White Sox Magic Number Update

2011-09-19T09:46:00.000-04:00

163

I could pretend that I was waiting for the White Sox to win again before I made another post, but the truth is I've been away on business and not able to tend to The Update. But don't worry, you didn't miss anything good while I was gone.

The Sox continued to lose -- seven in a row -- until yesterday. The only thing worth mentioning is that Paul Konerko put the cherry on top of his season by poking his 30th home run, a solo shot in the seventh inning. That goes along nicely with his 103 RBI and .306 batting average to make one hell of a season.

By the way, for those of you who are new, the reason the Magic Number is listed as 163 is simple. The Sox have been eliminated from this year's races for the post-season -- Central Division and Wild Card -- and 163 is the number that all teams will start the 2012 season with as their Magic Number.

I know I said earlier that I'd discuss the pitching staff, but I can't muster whatever it takes to get that done. So in lieu of that, I'll be refunding the subscription fee that you paid for reading The Update. Oh, wait, you don't pay me anything to write this, so I guess I can call it a season whenever I want.

Since the Sox went ALL IN and lost all of their chips, I'm calling it now. Thanks for reading. See you next year. Go Sox!

2011-09-14T07:52:00.002-04:00

28

This is just too painful to watch. The White Sox lost once again to the Tigers, this time 5-0 to Justin Verlander, the likely 2011 A.L. Cy Young Award winner and MVP candidate. It’s the 11th win in a row for Detroit, which reduced its Magic Number to three over the Sox. It’s the 23rd win of the season for Verlander, his 14th in his last 14 starts, and his fifth of the year against the Good Guys.

Another win by the Tigers in today’s finale will guarantee them a tie for first and – to use a golf term – put them at dormie. There hasn’t really been much hope for a while now, but mathematical elimination is just around the corner for the Sox. And once that happens, that’ll be the end of the Update for the year since there’ll be no Magic Number to update.

The way I’m feeling now, I can’t even muster the enthusiasm to put an exclamation point at the end of the next sentence. Go Sox.

2011-09-13T08:19:00.000-04:00

The White Sox pennant hopes aren't dead yet, but they're on life support. When they absolutely had to have a win, they allowed the Tigers to humiliate them almost as bad as they did a week or so ago. On September 4, Detroit scored 18 runs on 24 hits. Last night, the Tigers had "only" 14 runs on 21 hits in a 14-4 beat-down. (No names will be used in this post out of respect for those on their sports deathbed.)

On the season, Sox pitchers have allowed 10 or more hits 59 times, 15 or more hits nine times, and 20 or more hits twice. They've permitted 10 or more runs in eight games: 10 runs on three occasions, 18 runs twice, and 12, 13, and 14 runs once each. Not exactly what we had in mind when the season started and everyone -- The Update included -- was touting the great starting pitching and deep bullpen the Sox had.

Last night's game slices Detroit's Magic Number to 5 and stretches its lead over the Good Guys to 11.5 games. The end is near and only the biggest collapse in baseball history will save them now. Go Sox!

2011-09-12T09:40:00.000-04:00

If the White Sox are just going to go through the motions, then so am I. They won some, they lost some. It doesn't matter anyway because Detroit refuses to lose, having won nine in a row.

The Tigers are now 10.5 games up on the Sox and have a Magic Number of seven. Detroit has 16 games left to play; the Sox have 17. Even if the Good Guys were to win out, the Tigers would have to go just 7-9 to win the division. I know the former isn't going to happen, and I doubt the Motor City boys will fare that poorly.

Since we're sticking a fork in the Sox, I'm wondering what next year will be like. Paulie will be another year older and even if he were in his prime, it would be unrealistic to expect him to match what he's done this year. Gordon Beckham is still very young but another year like this one and the Sox have to rethink what they're going to do. I like Alexei at short, but he needs to cut down on the errors a bit. Brent Morel deserves more time to show what he can do, but he's got to start hitting more to be a corner infielder. Juan Pierre continues to surprise with his batting average, but he's lost more than a step on the bases and his fielding has been atrocious this year. Alex Rios has been horrible, but it's hard to imagine he'll be as bad next year. I like De Aza and Viciedo; they're the future. Quentin is hard to categorize. He can carry the team when he's hot, but he's the most injury-prone player I know. Adam Dunn? He has to be better next year, doesn't he? And no one's going to take on his contract. A.J. is getting up there, but he'll be back and give what he usually does, just maybe less often. Tyler Flowers, we can only hope he develops and takes some of the burden off of A.J.

I'll address pitching later, but for now, Go Sox in 2012!

2011-09-08T08:59:00.000-04:00

The White Sox couldn’t complete the sweep last night, losing the final game of the series (and the season series) to the Twins, 5-4. It wasn’t because of a lack of hitting; it was because of a lack of timely hitting.

The Sox pounded out a dozen hits, with every starter except Alex Rios collecting at least one. The problem was the team was 3 for 16 with runners in scoring position and wound up leaving 13 men on base.

Just looking at the batting order reveals the Sox weakness. A.J. Pierzynski is batting in the four slot. A.J. has six home runs and a .401 slugging percentage. Those are not clean-up hitter numbers. But Adam Dunn is useless this year (hopefully, it’s only this year); Alex Rios would be the worst player if it weren’t for Dunn; and Carlos Quentin is injured – again. Paul Konerko gets no protection in the lineup. Paulie was intentionally walked last night. That shouldn’t happen to the Number Three hitter; no team should willingly put a man on in front of the opponent’s clean-up hitter. Roger Maris drew no intentional walks when he hit 61 home runs because he had Mickey Mantle hitting behind him. A.J. is no Mickey Mantle. Powerwise, he’s no Mickey Mouse.

John Danks didn’t do anything to deserve the win, last night reverting to his early season form. Danks gave up five runs (four earned) on six hits, two walks, and a hit batsman in six innings. Dylan Axelrod, making his major league debut, finished up with two innings of scoreless relief.

The loss, combined with Detroit’s win reduces the Tigers’ Magic Number to 12 over the Sox. The end is near. But don’t take my word for it, just read what John Danks said: “I’m looking forward to next year.” Now, he followed that up by saying he wasn’t giving up on this season, but c’mon. Go Sox!

2011-09-07T09:21:00.001-04:00

I know I’m not the only one who thinks the White Sox are out of it, but I didn’t expect Jake Peavy to say it out loud: “Obviously, now it doesn’t seem like we’re playing for much.” Well, despite his defeatist/realist attitude, Peavy went out and pitched 6.1 innings of scoreless ball last night, allowing only four hits while striking out a season-high nine batters. A parade of relievers kept the shutout intact, with Sergio Santos back to throwing gas (rather than gas on the fire) to earn his 29th save in a 3-0 win over Minnesota.

Alejandro De Aza continues to impress, singling in Adam Dunn (three walks on the night) in the second, and tripling (the ball scooted past a diving Joe Benson) and scoring on Brent Morel’s single in the fifth. Alex Rios actually homered – just his ninth of the year – to provide the other run.

The win was the second straight blanking of the Twins (who started three players making their major league debuts) and ensures that the Sox will not lose the season series to the Twins for the first time in forever. The Sox are ahead 9-8 on the year with the final game scheduled for today. Had the Sox split with the Twins last year, the Good Guys would have won the division. But they didn’t and they didn’t.

This year it's the Tiger that have bedeviled the South Siders. Reverse that 5-10 record against Detroit and the Sox would be two games ahead in the standings instead of trailing by eight. Even 9-6 would have the two teams tied. By contrast, the Pale Hose have cleaned up against the Tribe, with a 7-3 record, with eight games left to play against each other. The Sox also have seven games remaining versus the Royals, against whom they’re a disappointing 5-6.

With Detroit’s Magic Number at 14, I’m afraid that Peavy and I are right about it being over. But we’ll keep counting ‘em down until the Magic Number for the Sox becomes mathematically irrelevant. Go Sox!

2011-09-06T08:53:00.000-04:00

It was déjà vu all over again.

Last year on September 14, 2010, the White Sox trailed the Twins in the Central Division by 6.0 games and Minnesota was in Chicago to play three at the Cell. Instead of sweeping the Twins, the Sox got swept and the race was effectively over. In fact, the Pale (Very Pale) Hose went on to lose five more games in a row to allow Minnesota to clinch the division shortly after the sweep.

This year on September 2, 2011, the Sox trailed the Tigers by 6.0 games and were in Detroit to play three at Comerica Park. Instead of sweeping the Tigers, the Sox got swept and the race – in my view – is effectively over. (Detroit’s Magic Number over the Sox is just 15.) At least the Sox didn’t totally go in the tank like they did last year. Yesterday, they took both ends of a day-night doubleheader from Minnesota to remain on life support.

The way they lost to the Tigers was almost as disturbing as the fact that they lost. On Friday, the Sox couldn’t hit and couldn’t pitch and came away with an 8-1 loss to show for it. By Saturday, they’d mastered the hitting part, but the pitching continued to stink. After being ahead 8-1, the (Not So) Good Guys’ pitchers melted down, leading to the largest lead surrendered of the season and a 9-8 loss. Dispirited from that travesty, the Sox proceeded to rack up their largest margin of defeat on Sunday, 18-2.

It’s not worth writing about the details of any of these games, so I’ll answer a question that charter Update subscriber Les Reiter asked. Prompted by Adam Dunn’s historically bad batting average and high strikeout total, Les wants to know if any player’s average was lower than his strikeout total with a qualifying number of at bats. (I’ll resist the smart ass answer of even one strikeout would be higher than the hitter’s average since it would have to less than 1.000.) It was just last year that Mark Reynolds struck out 211 times while batting a meager .198. (Rob Deer came close in 1991, by hitting .179 and striking out 175 times.) Let’s hope Adam doesn’t add that to his resume. Go Sox!

2011-08-31T18:30:00.002-04:00

For the second consecutive day, the White Sox starter gave up six runs. Unfortunately, the bullpen didn’t shut out the Twins the rest of the way and the Sox bats fell a run short, resulting in a 7-6 loss in the series finale. Jake Peavy, who was supposed to be the team’s ace, but has turned into much more of a wild card, took the loss. Jason Frasor is the reliever who gave up what proved to be the winning run.

There were a few highlights on the offensive side of the ledger. Dayan Viciedo had another two-hit game, going 2 for 4, which begs the question of why wasn’t he brought up sooner? Paul Konerko continued his season of excellence with a 2 for 4 day. And Brent Lillibridge transformed into Lillibeast again, smashing his 13th home run, a two-run shot. His performance begs the question of why did Ozzie pinch hit Adam Dunn for him in the ninth inning? Don’t give me lefty-righty percentages as the answer; Dunn is not hitting well enough from either side of the plate to pinch hit in such an important situation – and of course, he struck out.

One interesting box score entry occurred. The Sox used a pitcher as the Designated Hitter. After Paulie got on in the ninth, pitcher Zach Stewart ran for him and replaced him in the lineup, becoming the DH. There’s no way he would have batted in that spot had the game gone into extra innings, but it’s a nice little box score anomaly.

The Tigers, meanwhile, showed why they’re in first place. Former Sox scrub Wilson Betemit doubled in the eighth to drive in the go-ahead run and lead Detroit to a 5-4 win over KC. Part of the Nick Swisher trade with the Yankees, Betemit drove in a total of three runs for the Sox in 20 games in 2009. This year, since being traded to the Tigers, and after today’s heroics, he’s got 13 RBIs in 28 games.

Well, it’s off to the Tigers’ den for a three-game series. Anything less than a sweep (now that the Sox are 6.0 games out and Detroit’s Magic Number is 22) will likely prove fatal to the Good Guys’ chances. So Go Sox!

2011-08-31T08:51:00.000-04:00

They’re the hottest team in the American League, having won five in a row, and have beaten the Twins five straight. They’re 7-3 in their last 10 games, which is tied for the best in the majors. They’re three games over .500 for the first time since April 12 when they were 7-4. So may I introduce to you, the act you’ve known for all these years, Jerry Reinsdorf’s Lonely Hearts Club Band a/k/a The Chicago White Sox! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, your White Sox won again last night, 8-6, over visiting Minnesota.

Zach Stewart didn’t have it, lasting only 4.2 innings and surrendering all six runs and all seven hits. (Edwin Jackson, who went to the Cardinals in the Stewart trade, is 3-2 with a 3.99 ERA, which is pretty similar to his 7-7 and 3.92 stats with the Sox this year before being traded. Jackson is hitting 4 for 12 at the plate, which means he’s hitting twice as much as Adam Dunn. But I digress.)

Fortunately, the bullpen did have it, as Will Ohman, Jason Frasor, Chris Sale, and Sergio Santos shut down the Twins over the final 4.1 innings. Ohman got the win, Sale struck out four in his 2.0 inning stint, and Santos struck out the side and notched his 28th save.

And fortunately, the bats were alive again last night. The Sox racked up 10 hits to go along with their eight runs. Every starter except for Tyler Flowers picked up at least one, and Alexei Ramirez and Alex Rios both collected a pair. Alejandro De Aza continued his hot streak: a homer, two runs scored, and four driven in. Dayan Viciedo was a mere 1 for 3 (after going 2 for 3 in his first two games), causing his batting average to fall from .667 to .556. (I wonder if Carlos Quentin knows who Wally Pipp is. But I digress again.)

The only problem last night was that the Tigers tied their game with the Royals at 1-1 in the eighth and won it with a run in the tenth. Had KC hung on the Sox Magic Number would be down to 33 and they’d be only 4.0 behind Detroit. As it is, the MN is 34 and they’re 5.0 back of the Central Division leaders. By the way, the Tigers have also gone 7-3 over their last 10, so the Sox have gained no ground over that stretch. But in the words of Hawk Harrelson, “Don’t stop now, boys.” Go Sox!

2011-08-30T09:21:00.000-04:00

This is starting to get good. The White Sox got another sparkling pitching performance – this time from Mark Buehrle – and enough hitting to pull off a 3-0 win over the Twins last night at the Cell.

Buehrle tossed 7.2 innings of shutout ball, yielding only four hits and two walks, while striking out four. The Mark of Zero picked up his 11th win of the season with help from Jesse Crain (one batter, one strikeout; 17th hold) and Sergio Santos (three batters, no hits, no runs, one strikeout; 27th save).

We don’t know whether Buehrle will be playing for the Sox – or anyone – after this season, so let’s take a moment to appreciate what he’s done for the team. This is Buehrle’s 11th year in a row with double digit wins and likely will be his 11th consecutive season throwing more than 200 innings. In his Sox career, he’s had only one losing season – in 2006 when he was 12-13. He pitches quickly, has a pickoff move so good that umpires sometimes think it’s a balk, and fields his position as well as any pitcher ever has. His Opening Day between the legs Web Gem last year is still the standard by which ESPN measures spectacular plays – the Buehrle Meter.

But he is part of the old guard. Last night’s lineup featured a raft of players who haven’t been in the Big Leagues for five years: Alexei Ramirez, Dayan Viciedo, Alejandro De Aza, Tyler Flowers, Brent Morel, Gordon Beckham, and off the bench, Brent Lillibridge. All of the Sox runs came courtesy of these guys: De Aza doubled and scored on a Flowers’ sac fly; Flowers doubled off the wall to drive in Viciedo; and Viciedo’s infield single allowed Ramirez to cross the plate. A good sign for the future and not too shabby for the present either.

Speaking of the present, the Sox are presently only 5.0 games behind Detroit, which lost last night to KC. The South Siders have sliced their Magic Number to 35, while the Tigers’ has held steady at 25 for the last two days. The Sox are two games over .500 for the first time since April 13, when the team was 7-5 before losing to the Angels. Let’s make it three games over. Go Sox!

2011-08-29T08:48:00.001-04:00

Just when you think the White Sox are out of it, they go and sweep a series against the Mariners. Yeah, they’re still 6.0 behind the Tigers and Detroit’s Magic Number is only 25, but the Good Guys are above .500 again, have taken over second place all by themselves, and have still got six games to play against the Central Division leaders. Let’s take a brief look at the weekend games.

• Friday: Jake Peavy pitched just well enough to win (he’s now 6-6), giving up two runs in six innings, and the bullpen shut down the M’s the rest of the way. Brent Lillibridge, who grew up 30 miles outside of Seattle, performed some hometown heroics for the Chisox. Lillibeast, as A.J. Pierzynski calls him, blasted his 12th home run of the season, a two-run shot, that broke a 2-2 tie and provided the winning margin. With that dinger, the Sox Super-Sub pulled ahead of Adam Dunn in the home run derby. Who’d have predicted that at the start of the season?

• Saturday: John Danks was superb, again. After starting 0-8 on the season, Danks has totally turned it around, going 6-1 since then. In his start against Seattle, Danks whiffed 10 Mariners, which tied his all-time high. The complete game shutout was the second of his career. Paul Konerko drove in the first (and what proved to be the winning run) with a single. Alexei Ramirez plated the second score with a sac fly. And Alejandro De Aza ended the scoring with his second home run of the year to give the Sox a 3-0 win.

• Sunday: Gavin Floyd wasn’t as sharp as Danks, but he was in command on the mound over his 7.1 innings. Floyd allowed only two runs on five hits and struck out six to improve his record to 12-10. Dayan Viciedo staked Floyd to a 3-0 lead with a three-run home run in his first at bat since being called up. (Remember that the August 23 edition of The Update called for the Cuban Tank to replace the injured Carlos Quentin on the roster. Thanks, Kenny, for finally listening.) Tyler Flowers poked his first career grand slam to make the score 7-0, and the Sox hung on to win 9-3. Except for Brent Morel, every Sox starter had at least one hit – which almost guarantees a successful outcome.

The South Siders return home for a three-game series with the Twins before heading to Detroit for a showdown with the Tigers. (Yikes, we face Justin Verlander, who's 20-5, in the first game of the Detroit series.) The Sox pretty much have to win five of their remaining six games with the Bengals if they’re going to make up the current deficit, but they can’t lose focus when playing Minnesota. More than one loss to the former Piranhas will make the games against the Tigers less meaningful. And we all want meaning in life. Go Sox!

2011-08-25T09:47:00.001-04:00

Let’s talk Magic Numbers. Since this is the White Sox Magic Number Update, that seems appropriate.

The MN for the Sox is 41, a reduction of one from yesterday’s MN, courtesy of Detroit’s loss. The Good Guys’ own loss (8-0 to Jered Weaver and the Angels) prevented the Sox from cutting it to 40. The Tigers’ MN is a mere 28. Folks, those aren’t encouraging figures.

The Sox have 34 games remaining and Detroit has 33. If the Tigers go 17-16, the Sox must go 24-10 just to tie. So, assuming Detroit plays just above .500, which is worse than their season-long winning percentage of .543, the Sox will have to play at a .706 clip – considerably above their current .492 pace and they’ve given us no reason to believe will happen.
If the Tigers just continue to win at a .543 rate, they’ll go 18-15, which means the Sox need a 25-9 record (.735) from here on out to tie.
If the Sox play just .500 ball going forward (17-17) – a much more likely scenario – that means Detroit needs to win just 10 of its remaining 33 games to tie.

None of that seems likely. But neither did an earthquake in D.C. Go Sox!

2011-08-24T08:24:00.000-04:00

The White Sox are in Southern California, so let’s go with a show business theme to start.

Me: I’ll take White Sox for $200, Alex.

Alex: Poor fielding, bad baserunning, mental errors, mediocre pitching, and a lack of production from the meat of the order.

Me: What caused the Sox to lose to the Angels 5-4 last night?

Let’s take ‘em one by one.

• In the first inning, Juan Pierre and Alexei Ramirez made errors that led to a run off Mark Buehrle.

• In the seventh, Tyler Flowers tried to advance from first to third on Brent Morel’s grounder to second. Flowers, of course, was thrown out, violating baseball maxim of never make the third out at third base.

