The Canadian baseball team is headed to town. I will get to hear “Oh, Canada” before games, which is a GREAT national anthem. And I will probably also hear chants of USA! USA! USA!

Won’t lie. Thanks to 2008, I usually recoil when I hear people do that (for reasons I can explain to you another day) but not because I am anti-american. In any event, the series should be fun and here is what you should know for the next few games:

2012 Season Record: White Sox 31-23, 1st in AL Central. Blue Jays 28-26, 4th in AL East

2012 Season Series: 0-0

2011 Series Record: 3-4

All-Time Series Record: 163-187 (The Sox are 88-84 at home against the Blue Jays)

The following pitchers are expected to pitch in the three games:

Philip Humber: 2-2, 5.37 ERA, 47K v. Ricky Romero: 6-1, 4.04 ERA, 56K

TBD: v. Brandon Morrow: 6-3, 3.28 ERA, 62K

Jake Peavy: 6-1, 3.05 ERA, 68K v. Henderson Alvarez: 3-5, 3.75 ERA, 21K

All three games start at 7:10 pm CDT. » Continue reading “Potential Jingoism. Series Preview: White Sox v Blue Jays”

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”

Alex Rios. Sir, people are kind of starting to like you now. For the most part this season, you’ve been playing decent defense. At least well enough that no one is screaming for your head.

And you have also been swinging the bat pretty well. Tonight, you did something to really make fans happy. You helped the Sox end a three-game losing streak with a 5-3 final over the Indians.

In extras, you manage to hit a triple to score L’il Bridge for the go-ahead run. That was a nice moment considering you hit the triple off of Indians Reliever Chris Perez. A nice bit of payback for the chirping last week in Chicago.

Fortunately, once the team went ahead, Addison Reed was able to shut the door and preserve the win. Congratulations to Addison by the way. He now has the record for rookies to start the season for scoringless appearances. The previous record was 12 appearances.

Addison tied that record held by Sergio Santos. After tonight, Addison has that all to himself. It will be fun to see how far he can extend that streak.  » Continue reading “FINALLY! A Happy White Sox Ending”

The White Sox continue their road trip with a stop in Cleveland to take on the Indians. While only in town for three days, there are four games to be played. Here is what you should know about the upcoming four games.

2012 Record: White Sox: 13-15, 3rd in AL Central. Indians: 15-11, 1st in AL Central

2012 Season Series: 3-2

All-time series Record: 1,038-995 (The Sox are 486-525 at Cleveland)

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

Philip Humber: 1-1, 4.62 ERA, 27K v Zach McAllister: 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0K

Eric Stults: 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0K v. Josh Tomlin: 1-2, 5.27 ERA, 19K

John Danks: 2-4, 6.51 ERA, 25K v. Justin Masterson: 1-2, 5.20 ERA, 26K

Jake Peavy: 3-1, 1.99 ERA, 39K v. Jeanmar Gomez: 2-1, 2.82 ERA, 15K

Monday’s games are at 12:05 and 6:05 pm. Tuesday and Wednesday’s games are at 6:05 pm. All times CDT.  » Continue reading “Cleveland, I’m Tired Of You Already. Series Preview: White Sox @ Indians”

It was cold and windy in Chicago. Typical April weather. Maybe that affected the way the White Sox played. I know it affected my viewing experience.

I got to go to the game tonight. I’m always in a good mood at White Sox games, win or lose. Obviously I’d prefer wins, but I take what I can get. At least I’m at the park.

My body sure knew it was cold. I have chronic knee problems, and the right knee is worse than the left due to an incident at my job. Maybe Hector Santiago’s body knew it was cold when he gave up those two home runs in the ninth to tie the game at four apiece.

I also have carpal tunnel and tendinitis in both wrists which will make my career in the journalism field oh so fun. My left wrist is still stiff from the cold, and I left the ballpark over two hours ago. Maybe the cold was affecting Zach Stewart too since he looked awful in the tenth. He even looked awful warming up.

I was lucky enough to sit by the bullpen. When I say “by the bullpen,” I mean “practically in the bullpen.” My seat was the first row after the Sox bullpen. So I got to watch all the Sox pitchers warm up. I even got to take a few up-close pictures of my favorite player since AJ Pierzynski was RIGHT THERE. » Continue reading “Epic Meltdown in 3…2…1…”

Happy Wednesday. Just hours away until PITCHERS AND CATCHERS REPORT! It always seems like it takes FOREVER for the Sox to report to camp. Part of it is that the team is a lot of veterans. Though, they aren’t the very last to report for camp. On the bright side, we won’t have to wait as long to get to see real games. That will be on March 5th at 2pm for the first game. Woohoo!!! Until things start to get interesting, here are some interesting stories to hopefully keep you satisfied with Sox news.

