Today will be better than Monday
/This is an assumption, but an assumption I'm pretty confident in making after Monday's less-than-inspiring 10-1 loss in the season opener.
Read MoreRoster Moves, Injuries, and Abreu - Saturday Recap & Sunday Preview
/Jose Abreu hit his 29th home run on Saturday, a 2-run shot that would give the White Sox a lead they would not surrender on their way to victory. Abreu's blast was a laser to opposite field in the fourth inning off a Zach McAllister who had yet to give up a hit to that point. Despite a stint on the 15-day DL with an ankle injury, despite being a rookie, and despite playing through ankle injury for a while before succumbing the DL, Jose Abreu leads the majors in home runs coming into today.
Read MoreWe Should See Some Runs - Lineups & Preview 7/12
/Scott Carroll and Zach McAllister enter today with a combined ERA of 10.41. Therefore, if my calculations are correct, this should be a day for offenses. At least given that the wheels fell off of Noesi fairly early last night, and that they didn't have to pitch the 9th, the better relievers such as they are had the night off last night. If Scott Carroll can survive Ventura can deploy Putnam and Petricka to try to preserve a lead should one exist.
Read MoreMaybe don't get swept if you can help it - Lineups & Preview 7/2
/The White Sox took two losses yesterday, and I'm going to go ahead and pin it on their starters giving up 12 earned run in 11 innings, while walking 10 batters combined. Somehow the bar for performance for John Danks, who is asked only to clear the standard set by his poor 2013 and his awful start to this year, has been lowered again.
Read MoreOld Southpaw v. New Southpaw - Lineups & Preview 6/29
/Today, barring incident, I probably won't be too upset if the White Sox lose. Probably heresy, but it's hard for me to ever stop rooting for Mark Buehrle. The former White Sox institution is actually a Cy Young contender this year, with a 10-4 record and an ERA of 2.52, somehow posting the lowest home run rate of his career at age 35. Buehrle is an obvious regression candidate as the season progresses, but the more achievements he can shove in his cap and the longer he hangs around, the closer he creeps to a weird, dark horse Hall of Fame resumé. And that would make me very happy.
Read MoreAt Least We've Still Got Chris Sale Day - Game Preview & Lineups 6/23
/There’s a little less charm in a Chris Sale Day when he’s been counted upon to end a losing streak. A losing streak that started the day after his last start and occurred against a team that hadn’t won 4 games in a row all season prior to the elongated weekend series against the White Sox. The Orioles, on the other hand, have registered a 4-game winning streak, a 5-game winning streak, and currently find themselves only 1.5 games behind the Blue Jays for best in the American League East. Help us, Chris Sale. You’re our only hope.
Read MoreSeems Like a Good Game for Some Dingers - Game Preview & Lineups 6/20
/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.
Read MoreWhat On Earth Is A Yohan Pino? - Game Preview & Lineups 6/19
/The White Sox's offense was impressive in a brief two-game series against the National League's best.
Facing Matt Cain and Tim Hudson, the White Sox managed 15 runs in a pair of victories against the San Francisco Giants, a welcomed rebound from last weekend's sweep at the hands of the suddenly juggernaut Kansas City Royals. (Wait, what?)
What looms ahead as the White Sox look to claw their way back to the .500 mark is an 11-game road trip that begins at 7:10 p.m. Thursday night against the Minnesota Twins and Yohan Pino, a 30-year-old Venezuelan making his Major League debut.
Read MoreA Visit From the Giants - Game Preview & Lineups 6/17
/The Giants don’t come to US Cellular Field very often. In fact it’s been over a decade. In 2003 in their only trip to the Southside the Giants handled the White Sox with relative ease, scoring 22 runs in 3 games off the likes of Jon Garland, Bartolo Colon and Mark Buehrle. Barry Bonds hit a HR in each game, making for a pretty clean HR/Game ratio in our humble home park. Only one player remains on either team from those games, and the White Sox captain is not in the lineup the evening.
Read MoreSaturday Recap & Father's Day Preview
/Hector Noesi actually looked pretty good to start the game on Saturday. He had a very clear plan the first time through the lineup, getting ahead of hitters on strike one, sitting about 92, and then attacking very aggressively once getting to two strikes, dialing it up to 94-95, going up and in on righties, and sweeping his breaking stuff everywhere. At first he only allowed a few unlucky hits on weak contact that went for no damage. Then the fourth inning was a combination of poor control by Noesi, atrocious defense (a Leury Garcia error and a Dayan Viciedo-it-wasn't-called-an-official-error-but-he-messed-up) meant the Royals would put up a 5-spot. Danny Duffy was on his game and that was far more than he would need.
