Seems Like a Good Game for Some Dingers - Game Preview & Lineups 6/20

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It seemed like a good time to face the Twins. They opened their rainy ballpark to the White Sox as owners of a 5-game losing streak and were kind enough to run some middle-aged rookie out to the mound. The Sox just don’t know a good thing when they see it. With the opening game dropped they have 3 more games to make good on their trip, which is very much advised because a series loss means they’ll find themselves sitting in last place just in time for a trip through the AL East where heavier competition awaits.

Hector Noesi’s last start may not have ended well, but it wasn’t entirely his fault. He kept the ball in the ballpark, and he struck out 4 while only walking 1. There were hits, sure, but most of them occurred in a 4th inning that required him to throw a lot of extra pitches due to poor fielding behind him. To the tune of an 85 pitch outing in which he didn’t escape that 4th. Of the 5 runs that scored in the inning, only 2 were marked as earned, so there is no ERA explosion to account for the showing, and if the White Sox had won the game maybe that could be considered justice enough. They didn’t, of course. They didn’t even come close, but prior to that Noesi had been making a habit of starting games that his team won. The loss to the Royals stopped a streak of 4 such games, and now he’ll try to start another one against the Twins.

Ricky Nolasco has been having some short outing troubles of his own. He’s broken the 100 pitch barrier in the 6th inning of his last two starts. Issuing hits, walks, and working hard to record strikeouts is no way to go through life, but maybe it's too late for him to stop at this point. Long balls have been a big part of Nolasco’s problem this year. In 14 starts he’s only left 4 games without gracing some fan in the outfield seats with a souvenir, likely without advising them on whether they should hang onto said souvenir or allow themselves to be peer pressured by those around them to throw it back onto the field which quite often results in ejection from the ballpark but they hardly ever know that when they throw it, do they?

Today’s Lineup:                                                            

  1. Eaton – CF
  2. Beckham – 2B
  3. Gillaspie – 3B
  4. Abreu – 1B
  5. Dunn – DH
  6. Ramirez – SS
  7. Viciedo - RF
  8. De Aza - LF
  9. Flowers – C

Hector Noesi - SP

Twins Lineup:

  1. Santana – SS
  2. Dozier – 2B
  3. Mauer – 1B
  4. Willingham – LF
  5. Morales – DH
  6. Suzuki – C
  7. Arcia – RF
  8. Escober – 3B
  9. Fuld - CF

Ricky Nolasco - SP

Where to Watch:

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

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