Finally, the White Sox will get a chance to see the final division rival in a series. The season is nearly two months old and it seems the only teams the White Sox have played are the Tigers and Indians.

Now we will finally get to see exactly how bad (or perhaps on the verge of resurgence) the Twins are over the next three days. Here is what you should know for the upcoming series.

2012 Record: White Sox 21-21, 2nd in AL Central. Twins: 14-27, 5th in AL Central.

2011 Season Series Record: 9-9

All-Time Series Record: 369-415 (The Sox are 201-192 at home against the Twins)

» Continue reading “The Bad is Coming. Series Preview: White Sox v Twins”

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?”

(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”

Welcome to Monday kids! In fact, for some of you, it promises to be a short week because of the holiday on Sunday. If you are lucky enough to have a short work week, good for you. If not, hang in there as the weekend should be great to spend with family and friends. That alone should make up for having to work a full week. Not to mention, if you do have to work a full week, hopefully your employer is understanding of the lack of productivity (should you fall into that trap.)

It’s a new week and still nothing much going on it the baseball world. Well, there is that stuff with Ryan Braun (amazing how so many NL fans despise him) and of course the continuing swirl of rumors about The Carlos Quentin and John Danks. In any event, here are some news stories you might have missed the past couple of days to occupy you.

 Another of the P.A.B. Minnesota Twins has moved on as Michael Cuddyer has signed with the Colorado Rockies. » Continue reading “South Side Hits: December 19, 2011 White Sox Links & News”

The White Sox as usual decided today would be a great day to mess with the fans again. They played a doubleheader against the Twins and wouldn’t you know they took both games?! It was the first time they did it in Minnesota since 1976. The afternoon game featured a pitching performance by Philip Humber that resembled how he had looked at the beginning of the season.

There wasn’t much offense in the game, but it’s ok as the Sox scored that “one more run than the other team” to take the game. Sure, there were seven hits and Big Donkey did have a strikeout in his first game since August. What else is new? At least they didn’t lose any ground. In the process, they got back to .500. AGAIN. » Continue reading “A Good Day With Near Perfection”

It’s over. It’s all over. The Twins are shells of the team that everyone knew and hated. The Sox are done. While not mathematically eliminated yet (number stands at 16), last night the absolute worst thing that could have happened did happen. Now they are off to Minneapolis for a four-game set with the Twins after a loss so embarrassing, that you can’t even really say it was embarrassing. Here is what to know about the upcoming games in Minny.

2011 Record: White Sox: 68-69, 3rd in AL Central. Twins: 58-81, 4th in AL Central. Season series: 6-8

 The following pitchers are expected to start the four games:

Philip Humber: 8-8, 3.63 ERA, 86K v. Anthony Swarzak: 3-5, 4.14, 35K

Zach Stewart: 1-2, 5.86 ERA, 29K v. Scott Diamond: 1-2, 4.82 ERA, 9K

Jake Peavy: 6-7, 5.21 ERA, 86K v. Liam Hendricks: 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0K

John Danks: 6-10, 4.01 ERA, 118K v. Carl Pavano: 7-11, 4.60 ERA, 84K

Monday’s afternoon game is at 1:10 pm and the night cap is at 7:10 pm. Tuesday and Wednesday’s games will begin at 7:10 pm. All times CDT. » Continue reading “Series Preview: White Sox at Twins”

encapsulating the defensive night for the Boogey Man

The Numbers: Five. Five. Second. Four. Three. 24. While the White Sox won the game against the Twins 8-6, they are five games out of first place because the PITA Royals could not take care of the Tigers. They have won five games in a row and five straight over the shell of the Minnesota Twins. The Sox didn’t lose any ground and remain in second place. Four back in the loss column behind Detroit. Unfortunately, since the Royals were not in a giving mood, the E number has been reduced to 24. » Continue reading “Who Would Have Thought?”

Carlos Quentin at the Plate

Dear Carlos Quentin,

White Sox fans really love you right now. Thank you for providing the vast majority of the offense against the Boogey Man Twins. I wish there had been more, but I will always take your two home runs and RBIs in a game to put the Sox up in the first inning and then using the long ball to take the lead. I could do without the getting hit by pitches (21 on the season now), but that did allow for a pitching change. Glen Perkins, who took over for Matt Capps who loaded the bases, threw a wild pitch that helped to get an insurance run.

Mark Buehrle was Mark as usual. He pitched eight strong innings. He did give up three runs in the game, but they were all unearned. Adam Dunn had a ball get past him in the first inning for an error. The Twins did what they do best and scored three runs. Mark is now tied with Dave Lemonds for having 17 consecutive starts where he has given up three earned runs or less. The man is dealing. Another win for him is always nice.  » Continue reading “Offensive Hero”

The day started off with some rain. The tarp was on the field, but eventually nature cooperated, the game began on time and it was a game of looking around the field and wondering who are these people?

However, while looking around wondering who the people wearing the Twins uniform were, there were other, more typical things to consider. Double plays? Check as the Sox hit into 4 of them on the night. Runners (i. e. Michael Cuddyer stealing three bases) running rampant on AJ and Gavin? Check? Fearful play of Minnesota? CHECK!

Something annoying I’ve noticed about the White Sox is that they just cannot stop playing down to competition. Yeah, the Twins are to them as the Yankees are to the Twins. But this ragamuffin bunch should have gotten beaten. » Continue reading “At Least Mother Nature Cooperated”

Ugh. Yet another loss. I need to come up with a new slogan to get through this stretch even though it’s early. On top of the loss, the weather in Chicago is just turrible. It’s supposed to be spring and there were thunderstorms last night, tornado watches elsewhere in the midwest and the temperatures are just too dang cold. So, to get you through the morning until there is baseball, here are some morning reads.

Rays fans got free pizza due to the performance of the White Sox Monday. Not exactly something you want to do as a visiting team.

Ken Green shares a list of players on other teams that as Sox fans you really hate to see. Sadly, if you could have most of these players on the White Sox, I’m sure you would take them in a second.

Scott Gregor takes a closer look at the problems behind the recent slide of the White Sox.

Despite my attempts to look away, Doug Padilla has the latest on the train wreck rehab of Jake Peavy and the next steps in his road to recovery.

Although, the Sox are on a 6-game skid, Ozzie has faith his guys will right the ship.

Ever wonder about how the size of baseball players has changed over time? Look no further. I found this particularly fascinating since now when you see a guy who is 6 feet tall (which is tall my world being only 5’3″) he is now viewed as a short guy in sports.

David Miller puts some perspective on Jake Peavy not being with the team.

James discusses Matt Thornton‘s recent outing and what it meant to see it.

With Ramon Castro having started in Monday’s game, JJ says why it was a good thing for Oz to do.

Enjoy the day and dear baseball gods, can you Puh-leez stop the Rays and get the White Sox back on the winning track? Thank you