• In the bottom of the ninth, with the score tied, L.A.’s Erick Aybar singled and went to third on pinch hitter Alberto Callaspo’s single. Gordon Beckham failed to cover second on the play where there would have been a play on Callaspo trying to take the extra base. That took away the potential double play and forced Ozzie to change strategy by walking Maicer Izturis to face Peter Bourjos instead. Bourjos poked a single to score Aybar, and this game was o-vuh.

• Mark Buehrle struggled all night, giving up four runs in his six innings, though the first of them was unearned. Jason Fraser couldn’t retire Bourjos with the game on the line.

• The third through sixth hitters – Paul Konerko, Alex Rios, Alexei Ramirez, and Adam Dunn – were 2 for 15, with one RBI.

The one RBI and one of the two hits belonged to Konerko. It was Paulie’s 2,000th career hit, which begs the question of how likely is he to reach 3000. I hate to say it, but I’m afraid the answer is “not very.” It’s taken Paulie 1,970 games to reach 2,000 hits, so at that same rate, he’d need another 985 games to accumulate another 1000 hits. Even if he played in every game, Paulie would need another six seasons. He’d be 41 by then and it’s far from clear that he’ll be playing at that age, let alone continuing to be as productive as he’s been till now. But, hey, there are only 28 guys who are in the 3000 hit club, so it’s no shame for Konerko not to join.

Go Sox!

2011-08-23T08:34:00.002-04:00

The White Sox didn’t play last night – travel to L.A. – but they fell another half game behind the Tigers, who beat the Rays. The good news is that the Indians lost to the Mariners, meaning the Sox are now tied for second place with the Tribe, both 5.5 games back of Detroit.

Today is the ninth day the Sox have been in second place this year. The Good Guys have spent three days in first, 92 days in third, 30 days in fourth, and 10 days in last.

The team sits at .500 once again, having dipped as many as 11 games below the break-even mark (11-22) on May 6. Since then, the Chisox have gone 52-41 to square their record at 63-63.

With Carlos Quentin out, or at least day-to- day, with a shoulder injury, this seems like a perfect time to bring up Dayan Viciedo. Viciedo showed enough last season and in spring training to merit a promotion to the big league club, but has been stuck in Charlotte all year. He’s hitting near .300, with decent on-base and slugging percentages too. I think he could help on the West Coast trip that starts tonight. Go Sox!

2011-08-22T08:37:00.000-04:00

The White Sox Meat Loafed the Rangers over the weekend, losing the opener, but coming back strong to take the last two. (For those of you who are new to The Update – this means you Howard, Dale, and David Primer, “Meat Loaf” means to take two out of three games, as in the Meat Loaf song, Two Outta Three Ain’t Bad.) Sunday’s game deserves particular mention.

Gavin Floyd gave up only three singles and a walk in seven innings while striking out six, and the bullpen preserved the shutout. But Floyd could have been a whole lot worse, as the Sox pounded out 10 runs on 16 hits, with every starter not named Alexei Ramirez getting at least one, and seven of them having at least two.

My Dad used to complain about games like this – not that there’ve been that many – saying that instead of winning 10-0, the Sox should have saved some of those runs for games when they’ll need them. Ojala! (which if I remember correctly from high school Spanish, means “would that that were so.”) But of course it doesn’t work that way. It did get me thinking about how many hits and runs the Sox average and how they do when they reach those averages.

Through 126 games in 2011 the Sox have accumulated 1094 hits. That works out to about 8.7 hits per game, which we’ll round to 9. When the South Siders collect 9 hits in a game, they’re 7-7. On the season, the Pale Hose have pushed 507 runs across the plate, for an average of 4.02 per game. In games where they score their average 4 runs, the Sox are 8-9, which is as close as you can get to .500 in 17 games. (Ok, theoretically a tie is possible if there were a suspended game, but you get the idea.) Thus, it should be no surprise that the team’s overall record is 63-63.

Well, that record leaves our boys 5.0 games behind the Tigers, who swept the Indians over the weekend. The good news there is that means the Sox trail second-place Cleveland by only a half game. What they need to do is learn how to win at home. The Chisox are a disappointing 29-36 at the Cell, although they’re a surprising 34-27 on the road. Let’s hope they keep up their road success, since the team heads to Anaheim to face the Angels. Go Sox!

2011-08-18T08:46:00.002-04:00

One night after collecting 22 hits, the White Sox could manage only four and wound up on the short end of a 4-1 score against the Indians. Alejandro De Aza had a single and a double, Alexei Ramirez homered, Adam Dunn singled, and that was it for the Good Guys. Mark Buehrle allowed 12 hits and four runs, ending his 18-start streak of giving up three or fewer runs. The best thing that happened last night is that the Tigers lost, so the Sox didn’t lose any ground on first-place, remaining 3.5 games behind Detroit.

I read that after the 14-inning game on Tuesday, Ozzie decided to rest Paul Konerko by having him DH and playing Dunn at first. Surprisingly, the Sox have a much better record when Paulie plays that role. The team is 19-6 when he’s the DH and 41-49 when he plays first. Even more surprising, the Sox do better with Dunn at first (16-11) than when he’s the DH (29-40). I’m not saying that Oz should make this a permanent thing, I’m just sayin’ ….

It’s the rubber game with Cleveland tonight. While it’s a bit too early to call a game a must win, it’s getting close to that time. So for today, I’m switching it up: Just win, baby!

2011-08-17T09:05:00.000-04:00

I tried to stay up. I really did. But when the White Sox and Indians went to the 11th inning and it was past midnight here in the Eastern time zone, I went to bed. I figured the Sox would lose because they’d already frittered away the lead multiple times, including a blown save by Sergio Santos in the 9th inning. But I figured wrong, as Juan Pierre came through with a walk-off single in the bottom of the 14th inning to give the Sox an 8-7 win over the Tribe.

The Sox banged out 22 hits, a total the team had reached 13 times before that since the 1919 season when Baseball-Reference.com’s stats start, and have exceeded 18 times, with the highest total being 29 hits in a 29-6 win over the Kansas City Athletics on April 23, 1955. In the prior 13 games with 22 hits, the Pale Hose had never scored fewer than 11 runs, so last night’s output of only eight runs set a new record for inefficiency.

Among the 22 hits, were five triples: two by Alejandro De Aza and one each by Tyler Flowers, Alexei Ramirez, and Alex Rios. That was the first time since 1986 that any team has had that many three-baggers in a game and the first time the database shows the Sox ever had exactly five – though two times in the 1920 season they had six, both wins.

Sox pitchers set a record for strikeouts, accumulating 19 Ks on the night. The previous high of 18 came in the 19-inning win over the Red Sox on July 9, 2006 that yours truly and son Jeff attended. Also in attendance at that game were Update subscribers Mike Sehr, Lisa Pildes, Judy Deutsch (and husband Tom), Howard Silverman (and son Bradley), which I know because at various points in the game, I sat with all of them.

The win moves the Sox over .500 for the first time since April 15. It keeps them 3.5 games behind the Tigers. And it moves them to within a half game of second-place Cleveland, whom they play again tonight. Go Sox!

2011-08-16T08:25:00.000-04:00

So I’m driving home from vacation and turn on the Tigers-Twins game (thanks, XM) just in time to hear Jim Thome hit his 600th home run. I had to smile even though it was for Minnesota – though the fact that it came against first-place Detroit helped too.

Everything you hear about Thome is that he’s a great guy; he was the runaway leader for nicest guy in baseball in Sports Illustrated’s poll of ball players. And he’s never mentioned in connection with steroids unlike three of his fellow 600 Club members (Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriquez, and Sammy Sosa). At 40 years, 353 days, Thome is the oldest guy to hit 600, but did it in the second fewest at bats (8,137) behind Babe Ruth (6,921). For those of you who haven’t memorized the list the others are Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Ken Griffey, Jr.

For me, the Thome memory that stands out the most is his home run to win the tie-breaker game with the Twins, 1-0. That was the last time the White Sox made the post-season, though they’ve still got a chance this year.

While I was gone, the Sox played the bottom feeders – the fourth-place Twins, the last-place Orioles, and the last-place Royals – and won eight of ten games. (Check the back issues of The Update. The Sox always do well when I’m on vacation and not posting.) That brought them back to .500 and 3.5 games behind the Tigers. It’s the seventh time this season they’ve been at the break-even mark, with 0-0, 2-2, 7-7, 42-42, 43-43, and 52-52 being the others. Two surprises: that gap of 70 games between 7-7 and 42-42 and the fact that they haven’t been over .500 since April 15, when they were 7-6.

They say that every team wins 60 games and loses 60 games, but it’s what happens in those other 42 that makes the difference. Well, the Sox have won their 60 and lost their 60. Now, it’s time for the difference makers. I figure they need to win 87 to take the division, which means they have to go 27-15 the rest of the way. Tonight’s the night to start. Go Sox; Beat Cleveland!

2011-08-05T08:33:00.001-04:00

59

I must have seen this sign many times before, but last night was the first time it registered: DiGiorno Pizza, the official pizza of the Chicago White Sox. Really? In a town known for its deep dish pizza, the Sox chose to affiliate themselves with a thin crust version that comes out of a freezer?

Why am I talking about pizza? Because I don’t want to talk about the game. The Sox lost to the Yankees 7-2 to complete a sweep and boost the losing streak to six games. The highlight while I was watching was Alejandro DeAza laying down an almost perfect bunt along the third base line, only to have it roll foul – much to Hawk’s amazement that the grounds crew’s manipulations would allow any ball to roll foul. Eventually, DeAza chopped one that Derek Jeter had to backhand, and the Sox speedster beat the wide throw for an infield single. DeAza came around to score on Juan Pierre’s sac fly to tie the game at 1-1. But then things started to get ugly, and I just couldn’t watch anymore.

That means I missed Adam Dunn’s 11th home run. Dunn is batting .300 over his last three games and .226 during the ten-game homestand. The latter might not seem like much, but it’s more than 65 points higher than his average at the end of the last road trip.

Hopefully, Dunn will stay “hot,” as the Sox need some offense when they travel to Minneapolis to play the Twins. The Northmen are only 1.5 games behind the South Siders (who remain 6.5 games out of first), so if the Sox get swept again – perish the thought – they’ll be in fourth place and fading into irrelevancy. Go Sox! Beat the Twins!

2011-08-04T08:48:00.005-04:00

The White Sox made history – at least in games I can access from the Baseball-Reference.com database, which includes all contests from 1919 through the present. For the first time, the team gave up 18 runs and 23 hits. Before last night, they’d given up 18 runs 13 times, all losses. They’d also given up 23 hits five times, also all losses. But they’d never given up the precise combination of 18 runs and 23 hits. When you’re a Sox fan, you have to take your accomplishments where you find them.

Looking at it from the offensive side of the equation – seven runs on 14 hits – it was not unique, but it was against the odds. The Sox record when they score seven runs in a game is 759-191, a .798 winning percentage. The team’s record when collecting 14 hits is 390-120, a .765 percentage. Surprisingly, the record when doing both is only 47-25-1, a .653 percentage. I would have thought that it would have been at least as high as the lower of the two, but that’s not what my search shows.

Anyway, the Good Guys have now lost five in a row since climbing back to .500. They stand 6.5 games behind Detroit and are in danger of playing themselves out of the division race. With only 53 games left, the time to do something about it is now. Go Sox!

2011-08-03T08:56:00.000-04:00

When I saw that the Yankees had scored their fifth and sixth runs in the top half of the seventh inning and the game was called before the bottom half of the inning could be played, I wondered whether the score should be 6-0 as the newspaper reported or 4-0 if those last two runs didn’t count? Some recollection from my youth told me that because the home team White Sox didn’t get their last raps, the score reverted to what it was at the end of the last complete inning of play – 4-0. So I consulted the Official Baseball Rules.

According to Rule 4.10(c)(1), if a game is called, it is a regulation game if five innings have been completed. Rule 4.11 states that the score of a regulation game is the total number of runs scored by each team at the moment the game ends, and Rule 4.11(d) provides that a called game ends at the moment the umpire terminates play. Taken together this means that the game was regulation because five innings (and more) had been completed, and as a regulation game, the final score is what the score was when the game was called. Now if those two runs the Yanks scored in the top half of the seventh had given them the lead, then under Rule 4.12(a)(5), the game would have become a suspended game that would have to be completed at a future date.

It’s really all academic anyway. The Sox weren’t going to come back from a 6-0 deficit. The largest lead they’ve overcome to win a game all year is three runs. Going into last night's game, they were 6-40 when trailing after six innings, 13-41 when the opponent scores 4+ runs, and 11-31 when the other team gets 10+ hits. It just wasn't going to happen.

The only good news on the night is that the loss wasn’t Adam Dunn’s fault. He got one of the three Sox hits in the game, though he did add a strikeout to his total. It’s interesting that Dunn has struck out 80 times at home and “only” 58 times on the road in an equal number of games. The Big Donkey is giving Sox fans what they seem to enjoy – a chance to boo their own player. Go Sox!

2011-08-02T09:02:00.003-04:00

The White Sox don’t seem to be able to do the big things, so they have to do the little things right to win, especially when facing a pitcher like C.C. Sabathia. They didn’t and they didn’t, committing several miscues and losing 3-2 to the Yankees before a “crowd” – where are you Sox fans? – of 24,142.

Brent Lillibridge missed a cut-off man, which led to New York’s first run. Adam Dunn, playing first base in place of the injured Paul Konerko, had a ball bounce off his glove, which led to the Yanks’ second run. Lillibridge couldn’t get a bunt down with men on first and second, popping out instead. Small things that added up to a big loss.

Sabathia was hittable last night – the Sox collected 10 hits with Alexei Ramirez, A.J. Pierzynski, and Gordon Beckham picking up two each – just not by Dunn. But that’s true of just about every left-handed pitcher, since Big Donkey is now batting .039 (3 for 77) against southpaws. By comparison, he’s a veritable hit machine against righties, batting .203, which is more than five times better against them than against lefties. Dunn’s on-base percentage is also way better – almost 10 times as high – against righties: .039 vs. .384. And so is his slugging percentage, .213 against left-handers, .323 against right-handers.

Think he’s feeling the pressure of playing in front of the home-town “fans,” who boo him every time he strikes out – which he did three times last night to raise his season total to 137? Well, his slash line (batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage) at home is .132/.253/.277 and on the road is .194/.337/.323.

Hey, there’s plenty of blame to go around on this team, but the biggest share of it has to fall on the shoulders of the biggest guy, Adam Dunn. Go Sox!

2011-08-01T09:36:00.000-04:00

Let’s get the results part of this out of the way quickly, because I want to focus on something else. The White Sox got Meat Loafed by the Red Sox over the weekend, winning on Friday and losing the last two games. That leaves them 4.0 games behind Detroit and 1.5 games behind Cleveland. The Yankees visit the Cell for four games, so the Good Guys have their work cut out for them, especially since they’re going to have to do it without Paul Konerko for at least the first game. Paulie took one for the team on Sunday, getting hit in the leg by a pitch that forced in the lead run – but the lead didn’t hold up and neither did Konerko. He went down hard and stayed down for a bit. I doubt it was intentional since it led to a run, but regardless it knocked him out of the game and the lineup for today’s game. Get well soon, Paulie, for your sake and for ours.

The subject that’s on my mind is Frank Thomas. The Big Hurt was honored on Sunday with the unveiling of a bronze statue in the left-field concourse area. It shows Thomas finishing a swing one-handed, as was his style. His graphic is now in place on the outfield wall, along with other Sox players who have had their numbers retired. By the way, No. 35 originally wore No. 15 when he started with the Sox (Dick Allen’s old number).

I don’t know if fans realize how good Big Frank really was. He racked up some pretty amazing stats during his career – a batting average of .301, on-base percentage of .419, slugging percentage of .555, and 521 home runs. Only three other players in baseball history have done all of those things: Babe Ruth, Jimmy Foxx, and Ted Williams. All of them are Hall of Famers, and Frank Thomas should be too. That doesn’t even count his two MVP awards in 1993 and 1994, or what should have been his third in 2000 when the admitted steroid-user, Jason “the Juicer” Giambi, stole Thomas’s third MVP award.

I don’t want to hear about his having been a DH for a part of his career. If that doesn’t count as being a player, then they shouldn’t allow it. And it’s hard to pinch hit four to five times a game, which is essentially what DHing is like. Just ask Adam Dunn. If Frank Thomas isn’t a first ballot Hall of Famer, then the system needs to be revised. I look forward to attending the ceremony when it happens. Go Sox! Go Big Hurt!

2011-07-28T10:36:00.000-04:00

Alejandro De Aza was batting 1.000 and slugging 4.000 after his first at bat yesterday, which was also his first in the big leagues this year. The math whizzes among you know that this means the recent White Sox call-up – he played for Triple A Charlotte on Tuesday – homered in his first trip to the plate. De Aza’s two-run blast constituted the entirety of the Sox scoring for the day, but thanks to good pitching from John Danks, Chris Sale, and Sergio Santos, the Good Guys prevailed 2-1 over the Tigers in the rubber match of the series.

I was actually surprised that De Aza was in Chicago, having expected Dayan Viciedo to be the next player promoted from the minors. But Viciedo has a sore thumb and Kenny Williams said that he did not want to bring up a player that couldn’t play. Makes sense to me and you can’t argue with the results that De Aza provided in taking over for the terminally bad Alex Rios.

Danks, who is 4-0 and has given up only four earned runs in his last six starts, pitched very effectively. He worked 6.0 innings and allowed only one run – a solo home run by Austin Jackson – despite giving up six hits and three walks. Danks worked his way out of jams thanks to 10 strikeouts and help from Sale. The reliever tossed 2.2 innings of no hit, no run ball before giving way to Santos, who retired one batter for his 21st save.

Adam Dunn merits one offensive note. (Not offensive. Offensive.) The Big Donkey reached base four times yesterday on a hit and three walks. This follows a game where he homered, so maybe our long national nightmare is over. Wishful thinking or the start of something good? Stay tuned to find out.

Off the field, the Sox were busy. Edwin Jackson and Mark Teahen were traded to the Blue Jays for pitchers Jason Frasor and Zach Stewart. Frasor is a reliever and Stewart is a highly rated prospect in the Toronto minor league system. (Jackson wound up in St. Louis in a subsequent transaction.) And there’s plenty of time to make more trades. We’re not predicting that Kenny’s doing more deals, but he seems to like trading as much as any GM out there.

The win tightens the Central Division race a bit. The Sox are now only 3.5 games behind Detroit and only 1.5 games back of Cleveland. On the other hand, the South Siders are only 2.5 games ahead of Minnesota. None of those four teams is going to be the wild card, so it’s division winner take all as far as the playoffs is concerned. And speaking of division winners, the Sox entertain the Red Sox for a three game set. We’ve had their number lately. Let’s hope it stays that way. Go White Sox!

2011-07-27T08:57:00.000-04:00

So the very day I write about how the White Sox are 12-6 when hitting two home runs in a game, Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko each slug two-run homers … but the Sox lose to the Tigers, 5-4. I’d say it’s the sportswriter jinx in operation, but I’m not really a sportswriter. Maybe it’s just the fan jinx that my Dad believed in so strongly. He wouldn’t watch games on TV because he thought it was bad luck. He wasn’t really superstitious – well he did say "God willing" and "God forbid" a lot – but he was convinced that somehow his watching could affect the outcome. If only he could have used his superpowers for good not evil ….

Anyway, the most galling thing about Monday’s defeat was that it was Wilson Betemit who singled in the winning run. You remember him, don’t you? The Sox picked up Betemit, Jeff Marquez, and Jhonny Nunez from the Yankees for Nick Swisher and Kanekoa Texeira (not to be confused with Mark Teixeira, although both are currently on the Bronx Bombers after Kanekoa spent time with Seattle and KC before returning) after the 2008 season. Betemit appeared in 20 games for the Good Guys, batted .200, had an on-base percentage of .280 and a slugging percentage of .311, and drove in a total of three runs all season. Those are pathetic numbers and explain why the Sox made no effort to keep him and his $1.3 million salary on the 2009 team. Yet last night he drove in the game winner. The only explanation that makes any sense is that my Dad was watching up in heaven – or wherever the hell he is.

