A Homecoming for Scott Carroll - Game Preview & Lineups 5/19

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Imagine a world in which the White Sox did not win the Jose Abreu sweepstakes. A 2014 that never included the exciting young slugger. This is a world in which we instead sit and watch games out of pure routine, wondering when a losing streak long enough to doom the team to another 99 loss season will happen along. We may have just watched Jose Abreu, young Astros slugger manhandle our beloved Pale Hose, making this trip to Kansas City a relief. Respite from watching the opportunity missed make our lives miserable, allowing us to highlight a young pitcher’s (hopefully) triumphant return to his hometown instead of lamenting an offensively questionable immediate future. 

Scott Carroll’s coach has recently turned into a pumpkin. After allowing just 1 earned run total over his first two starts, he’s surrendered 6 each in the two following. If he completes the mark of the beast in this start, there’s a good chance he’ll be making his next with players other than the Chicago White Sox standing behind him. Carroll does bring a bit of a hometown comfort to this evening’s game at Kauffman. The Liberty High School graduate got his start throwing less than 30 miles away from where he’ll be making his fifth big league start.

Jason Vargas got himself a nice 4-year deal to come pitch for the Royals, and so far so good. He’s managed to tone down his walks issued and it’s led to a 3.00 ERA so far on the young season. Part of this can be attributed to the Kansas City defense, which is rated 2nd best in the American League according to FanGraphs.

Whether or not Carroll is able to hold up his end, the Sox are going to need to score runs. While hitters like Dayan Viciedo and Tyler Flowers are coming back down to earth, the absence of Abreu once again puts the team in a position where Adam Dunn is the most effective hitter on the team. The team still has the ability to put up large amounts of offense on any given day, but without Abreu’s power at the center of it all there may be more of those “off-days” than we’ve seen leading up to this point.

 

Today’s Lineup:                                                            

  1. Eaton – CF
  2. Beckham – 2B
  3. Ramirez - SS
  4. Dunn – 1B
  5. Konerko – DH
  6. Viciedo - LF
  7. Flowers – C
  8. Sierra – CF
  9. Semien – 3B

Scott Carroll - SP

Royals Lineup:

  1. Aoki - RF
  2. Escobar – SS
  3. Hosmer – 1B
  4. Butler – DH
  5. Gordon – LF
  6. Perez – C
  7. Cain – CF
  8. Moustakas – 3B
  9. Giovatella – 2B

Jason Vargas - SP

Where to Watch:

Today’s game will be broadcast on CSN and FoxSports KC.  7:10 Central start time.

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