  You remember LHP Neal Cotts? He was recently at SoxFest. And now he is trying to get back into baseball by signing a minor league deal with the Texas Rangers.

  Doug Padilla continues previewing the Sox with the infield and outfield. » Continue reading “South Side Hits: February 22, 2012 White Sox News of Note”

(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”

Let’s be real for a minute. The 2011 White Sox were a giant [expletive deleted] of fail this past season. Pretty much from day one of the season. Sure, they put up a ton of runs on Opening Day and then won a few more games after that. Then the chinks in the armor began to show. The bullpen blew leads. Then they got straightened out. Just in time for the hitting to go in the crapper, save a couple of guys.

As the season wore on, the fail of the White Sox got me to thinking about the future of the team. There are a few contracts that just won’t be easily moved, if at all. Aside from those, there doesn’t appear to be anything in the minors to get excited about in terms of guys coming to help the big club. There is Addison Reed and of course, Chris Sale being in the rotation.

Other than that, the White Sox have me thinking one of the worst horrors ever. The White Sox might become the new version of my fail face Royals. Yes, you read that right. So the Twins were actually the cellar dwellers in the AL Central in 2011. They also had a ton of injuries. I can’t imagine they will be doing that in the future. Though, the Twins have parted ways with some of the more annoying P.A.B.s they’ve had on their team for years. » Continue reading “What Does The Magic 8-Ball Have To Say About The White Sox Future?”

The White Sox got the ball rolling at the Winter Meetings today in Dallas. While yesterday was more of a “hey how are you?” day, today real business was done. And the Sox made a move.

Kenny Williams sent closer Sergio Santos to Toronto in exchange for right-handed pitcher Nestor Molina. The Sox gave up the 28-year-old closer after signing him to a three-year, $8.25 million deal at the end of the season. That deal included three club options, so now the Blue Jays have potential control of him for the next six years.

Now Sox fans may remember that Santos started out as an infielder before switching to pitcher. Molina, the prospect the Sox got in return, did not start as a pitcher. He played outfield and third base. Marco Paddy helped transform him into a pitcher and is now Kenny’s special assistant in charge of international operations.

According to MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo, Molina is now our Number Two prospect. Last season, he split time between Single-A Dunedin and Double-A New Haven, posting a 12-3 record with a 2.21 ERA. It was his first full season as a starter, and he walked only 18 while striking out 148 in 130.1 innings. That’s 10.2 strikeouts per nine innings and an 8.2 K/BB ratio. Williams told Scott Merkin that Molina needs a little time in the minors before he’s ready to make the transition to the majors.

This trade “is the start of a rebuilding,” Williams told MLB.com. This was the first time Williams has ever said the Sox are rebuilding in his 12-year tenure as the White Sox general manager. However, manager Robin Ventura sees this as more of a retooling than a rebuilding.

Williams also told reporters that he has not liked what is being offered for valuable veterans, so for now they are sitting tight and focusing on things to help in 2013-2014. He also said, “As I sit here, I don’t see any deals for any of the other pitchers.”

That’s all for Tuesday at the Winter Meetings. Let’s see what Wednesday has in store for us!

A guy I wish good things for

It’s the holiday season. Everyone is running around drunk on happiness and the spirit of giving in the season. Of course, there are some who are more in a taking mood. While I don’t consider myself to be a giver or taker at this point in the season, I do have things I want. Jen gave you her wishes over the weekend in a Dear Santa letter. I have holiday wishes as well.

At least for my White Sox. Next season could be a trying time, so before we get too far into the holiday season, here is my wish list for what I want out of the team in 2012. Of course much of this is a pipe dream. But I am allowed to dream. So here goes, my wish list.

Robin Ventura has to have a great first year as a manager. At this point, I think most people are expecting him to fail miserably. Mainly because he has zero coaching experience. But I have always loved Robin. And I want him to succeed. He has to succeed. He can’t have his reputation sullied because a certain GM thought it a great idea to put him in a position to maybe not be the most amazing he can possibly be.

AJ Pierzynski will finally, after numerous years behind the plate, finally learn how to throw out would-be baserunners. Sure, he’s had a tough time because sometimes his pitchers don’t do a good job at keeping runners close to the base. He will also miraculously learn how to transfer the ball from his glove to throwing hand so he has a better chance at catching runners.  » Continue reading “White Sox Wishes For 2012″