Go Sox! Go Dad!

2011-07-26T08:35:00.000-04:00

“Chicks Dig the Long Ball” was an advertising campaign back in the unenlightened days. “Sox Fans Dig the Long Ball” carries none of the stigma and expresses what we should be feeling. The White Sox beat the Tigers last night, 6-3, behind Mark Buehrle’s pitching, Carlos Quentin’s bases-loaded double, and the Long Ball, courtesy of A.J. Pierzynski and Paul Konerko.

This season, when the Sox notch two home runs, the team has a 12-6 record. It’s 4-2 when the club pokes three taters, and 1-0 when smashing four. Overall, that’s 17-8 when going yard multiple times. By comparison, the South Siders are 15-21 when hitting only one homer and 18-22 when no one has a four-bagger.

Buehrle was the beneficiary of the offensive output, throwing 6.0 innings of two-run ball. He held Detroit to just those two runs despite allowing 10 hits (and a walk). Think back to yesterday’s post on hit-to-run ratio and you’ll remember that teams are generally just above or below two hits per run. Last night against Buehrle, the Tigers were at five hits per run. Way to keep the runners from scoring, Mark.

Speaking of runners not scoring, how bad are the Sox on the base paths? Juan Pierre was picked off and both Adam Dunn and Brent Morel were cut down by outfielders. At least Dunn has an excuse: He’s so rarely on base that he’s obviously forgotten what to do when he gets there.

The win against the division leaders moves the Sox to just 3.5 games out of first place, with a chance to gain more in the next two nights of head to head competition with the Tigers. If Monday’s crowd is any indication – attendance listed at 37,110 – there’ll be plenty of folks to cheer on the Good Guys. Go Sox!

2011-07-25T08:49:00.002-04:00

With the aid of a rainout, the White Sox swept the Indians over the weekend. The Sox took Friday’s game 3-0 and Sunday’s game 4-2, while Saturday’s game was postponed. The sweep allowed the South Siders to move within 2.5 games of the second-place Tribe; it also leaves them 4.5 games back of the first-place Tigers, who visit the Cell for three games starting tonight.

I was traveling back from a wedding in Pittsburgh – no, not the Ben Roethlisberger nuptials – and listened to the game on XM radio, which offered only the Cleveland announcers. They seemed rather down on their team, but managed to insult the Sox just the same by talking about the Indians’ next opponent (the Angels) as having really good pitching, unlike the White Sox. I thought to myself, “Hey, you’ve scored two runs in two games. What does it take to qualify as good pitching in your book?” (Actually, I said it out loud, drawing the same look from my wife I always receive when I talk to the radio or TV.)

Announcers aside, Sox pitching deserves credit, but I’m more interested in the efficiency of their run production. Sunday, the Good Guys scored four runs on just six hits, a hits per run ratio of 1.50. On Friday, it was three runs on eight hits, for a 2.67 ratio. For the season, the club has needed 2.15 hits to score a run. Compare that to the Boston Red Sox who have the best record in the American League and have posted a 1.88 hits per run ratio. That means the White Sox are only 87% as efficient in scoring this season as the Red Sox. No surprise the Bosox are in first and the Chisox are in third in a weak division.

Go Sox! Get more efficient!

2011-07-21T08:35:00.000-04:00

John Danks deserved better. The White Sox lefty sparkled last night, shutting out Kansas City for seven innings on five hits and a walk. But the Sox gave him no support, and the Good Guys lost 2-1 in 11 innings. The winning run scored on a wild pitch by Sergio Santos, which is reason enough to trot out our list of ways to score from third base on something other than a hit:

1. Walk with the bases loaded

2. Hit by pitch with the bases loaded

3. Sacrifice fly

4. Sacrifice bunt

5. Ground out

6. Error

7. Wild pitch

8. Passed ball

9. Dropped third strike and throw to first

10. Steal of home

11. Fielder interference with the runner at third

12. Catcher interference with the bases loaded

13. Balk

14. Defensive indifference on attempted steal of home, which doesn’t count as a stolen base

15. Infield fly rule where ball drops to the ground

16. Fielder carries ball into stands

Admittedly, some of these are highly unlikely and No. 14 is almost inconceivable, but they're all theoretical possibilities. And speaking of theoretical, that's what the South Siders' chances of winning the division will be unless they get some hitting. The Sox are 4.5 games behind both the Surprising Indians and the Tigers, and only 0.5 games ahead of the Twins. The time to start winning is now! Go Sox!

2011-07-19T08:40:00.002-04:00

The White Sox won the game last night – 5-2 over the Royals in KC – but still lost ground in the Central Division race to the Surprising Indians, who took two from the Twins and now lead the South Siders by 4.5 games. (Speaking of surprises, the Pirates are also in first place! Hell, they haven’t had a winning record for the season since Barry Bonds left in 1992. And speaking of Hell, I believe it’s about to freeze over.) At least, the Good Guys gained a game and a half on the Twinkies, who were getting too close for comfort.

The key to last night’s game was Mark Buehrle. By throwing seven innings of two-run, five-hit ball, he picked up his 22nd career win over the Royals – the most among active pitchers. The bullpen was even better. Jesse Crain held KC hitless and scoreless for 1.0 innings; Matt Thornton did the same for 0.2 innings; and Sergio Santos did so for 0.1 innings. Buehrle threw strikes on 76 of his 111 pitches or 68%. Crain and Thornton topped that with 10 of 12 and six of eight, respectively. Santos was right there with three of five. Good things happen when you throw strikes.

The Sox managed only seven hits but converted those safeties into five runs with the help of a Royals error that made two of the runs unearned. Juan Pierre collected two of those seven hits as he continues to make himself trade bait, which doesn’t fit with the All-In theme, but makes sense given the need to find somewhere for Dayan Viciedo to play. Viciedo isn’t a leadoff man, though, so how this rumored departure of Pierre works out is anyone’s guess.

Meanwhile, Gordon Beckham went 1 for 4 and lowered his batting average. Just a month ago, a 1 for 4 game was a big improvement, but Becks has been on a tear lately.

The same can’t be said about Adam Dunn, who has now dipped below .160. It actually pains me to watch him hit, having seen him when he was a stud for the Nats for the last two years and knowing what a good guy he is. But no one’s crazy enough to take on his or Alex Rios’s contracts, so get used to seeing those guys destroy any hope of a White Sox offense.

Go Sox!

2011-07-18T08:43:00.001-04:00

73

The All-Star break is over and the White Sox had a chance to sweep the Tigers, leading 3-0 in the third game of the series after taking the first two. Instead, they wound up losing 4-3 and had to settle for a Meat Loaf. The question is whether we’ll be happy if they win two games in every remaining series. At first blush, it sounds good. But when you look at the remaining schedule, it’s not so clear.

There are 21 series left on the schedule – one two-game set with the Angels; four four-game series with the Yankees, Indians, Orioles, and Royals; and 16 traditional three-game slates – plus a rain out against Oakland that may not be made up unless it means something. If the Sox win two games in each of those and win the make-up game, they’ll tack another 43 games onto the win column. That’ll leave them with a final record of 89-73. Is that good enough to win the Central Division?

Well, the hypothetical assumes that they go 8-5 against Cleveland and 6-3 against Detroit, so they make up three of the four-game deficit they currently have against both teams right there. It assumes they go 6-3 against the Twins, so they increase their one-game lead against Minnesota as well. It all depends on whether one of the other teams gets hotter than the hypothetical 43-24 record the Good Guys rack up.

Personally, put me down for it right now. It’s the A.L. Central we’re talking about. The division leading Indians and Tigers would be in fourth place in the A.L. East and third place in the A.L. West. All in all, I’ll take my chances with the Sox winning two games in each series from here on out. Given what we’ve seen so far this year, this almost certainly won’t happen, but we can dream, can’t we? Go Sox!

2011-07-11T08:28:00.000-04:00

“Disappointed” is the best way to describe how I feel about the White Sox at the All-Star break. I was excited when they went “all in” and signed Adam Dunn and re-signed Paul Konerko and A.J. Pierzynski. The prospect of getting Jake Peavy back to go along with John Danks, Gavin Floyd, Mark Buehrle, and Edwin Jackson was tantalizing. The bullpen was a question mark, but I figured that Don Cooper would work his usual magic and find someone to take over the closer role.

Well, we know how it’s played out so far. Adam Dunn looks like the worst investment this side of my 401K. Whether it’s the pressure of the big contract, being a DH, playing in the tougher American League, or just bad luck, it doesn’t really matter. Dunn is helping to kill the Sox offense. Alex Rios, whom the club is also spending a boatload of money on, is his accomplice. You can’t have two guys like that who were supposed to anchor the middle of the order contribute nothing and expect to win the division. Toss in subpar seasons from Gordon Beckham – was last year a sophomore slump or was his rookie year an aberrationally good one? – and Brent Morel and you’ve got real problems. And that’s despite getting more than anyone had a right to expect from Paulie and A.J. and decent production – though not All-Star quality in my opinion – from Carlos Quentin.

The starting pitching has been a disappointment – there’s that word again – except for Phil Humber and to some extent Buehrle, but no one more so than Danks. His inability to get off the Schneid and then his getting hurt when you think of him as your best pitcher really hurts. Kudos to Sergio Santos for seizing the closer’s role, and to the rest of the bullpen for some decent performances, but they’ve had their share of problems too.

I know this sounds pretty pessimistic, but what is there to be optimistic about? Maybe the hope that Dunn and Rios have to get better because they can’t get worse? Maybe a sense that the team has to play better against the Central Division because it can’t get worse? All I do know is that a team with a pretty high payroll is not producing like it should. They’re 5.0 games behind Detroit and haven’t been able to close the gap on the teams ahead of them despite those teams slumping a bit themselves. Post-break, the Sox continue to play within the division, so there’s an opportunity to make up some ground. Or fall farther behind. I’m hoping for the former but afraid of the latter. Go Sox!

2011-07-08T09:40:00.000-04:00

81

A message to Paul Konerko from Smashmouth: “Hey, now, you’re an All-Star, get your game on – go play.” Yep, Paulie won the online fan vote and is going home to Phoenix for the All-Star Game. A wrong has been righted.

Speaking of wrong, that’s exactly what the White Sox are when they play the Twins. Another game against Minnesota, another loss, this time 6-2. That makes the Sox 0-5 against the Twinkies in 2011 and narrows the gap between the two teams to 2.5 games. The Good Guys’ lead could be gone by the end of this series if they don’t shape up.

There’s plenty of blame to go around, but let’s focus on what has been an unlikely source this year: Philip Humber. Magic Humber lasted just 3.2 innings and he shouldn’t have made it that long. He gave up six runs on 11 hits and a walk, by far his worst performance of the season. But even with that abysmal outing, Humber’s ERA is still only 3.10, which just shows how good he’s been before this.

On the bright side, rookie Hector Santiago relieved Humber and threw 4.1 innings of one-hit, no-run ball. Brian Bruney did the same for one inning. Gordon Beckham picked up two hits, raising his batting average to .241, and Mark Teahen kept the Sox from being shut out by poking a two-run homer.

The Sox lost ground on both Cleveland and Detroit, the two teams ahead of them and now stand 5.5 games out of the lead. Since last reaching .500, the South Siders have lost three in a row, and they still have three left in this series against their nemesis, the Twins. Go Sox!

2011-07-07T08:30:00.000-04:00

81

The White Sox are not going to win the Central Division if they can’t beat Cleveland, Detroit, Minnesota, and Kansas City. And so far, including yesterday’s loss to the Royals, they can’t.

The Sox are decent against the East and the West, posting an 11-12 record against the Right Coast teams and a 14-13 mark against the Left Coasters. They’re better than decent against the National League at 11-7. But the Good Guys are no good – 7-13 – against their Central Division brethren. That won’t get it done.

The good news is the South Siders have plenty of opportunities to turn things around, since they’ve got more games to play against division rivals than any other team in the Central does. The Sox have played just 20 intra-division games, while the Tiger have finished 22, the Twins 23, the Indians 25, and the Royals 28.

The time to start is now. Minnesota invades the Cell for four games before the All-Star break. In 2011, the Sox are 0-4 against the Twinkies, and they’ve lost seven in a row, including last year. The team is 6-26 in its last 32 games against Minnesota. The reason for the losing this year appears to be a lack of hitting rather than a pitching problem. The Sox are batting .174 and have scored only three runs in the four games. Sox pitchers have a 2.38 ERA, allowing nine earned runs in 34.0 innings pitched. Warm up the bats. Beat the Twins. Go Sox!

2011-07-06T08:22:00.000-04:00

Back in the saddle after a long Fourth of July weekend and all I want to talk about is Paul Konerko not making the All-Star team. The White Sox captain not only deserves to be on the team, it’s not even close. Paulie is hitting .324, he’s smacked 22 home runs, and he’s driven in 64 runs – top five in everyone of the Triple Crown categories.

In fact, going into yesterday’s action – the most recent stats available on Baseball-Reference.com – there were only two players in the American League who were batting over .300, had over 20 homers, and exceeded 50 RBI: Jose Bautista, who set the record for most votes received in the All-Star balloting; and Konerko.

Yes, I know that Paulie is on the ballot for the online voting of the last player to be added to the roster and the Sox are campaigning hard for him with their “Paul Star” promotion. But it shouldn’t have come to that. The guy is having an MVP kind of season – though Bautista’s admittedly is better – not a marginal All-Star kind of season. And with all due respect to Carlos Quentin, if the Sox get only one player on the team, it should be Paul Konerko.

After meat loafing the Cubs and splitting so far with the Royals, the Sox are still in third place, but just 3.5 games behind Cleveland in the A.L. Central race. The Magic Number is down to 81, with the rubber game against KC and then a series with the Twins before the break. Go Sox! Go Paulie!

2011-07-01T09:19:00.000-04:00

With a day game following a night game and travel from Denver to Chicago on tap, Ozzie tried to rest some of his starters, but it didn’t work. Despite starting the game on the bench, Brent Morel, A.J. Pierzynski, Carlos Quentin, and Paul Konerko each wound up pinch-hitting due to a close game. But the bigger plan worked out, as the White Sox came from behind to tie the Rockies and then win it in ten innings, 6-4.

Juan Pierre continued his hot streak – 7 for 14 in the series – driving in the tying run with a sacrifice fly and then the winning runs with a bases-loaded single off the wall in right. Pierre was 3 for 5 and even stole a base.

Other plus performances included Gordon Beckham’s 7th home run and Adam Dunn’s 0 for 3. Why is an 0 for 3 day a plus? Because he didn’t strike out for a change.

Jake Peavy started and gave up all four runs during his six-inning stint, but the bullpen shut down Colorado the remaining four innings. Jesse Crain got the win, improving to 4-2, and Sergio Santos picked up his 17th save.

The Sox didn’t lead the game until the tenth inning. They notched just their fourth win of the year – out of 36 games – when trailing after seven innings.

Let’s hope this creates some momentum – there’s no such thing in sports according to the book Scorecasting, which makes a persuasive case on this point (and many others) – since the Sox start play against the Cubs at Wrigley today. Go Sox!

2011-06-30T10:19:00.001-04:00

Turnabout is fair play. Two nights ago, the Rockies third base coach sent the runner home on a bloop single to short center field to score the winning run in a 3-2 Colorado win. Last night, White Sox third base coach, Jeff Cox, had Carlos Quentin tag on a short fly to right field, and Q scored the winning run in a 3-2 Sox win when the throw was off line and got away from the Rockies’ catcher.

Cox justified his decision to send Quentin, who is slow enough that he needs to put his four-way flashers on when he’s running, by saying that the Sox haven’t been scoring many runs lately and sometimes you just have to go for it. Cox must have just watched Risky Business – Sometimes you just gotta say, “What the f---” – but whatever prompted it, it worked.

Mark Buehrle pitched 7.0 innings of two-run ball, but there are three things he’ll probably remember from this game: his first career double, a shot down the right field line; getting picked off second base shortly thereafter; and his first error since September 13, 2009. Three relievers – Matt Thornton, Brian Bruney (he got his first win of the season), and Sergio Santos (he picked up his 16th save) – held the Rocks scoreless in the eighth and ninth innings.

The fielders contributed as well. Gordon Beckham started a key double play with the bases loaded to end a Colorado threat. And Alex Rios made a diving catch of a sinking liner to center in the ninth.

The Sox moved to 4.0 games back of the division-leading Tigers and Indians and improved the team’s record to 39-42. They play the rubber game with Colorado today and then return to Chicago to play the Cubs at Wrigley and the Royals and Twins at the Cell. All three opposing teams are well below .500 – the Cubs and Royals, -15, and the Twins, -11 – so it’s a good opportunity for a winning streak. I know, I know. You can throw away the record books when the Sox play the Cubs, we don’t take advantage of KC like we used to, and we never beat the Twins, but what fun is thinking like that? Go Sox!

2011-06-29T09:43:00.000-04:00

The White Sox were too smart for their own good last night. With two out in the bottom of the 13th inning and the Rockies’ Troy Tulowitzki on first base, Ozzie had the outfield playing deep to minimize the possibility of a run-scoring double. It seemed like the right play, given the Good Guys were playing in cavernous Coors Field with its faraway fences in the gaps. But Ty Wigginton – there’s no “loss” in his name, but there is a Ty in his first name and a Win in Wigginton – blooped a single on which Tulowitzki never stopped running until he scored the winning run in a 3-2 loss.

The Sox, who had led 1-0 and 2-1, fell to 4-8 in extra-inning affairs and wasted a lot of good pitching performances. Gavin Floyd gave up only six hits and two runs in his 7.0 innings pitched, while Chris Sale (2.0 IP), Matt Thornton (1.0), and Jesse Crain (1.1) all shut out Colorado in the highest scoring venue in the Big Leagues. Will Ohman was the victim of the duck snort single that plated the game winner, but there’s no basis for concluding that he would have escaped defeat even if the runner had stopped at third.

One quirky note from last night’s game: Four guys named Matt took the mound during the contest – Thornton for the Sox and Belisle, Reynolds, and Lindstrom for the Rockies. I guess you could say that the welcome Matt was out.

The loss didn’t result in the Sox losing ground to the Tigers, who also lost, so the South Siders are still 5.0 games back in the division race. The series at Coors continues tonight. Go Sox!

2011-06-27T09:19:00.001-04:00

Adam Dunn is killing the White Sox. Yesterday, he struck out four times in four at bats in a 2-1 loss to the Washington Nationals. Over the last six games, he’s whiffed 16 times – a rate that would put the Big Donkey at double the strikeouts anyone else has ever had in a single year.

And the Sox pretty much have to let him continue to do it, having given him a four-year $56 million contract last off-season. You can’t sit a guy making $14 million per year and no one else seems likely to take on his contract.

I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t see this coming. I knew he strikes out a lot – Mark Reynolds is the only player in baseball history to have struck out more in a season than Dunn did last year when he racked up 199 K’s. But he’s always hit a raft of home runs to go along with it.

He’s had 46, 40, 40, 40, 40, 38, and 38 dingers over the seven seasons starting in 2004, the first year Dunn had at least 500 at bats. And with the more homer-friendly Cell, it seemed like a sure thing that Adam would reach his usual number of taters.

But that’s not the case. He’s got seven homers in just shy of half a season’s worth of games. Maybe it’s being a DH. Or maybe it’s being in the American League. Whatever it is, Dunn’s failure to produce is costing the Sox big time.

The Good Guys, who saw their streak of 17 consecutive interleague series wins come to an end this weekend, are now in third place, 4.5 games behind the Tigers. They’re on their way to Colorado to face the Rockies in the thin air of Coors Field. Maybe the Sox will be able to get ‘er dunn out there. Oops, I mean “done.” Go Sox!