Read MoreTrying To Rebound From Guthrie - Lineups & Preview 6/14
/Friday the 13th is supposed to be unlucky. Jeremy Guthrie destroys the White Sox. One had hoped that these two things together would cancel each other out and Chicago would once again pull to .500. Those hopes were immediately dashed as Quintana started the game by allowing five straight hits, and the game was instantly out of reach. Jeremy Guthrie, who has been coasting with a K-rate below 5 for years now, struck out 9 batters and easily protected the lead he was staked.
Read More7 Innings Will Do Just Fine, Chris - Game Preview & Lineups 6/12
/Oh the billed pitcher’s duel. We look at calendars and try to figure out when they might be upon us so that we can clear our schedules and watch two masters of the crafts go at it, knowing that in the end one man’s squad must emerge victorious. Rainouts, skipped starts, blisters, all sorts of tiny little items can wreak havoc on pitching schedules and ruin what we clamor for. But tonight we get one. We get Chris Sale vs. Max Scherzer. Could-have-been reigning Cy Young vs. actual reigning Cy Young.
Read MoreIt's Hector Noesi Day - Game Preview & Lineups 6/9
/After an unsuccessful weekend in which Sale lost his halo and the offense continued their failure to inspire much in the way of victories, we’re left slightly deadened to the point of accepting a much-improved Hector Noesi start against division rivals with a shrug of the shoulders. What’s the worst that could happen?
Read MoreThere's got to be a morning after - Lineups & Preview 6/8
/Or as Nick points out, who cares what happens to this point? The damage had already been done to Chris Sale's arm with the 22 high-stress pitches thrown on to the end of his outing, and to that bat, with whatever Sale did to it. The season is a facade for development and maintenance of the Sox best assets, and there's no real use for the facade by October.
Read MoreWatch Chris Sale do his Chris Sale thing - Game Preview & Lineups 6/7
/Once again in danger of dropping under .500, continuing the never-ending dance that will be performed in the background of the 2014 White Sox rock opera, the team turns its lonely eyes to Chris Sale. Sale in against the Angels has been something special in limited outings. In 24 innings against the against Anaheim in his career Sale has a 0.38 ERA which includes a 1-hit complete game shutout last season. To cut to the point: It’s Chris Sale Day, everybody.
Read MoreDanks tries to keep it rolling - Lineups & Preview 6/4
/John Danks is on something like a roll. He's sopped up 15 innings in his last two starts, allowing just two runs while striking out eight over a single walk. Opponents hit .200/.228/.327 against him in those outings, in contrast to the .864 OPS opponents have on him for the month. To prove it's still him, the Sox lost both games.
This is the equivalent of threading on the first try twice in a row. It's impressive and worthy of praise, but doesn't suddenly change the practice into a high-percentage activity. Danks is still going to be challenged to get through the Dodgers lineup because his margin for error is slim.
Read MorePlease let Hector Noesi screw this game up for himself - Lineups & Preview
/I don't care about Hector Noesi's success as much as Jose Quintana's. I don't care as much about this game as the thrill of flipping a Clayton Kershaw perfecto into a Jose Abreu triumph, and I cannot possibly have my defensive expectation trashed by an outfield with Dayan Viciedo and Adam Dunn in it. There are no walls to break down tonight.
Do your worst, baseball!!
Read MoreJose Abreu Returns - Lineups & Preview 6/2
/Jose Abreu's much ballyhooed return to the White Sox lineup after a two-week absence brought on by janketty ankles, comes not a moment too soon. The White Sox are set to face an absolute death-thresher of a left-handed starter who threatens to neutralize the two best hitters in their lineup, and possibly Adam Eaton too.
Remember how much fun it was to watch Chris Sale slice and dice the Padres? Think of how they felt! Now prepare to feel that way. Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw currently has a 3.57 ERA in his injury-shortened beginning to 2014, which is a mystery in and of itself, since he's recorded more strikeouts (46) than baserunners allowed (43) in 36 innings.
Read MoreTyson Ross v. Andre Rienzo - Lineups & Preview 5/31
/As the White Sox had finally reached the lofty height of one game over .500, it was inevitable that they would have to lose last night. After all, they haven't been two games over .500 since April 15th, why should they start now? On the optimistic side, it's impressive that they've managed to survive at a .500 clip given that they have been without the services of their best reliever all season, their best starter for most of the season, and now arguably without their best hitter for a few weeks. Today they face off against Tyson Ross, who has salvaged his career in San Diego.
Read MoreSearching for past greatness - Lineups & Preview 5/30
/This would be quite the pitching matchup in 2011. Ian Kennedy worked over 220 innings at a sub-2.90 ERA (and won 21 games) that year en route to a top-5 finish in the National League Cy Young race. For John Danks, 2011 wasn't his greatest season, but it was his last, full pre-injury season. In 2011, he was still John Danks, and not John Danks, who's still working to regain his form...
Read More