team has figured out a way to win in Kansas City? All they would need to do would be to hold the Royals down for a couple of innings and then go relax until tomorrow afternoon.

If you chose to think it was over, you’re excused because our guy, Addison Reed, blew it in the ninth inning. Addy was in to close and we’ve come to expect him to make closing a high-wire act. Addison didn’t disappoint today with walking the first two men he faced in the ninth inning. He did get the next two guys out. Unfortunately, Billy Butler came up and hit a double that would lead to those walks to come around and score to tie the game up.

A blown save for Mr. Reed. If he had nailed things down, he would have been tied with the great Mariano Rivera with 11 saves on the season. » Continue reading “Enthralling Baseball? Why Yes As White Sox Bested By Royals”

Earlier this week in Chicago, it actually felt like spring. Right now in Kansas City, it feels like winter. There are cold temps and this stuff that people were hoping to not see. The White Sox will continue their road trip to Kansas City this weekend and here is what you need to know for the series:

2013 Record: White Sox 12-15, 5th in AL Central. Royals 15-10, 1st in AL Central

2013 Series Record: 2-1

The following pitchers are expected to start this series:

Dylan Axelrod: 0-1, 3.95 ERA, 16K vs. Jeremy Guthrie: 3-0, 3.06 ERA, 24K

TBD: vs: Wade Davis: 2-2, 5.55 ERA, 20K

Jose Quintana: 2-0, 3.58 ERA, 22K vs. James Shields: 2-2, 3.00 ERA, 39K

Friday’s game is at 7:10 pm, Saturday’s game is at 6:10 pm and Sunday’s game is at 1:10 pm. All times CDT. » Continue reading “It’s Spring???? Series Preview: White Sox At Royals”

Hey look! The three-game losing streak is over! Yes, the White Sox managed to pull out a win behind the excellent pitching performance by Chris Sale. Home runs were the deciding factors as the Sox beat the Rangers, 5-2. » Continue reading “Pitching and Home Runs Power White Sox to Win”