2011-06-20T09:21:00.000-04:00

There’s been talk lately of a National League club moving to the American League to even up the number of teams in each league at 15. I don’t really care if that happens, but what I would like to see is the White Sox move to the National League. The Sox went into the weekend with a Meat Loafing of the Dodgers to their credit and added a second helping to their plates by taking two outta three from the Diamondbacks to up their Interleague record to 4-2 on the year.

Going back to the World Series season – don’t we all wish that were possible? – the Sox have compiled an amazingly good record against the Senior Circuit. The Good Guys were 12-6 in The Season. A year later, the 2006 Sox posted an even better 14-4 record. The horrible 2007 Sox reversed those numbers, falling to 4-14, but since then, the South Siders have gone back to dominating the N.L. In 2008, they were 12-6; in 2009 (almost as bad as 2007 overall), the Sox were also 12-6; and last year, the Pale Hose were an MLB-best 15-3. That’s a record and winning percentage from 2005 to the present of 73-41 and .640, respectively. Play that out over 162 games and the Sox win 104 games! Maybe the Cubs will agree to switch with their cross-town rivals. The North Siders certainly haven’t taken advantage of being in the National League, so why not let the Sox try?

Enough fantasizing, back to the reality of what happened:

Friday, it was a matchup of traded pitchers, and erstwhile Sox Daniel Hudson triumphed over current Sox Edwin Jackson, 4-1. Hudson improved to 8-5 by throwing a one-run, three-hit complete game. Jackson lasted only 6.2 innings, giving up four runs on eight hits. Paul Konerko provided the only Sox run with his 17th home run.
Saturday, John Danks continued his reversal of fortunes by hurling 7.0 innings and allowing only one earned run in a 6-2 win. Home runs by Konerko – again – and Alex “I guess he isn’t dead after all” Rios gave Danks all the help he needed to boost his record to 3-8. When is that won-lost slate something to be happy about? When you start out 0-8 like Danks did!
Sunday – Happy Father’s Day to all you fathers out there – Phil Humber did it again. The temporary substitute starter solidified his position as best in the rotation by quieting the D-Backs for 7.2 innings, permitting only two runs and seven hits in the 8-2 victory. Paulie blasted his third homer in three days and Rios added his second in two games. Konerko is having an All-Star year, batting .327 (up from .319 just nine games ago) with a .586 slugging percentage. If he makes it, and there’s really no one else from the Sox who really deserves it nearly as much, Captain Crunch will add his sixth appearance in the Midsummer Classic to his resume – having previously been on the A.L. squad in 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2010. I personally don’t fill out All-Star Game ballots, but if I did, I’d vote for Konerko.

The Sox schedule of games against the N.L. continues with a set against the Cubs, who just got Meat Loafed by the Yankees. If ever there were a time I was rooting for a double forfeit, that series was it. Go Sox! Beat the Cubs!

2011-06-13T08:26:00.000-04:00

100

All you really need to know is that the White Sox are only 3.5 games out of first place in the Central Division, behind both the Surprising Indians (who not surprisingly appear to be regressing to the mean) and the Tigers. Of course, if the Sox had just split with the Tigers so far this year instead of going 1-5, then the Good Guys would be 35-33 and a half game ahead of Detroit, rather than 33-35 and trailing. By the way, don’t look now, but the Twins are only 5.5 games behind the South Siders, and the two teams meet in Minnesota for a three-game series starting Tuesday.

The Sox put themselves in this position by Meat Loafing Oakland over the weekend, after taking the Thursday opener. It should have been a sweep, but Sergio Santos imploded in the ninth inning on Friday night, allowing the A’s four runs, which was more than enough to secure a 7-5 win. Sergio had another chance to blow a save on Sunday – Ozzie was showing Santos that he trusts him as the closer – and almost betrayed that trust. He allowed a run to make it close, but did not surrender the lead and the Sox won 5-4.

Adam Dunn hit another home run in the series yesterday (he hit his sixth of the year in the opener on Thursday), but still has only one hit all year against lefties. Paul Konerko on the other hand continued on fire. Paulie was 5 for 12 over the weekend, with a homer and three RBI. The Captain entered June hitting .301 and has hit safely in every game this month to raise his average to .322. Definitely All-Star material, but with the paltry attendance so far this season, it seems unlikely there’ll be enough fan votes to put him on the team. Presumably, he’ll be selected to fill out the roster unless he totally goes in the tank in the next month.

The attendance woes come back to the bad record, which actually isn’t all that much worse than it was last year at this time. In 2010, the Sox were 34-34 after 68 games. This year, they’re only slightly behind that at 33-35. By the way, the Good Guys have played more games than anyone else in baseball. Quirky scheduling or good luck with weather? Don’t know, and don’t care since it’ll even out in the end (unless it doesn’t matter to the standings). Go Sox!

2011-06-10T08:38:00.002-04:00

106

I don’t have the stats, but I’m pretty sure the White Sox win an extremely high percentage of their games when every starter gets at least one hit, like they did in handing the Oakland A’s their tenth loss in a row, 9-4 at the Cell. Six Sox players had a pair of safeties – Juan Pierre, Alexei Ramirez, Paul Konerko, Alex Rios, Omar Vizquel, and Gordon Beckham – and even Adam Dunn got one, his sixth home run no less. One of Paulie’s hits was also a homer, which gives him 15 on the season, good for fourth place in the American League.

The beneficiary of all this offense was Mark Buehrle. The Sox mainstay stuck around for 7.0 innings and gave up only three runs, seven hits, and a walk, while striking out four and throwing 66 of his 103 pitches for strikes. Jesse Crain and Will Ohman finished up and didn’t blow the lead for Buehrle, enabling him to improve his record to 6-4.

Cleveland was idle, so the Sox picked up a half game on the Surprising Indians. The Good Guys now trail the Tribe by only 5.5 games and sit in third place in the division immediately behind Detroit. The Sox face the slumping A’s three more times this weekend, and let’s hope that new Oakland manager, Bob Melvin, has to wait until his team’s next series to get his first win in his new job. Go Sox!

2011-06-09T09:14:00.000-04:00

107

The White Sox wasted two home runs by Carlos Quentin last night, losing to the Mariners in 10 innings, 7-4. Sergio Santos couldn’t get anyone out in the final frame, surrendering three runs to dig the Sox a hole they couldn’t climb out of in their last raps.

Q bashed his 16th homer of the season in the first inning, which staked Gavin Floyd to a lead he held onto for a while – just not long enough. Between Floyd’s three runs allowed – he still contributed a Quality Start in his 6.0 innings – and Jesse Crain’s one, the Sox trailed 4-2 when Q hit No. 17 in the eighth with a man on to pull the Good Guys even.

Santos threw a scoreless ninth, but it looked like one inning was his limit last night. And the Sox batters could do nothing to recover. It was the South Siders’ 13th blown lead of the season. Had they won, it would have been their ninth comeback win of the year, but it was not to be.

It seemed to me that the team has played a lot of extra-inning affairs in 2011, so I checked. The Sox have already put in for overtime pay 10 times in 64 games, which works out to 25 games on the season. Given their 4-6 record in those contests, that projects to 10-15 for the season.

Ten games this early in the year seemed like a lot, so I checked the number of games – and win-loss records – going back to the halcyon days of 2005. Here’s what the stats show: 2005, 11-8; 2006, 7-7; 2007, 6-4; 2008, 8-1; 2009, 4-4; and 2010, 6-6. Overall from the start of the World Series year to the present (approximately 6.4 seasons), the Sox are 46-36, a .561 winning percentage. Compare that to their record in games that did not go into extra innings during that period: 474-454, or a .511 winning percentage. So the Sox have played much better in overtime games than they have otherwise – just not this year. Go Sox!

2011-06-08T09:52:00.001-04:00

108

Coming into the season, Phil Humber was supposed to be a temporary fill-in until Jake Peavy was ready to pitch. Well, Humber pitched well enough to force Ozzie into using a six-man rotation when Peavy returned. And now that Jake is headed back to the DL, it’s a good thing that the White Sox have Humber.

It was especially good last night, as Humber pitched the Sox to a 5-1 win over the visiting Seattle Mariners. Humber lasted 7.2 innings before yielding to Chris Sale and gave up only one run on five hits. He threw 69 of his 106 pitches for strikes, lowered his ERA to 2.87, and improved his record to 5-3.

Humber had help from Carlos Quentin, who bashed his team-leading 15th home run and drove in two runs. Omar Vizquel also plated a pair and became the second oldest player to triple (behind Julio Franco). The other run came courtesy of Paul Konerko’s 14th homer.

Konerko’s home run was the 379th of his career, good enough for a tie for 61st place on the all-time list. Does Paulie have another 21 home runs in him this season so that he reaches the 400 mark? At his current pace of 14 in 63 games, Captain Crunch projects to 36 for the year, which would give him 401 for his career. That’s cutting it kind of close, but it wouldn’t take a superhuman effort for him to pull it off. By the way, 401 would leave him in 48th place, right behind Duke Snider. Along the way, Paulie would pass former White Sox great and current coach, Harold Baines, as well as former Sox player Albert Belle.

With the win, the Sox kept pace with the Surprising Indians, remaining 6.0 games behind the division leaders, and reduced the Magic Humber, err, Magic Number to 108. There’s one more game with Seattle at the Cell, so Go Sox!

2011-06-07T12:25:00.001-04:00

109

As Cheech Marin said in Tin Cup: Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner! John Danks finally joined the ranks of the winners yesterday, not allowing Seattle an earned run (though there was one of the unearned variety) in a 3-1 White Sox victory. Danks looked like the pitcher we all thought he would be this year, tossing 7.1 innings, while scattering seven hits and a walk to go along with six strikeouts. Jesse Crain finished up the eighth inning without imploding like he did over the weekend against the Tigers to earn his ninth hold. Sergio Santos pitched a perfect ninth inning to notch his eleventh save.

A.J. Pierzynski and Carlos Quentin each banged out a couple of hits, and Paul Konerko smacked his 13th home run, a solo shot. Juan Pierre and Gordon Beckham each contributed a single, but that was it for the Sox. As you know from recent posts, the Good Guys aren’t very good when they collect only seven hits, but that stat gets trumped when they allow only one run (4-1 record) or seven hits (5-3). Moreover, it was Seattle at the Cell, where the Mariners have now lost nine straight. Ah, the M’s at home, the Red Sox on the road. If only every game were like that.

If the Surprising Indians continue to lose – they’re up to five in a row – we’re going to have to remove “Surprising” from their name. But that would be a good thing. As it is, even with getting Meat Loafed by Detroit over the weekend, the Sox are only 6.0 games behind the Tribe, and the Magic Number is down to 109. Keep it up against Seattle, who’s here for two more games. Go Sox!

2011-06-03T08:44:00.000-04:00

115

Surprisingly, the Surprising Indians lost yesterday, reducing the Magic Number for the idle White Sox to 115 and the Tribe’s lead over the Good Guys to 8.0 games. The Sox are actually two games ahead of their record last year, but that was before they go super-hot. It’ll be hard to duplicate the feat of winning 25 out of 30 games, but it’ll be a ton of fun if it happens. Tonight is a good time to start winning against our own division, as the Tigers – the team I actually worry about the most now that the Twins have the worst record in baseball – invade the Cell.

Since there’s no game to talk about, let’s take a look at some stats. Specifically, I was wondering how much small ball – regular readers know I’m not a fan – Ozzie is playing this year.

To do that, let’s start with stolen base attempts. The Sox have tried to swipe a base 51 times this season, which is a bit shy of the league average of 54. But there are eight teams with more attempts, led by Toronto and Texas with 71. Even Oakland, which was profiled in the book Moneyball as disdaining the stolen base, is ahead of the South Siders with 54 tries. On the other hand, of the five teams with fewer attempts, three of them are in the Central Division. Cleveland has 42 tries, while Detroit and Minnesota have 29 each.

But maybe it’s a good thing that Ozzie is running the boys more often since the Sox already lead the league in being caught stealing. Their total of 25 far exceeds the league average of 15. Math majors among you will already have figured out that the Pale Hose have successfully stolen 26 bases, which lands them in 11th place in the A.L. and well below the league average of 39.

What about sacrifice bunts? Well, there the Sox rank a little higher. Their total of 20 puts them second in the league behind Detroit, and significantly ahead of the average of 14 sacrifice hits. So what does all that mean? I’ll leave it to you to decide, but as yesterday’s post demonstrated, we’re not winning much unless we get double-digit hits.

I’m sure some of you are thinking, what about home runs? The answer is that the Sox have hit 56, which places them above the league average of 51. I expect that ranking to improve considerably. First, the team has played a disproportionate number of games away from the Cell, a noted home run haven. Second, the weather is finally starting to warm up, which is more of a factor to a Chicago team than say a Texas or Anaheim team. Third, two of the Sox with good to very good home run totals last year are mired in horrible slumps. Adam Dunn has got to break out of this sooner or later; he’s been too consistent a home run hitter over too many years not to start pounding the ball better. Alex Rios, while not blessed with Dunn’s power, is certainly better than he’s shown so far. Watch out for the Sox when those two guys get hot.

Finally, here are some random stats to chew on: The Sox are first in the league in being hit by a pitch by a big margin over the next team; second in plate appearances and at bats; surprisingly, fourth in hits; and dead last in intentional walks. Go figure. Go Sox!

2011-06-02T14:23:00.001-04:00

116

Double-digit hits for the third consecutive day – this time a dozen – led to a third consecutive White Sox win over the Red Sox. Gavin Floyd (6-5) pitched just well enough to win, allowing four runs on nine hits in his 6.2 innings, and Chris Sale (1.1 IP) and Sergio Santos (1.0 IP) gave up no hits or runs in relief to pick up their third hold and ninth save, respectively. But as the lead indicates, the real story was the hitting.

Four players had multi-hit games. Paul Konerko was 3 for 4, including a seventh inning single that drove in the lead run and a ninth inning homer (his 12th) that plated two insurance runs. Alexei Ramirez was 3 for 5 and raised his average to .297. (During the series in Boston, the Missile was a white-hot 9 for 14.) Brent Lillibridge, who is making a good case for being a starter, was 2 for 5, with his sixth home run, to up his average to .308. This time it was Lilli who started and Alex Rios who came in as a defensive replacement for Carlos Quentin, who also was 2 for 5.

It’s a good thing the Sox collected 12 hits, since they have a losing record at every hit total that isn’t double digits, and a winning record at every hit total at or above that mark, except when getting 14 hits. Oddly enough, the Sox reached 10 hits six times by April 8, but did so only two more times that month. They notched 10 or more hits 13 times in May and are 1 for 1 in June. Don't stop now, boys! Go Sox!

2011-06-01T08:42:00.001-04:00

117

Here’s a trade that Kenny Williams should try to make: Fenway Park for U.S. Cellular Field. With Tuesday’s 10-7 victory, the White Sox are 2-0 at the Fens in 2011 and have won six straight while being hosted by the Red Sox. Besides, we’d pick up an iconic park to compete with the one already located in Chicago. Actually, I’m not that impressed with Fenway as a place to watch a game, but that could have something to do with the fact that my only time there, I was sitting so far back in center field that I couldn’t even see the Green Monster. (And don’t get me started on Wrigley, which is just old and actually ugly until the ivy comes in and has too many obstructed view seats.) It’s just that our Sox seem to play well in Boston.

That’s more than I can say about the Cell, where the home team is a pathetic 10-13. Fortunately, the next three squads to visit don’t have winning records on the road: Detroit, 12-15; Seattle, 13-13; and Oakland, 13-15. Maybe we can finally feast on some home cooking.

Anyway, Phil Humber continued to show yesterday that he’s more than just a rotation-filler (while Jake Peavy was out), picking up the win to improve to 4-3 on the year. Humber pitched 7.2 innings and gave up four runs – though two of them scored on a Big Papi home run that Will Ohman surrendered after Humber hit the showers. Brian Bruney tried his best to give the lead away in his first appearance for the Chisox, permitting two earned runs in 0.2 innings pitched – an ERA of 27.00. Chris Sale earned the save by striking out the only man he faced.

Alexei Ramirez led the offense with a 4 for 5, 3-RBI night, but there were plenty of hits to go around. Every starter except Alex Rios had at least one, including Adam Dunn. Dunn is now hitting .185, which is exactly 100 points below his weight. That’s to be expected though, as the Big Donkey had never batted .285 in his career. Rios’s .201 average also puts him on the Jenny Craig team, since he weighs in at 210.

The win leaves the Sox 8.5 behind Cleveland, with one more game to play in Fenway before heading back to the Cell – the team’s home until Kenny makes that trade I’m pushing. Go Sox!

2011-05-31T09:06:00.000-04:00

118

It was a long weekend that started poorly, but ended on a good note. The White Sox lost on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in Toronto, but took the Memorial Day game from their personal patsies (11 wins in their last 13 games), the Boston Red Sox. Instead of a thorough recap, let’s focus primarily on the pitching.

Jake Peavy improved to 2-0 with his win over the Bosox yesterday. He contributed a Quality Start – a relatively rare commodity for the Chisox these days – and may be the best pitcher of late. (Paul Konerko supported Peavy with his 11th home run of the season.)

On Sunday, John Danks’s nightmare continued versus the Blue Jays. The lefty gave up nine runs on nine hits and a walk and fell to 0-8 for 2011. I may be going out on a limb here, but I honestly believe Danks will win a game this year. Of course, if he moves to the bullpen to remove the logjam of starters, that may not be such a sure thing. Lucas Harrell, called up from Triple-A Charlotte to take the place of Tony Pena, who moved to the DL, threw four innings, but also gave up nine hits, but “only” four runs. (Carlos Quentin slugged his 13th home run of the year.)

Saturday’s game saw a parade of pitchers. The highlights, or more accurately, the lowlights: Edwin Jackson, the starter didn’t have it, giving up nine hits and six runs. Jesse Crain blew a save. And Gavin Floyd took the loss in relief in the 14th inning – hence the callup of Harrell.

On Friday, Mark Buehrle had a Quality Start but lost as the Sox scored only two runs against the Jays. Those QS’s aren’t something the Good Guys can afford to waste.

Despite all this, the Magic Number is down to 118, the Sox are back to 8.5 games behind the Surprising Indians, and the team is in third place in the division. Hopefully, their luck against the Carmine Hose will continue and they’ll start another streak of winning series. Go Sox!

2011-05-26T10:16:00.000-04:00

123

Gavin Floyd deserved better. Giving up just one earned run – two total – on three hits in seven innings is usually good enough to win. But not yesterday, as the White Sox fell to the Rangers 2-1.

Until yesterday, Floyd had won every time he permitted two runs or fewer, allowing no runs twice, one run once, and two runs two times in his five wins. He’d lost only when giving up five or more runs – six runs twice and five runs once. Hell, he even escaped with a no decision when letting four runs cross the plate.

The problem was no offense. Paul Konerko, who was 1 for 3, drove in the only run. Adam Dunn left the tying and winning runs on base in the eighth inning when pinch-hitting for Brent Morel. Dunn has now gone 32 consecutive plate appearances without a hit against a lefty, and Morel could hardly have done worse than Dunn’s strikeout. Alex Rios also failed to deliver in the clutch, leaving the tying run stranded in both the seventh and ninth innings. Someone has to step up, because these two guys aren’t doing it.

Fortunately, the Surprising Indians lost, so the Sox did not fall farther behind in the division race, and they picked up one in the Magic Number calculations. It was the first series loss in the last seven, so it’s time to start a new streak. Go Sox!

2011-05-25T08:50:00.000-04:00

124

When Carlos Quentin gets hot, he can carry the White Sox – and that’s what he did last night in leading the Sox to an 8-6 win over the Rangers in Texas. Q, who was moved into the No. 3 slot in the order, slugged three home runs for the first time in his career, raising his season total to 12.

The three blasts resulted in five RBI, boosting his tally for the year to 31. The first dinger, a solo shot, came in the first inning and was a line drive that Hawk Harrelson was imploring to stay up. The second time Q went yard, in the third inning, he absolutely launched one down the right field line that traveled 405 feet and was never in doubt, driving in two runners ahead of him. The third big fly was another bullet to left that came in the ninth inning with the bases empty and gave the Sox an insurance run that they didn’t wind up needing.

