The Bad is Coming. Series Preview: White Sox v Twins

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)

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

Gavin Floyd: 3-4, 3.44 ERA, 46K v.  P.J. Walters: 1-1, 3.65 ERA, 7K

Chris Sale: 4-2, 2.91 ERA, 40K v. Scott Diamond: 3-0, 1.40 ERA, 13K

Philip Humber: 1-2, 5.31 ERA, 38K v. TBD:

All three games are at 7:10 pm CDT.

Fresh off of a series sweep in Interleague plague, the Sox are officially home for a six-game homestand. The sweep of the other Chicago team might be the start of something for the Sox. Hopefully it is the beginning of actually taking control of the AL Central.

Right now, no one has really decided to do that. It is basically a three-team race. Cleveland is still on top. Surprising though is that Detroit has been floundering. They currently sit in third place behind the White Sox.

There is still time for standings to fluctuate and for Detroit to turn things around. Especially after they were swept by the Twins.

Yes, the Twins swept the Tigers! I laughed at that for a brief second. Only because I realized that this could happen to the Sox this week. I would like to think incredibly unlikely, but truly it is possible.

Minnesota is looking like the epitome of a shell of themselves. Gone are guys like Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel.

Lost to the disabled list are catcher Ryan Doumit, pitchers Carl “Porn ‘Stache” Pavano, Scott Baker and Nick Blackburn. Additionally, we always viewed the Twins as a team that had a deep farm system. A team that should they have a player go down, they would easily be able to plug that hole without missing a beat.

Not anymore. Now, some of the guys look like minor leaguers trying to find their way in the big leagues. One day I was listening to a game between the Twins and Red Sox. Chris Parmelee was trying to track down a ball in the outfield and the Red Sox announcers said he looked like a four-year old kid chasing a balloon. Not a good thing to hear.

The M&M boys have for the most part been in action this season for the Twins. Where they go, the Twins will go. Justin Moreneau was recently activated from the 15-day disabled list for a sore wrist. The big question for him is whether he is still suffering lingering effects from a concussion a couple of seasons ago. So far, he hasn’t.

As for Dandruff Boy, Joe Mauer he’s been playing. He has played in 40 games so far this season. He is OBP is close to .400 and he has 13 extra-base hits so far. Of those, only one is a home run. Hopefully we can see both M&M looking silly against Chris Sale later in the week.

Who’s Hot: Ben Revere has a seven-game hitting streak going. Adam Dunn over the weekend hit his third home run off of a left-handed pitcher. Who’s Not: Alexei Ramirez still hasn’t started to get warm at the plate yet. While he is hitting the ball fairly hard at times, it is still going right to someone. Darin Mastroianni heading into Sunday’s game against the Brewers was 0-for-seven. He get a few plate appearances after subbing for Josh Willingham where he drew a walk. Otherwise, his bat has been cold.

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