Q did get a little help from his friends. Adam Dunn, who was dropped to fifth in the batting order, also made Ozzie look a managerial brainiac by powering a ball into the home run porch in right field. Brent Morel contributed an RBI single, and Alex Rios chipped in with an RBI double.

Jake Peavy started the game and gave up two runs on five hits in three innings before the rains came. The almost 3-hour delay ended Peavy’s night, and a parade of relievers did just enough to get the win: Will Ohman, 1.0 IP; Tony Pena, 1.0 IP and the win; Chris Sale, 1.0 IP and a hold; Jesse Crain, 1.0 IP and a hold; Matt Thornton, 0.2 IP and a hold, though he got himself in a jam that forced him out before the eighth inning was over; and Sergio Santos, 1.1 IP to earn the 4-out save, his seventh. Ozzie said he would have used starters Phil Humber and Edwin Jackson if the game had gone to extra innings. Thankfully, that wasn’t necessary.

The Surprising Indians suffered a rare loss at home, so the Sox win moves them back to 9.0 games behind the Tribe. The win also gives the Sox a chance at winning another series, as Gavin Floyd takes the mound this afternoon. Go Sox!

2011-05-24T08:48:00.001-04:00

126

There are those – myself included – who thought that John Danks was the best pitcher in the White Sox starting rotation this year. Boy, were we wrong! Danks, who has yet to win a game in 2011, lost for the seventh time in 10 starts. He gave up four runs on nine hits and two walks over eight innings, in a 4-0 loss to the Rangers last night in Texas.

Even assuming the Sox return to a five-man rotation, as has been rumored, Danks has 22 or 23 starts remaining. Over the last three years, when he’s won 15, 13, and 12 games, Danks has won about 41% of his starts. That pace works out to nine wins, which would be his worst performance since he became a full-time starter in 2008. (Of course, that percentage is misleading because it includes losses that have already occurred, so he’s likely to win more than nine games IF he recovers his form of the past few seasons.)

Danks hasn’t received much run support this year – 2.2 runs per game – and last night was no different. The Sox were shut out for the sixth time this year, which exceeds their total of five for last season and matches their total in 2006. The Good Guys failed to post a run 11 times in 2007 and 2008 and were blanked 13 times in 2009. The pace they’re on now – 6 shutouts in 49 games – projects to 20 whitewashes for the 2011 season, a much too high a number.

But it’s hard to score when you get only five hits, as the Sox did last night. Juan Pierre, Paul Konerko, and A.J. Pierzynski each had one, and Gordon Beckham collected a pair.

The loss combined with Cleveland’s win leaves the Sox 10.0 games back in the division race. Now would be a good time to start climbing the rest of the way out of the hole they’ve dug for themselves. Go Sox!

2011-05-23T08:27:00.003-04:00

126

Just a quick one today, as work beckons. The White Sox won their fifth series out of the last six (the other was a 1-1 split), by Meat Loafing the Dodgers. And in this case, two outta three really ain’t bad since the Good Guys lost the opener and had to take the final two games to preserve their undefeated series streak.

Now if they could win two games in every one of the 36 remaining series, the Sox would wind up with 72 more wins to go with their current 22, for a final record of 94-68. Most years, that’s good enough to get into the post-season, if not win the division. This year, it should be good at least for the wild card. The A.L. West stinks, as going into yesterday’s games, no team in that division had a winning record; the Surprising Indians were the only A.L. Central team on the plus side of the ledger; and the Yankees, Red Sox, Rays, and even the Blue Jays (all above .500 before Sunday) are beating up on each other enough that the A.L. East doesn’t project to the Wild Card. So the formula is clear – just win two games every series and make the playoffs.

With the weekend’s results in the books, the Sox cut the Magic Number to 126, but lost ground in the standings, as they again trail Cleveland by 9.0 games. The key to the Tribe’s success has been winning at home, where they’re an absurd 18-4. Two of those losses came courtesy of the Sox and two were to the Rays. Their schedule over the next 20 games includes nine at home against the Red Sox, Rangers, and Twins, and 11 on the road against the Rays, Jays, Yanks, and Tigers. Time for them to cool off and the Sox to heat up. Go Sox!

2011-05-20T09:16:00.000-04:00

128

Remember the old Doublemint commercials – Double your pleasure, double your fun? Well, the White Sox did exactly that last night against the Surprising Indians. They not only doubled the Indians’ score they doubled it twice, winning 8-2, behind two sets of two players who drove in two runs and the pitching of Gavin Floyd.

In the first inning, Paul Konerko slammed a fastball off the wall in left field for a double that scored two runners – Juan Pierre, who had doubled himself, and Alexei Ramirez. In the second, Ramirez doubled down the left field line to score two more – Dallas McPherson and Omar Vizquel. Later in the second inning, Adam Dunn lined a ball up the middle that almost decapitated Cleveland pitcher Fausto Carmona and wound up plating an additional two runners – Pierre and Ramirez. And in the fifth, with Paulie on base, Carlos Quentin powered a home run just to the right of the Nellie Fox graphic to complete the two-run scoring spree. Add to that two-squared players (Pierre, Ramirez, Dunn, and Q) who had two hits, two players (Pierre and Ramirez) who scored two runs, a double play in the field by the Sox, and two twin killings that the Good Guys “hit” into at bat. (I put “hit” in quotes because one of them was a strikeout by Konerko and a caught stealing by Dunn. The Big Donkey trying to swipe a base happens a lot more often than I would have guessed. He’s stolen 59 and been caught 22 two times in his career.)

Enough with the Doublemint theme – it’s a Wrigley’s product after all. Let’s move on to Floyd the Barber, who allowed only one run and five hits in his 7.0 innings. He threw 67 strikes out of his 103 pitches, while striking out three and walking only one. Floyd’s opposite number was Carmona, who does pretty well when he isn’t facing the Sox – 2.46 ERA against the rest of the league. However, on Opening Day, he gave up 10 runs to the South Siders, and last night, he was charged with all eight runs. I’m sure the Sox wouldn’t mind facing him again – but that will have to wait until at least July 22, which is the next time they face the Tribe.

The sweep means the Sox have won four of their last five series, with the other being a split with Texas. Cleveland’s lead over us is down to 8.0 games and the Magic Number has been reduced to 128. Now, it’s time to feast on some National League teams, which is what started the hot streak for the team last year. We still owe the Dodgers – the next opponent – for 1959, so Go Sox!

2011-05-19T08:54:00.002-04:00

130

Jake Peavy was masterly in mastering Justin Masterson and the Surprising Indians last night, tossing a three-hit, complete game, shut out. The erstwhile Cy Young Award winner struck out eight, walked none, and threw 78 of his 111 pitches for strikes in a brilliant display of control. Peavy reached 95 MPH with his fastball – or speedball, as Springsteen calls it in Glory Days. I’d love to ask Bruce why he used that word when fastball would have worked just fine, though who am I to question The Boss? But I digress.

Adam Dunn provided all the run support Peavy needed with a sacrifice fly that scored Juan Pierre in the first inning. Dunn, Pierre, and Brent Lillibridge each doubled, Omar Vizquel and A.J. Pierzynski singled, and that was it for the White Sox.

We just took a look at the Sox record when scratching out five hits in a game, so we won’t go there again so soon, but let’s look at how many games they win when scoring just one run. Not many. Over the last 92 years, the Good Guys have won 173 games by a 1-0 score, including 18 triumphs over the Tribe in that period. Six of their 173 wins have come since the 2005 season, including two against Cleveland. In games since 1919 where the Sox pitchers hold the opposition to just three hits, the team has a 345-47 record – 19-4 starting in 2006. As you'd expect, giving up only three safeties is a pretty good sign you're going to win, although I would have guessed the chance of winning in that situation would be even higher

The win cut Cleveland’s lead to 9.0 games and the Magic Number to 130. The Sox are 7-3 in their last 10 games, which means that no team that doesn’t have Red in its name – Red Sox and Reds – has a better record than our boys over that period. They’ve already guaranteed they won’t lose this two-game series with the Indians. Now let’s go out and win it today. Go Sox!

2011-05-18T11:01:00.000-04:00

132

John Danks failed again in his bid to win his first game of the season, but at least the White Sox won. Brent Morel slugged his first home run of the season, a three-run shot, to tie the game in the fifth inning, and Gordon Beckham scored on a wild pitch in the eighth inning to give the Sox a 4-3 victory over the Rangers at the Cell.

Danks contributed a Quality Start – 6.1 innings pitched; 4 hits; 3 runs; 2 earned runs – before turning it over to the bullpen to shut down Texas. Jesse Crain got his first win, and Sergio Santos notched his sixth save in as many chances. For Santos, it was his 20th scoreless inning pitched, keeping him at a 0.00 ERA for the year.

The Sox won for only the third time in 22 games when they’ve been outhit. Aside from Morel’s homer, Alex Rios, Brent Lillibridge, and Dallas McPherson each singled. (The single by McPherson, who was just called up from Triple-A Charlotte, moved Beckham to third base and allowed him to score on Cody Eppely’s wild pitch.) The team’s total of four hits is usually the kiss of death. Starting with the 1919 season, the Good Guys have a 55-650 record when collecting four hits (.078). While the record is a little better since they won the Series in 2005, 6-41 (.128), it’s still nothing to write home about. So yesterday’s win was unusual in multiple respects.

The Sox are now undefeated in their last four series – three wins and a tie – and now host the Surprising Indians. The Pale Hose hold the season’s edge on the Tribe, a 2-1 Meat Loafing in the opening series of 2011, but trail in the standings by 10.0 games. It’s their Justin Masterson against our Jake Peavy in the first of two games at the Cell. Go Sox!

2011-05-17T16:45:00.001-04:00

133

This job thing keeps getting in the way of writing The Update, so this will have to do.

The White Sox posted their third consecutive Meat Loaf series win by taking two of three from the A’s over the weekend. As for our two potential All-Stars, Sergio Santos picked up the saves in both victories, preserving his perfect ERA for the season, and Paul Konerko was 5 for 12 in the three games, including his tenth homer on Saturday. Speaking of All-Stars, the official website of the Sox asks fans to vote for all of the Sox starters. Who do they think we are, Cubs fans? Come on, only Santos and Konerko currently deserve the honor of being named to the team, and it’s way too early for even them to “make it.” Man, I hate public relations campaigns.

It’s not looking good for the Sox to take a fourth series in a row. In fact, at this point, it’s impossible. There’s no room for losing in a two-game series like the Sox have with Texas yesterday and today – and the Sox have already lost game one, 4-0.

That’s what happens when you get only five hits. In games the Sox have collected exactly five hits since the 1919 season, the team is 110-931, a .106 winning percentage. Since winning the 2005 Series, the Sox record when notching five hits is a much more respectable 19-41, a .317 percentage. I would have guessed that the Good Guys hit more home runs now than they used to and each of those has a disproportionate influence on the outcome, but their winning percentage during the last five years when at least one of their five hits is a homer is .314 (11-24) compared to .320 (8-17) when they get five without a homer. You tell me what explains it.

By the way, I had to post today because it’s Carlos May’s birthday. Longtime readers know the significance of this – Carlos is the only player in major league history to wear his birthday on the back of his uniform: May 17. Happy Birthday, Carlos! Go Sox!

2011-05-13T18:24:00.001-04:00

135

My bad on saying in yesterday’s Update that the White Sox had another game to play against the Angels in this series. For whatever reason, I kept thinking yesterday was Wednesday, not Thursday, hence the mistake. So, that means the Sox actually won the series, their second in a row, following the Meat Loafing of Seattle. It was just their fourth series win of the year – the other two being the season-opener against Cleveland, the home-opener against the Rays. Now, it’s on to Oakland to play the Athletics.

The A’s are actually the team outside the division that the Sox have the most all-time wins against. The biggest all-time patsy for the Sox is the Minnesota franchise (which makes sense when you remember that the Twins were the Washington Senators before they relocated), whom they’ve beaten 1074 games. The Indians (who have always been in Cleveland, but have had a variety of names, including the Molly Maguires) have the second most losses to the Chisox at 1026. And the Athletics in all their various cities (Philadelphia, Kansas City, and Oakland) have fallen to the Sox 1017 times. That’s it for teams the Sox have beaten at least 1000 times, though the Tigers (same name, same city throughout their history) should join that group this season, since the Pale Hose win total is at 996 and counting.

Only the Yankees franchise (formerly the New York Highlanders and before that the Baltimore Orioles – that’s right, the Yankees were once located in Baltimore and called the Orioles) and the Tigers have beaten the Sox at least a 1000 times: New York, 1049 and Detroit, 1012. The Twins need just six more wins over the Sox to join that group this season.

Overall, the Sox have winning records against 21 of the other 29 teams. In the American League, only the Yankees, Tigers, Red Sox, and Blue Jays hold the advantage over the South Siders. In the National League, it’s a much smaller sample size, but the four teams that have a winning record against the Sox are the Cardinals, Marlins, Phillies, and Diamondbacks.

By the way, the Sox have played the most games against the Twins (2084) and the fewest against the Mets (3). The team’s best winning percentage is against the Reds (.824) and worst versus Arizona. Against American League teams, the best winning percentage is against the Rays (.578) and the worst is against the Yanks (.441). Of course, the Bronx Bombers have a winning record against every American League team, and all National League teams except the Phillies, Dodgers, and Giants (.500 against all three teams) and the Reds (.333).

Anyway, with the Surprising Indians surprising loss yesterday, the Magic Number drops to 135. The Sox pick up a half-game in the standings, so they’re 9.0 games behind. Time to win another series. Go Sox!

2011-05-12T08:16:00.000-04:00

136

It was all about the comeback last night. The White Sox came back from a 4-1 deficit by scoring in the eighth, ninth, and tenth innings to beat the Angels, 6-4. Jake Peavy came back from lat surgery last July and rotator cuff tendonitis this March to pitch six innings in his first start of 2011. Matt Thornton came back from closer hell to earn his first save of the season by tossing a scoreless tenth inning. And Adam Dunn continued his comeback from suckiness by going 4 for 5 with a walk, including a homer and a crucial role in the ninth and tenth inning rallies.

The victory was just the fifth comeback win of the year for the Sox. Going into last night’s game, the team was 2-19 when trailing after six innings, 2-18 when behind after seven, and 1-18 when losing after eight – the three situations they faced last night. But an Alex Rios single and Omar Vizquel double resulted in one run in the eighth to make the score 4-2 Halos. Next inning, Dunn’s walk, Carlos Quentin’s single, and A. J. Pierzynski’s base knock made it 4-3; Vizquel’s sac fly drove home Brent Lillibridge (Q’s designated pinch-runner) for the tie. In the tenth, Alexei Ramirez singled, advanced to third on Dunn’s double, and scored on a wild pitch. The Sox picked up an insurance run when Lillibridge plated Dunn with another sac fly.

After Peavy’s 6.0 innings – he allowed four runs on seven hits – the bullpen went into lockdown mode. Jesse Crain gave up no runs on one hit in the seventh. Sergio Santos kept his ERA at 0.00 by pitching a scoreless eighth and ninth to earn his second win. And for the first time in five tries, Matt Thornton notched a save by shutting down the Angels without a hit.

And while this doesn’t fit the comeback theme, Paul Konerko deserves mention for his – prepare yourself for some alliteration – fantastic final frame fielding feats. First, Paulie leaped to spear a liner. Then, the Captain fielded Torii Hunter’s bunt on one hop while running towards the mound and flipped the ball behind his back to Thornton, who grabbed the toss bare-handed while sprinting toward the bag to beat Hunter to first. Game over.

The win, combined with the Surprising Indian’s loss, moves the Sox to 9.5 games out of the division lead. The Good Guys are in position to win another series, with a 2-1 lead on the Halos with one left to play today. Go Sox!

2011-05-11T08:39:00.000-04:00

138

What's the matter with John Danks? At the start of the season, I thought Danks would be the White Sox's best pitcher. After last night's 6-2 loss to the Angels, when his cutter didn't cut, the lefty's 2011 record stood at 0-6.

And it wasn't the lack of run support that did him in. Danks gave up six earned runs on 10 hits and two walks in just 5.0 innings. (Jeff Gray threw the final three innings without giving up a run, but it likely won't save him from being shipped back to the minors to make room for Jake Peavy, who is slated to start today's game in Anaheim. By the way, the Sox will be going with a six-man rotation for a while.)

At bat, there weren't many highlights: Paul Konerko slugged his ninth home run of the year, a solo shot, and Adam Dunn doubled home Alexei Ramirez and coaxed another walk. The Missile actually reached base three times with hits (including a double), as he and A.J. Pierzynski (2 for 4 with a double) were the only Sox players to collect multiple hits. Brent Morel had the other Sox safety, but committed two errors -- one fielding and one throwing. Morel made the starting lineup because of his defense not his offense, so last night was a reversal of fortunes of sorts.

Getting outhit -- the Angels had a dozen to the Good Guys' eight -- continued to be an almost predictor of a loss. The Sox record when losing the battle of hits is now a putrid 2-17, or a .105 winning percentage. By contrast, their opponents are 5-11 when they have fewer hits in a game than the Sox, or a winning percentage of .313.

Since Cleveland won again last night, the surprising Indians now lead the disappointing Sox (name change application pending) by 10.5 games, though the Sox did manage to stay ahead of the Twinkies, who also lost. Time to start another streak. Go Sox!

2011-05-10T09:07:00.000-04:00

138

This is crazy talk, but if the White Sox rip off another 25-5 streak like they did last year, well .... What got me thinking like this is the team's first three-game winning streak of the season, courtesy of an 8-0 thrashing of the Angels last night.

Edwin Jackson pitched brilliantly -- no runs, only five hits and a walk in 7.0 innings -- and finally got some run support. The Sox hadn't scored a single run for EJ in his last four starts, so yesterday's offensive breakout was welcome indeed.

The Good Guys pounded out 11 hits with six players reaching base at least twice. Carlos Quentin was The Man, doubling twice, poking his seventh homer of the season, and driving in five runs. Alexei Ramirez was 2 for 5 with a home run. Adam Dunn posted a 2 for 4 night with a walk. Paul Konerko was "only" 1 for 3, but had two bases on balls. A.J. Pierzynski had a single and a walk in five plate appearances. And Gordon Beckham contributed a 2 for 4 night, including a four-bagger.

Although pitching a shutout guarantees a win, outhitting the Angels (11-6) correlates well with a victory, as the Sox improved their record to 11-5 when they collect more safeties than the opposition. They're a terrible 2-16 when getting outhit. And they're 1-1 when the two teams match each other's hit totals.

During the winning streak, the Sox have scored 19 runs on 40 hits, and only the Rays have a longer win streak going than the Sox. By the way, this time last year, the Pale Hose had a one-game better record of 15-21, so there's hope that the season isn't a lost cause.

The good news is that the Sox are ahead of the Twins -- a position we'd have signed up for at the start of the season. The bad news is that even with the streak, the Good Guys are still 9.5 games behind Cleveland, which has officially changed its name from the lowly Indians to the surprising Indians. In the words of Hawk Harrelson, "Don't stop now, boys!"

2011-05-09T18:06:00.002-04:00

139

Sorry, folks, but work -- and a lack of enthusiasm for this season -- have prevented me from posting when I normally would have. But here's a bit of what you missed:

Pretty in Pink: No not the Molly Ringwold, Jon Cryer movie -- the White Sox wearing pink on Mother's Day in honor of breast cancer awareness. and winning the rubber game in the series with the Mariners. That was their first series win since taking three out of four from the Rays in the first homestand of the year. Paul Konerko was particularly pretty, or at least his pink cleats and 5 for 5 batting day were. Paulie entered the game hitting .295 and left having raised his average by 28 points to .323. Over his last 10 games, the Captain is 11 for 32, which works out to a .344 average.
Still Perfect: Sergio Santos still has not given up a run this season. He's 3 for 3 in saves and he picked up the win (his first this year) on Sunday when the Sox pushed across three runs in the 10th inning. Opponents are batting a meager .140 against Sergio (significantly better than the .261 he put up last year). His WHIP -- walks plus hits per inning pitched -- is a minuscule 0.87 (compared with last year's 1.53). Ozzie finally listened to me and made him the closer, or at least I think he did.
Back in the Saddle Again: That was one of former Angel owner Gene Autry's lines, which is only fitting since Jake Peavy is set to make his 2011 major league pitching debut on Wednesday against the Halos. Peavy, who has been rehabbing from a torn lat, says he's ready to go, and this time, so does the medical staff. Hopefully, he'll be the spark that turns this ugly season around.
Caught Red-Handed or Not Caught at All: This is the only lowlight I'm going to talk about and it's not so much about the weekend as it is the season. Juan Pierre has five errors in the outfield this season, matching his total for the last three years combined. Pierre also has been caught stealing more often than he has successfully swiped a base -- 6 CS vs. 8 SB. The man is killing us and that doesn't even count his hitting: .260 BA/.338 OBP/.290 SLG this year vs. .297/.347/.365 lifetime. I hate to dump on Juan because he tries so hard, but the fielding and base running stats are just inexcusable.

Anyway, the Sox are still in last place, 10.0 games behind the Tribe. They're still on the West Coast, where they played surprisingly well last year. And they're still the team we root for. So Go Sox!

2011-05-04T08:29:00.000-04:00

144

White Sox starter, Edwin Jackson, pitched a great game last night. One run on six hits over 8.0 innings means it was one of his best outings since throwing a no-hitter last June for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Unfortunately, he got no offensive support. Literally none. No runs, no hits. This time it was Francisco Liriano who threw the No-No and got the win. (Actually, a relatively recent rule change requires that you get the win for it to be called a no-hitter. Why would you even need that rule? Well, since 1919 -- the earliest date available in Baseball.Reference.com's search tool -- there have been five times when a team has won the game while failing to get a hit.)

Ordinarily, the Sox win when they give up just one run. In fact, since the 1919 season, they've lost only 172 games when allowing one run, or less than two games a year on average. Since they won the World Series in 2005 -- that really happened, didn't it? -- they've done even better, losing only five times when the other team scores only once. And since 1919, the Sox had been no-hit just eight times before last night.

The loss not only puts the Sox in last place in the Central Division, a half game behind the fourth-place Twins, but it gives the Good Guys the worst record in baseball. Enough already.

2011-05-03T09:10:00.000-04:00

144

Mark Buehrle won his first game since Opening Day as the White Sox broke their five-game losing streak by beating the Orioles last night, 6-2. Buehrle was in trouble the whole night, giving up eight hits and four walks, but wiggled out without allowing a run in his 6.2 innings.

The bullpen preserved the victory, with Jesse Crain tossing 1.1 innings of shutout ball to lower his ERA to 1.26. Chris Sale, mired in a sophomore slump, gave up two runs in 0.2 innings to raise his ERA to 7.15. Sales's problem is his control -- only 15 of his 34 pitches were strikes. His ineffectiveness forced Ozzie to bring in Sergio Santos. The Sox closer put out the fire, striking out the only batter he faced to end the O's threat and keep his ERA at 0.00 for the season.

Paul Konerko took charge of the offense, powering two home runs, his seventh and eighth of the year (and Alex Rios hit his second). There was a lot of talk about Paulie's being unable to duplicate his stellar 2010 performance (especially after landing that fat contract extension), but the Captain is gettin' 'er done. Hopefully, he'll keep it up and the rest of his mates will join him in having a good season.

The win allows the Sox to pick up a half game on the idle Indians, who are 9.5 games in front of them. And now the Good Guys face the Twins. The Sox are 2-10 in their last 12 games against Minnesota and 6-22 in their last 28 contests. The Twinkies have taken four straight and 11 of 13 at the Cell. But these Twins are having problems of their own, trailing the Sox by a half game in the standings. Let's hope that makes for a different outcome than that ugly recent history reflects. Go Sox!

2011-05-02T08:37:00.000-04:00

145

The Good News: The U.S. finally picked off Osama Bin Laden. The Bad News: It was another lost weekend for the White Sox. If it seems like I say that every Monday morning about the Sox, you're right. They just don't play well on the weekend. After losing to the Orioles on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the Sox have a combined record this season of 4-11 in weekend games.

You might be saying that of course they have a bad weekend record since they have a bad overall record, but the team is a combined 6-8 the rest of the week -- though Wednesdays are no picnic at 1-3. The only day of the week that the Good Guys have a winning record is Thursdays, when the Sox are 2-1.

All in all -- notice the embedding of "All In" in that phrase -- the season is off to a horrible start and you won't be getting the gory details from me. Just big picture stuff unless they win, which they haven't done now since April 24, and have done only three times since April 12.

So here's the big picture: The Sox trail the Indians by 10.0 games, tied with the Twins for last place in the division. Those Twins come to town for two games starting Tuesday (after the Sox finish up their wrap-around series with the O's). One of those pre-season favorites is going to have to win in this battle of the not exactly irresistible force meets the not so immovable object. Go Sox!

2011-04-29T09:18:00.001-04:00

145

If you were paying attention to yesterday's Update, you know that the White Sox don't do well when they score three or fewer runs in a game -- which they did last night in a 12-3 loss to the Yankees, and which they have done in 13 of their last 14 games. The team's overall record in that situation is now 2-13, or a .133 winning percentage. Duh, even Charlie Sheen has a higher winning percentage than that! And more importantly, so do the other major league teams, which are a combined 63-313 when scoring three or fewer, or a .201 winning percentage. That's about 50% higher than the Pale Hose's pace.

But even scoring 11 runs wouldn't have done it last night. Edwin Jackson was about as effective as Michael Jackson would have been, and the King of Pop was no baseball pitcher. The bullpen -- Tony Pena, Will Ohman, and Jeff Gray -- was no better, with each reliever giving up runs and a total of six overall. All in all, the team sucked yesterday.

Now, the Sox get to come home and put this 3-8 road trip behind them. Hopefully, there'll be some fans who still want to watch. Reinsdorf may be all in, but I doubt the fans will be when the team is playing so poorly. That doesn't bode well for later in the season when, hopefully -- there's that word again -- the Sox need to pick up someone at the trading deadline. But that's a worry I'd love to have. Go Sox!

2011-04-28T08:47:00.001-04:00

145

The White Sox wasted a Quality Start from Mark Buehrle last night, falling to the Yankees, 3-1, the victims of a stellar performance by Bartolo Colon. Bartolo Colon? Really? Yep. The same guy who's been out of the big leagues since failing to complete the 2009 season with the Sox -- he was 3-6 with a 4.19 ERA in 12 starts -- lasted 8.0 innings and gave up just one run on seven hits to earn the win.

Carlos Quentin (3 for 3), Paul Konerko (1 for 4), and Adam Dunn (2 for 4) were almost the entire offense for the Sox. Despite the rest of the lineup going 1 for 21, the Sox managed to outhit the Yanks, as Buehrle allowed just six hits and reliever Jesse Crain permitted none. Usually, that's a pretty good sign that the Sox are going to get the W. Before last night, the Good Guys were 8-3 in games where they outhit the opposition (and only 1-11 when the enemy outhit them). Of course, the team's record when scoring fewer than four runs is 2-12, and 0-5 when scoring just one run, so it's really not that big of a surprise.

The only ray of sunshine is that last year after 25 games, the Sox had the same 10-15 record they have this year and they came back to spend a considerable amount of time in first place. Let's hope they've got it in them again to climb out of the hole they've dug. Go Sox!

2011-04-27T08:55:00.000-04:00

145

Last night, only the Justice League of America had more heroes than the White Sox, as the Good Guys defeated the Evil Empire in Yankee Stadium last night, 3-2. Yeah, that's a bit of an overstatement, but after the dismal news we've had to report over the last two weeks, a little hyperbole is in order when things take a turn for the better.

Let's start with Brent Lillibridge, who for the second consecutive night, entered the game as a pinch-runner for Carlos Quentin and stayed in to play right field. Trailing by a run in the bottom of the ninth, the Yankees' Derek Jeter weakly grounded to third-baseman Omar Vizquel, who barehanded the ball but couldn't throw out the Bronx Bomber captain. Matt Thornton relieved starter Gavin Floyd, and after retiring Curtis Granderson, walked Mark Teixeira. With the right-handed A-Rod coming to bat, Ozzie went to his new closer and right-hander, Sergio Santos -- he of the 0.00 ERA. A-Rod was late on a pitch and sent a shot to the wall in right field for what looked like a sure double that would at least score Jeter from second with the tying run, if not speedy pinch-runner Eduardo Nunez from first with the game winner. But Lillibridge, primarily an infielder who made the team because he also can play the outfield, sped to his left, caught the ball, and hung on after smashing into the right-field wall. That brought the always-dangerous Robinson Cano to the plate, and Cano smashed a sinking liner to right. This time, Lillibridge hustled in on the ball, dove, and snared it just before it hit the ground, preserving the second win in a row for the Sox over New York.

But if it weren't for Paul Konerko, there wouldn't have even been a bottom of the ninth for those heroics to play out. In the eighth-inning, Paulie smashed his sixth home run of the season, plating pinch-runner Lillibridge ahead of him and seizing a 3-2 lead that proved to be the winning margin. The big question about Konerko was whether he would be able to duplicate his stellar 2010 season and justify his big new contract. So far, the answer is "yes." Paulie's slash line is .319/.376/.549, which over a career gets you into the Hall of Fame.

Of course, neither Lillibridge nor Konerko would have had the chance to be a hero if not for Gavin Floyd's performance. The Barber limited the high-scoring New Yorkers to just two runs on four hits and a walk while striking out 10. Not surprisingly, those last two figures are good indicators that you're going to win the game. Since 1919, teams whose pitchers have struck out at least 10 while giving up fewer than two walks have won 3,132 games and lost only 986, for a .760 winning percentage. For the Sox, the figures are even more telling: 110 wins and 21 losses for a .840 winning percentage. Most important, the Good Guys got the win last night.

The Sox remain in last and gained no ground on first place yesterday, as Cleveland also won to remain 5.0 games ahead of the South Siders. But the Sox are now only 2.5 games out of second and have an actual winning streak. (By the way, Jerry Reinsdorf's other team finished off their first round opponent. Congrats, Bulls. Unfortunately, the Hawks fell in overtime to the Canucks. Nice comeback last night and in the series, though.) Go Sox!

2011-04-26T08:58:00.000-04:00

146

At least for today, I'm renaming this blog the White Sox Magic Humber Update. Phil Humber, who'd never lasted beyond the sixth inning in any of his 29 prior major league starts, pitched 7.0 innings of shutout ball to earn the win against the first-place Yankees. Magic Humber had a no-hitter through 6.1 innings and wound up allowing only one hit (and two walks) on the night, while striking out five.

Thankfully, the bullpen didn't waste Humber's fine effort. Chris Sale gave up no runs, hits or walks in his 0.2 innings to earn his first hold. Sergio Santos notched his first save, pitching 1.1 innings without allowing a run. Astute readers will remember that I nominated Santos for the closer position just the other day. I guess Ozzie must be reading The Update again.

Adam Dunn drove in the first run with a grounder to the right of second base that the shifted-over Derek Jeter fielded and tossed to first. That plated Carlos Quentin, who had doubled and been moved over to third. The second run was something of a gift. Alexei Ramirez popped up, but with the infield playing back and Rafael Soriano pointing up at the ball instead of fielding it, the horsehide dropped in for a single. After Q forced Alexei, Brent Lillibridge pinch ran and stole second, and then scored on a Paul Konerko single. By the way, there was a good article on Paulie in the New York Times yesterday, talking about what an intelligent hitter he is.

So how many games do the Sox win when scoring just two runs. Not many. Since the 1919 season when Baseball-Reference.com's stat tool starts, the Good Guys have come out on top only 494 times when they've scored twice in a game. That's an average of just over five games per season. So savor this, and thank Phil Humber.

By the way, our crack research department has turned up some interesting facts about Humber. He drives a Hummer, snacks on hummus, doesn't sing but hums, favors Humpty Dumpty as a nursery rhyme, likes the rock group Humble Pie, and says that Hubert Humphrey was his favorite politician. If you know additional tidbits, we humbly request that you add to the list by using The Update's comment feature. Go Sox!

2011-04-25T08:23:00.000-04:00

147

Weekends like this make me wonder why I'm writing this blog. From Friday through Sunday, the White Sox looked nothing like a team that prompts a discussion of Magic Numbers. In fact, they looked nothing like a major league team.

Let's start with the batters. Notice I didn't call them hitters. That's because they barely got any. Sixteen hits in three games averages out to 5.33 hits per game. Hardly the stuff that winning baseball is made of.

All that "hitting" produced three runs and none over the last 20 innings. Even the most arithmetically challenged among you can do this math: three runs divided by three games equals one run per game. Since the Sox average about one game per season that they win 1-0, this kind of production ain't going to get it done. (I know, they did get three runs in one of those games, but their record when scoring three runs is pretty poor too -- only 29 wins in the five-plus seasons since the team won the World Series.)

And the pitching hasn't been much better. While John Danks, Sunday's loser, is eligible to sue for lack of support, the rest of the staff is as guilty as the offense. Even including Danks's Quality Start on Sunday (6.0 innings; three runs), the Sox pitchers allowed the Tigers 21 runs on 36 hits. That's an average of seven runs and 12 hits per game. During that same 2006 to the present period, the Good Guys have won just two games where they've given up exactly seven runs and 12 hits and have won only 20 games where they've given up at least those number of runs and hits. In other words, it's not a formula for success.

Nor is playing the first-place Yankees in New York. But that's what the Sox have to do now. Maybe the team can revert to playing like it did at the start of the season -- remember, before losing 10 of the last 11, the Sox were 7-4. But they need to revert soon. They're in last place in the division, 5.5 games behind the Indians, and it's only that close because the Tribe has lost three in a row. Go Sox! and Go Now!

2011-04-22T09:01:00.005-04:00

149

Finally. The White Sox won a game Thursday, beating the Rays, 9-2, to end a seven-game losing streak. The offense came alive and the pitching did the job, two things that haven't happened much lately, and rarely together.

Juan Pierre got everything started in the first inning with a bunt single and a forced throwing error that led to the Sox first run -- and the team's first lead in forever. Pierre laid down another bunt for a hit in the third inning when the Sox scored four. Omar Vizquel, who took over second base and the second spot in the order, chipped in a pair of hits. In fact, the first four in the lineup were a combined 8 for 17, with Carlos Quentin going 1 for 3 (with a walk) and Paul Konerko adding a 3 for 5 performance. The rest of the team was a pathetic 2 for 19, but that's to be expected when you remove the best four hitters in a game. For example, subtracting the Rays' top four, who were 5 for 12, leaves you with an ugly 3 for 20. It's kind of like skimming the cream off the top and being left with milk. Well, not exactly, since milk isn't necessarily sour, but you get the idea.

Gavin Floyd turned in a Quality Start -- 6.0 innings, two runs, seven hits, seven strikeouts, and two walks -- and for once wasn't betrayed by the bullpen. Will Ohman, Sergio Santos, and everybody's favorite, Jeff Gray, each tossed an inning of scoreless relief to secure Floyd's second win of the season.
The win drops the Magic Number to 149 -- the team spent two weeks in the 150s, which is an eternity in Magic Number time. It also moves the Sox back to 5.0 games behind the first-place Indians, who lost last night. Next, it's on to Detroit to try to beat up on a division foe. Go Sox!

2011-04-21T08:18:00.001-04:00

151

Oh, thank heaven, the White Sox are 7-11, after dropping their seventh consecutive game last night. This one was a 4-1 loss to the Rays on the road.

The problem again was hitting, or more precisely, the lack of it. The Sox collected only six safeties, one of which was a home run by Carlos Quentin, which accounted for their only run. Aside from Q, who is batting .309, only Paul Konerko at .300 and Mark Teahen at .304 (among those who came to the plate for the Sox) are north of .300. Adam Dunn (.175 after getting a hit), Alex Rios (.183), and seldom-used Ramon Castro (.167) are last night's Sox hitters -- and I use that term generously -- that are below the Mendoza Line.

The pitching would have had to have been great to win with just one run, and of course, it wasn't. Phil Humber gave up four runs on six hits in 5.1 innings. The bullpen did manage to shut down the Rays the rest of the way, but it wasn't exactly a high-leverage situation, trailing by three runs.

The loss, combined with Cleveland's win (who are those guys?), dropped the Sox to 6.0 games out of the lead. The only good news is that Minnesota lost too, so the Sox managed to hang on to fourth place in the Central, one game ahead of the Twins. Let's mix it up in terms of endings since "Go Sox!" doesn't seem to be working: Just Win, Baby!

2011-04-20T08:35:00.000-04:00

151

Finally. The Magic Number drops for the first time in a week. No, the White Sox didn't win -- they dropped their sixth in a row, 2-1 to the Rays. But the first-place Indians lost. So the Sox remain 5.0 games behind, ahead of only the Twins in the division race.

Last night's loss was a little better than most in the streak. John Danks lasted 7.0 innings and gave up only two runs on seven hits and no walks, while striking out five. Jesse Crain pitched a perfect inning in relief. No one made an error.

It was the recently anemic offense that was the culprit. The Sox amassed a grand total of four hits and Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko left the tieing run on second base in the ninth. The Tribune reports that the Sox have a .205 batting average over the last 10 games and have scored a meager 12 runs during the losing streak.

Look, we know they're going to get better. The question is when. It's hard to stay interested when a losing streak happens. And I doubt this will do attendance any good. Oh, yeah, Jake Peavy had to be pulled from his most recent rehab start because of soreness in his surgically repaired shoulder, so that's more bad news. Only one thing left to say: Go Sox!

2011-04-19T08:03:00.000-04:00

152

Hey, if the White Sox aren't going to live up to their end of the bargain, I'm not going to live up to mine. No more penetrating analysis or wry humor from me until the Sox break out of this losing streak, which reached five games yesterday with a 5-0 loss to the Rays in St. Pete.

I'll count down the Magic Number, because Magic Number is our middle name -- literally. But not a whole lot more than that until there's something fun to write about. Anyway, we're stuck on 152, but slipping in the standings. Cleveland -- yes, Cleveland -- leads the division at 12-4, while the Sox are 5.0 games back at 7-9. We're ahead of the Twins, but now we're even behind the Tigers.

It's too early to panic, but I've never been one to put things off, so I'm starting to get worried. Now it's not just the bullpen and defense that's causing us to lose; the hitting and starters are in the toilet as well.

On that happy note, I'll end with the usual: Go Sox!

2011-04-18T07:51:00.001-04:00

152

Crunched at work and the White Sox stunk the place up over the weekend, so this is going to be VERY short.

Angels sweep of the Sox + Indians sweep of the Orioles = No gain for Sox in the Magic Number + 4.0 games behind in Central Division race. Not exactly the equation we were hoping for.

Tonight is the first Seder, so here's a link to our Passover songs for those who celebrate the holiday: one in the text + a link to three more.

Go Sox! Do better.

2011-04-14T09:21:00.003-04:00

152

This is beyond ridiculous. The White Sox bullpen wasted another sterling pitching performance by a starter -- this time John Danks, who limited the A's to one run on five hits over eight innings -- giving up three runs in the ninth inning and another three in the tenth. Chris Sale, who shouldn't have even been in the game after toiling for two innings the night before, gave up the three runs that allowed Oakland to tie it up. Matt Thornton, who at least was rested, gave up the three runs that allowed the A's to win it. Thornton has now had four save opportunities this season and four blown saves. Not exactly the kind of stats you want from your supposed "closer."

If this keeps up, it's going to be a long and disappointing season. I'm not a manager. I don't play one on TV. I didn't even sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night. But I'd give Sergio Santos the closer job until he shows he can't handle it. The guy hasn't given up a run this season. Hell, just giving up one per game would still qualify him over Sale and Thornton lately. And if he doesn't work out, maybe Kenny can sign Kyra Sedgwick to fill the role.*

The Indians' loss allowed the Sox to remain 1.0 games behind the Central Division leader and shaved a game off of the Magic Number, which now sits at 152.

* Pop culture reference: Kyra Sedgwick is the star of TNT's crime drama "The Closer." **

** I think that may have been the first footnote in Update history.

2011-04-13T08:48:00.000-04:00

153

The White Sox evened their record in extra-innings games yesterday when Alexei Ramirez hit the first walkoff home run of his career to give the Sox a 6-5 win over visiting Oakland. The Good Guys had dropped their only other extended affair the night before -- I apologize to those of you trying to forget Monday's debacle for bringing that up -- against these same A's. The Missile's blast was his second of the game; his first staked Edwin Jackson to a 4-1 lead in the second inning that Jackson couldn't hold.

Actually, both teams had a hard time staying ahead as the lead changed hands five times during the game. The only one that matters of course is the last time. Besides Ramirez, we have Sergio Santos and Chris Sale to thank for that. Each of them threw 2.0 innings of shutout ball. Santos struck out three and allowed no hits or walks. Sale, who got the win, struck out two, while allowing a hit and a walk. (Side note about Santos: I just read an article that says because of his long stride and reach Santos releases the ball 6'10'' in front of the rubber, which is second only to Dave Robertson's 7'0". That shortens the flight time of his pitches so that his fastball's average speed of 96 MPH is effectively increased to 98 MPH.)

Anyway, at 1-1 in extra-inning games, the Sox are playing like they did last year, when they finished 9-9 when the game went past regulation. They won all nine games where they scored, and lost all nine games where they allowed the other team to do so. That's the way it usually works, but every once in a while both teams could score an equal number of runs in an inning. Actually, that's happened only 3 times in the last five years for the Sox. Remember, the game against the Red Sox on July 9, 2006, where the Sox won 6-5 in 19 innings on Tad Iguchi's walkoff single? I do. I was there with son Jeff and Update subscribers and cousins Howard and Brad Silverman and Judy and Tom Deutsche, and sat briefly with Update subscribers Mike Sehr and Lisa Pildes. Well, both teams scored two runs in the 11th inning that day. For a complete report, click here.

Yesterday's win puts the Sox back in second, 1.0 behind the Indians -- who finally lost to someone other than the Sox. We're still 2.5 ahead of the Twins and 3.0 in front of the Tigers. Go Sox!

2011-04-12T08:38:00.000-04:00

155

You're not going to win many games when you score only one run (only five 1-0 wins over the last five seasons for the White Sox) but the Sox had a great chance to do precisely that last night against the A's. Unfortunately, they blew it.

Mark Buehrle faced off against fellow perfect-game pitcher, Dallas Braden, and out-pitched him. Buehrle threw 8.0 innings of shutout ball, allowing just two hits and a walk. With a 1-0 lead courtesy of a Brent Lillibridge home run, maybe Ozzie should have sent Buhrle out to the mound in the ninth, but instead Matt Thornton -- who had blown two and saved none up to that point -- took the hill.

Thornton served up a leadoff double and then watched in horror as Juan Pierre dropped a fly ball -- for the second time this young season. Oakland tied the game and then won it in the tenth inning when Sox newcomer Jesse Crain gave up a home run and the lead. The Sox couldn't muster a run, let alone two, so what should have been a win turned into an extra-inning loss.

The defeat dropped the Sox to 6-4 on the year and into third place, 2.0 games behind Cleveland, with Kansas City sandwiched in between. By the way, the Sox are the only team to have beaten the Tribe this year, so the Good Guys are not getting any help from the rest of the league. The only good news is that the Twins and Tigers still trail, and they're the teams that the Sox need to worry about long term. Go Sox!

2011-04-10T23:10:00.003-04:00

155
The weather was hot (83 degrees) on Sunday and so were the White Sox, as they completed their four-game series with the Rays by winning their third game of the set. And they should have won all four. The Update already reported on Thursday's victory, so let's focus on what happened over the weekend.

On Friday, the Good Guys gave the game away. Despite reaching double digits in hits again, and despite holding a three-run lead in the ninth inning, the Sox allowed Tampa Bay to rally for five runs -- all of them unearned -- and notch their first win of the season. Alexei (he should have won the Gold Glove last year, but not on Friday) Ramirez committed a throwing error, Juan Pierre dropped a fly ball, and Matt (I'm not sure I like this closer job) Thornton gave up a three-run homer in a debacle of major proportions. John Danks wasn't so hot either, allowing four runs on six hits in six innings, but home runs by Mark Teahen and Gordon Beckham led an attack that was good enough to win.

On Saturday, the Sox bounced back. Phil Humber, starting in place of Jake Peavy contributed a Quality Start by giving up only one run (and four hits) in his six-inning stint. There's talk of keeping Humber in the rotation even after Peavy comes back by going to a six-man rotation, at least on a short-term basis. Let's see how quickly Peavy makes it back to the Sox -- his next start is for Triple A Charlotte on Wednesday -- before we evaluate this possibility. Anyway, A.J. Pierzynski drove in a couple of runs, and Morel and Becks had one each. Hits were relatively scarce, as the Sox got only seven of them, far below their usual offensive (I mean that in a good way) output.

The finale on Sunday was a masterpiece by Gavin Floyd. The Barber continued to be effective, so Ozzie kept him in for eight innings. Floyd scattered four hits and allowed only one unearned run (due to his own throwing error). Tony Pena tossed a four-pitch, no hits, no runs. ninth inning to preserve the win. Paul Konerko paved the way for Floyd by clubbing two solo home runs -- Don't look now, but Paulie is actually earning that big new contract. I wouldn't have thought he'd be close to matching last year's MVP-caliber performance, but so far, so good. Let's keep an eye on his stats in 2011. Becks added another dinger, and Morel doubled home Mark Teahen and Juan Pierre singled home Morel.

The Sox are heading into a series with the A's, who are the next team to visit the Cell. You readers in Chicago, go to a game, will ya? The Sox are playing good ball and the weather was great, but the attendance was only 23,436 on Sunday. Reinsdorf spent the cash to put a good product on the field; let's show our appreciation by actually going to some games. Hey, the Good Guys are tied for second place with the Royals, only a game behind the Indians and three games ahead of the Tigers and Twins. And they're 6-1 in day games this season, after leading the majors with a 6-1 record in day games (they were the best in baseball last year when the vampires were asleep -- 31-18). The other thing you've got to look forward to is the Sox being ahead sometime during the game -- they've had the lead in every game they've played this season. Go Sox! Don't stop now, boys!

2011-04-08T09:20:00.001-04:00

157

Back in first, baby! The White Sox crept back into a tie for the Central Division lead with a 5-1 victory over the Royals in yesterday's sold-out (38,579) home opener. Edwin Jackson continued to impress, tossing 8 innings of 4-hit, 1-run ball. Most impressive was his strikeout-to-walk ratio: 13:1. Since 1919 (as far back as Baseball-Reference.com's stats go), there have been only 345 games in which a pitcher has whiffed more than 12 batters while handing out fewer than 2 free passes -- on average, not even 4 times per season. Looks like E.J.'s high-level performance last year wasn't just a flash in the pan.

But the most impressive thing so far this season has been the offense. Yesterday's lineup (which did not include Adam Dunn, who was recovering from an appendectomy) featured 7 players hitting above .291. The Good Guys have put up double-digit hit totals in 5 of their 6 games so far, which projects to 135 for the season, and are just shy of averaging 13 per game. This seems highly unlikely to continue, given that last year, the team had only 67 games with 10 or more hits. So enjoy these stats while you can: The Sox lead the Major Leagues in runs, hits, RBI, batting average, and hit batsmen. They lead the American League in all those categories (duh!) plus on base percentage. Looks like the South Side Hitmen 2.0.

By the way, the Sox have done all this largely against the 2 teams that are tied with them for first place in the division -- the Indians and the Royals. The 2 teams Sox fans fear the most -- the Twins and Tigers -- are 2 games back of the leaders in last place, which is just where we like them. The Sox continue their home-opening series against Tampa Bay, which has yet to win this year, so let's keep it that way. Go Sox!

2011-04-03T22:05:00.001-04:00

160

The White Sox are back and so is the Update. Yep, we're here to count down the Good Guys' progress towards clinching the A.L. Central. And the Sox are off to a good start, having Meat Loafed the Indians, taking the first game 15-10 and the second 8-3 before losing the finale 7-1. That's good for a one game lead over the Twins, Tigers, and Indians, each of which stands at 1-2. The Sox trail the Royals, the team the Sox visit starting Tuesday, by one-half game.

While the opener was something of a cakewalk, historically, it was no sure thing. Since the 1919 season, the Sox have played 285 games in which the opponent has scored at least 10 runs and racked up 17 hits, as the Tribe did on Friday -- and they've lost 265 of them, with only 19 wins (a 0.067 winning percentage) and one tie. So, it's a good thing the South Siders scored 15 (on 18 hits).

The offensive production of the first two games has left most of the team with some pretty gaudy batting averages. Eight players are hitting at or over .333 -- Mark Teahen (1.000), Omar Vizquel (. 667), Carlos Quentin (.545), Gordon Beckham (.455), Adam Dunn (.400), A.J. Pierzynski (.385), Paul Konerko (.364), and Brent Morel (.333). On the other hand, Alex Rios, Ramon Castro, and Brent Lillibridge are all 0 for the season, and Alexei Ramirez is off to his usual slow start (.154) and has hit into a triple play on a failed bunt attempt.

On the pitching front, the key members of the bullpen -- Matt Thornton, Chris Sale, and Sergio Santos -- have not given up an earned run, and starters John Danks and Edwin Jackson have ERAs of 3.00. The rest of the bullpen has been a bit funky though, with Will Ohman's ERA at a stratospheric 27.00, Tony Pena's at a better, but still horrible 18.00, and newcomer Jesse Crain's at 9.00. Mark Buehrle won his record ninth Opening Day start, but has an ERA of 6.00 -- nothing to write home about, or even an Update post about.

But hey, it's early and none of these stats matters at this point in the season. What matters is the Sox have won their first series, while the Twins and Tigers were losing theirs. Go Sox, beat K.C.!

2010-12-24T18:06:00.001-05:00

Sox Trade Art Hadden to Angels

No, Art Hadden didn't play for the White Sox. He was just a fan -- and my father. But if he's going to be rooting for the Sox from this point on, it'll be as an Angel because he passed away this morning.

Lucky for me, I went to Chicago and visited with him two weeks ago at the nursing home he had just moved into. We talked about a lot of things, but one of the topics that really caught his interest was my player-by-player evaluation of the Sox.

Dad was excited about the prospect of Adam Dunn playing in the homer friendly Cell, and he was pleased that the Sox re-signed Paul Konerko. He wasn't up on all the Hot Stove League happenings because in the moves from the hospital to the rehab center to the nursing home, he hadn't been able to lay his hands on the Sun-Times. So, I was his source of information on all things White Sox.

It was one of the ways that he and I connected with each other. Being as computer savvy as most 89 year olds, he wasn't able to read my blog online, so I used to read it to him over the phone. He laughed at all the parts where I was trying to be funny and was suitably impressed whenever I trotted out statistics. Just the way a proud father would act with his son. That made it easy for me to do.

In fact, I doubt that he would have cared about the team nearly as much (or at least pretended to) if I weren't such a fan. As a father myself, I totally understand -- and appreciate -- that.

Dad, I love you and I'll miss you. And if you switch allegiances and start rooting for the Angels now, I guess I'll have to start rooting for the Halos, too.

2010-12-08T13:03:00.001-05:00

Paulie, Paulie ...

The White Sox re-signed their own free agent Paul Konerko today to a three-year deal worth a total of $37.5M. Paulie gets $12M in 2011 and in 2012, $6.5M in 2013, and seven years of deferred payments of $1M per year starting in 2014.

Great news as far as I'm concerned. The meat of the order is going to feature Alex Rios, Konerko, newly signed Adam Dunn, and Carlos Quentin, who hit 21, 39, 38, and 26 home runs, respectively, in 2010. As discussed previously, Dunn means Konerko is going to see better pitches to hit, which likely means that Rios will too. With all those better pitches, that should mean more men on base for Q to drive in. It should be a pretty tough lineup to pitch to.

Now, if Kenny can just get some bullpen help .... Go Sox!

2010-12-03T08:43:00.000-05:00

Big Dunnkey

Jerry Reinsdorf loosened the purse strings and Kenny Williams worked his magic yesterday, as the White Sox agreed to a four-year, $56 million deal with Adam Dunn (subject to a physical). Dunn who can hit home runs with the best of them, averaging over 40 bombs for the last eight seasons, will remind you of Jim Thome: left-handed power hitter who is best suited to be a DH and is a great clubhouse presence and solid citizen off the field.

The fans and his teammates here in DC love him, but don't plan on him advancing Ozzie's obsession with small ball. Dunn walks a ton -- seven seasons with triple-digit base on ball totals -- and it seems like he's walking when he's running. Slow doesn't begin to describe him, so those walks won't turn into runs unless a couple of guys behind him get hits. Oh, yeah. He strikes out a lot too. He's led the league in Ks three times and fell one whiff short of reaching 200 last year.

Baseball-Reference.com says that the player that Dunn is most similar to at his age (31) from a batting standpoint is Jose Canseco. During the seasons that Jose was 31 to 34, he hit 28, 23, 46, and 34 round-trippers and drove in 82, 74, 107, and 95 runs. I expect better from Adam since Canseco had already started his slide several years before reaching 31.

As a Sox fan, I'm happy with the signing since I favor tailoring your team to take advantage of your ball park and I like Dunn's persona. As someone who goes to a lot of Nats games, I'm disappointed he won't be in Washington anymore.

Now, we need Jerry and Kenny to come up with a similar kind of deal for Paul Konerko, though four years seems a bit too long given his age. They haven't given up on re-signing him, but the timing seems to be a problem. Paulie's in no hurry, but Kenny is because if he can't ink Cap'n Crunch to a contract, he wants to sign someone soon before all the likely replacements are gobbled up by other teams.

In other personnel moves, A.J. Pierzynski re-upped with the Sox, which is a good thing since Tyler Flowers is not ready to be a major league catcher -- and may never be. With apologies to Lou Grant from the old Mary Tyler Moore Show, I like A.J.'s spunk and he's the best catcher out there that we could still get.

Finally, the Good Guys exercised their option on Alexei Ramirez. Given that he's still cheap at $2.75 million -- I should be so cheap -- won the Silver Slugger, and should have won the Gold Glove instead of Derek Cheater, this was a no-brainer.

Let's see what happens with Paulie and the bullpen. The rest is in place. Go Sox!

2010-09-30T08:36:00.001-04:00

Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda

The White Sox and Twins are dead even in the standings -- if you don't count the games they played against each other. Yep, subtract those 13 Minnesota wins and five Sox wins from the two teams' totals and they both wind up at 80-60.

They got there in different ways. The Twinkies are 34-20 against the rest of the A.L. Central, while the Sox failed to make hay against the three worst teams in the division, posting a 25-26 record with three to play against the Tribe. The records against the A.L. West are virtually the same: 24-12 for the Piranhas and 24-13 for the Good Guys. The Sox, who have one game left with Boston, are 16-18 versus the A.L. East, while the Twins, who have four to play against Toronto, are 14-18. The category where the Sox shine is interleague play, with a Majors' best 15-3 mark, compared to Minnesota's 8-10 losing record.

But at the end of the day, it all comes back to those 18 games against the Twins. Splitting the season series would have left the two teams tied right now. A 10-8 margin for the Chisox would have the Good Guys up by 2.0 games with four left to play. But that didn't happen, and Minnesota is going to the postseason and the Sox are going home.

They did clinch second place in the division yesterday by beating the Bosox while Detroit was dropping a pair to the Indians. The Sox have the sixth best record in the league and the 11th best in the Majors, with a theoretical chance to improve to fourth best and seventh best, respectively.

By the way, back on July 13, I predicted that the Sox would finish with an 88-74 record. Three more wins and they make me look prescient. Go Sox!

2010-09-22T08:46:00.002-04:00

163

163. That's the Magic Number for the White Sox in 2011, which is the only Magic Number they have now that they've been eliminated from the 2010 Central Division race. The Twins became the first team to clinch a division title this year, thanks to their win and the Sox's eighth loss in a row, 7-2 to the A's. (Technically, the Sox have not yet been eliminated from the Wild Card, and have a Magic Number of 23 over the Rays with 12 games left to play. But a priest has been called in to administer the last rites to those chances, as the Rays have a Magic Number of 2 for eliminating the Pale Hose in that "race.")

It's been a strange season. The Good Guys started out poorly and then got white hot -- 25-5 -- before the All-Star break. They hung on to first place for a while and made it interesting until the Twins started playing better than any other team in baseball. And then the Sox went into the tank. It was probably too much to hope that the Good Guys could pull it out, given what is essentially a flawed team.

Blame Ozzie for that. He got the players he wanted and didn't win with them. We suspect he and Kenny will both be back, but it's unclear what the roster will look like on Opening Day next season. (It should be balmy in Cleveland -- where the Sox open 2011 -- in late March.) Some familiar faces are almost sure to be gone -- hopefully Paul Konerko is not one of them -- and it'll be interesting to watch the deconstruction/reconstruction of the team.

Anyway, since the purpose of this blog is to count down the Magic Number for the Sox, and there's no counting to do until next year, the posts will be infrequent from here on out. Thanks for reading and Go Sox in 2011!

2010-09-21T08:53:00.000-04:00

It looks like the Twins not only swept the White Sox last week in Chicago, but stole their mojo. The Sox haven't won a game since the Twins invaded the Cell, losing their seventh in a row last night. Gavin Floyd left the game after seven pitches due to tightness in his arm. The entire team seems to be suffering from tightness around the collar, as in choking. Not to win the division is one thing, but a seven-game losing streak when the season is on the line is another. The Sox are now in real danger of falling behind Detroit, which trails the Pale Hose by three games.

The Good Guys' Magic Number over the Tigers is 10, their Magic Number over the Cubs is 3, and their elimination number by the Twins is 2. The Sox need some wins and need them soon. Go Sox!

2010-09-20T08:18:00.000-04:00

How 'bout those Bears? 2-0, baby.

Oh, wait, this is supposed to be about the White Sox.

Okay. The Tigers just swept them over the weekend to extend the Good Guys' losing streak to six games. (No one in his right mind wants to read about these three losses, and I'm not writing about them just to satisfy the desires of a bunch of crazy people.) The Magic Number for the Twins is down to 4.

We need to be worried about the Sox finishing ahead of Detroit. Unless they snap out of this funk, the Tigers could pass them by. The Magic Number for eliminating the boys from the Motor City is 10. Let's get that taken care of.

First things first, though. The South Siders have a Magic Number of 3 relative to the Cubs. Eliminate them, then move on to Detroit. Go Sox!

2010-09-17T08:28:00.001-04:00

26 (still)

Well, at least the White Sox didn't lose 9-3 again, instead falling to the Twins by an 8-5 margin. The Sox came into this series needing a sweep of Minnesota to keep their slim hopes of the post-season alive, but found themselves on the other end of the broom. They're now 9.0 games behind the Central Division leaders with only 16 games to play. If the Twins play just .500 ball from here on out, the Sox can't catch them even by winning out. In other words, even Bluto Blutarsky says it's over.

Paul Konerko doesn't share that belief. Last night, Twins starter Carl Pavano plunked Paulie between the mouth and nose -- not sure how an object the size of a baseball could hit that area and miss the mouth and nose, but that's what the Trib said. Next time up, Konerko slugged his 37th home run of the season. Kenny Williams, are you watching this? Sign the guy to an extension. By the way, Mark Buehrle defended his teammate by bopping Michael Cuddyer first chance he got.

Meanwhile, Manny Ramirez still hasn't stroked an extra-base hit or driven in any runs since joining the Sox. That was certainly $4 million well spent and obviously a much better investment than say re-signing Jim Thome would have been. Thome has driven in 57 runs, hit 23 homers, 16 doubles, and even two triples, batted .283, in only 258 at bats -- all for the bargain-basement salary of $1.5 million. And don't even mention Andruw Jones or Mark Kotsay.

Final note: On Saturday, the Sox will be honoring Nancy Faust, who has been the organist since 1970. Charter Update subscriber Bob Koza and I once sat directly in front of her and enjoyed chatting with Nancy during the game. The ballpark experience won't be the same without her. To Nancy, we say "Na na na na. Na na na na. Hey, Hey. Goodbye!

2010-09-16T09:05:00.000-04:00

Different night, same result. Literally. It was a second consecutive 9-3 loss to to the Twins. If it happens again today, the hockey-mad fans will probably throw their hats on the rink, er, field. What this means is the White Sox are now 8.0 games behind with only 17 to play. Minnesota's Magic Number is 10. Even if the Sox win all 17 games, the Twins need only go 10-7, a significant drop-off from their current pace, to clinch the A.L. Central. Hopefully, the Good Guys will finish strong to build for next year, but what the 2011 squad is going to look like is a mystery. Do the Sox re-sign Paul Konerko? I hope so. Omar Vizquel? Probably not. What about Andruw Jones, Mark Kotsay, Mark Teahen? Some of those guys we're stuck with barring a trade or an outright release. This will be an interesting offseason. Wish it were going to be an interesting post-season. Oh, well. The NHL starts soon. Go Hawks!

2010-09-15T08:20:00.000-04:00

If the White Sox were as good against the Twins as the Twins are against them, the Sox would be leading the Twinkies by 5.0 games. Flip that 5-11 record the Good Guys have against Minnesota to 11-5 and the Sox are 85-59, while the Twinks are 80-64. So when the story of this season is written, the central (no pun intended) theme is this: The two teams are pretty much the same against the rest of baseball (75-53 for Minnesota; 74-54 for Chicago), but the Twins are going to win the Central Division because they've been able to beat up on the Sox.

Last night was the Twins-Sox in a nutshell. The Sox fell behind 2-0, tied it at 2-2, even went ahead 3-2, but eventually allowed Minnesota to come back, and wound up losing 9-3. The details aren't important -- although both Paul Konerko and Manny Ramirez fanned with the bases loaded to kill a potential rally in the seventh that likely would have put the Sox back on top. What matters now is the result, which was more of the same. The Sox can't afford to tank against the Twins and still expect to win the division. And with the Yankees, Rays, and Red Sox being as good as they are now, failing to win the Central means watching the postseason from the sidelines.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you'd probably figured that out already. Go Sox!

2010-09-13T09:59:00.001-04:00

It's all about the numbers at this point. The White Sox and Twins each has 19 games left to play, three of which are head to head in the Cell starting tomorrow night. Since the Sox trail the Twins by 6.0 games, even a sweep -- a tall order -- will leave the Good Guys three games back of Minnesota with only 16 left after that. The Twinkies' Magic Number is 14, so even if they go 9-10, the Sox need to go 15-4 -- a very tall order -- for a tie. John Danks faces off against Francisco Liriano in game one, and we're not looking past that.

The weekend did show resilience by the Sox. In the two games they won against the Royals, the Pale Hose came from behind by scoring three runs in the eighth inning on Friday to pull out a 4-3 victory, and overcame a 6-0 first-inning deficit to win 12-6 on Sunday. A.J. Pierzynski struck the big blow -- a two-run double -- in the first game, and Paul Konerko mashed two taters (giving him 36 on the year) and drove in five runs while Andruw Jones hit a pinch-hit grand slam in the finale.

The Sox are beat up physically. Freddy Garcia's back continues to plague him and forced Lucas Harrell to make an emergency start on Sunday -- not a good one either, as he gave up those six runs in the first inning. Bobby Jenks is still day to day, meaning that rookie Chris Sale has been serving as the closer. Not exactly the recipe for going 15-4.

The good news is that it's September, and the Sox are still in contention -- if just barely. We've had more to cheer about in 2010 than I expected. And in the words of a famous Chicagoan, "It's not over till we say it's over. Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?" Go Animal House! Go Sox!

2010-09-10T08:25:00.000-04:00

I was out for Rosh Hashanah, so no post yesterday. I wish I still celebrated both days of the holiday because I don't feel like writing one today. The White Sox lost to the Tigers on Thursday to fall 6.0 games behind the Twins. Minnesota is on a six-game winning streak and busily trimming its Magic Number, which now stands at 17.

A few days ago, it looked like the margin between the two teams would be 3.5 games when the Sox face the Twinkies next week, with a chance -- albeit a small one -- of a sweep to cut the deficit down to a half game. Now, the Sox may need that sweep just to close the gap to 3.0 games.

The Silver Lining: The Good Guys are back at the Cell starting tonight to face the Royals. We're 11 games over .500 at home, while KC is 19 games under .500 on the road. Minnesota is at Cleveland, and the Twins are only one game better than break even on the road, and the Tribe is "only" 10 games under .500 at home. I say "only" because the hapless Indians are 16 games under away from the shores of Lake Erie.

With all that in mind, it's time to switch sign-offs since anything less isn't going to get it done: Just win, baby!

2010-09-08T08:52:00.001-04:00

29 Sox; 20 Twins

It had to happen. The White Sox weren’t going to go undefeated over their last 32 games. But that doesn’t make it any easier to take. Especially when the Twins continue to win.

Yep, the Good Guys lost to the Tigers last night – big time. As in 9-1. As in we wound up with the scrubinis playing at the end of the game: Brent Lillibridge at second, Alejandro De Aza at DH, Brent Morel at third, Tyler Flowers catching, and Dayan Viciedo pinch-hitting. Paul Konerko (stiff back) and Gordon Beckham (injured hand) didn’t play at all, and Freddy Garcia came out of the game with a stiff back after two innings. (I didn’t realize back stiffness was contagious; maybe Ozzie should have quarantined Paulie.) Manny Ramirez took a beating, getting hit by pitches twice. All in all, it was a game to forget.

The loss combined with Minnesota’s win drops the Sox to 4.5 games back with just 24 games remaining. Our Magic Number remains at 29. Theirs drops to 20. Plus, we’ve got John Danks pitching on three days rest instead of his usual four. On top of that, we find out that Rahm Emanuel, who is a Cubs fan, may run for mayor.

Happy New Year to all to whom that applies. Go Sox!

2010-09-07T09:02:00.000-04:00

Here’s your weekend wrap-up: A sweep of Boston at Fenway for the first time in forever. Seven wins in a row, all on the road, since Manny arrived. Seventeen games over .500 for the first time this season. And the White Sox are still 3.5 games behind the Twins, who are just as hot and have a Magic Number of 22.

Friday’s game was rained out by hurricane-related rains, so the Sox and the Red Sox played a day-night doubleheader on Saturday. The Good Sox won both games 3-1 as John Danks and Gavin Floyd delivered clutch pitching performances. Because of the rainout, Danks will be forced to pitch on three days rest. The last time he did that was in the tie-breaker game against Minnesota in 2008, when he threw a shutout. Let’s hope for a similar result.

Sunday, the Pale Hose came from behind twice, scoring four runs in the ninth inning off Bosox ace reliever, Jonathan Papelbon, to pull out a 7-5 win. The Sox won their fourth game of the season when trailing after seven innings – something they’d done only once a couple of weeks ago. (I missed most of the game because of my grandson Evan’s second birthday party – his actual birthday is tomorrow – but it was worth it. Of course, the Sox victory added to the festive occasion.)

On Labor Day, the White Sox did it again, this time against the Tigers in Detroit. For the third time over the weekend, they pounded out 13 hits, missing only in game two on Saturday. For the second time, they came from behind to win, this time in extra innings, 5-4. For the first time in his career, Chris Sale, who was pitching in college when the season started, picked up the win, throwing 2.2 innings of scoreless relief, and was rewarded with a shaving cream pie. And for the 13th game in a row, A.J. Pierzynski hit safely, driving in three runs, including the game winner.

So where does all this leave the Sox? Aside from the three games that they and the Twins play each other next week at the Cell, the two teams have some common foes. Both teams play KC at home (Sox three times, Twins twice), Cleveland at home for three games, and the Tigers in Detroit for three games. Both teams play Oakland three games, thought the Sox do it on the road, while Minnesota does it at home. We’ve got three with the Tigers and four with Boston at home and three with the Angels on the road. They’ve got four with Toronto at home and three each with the Indians and Royals on the road. On balance, it looks like we’ve got the harder schedule, in terms of whom we play and where we play them, but the best thing that can happen is a sweep of the Twinkies at the Cell. For those of you saying, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, remember, the fans’ performance won’t suffer by looking down the road at the schedule. It’s the team that can’t do that. Go Sox!

2010-09-01T16:24:00.002-04:00

34

Manny did it again. Just by standing in the on-deck circle, he struck such fear into the heart of Indians’ pitcher Justin Germano that he served up a fat one to Paul Konerko, who deposited it in the seats for his 33rd home run of the season. The three-run shot by Paulie wasn’t the only blast of the day for the Good Guys – Alex Rios (20th) and Alexei Ramirez (16th) also ripped four-baggers, reaping the benefit of Manny just being in the same lineup.

The Sox were trailing 4-1 at one point and posted their second straight win (6-4)when trailing after seven innings. As noted in the prior post, their record in that situation (no, not The Situation from Jersey Shore and soon to be Dancing With The Stars) was a feeble 1-48 before yesterday’s game. The Pale Hose are now 35-7 when getting multiple home runs in the game.

But back to Manny, whom we are contractually bound to mention in every other paragraph. Aside from influencing the pitches that others were receiving, he grounded out to short, struck out looking, fisted a duck snort single to right center, and was hit by a pitch. That means he’s batting .333, has a .500 on-base percentage, and a .500 slugging percentage – clear Hall of Fame numbers. But wait, there’s that drug thing, isn’t there?

Freddy Garcia left the game early with stiffness in his back. Not good, but let’s hope it doesn’t affect his next start, which should come against his personal patsies, the Detroit Tigers. By the way, Chris Sale picked up the first save of his career (in his first save opportunity) by pitching a scoreless ninth. Sale didn’t exactly sail through it, walking two and striking out two, including the last out of the game. I guess the Tribe really was down to its last strike.

Today’s win means that the Sox have a winning record in September (1-0), which they didn’t have in April (9-14), May (13-14), or August (13-15), but did in June (18-9) and July (18-8).

The win also completes the much-needed sweep and shrinks the Magic Number to 34 and Minnesota’s lead to 3.5 games. If the Tigers can beat the Twins tonight, those numbers will drop to 33 and 3.0. A three-game deficit can be made up in a three-game series, which is all we have remaining with the Twinkies. Hey, let’s just keep winning for a while longer and go into that series with a lead, not a deficit. Go Sox!

2010-09-01T09:30:00.002-04:00

Manny Ramirez won the game for the White Sox last night just by warming up in the on-deck circle. Well, not quite. But according to Ozzie Guillen, A.J. Pierzynski saw better pitches to hit just because Manny – complete with dreadlocks – was looming. Whether that’s true or not, A.J. powered his seventh home run of the season deep into the right field seats, scoring Alex Rios and Carlos Quentin, both of whom had walked, and breaking a 1-1 tie in the eighth inning. The Indians put a scare into Sox fans everywhere by pulling to within a run in the ninth, but left the tie run on base to give the Good Guys a 4-3 win.

Edwin Jackson picked up his third win since coming over from Arizona, throwing 8.2 innings of seven hit three run ball. Jackson struck out 11 to reach double-digit Ks for his third game in a row. Jackson’s ERA over his five starts is a sparkling 1.47, so that trade is turning out all right. Ozzie gave Jackson a chance to complete the game, but E.J. couldn’t quite pull it off. After 129 pitches, he yielded to Bobby Jenks, who promptly allowed an inherited runner to score, but got the last out on a bouncer back to the mound. (Speaking of last, I’m tired of announcers saying that a team is down to its last strike. Cleveland’s radio guys said that last night, but it wasn’t true -- the batter got a hit and the next batter had three more strikes to use up -- and it never is for sure. You can only know the “last” strike in hindsight, so don’t say it beforehand.)

The Sox actually pulled off a rare feat for them by winning a game in which they were trailing after seven innings (1-0) for only the second time in 50 games. The team did post its 57th win (against only 25 losses) when getting a quality start -- the second most quality starts in baseball behind the Oakland A’s. They also won their 54th game (against 35 losses) when hitting a home run.

The win cut the Magic Number to 35, but it didn’t get the Sox any closer to Minnesota, as the Twins rallied late to beat the Tigers. The Pale Hose are 4.0 games behind with 30 left to play. Still doable, but the Twinkies need to start losing some games and we need to keep winning. Go Sox!

2010-08-31T08:50:00.002-04:00

If the White Sox were able to score 10 runs on 21 hits in an 11-inning win over the Indians without Manny Ramirez in the lineup, just imagine how much more potent the offense will be once Manny arrives. Uh, wait, the offense hasn’t been the problem lately, has it? Manny, Schmanny. The problem, which surfaced again last night, is relief pitching. So instead of putting in a waiver claim on Brian Fuentes, the Good Guys let the Twins – yes the very team the Sox are chasing for the Central Division crown – acquire the lefty reliever who led the league in saves last year with 48 and racked up 23 this year with the Angels.

But since we don’t have Fuentes – and don’t even have our own guys Matt Thornton and J.J. Putz available – we had to use Bobby Jenks in a 4-out save situation and Bobby blew his fourth save of the year. Handed a 6-3 lead, Jenks allowed three runs on three hits and a walk. To be fair, he had a little help from Brent Lillibridge, who threw a ball away, but the runs were all earned. The three runs in the bottom of the ninth sent the game into extra innings and the Sox were forced to use Scott Linebrink in relief for two innings. Fortunately, Liner came through like the Liner of old – no runs, no hits, no walks – and was the beneficiary of a four-run 11th inning outburst by the Sox bats to pick up his second win of the season.

Every Sox starter hit safely. Alex Rios led the hit parade with five hits, finishing a triple shy of the cycle. Mark Kotsay had three hits and five Sox players had a pair: Omar Vizquel, Paul Konerko, A.J. Pierzynski, Alexei Ramirez, and Gordon Beckham. The Sox improved their record to 2-0 this year when knocking out 21 hits – the only team to have done it even once in 2010. They’re now 19-1 all time when reaching that hit total. Scoring 10 runs in a game has a pretty high correlation with winning as well. No kidding, you say. Well the Sox are 321-30-1 all time when plating 10 men. That winning percentage is not quite as good as that racked up by all teams – 93-5 – this season when scoring that much. (Update subscriber Billy Addison tells me he loves these stats, so I’m going to keep throwing them out there.)

The win drew the Sox to within 4.0 games of the Twins, but there’s sobering news. With 31 games left, if Minnesota goes 16-15, the Sox will have to go 21-10 to win the division outright and 20-11 to tie and play a tie-breaker game at Target Field. The Good Guys have their work cut out for them and Manny won’t help the bullpen. Go Sox!

2010-08-30T08:05:00.000-04:00

White Sox fans of a certain age -- mine -- learned to hate the Yankees before George Steinbrenner's excesses. We hated them because the Sox kept finishing second to the Bronx Bombers and because of the whole Second City thing generally. So any loss to New York hurts twice as much as any other loss (except one to the Cubs). That means it felt like we lost four games over the weekend.

It really was only two, Saturday and Sunday, after winning Friday night. But if I could have arranged the order of the outcomes, I would have saved the win for Sunday. That was the day the Sox retired Frank Thomas's number and put his graphic on the outfield wall between Billy Pierce and Carlton Fisk. I didn't get to see the ceremony, but The Tribune reports that the Big Hurt was extremely moved by the honor and got pretty emotional. Good for Frank. You're supposed to feel that way when something like this happens. I'm just happy that my favorite Sox player of the last 20 years got his due.

A guy I don't expect will rank high on my list of favorite players looks to be coming to the Sox today. It appears that Manny Ramirez will be joining the Pale Hose for the rest of the season. Please, Kenny Williams, don't give away any player of value to get him. We've mortgaged enough of the future this season, and while Manny might help in a short spurt, there's no long term future there. Hopefully, all we do is pay the rest of his exorbitant salary for the remainder of the year, and Manny responds like he did when he first came to the Dodgers -- carrying the club at just the right time to give himself leverage for his next contract negotiation. I'll take a great performance from him, but I don't have to like him.

The weekend's activities left the Sox with a 4.5 game deficit to make up and less time to do it. Plus, the team hits the road for a 10-game trip to Cleveland, Boston, and Detroit. We're only 32-33 away from the Cell, so it's not looking good for the Good Guys. Maybe Manny being the Manny of old will make a difference. Go Sox!

2010-08-27T08:39:00.017-04:00

The White Sox found the perfect recipe for Meat Loafing the Orioles last night: One part brilliant pitching by Edwin Jackson; one part robust hitting; mix together at U.S. Cellular field for two to three hours; serve up an 8-0 win.

Jackson hurled -- no, not that kind of hurled -- eight innings of shut out baseball, allowing only three hits and two walks. His slider was devastating and was responsible for most of the 10 strikeouts he racked up -- the second consecutive game he's reached double digits. Tony Pena finished up the low-leverage situation by preserving the shutout.

The Jackson for Daniel Hudson trade is looking fairly even at this point. Jackson's line: 2-0 record, 0.96 ERA, 28.0 IP, 23 H, 4 R, 7 BB (1 intentional), and 34 K. Hudson's line: 3-1 record, 1.72 ERA, 36.2 IP, 26 H, 7 R, 6 BB (1 intentional), and 36 K. A bit of an edge to Jackson, especially considering he has to face a DH.

On the offensive side of the ledger, the Sox exploded for 14 hits, the eleventh time in the last twelve games they've reached double digit hits. Alex Rios led the way with three safeties, followed by Juan Pierre, Paul Konerko, Carlos Quentin, A.J. Pierzynski, and Mark Teahen, who each had two, and Alexei Ramirez with one.

Paulie deserves special mention. Captain Crunch went 2 for 5 last night and his average over the last 30 at bats dropped. He had been hitting .560 (14 for 25) and came out hitting .533 (16 for 30). Give that man a contract extension. Not five years, but maybe three.

Minnesota finally beat the Rangers yesterday, so the Sox are still 3.5 back in the Central Division race. The Twins' Magic Number is now down to 32. Basically, we've got to win four more games than they do. Let's start with the Yankees who are in town this weekend. Go Sox!

2010-08-26T08:31:00.001-04:00

The Twins lost, but White Sox squandered the opportunity to gain ground by falling 4-2 to the Orioles, the team with the worst record in the American League. Mark Buehrle twice gave up what Hawk Harrelson refers to as "the dreaded leadoff walk," and twice paid the price as those runners came around to score.

Speaking of dreaded, Kenny "The Trader" Williams continues to talk with the Dodgers about the (literally) dreaded Manny Ramirez. The holdup in the acquisition seems to be what the Sox will give up -- if anything -- in return for taking Manny's contract off L.A.'s hands. Maybe Ramirez is what we need. After all, the team cranked out a grand total of five hits last night, and the big guy can still hit.

Speaking of late additions of big guys, I checked yesterday and Ted Kluzewski played only 31 games for the Sox after joining the Go-Go Sox in 1959. He hit two homers -- I've been remembering it as a lot more than that, but apparently, incorrectly. Klu did hit three homers in the six World Series games, though, so maybe that's what's burned into my memory bank.

Speaking of memories, I think we'd all like to forget the recent lackluster performance by our guys, but the immediate future looks bleak too. The Sox have to play the Yankees and Red Sox in two of the next three series after finishing up with the O's. The Good Guys are still 3.5 games behind the Twinkies. The time is now to start gaining on them. Go Sox!