White Sox Top Red Sox on Memorial Day

The White Sox went into Boston on Monday to face a Red Sox team that has been smashing the baseball lately and bounce back from a frustrating series in Toronto. This series in Boston is going to be an important one for the following reasons:
- We need to close out this road trip strong in order to minimize the damage done earlier in the road trip
- This is the last series of the road trip, we need momentum going into a 10 game home stand
- We're still flirting with .500 and we can't afford to drop games at this point in the season
- This team needs confidence, what better way to gain confidence than beat a tough Red Sox team in Boston?
- The Indians are starting to come back down to earth, nows the time for us to make our move as the schedule is about to get easier and we're on the cusp of a home stand

Well the White Sox got off to a promising start in this series. Everyone showed up folks, it was great to see. I actually have a smile on my face right now, recollecting all the good things I saw in this game. We still left a lot of guys on base, BUT we scored 7 runs, which is just fine, everyone is going to leave men on base, what is  important is getting enough men in to sustain a lead. Well South Siders, our pale hosers did just that for us on Monday.

The Sox got off to a promising start against a tough John Lester (coming into the game 7-1 with a 3.36 ERA), plating 2 runs right out of the gate in the first on 3 hits and a hit by pitch. Peavy looked pretty solid all day, only giving up a few runs on a few hits. He allowed a solo home run in the bottom of the first to Gonzalez, which quite frankly was a decent pitch by peavy, the ball caught a little too much of the plate, but it had a lot of movement on it and it was breaking hard, down and in... Gonzo just stayed right with it and smashed it, sometimes you just have to tip your cap to the other guy, Adrian Gonzalez displayed a great piece of hitting on that home run.

You can kind of see the ball, coming from a right hander and breaking down the way it was, just a great piece of hitting, this swing really stood out to me while I was watching the game, look at his hips open up, head down, balance, weight shifting perfectly. Rarely do I praise opposing players or teams (especially Red Sox...) But Gonzo, this buds for you.

The captain, Paul Konerko blasted a solo home run in the 3rd to make it a 3-1 ball game. Not to be out done, the Red Sox would answer back with a 2 run single by Dustin Pedroia to tie the game at 3. Ok, fast forward to the 6th inning for the play of the game, the White Sox load the bases with 2 outs and with a full count, Alexi Ramirez bloops a double over first base, just inside the foul line. He couldn't have thrown it out there any better. The Sox score 2 on that play and then, with runners on first and third, big hittin' Carlos Quentin singles to make it a 7-3 ball game, where the score would stay and eventually go final.

This was a huge win for the Sox for many reasons.
- Its always important to get the first game of the series, especially on the road and in a situation where you cannot afford to drop games.
- More confidence for Peavy as he continues to settle in
- The offense showed up on the same day as the pitching and defense!
- Bumped the Sox up to 3rd place... may not seem like much, but it shows progress (small victories add up to big ones)

If this team can play consistently like they did today and by that I mean, play to their potential, they WILL win this division. They showed today the kind of talent and potential they have on this club and folks, it was GREAT. Lets just hope they hit a groove and keep this up, because it still is early on and this team can do some serious damage in what is proving to be a weak division this season.

We're in Boston again tomorrow, first pitch is at 6:10 and this one is going to be on WCIU. Lets close out this month with a win boys, we need it.

 I would just like to take this time to say THANK YOU on this memorial day to all of those men and women in uniform and their families who have made such huge sacrifice to fight for our safety and our freedom in this great country. I don't think that men and women in uniform get enough credit from our citizens, nor do their families. I cannot say that I know what you are going through or how it feels, but again, from the bottom of my heart, and on behalf of the citizens of these United States, Thank You, God bless you and your families.

Underachievement Reigns

The White Sox were rolled in Toronto today (Sunday) as John Danks fell to an absurd 0-8 record. Carlos Quentin got us on the board early with a solo shot in the first, leading me to believe the Sox were going to battle today, boy was I wrong. The Blue Jays came out and absolutely shelled John Danks in the bottom of the first, putting up 6 runs, highlighted by a grand slam by Aaron Hill of the Blue Jays. I'll spare you the rest of the details, the final score was 13-4 Blue Jays.

I have to wonder what is going on with John Danks. His first 6 or 7 starts this season were good to above average. The problem there was the lack of run support Danks was receiving from his offense. But recently Danks has looked awful on the mound, missing his spots, falling behind batters, and failing to mix up his pitches. I wonder if recently he has been trying to do to much because he is expecting lack of offensive support or if his confidence is shot because its the end of May and he has yet to win a game. But Danks has arguably been our best starting pitcher the last few seasons, its a shame to see him going through such an awful stretch. Just something to think about....

A couple interesting stats regarding the Sox and the Jays:
The White Sox have lost 22 of the last 27 games they have played against Toronto.
The White Sox have lost 15 of their last 18 games they have played IN Toronto.

I am starting to wonder wether or not this team is going to fully turn it around and play to their potential. That is what is making this season so frustrating, I had never had as high of hopes for a White Sox team coming into a season as I did this year and they continue to make stupid plays, put together bad at bats, and just underachieve all around.  It would be different if we didn't have any expectations for this team or if they didn't have any talent. What also has made this road trip extremely frustrating is the fact that the team had been showing major signs of improvement prior to this trip. They seemed to be turning the season around, not to mention they could and should have won almost every game during this road trip. With the exception of today, they have been in the game at the end of all the contests on this trip, they just haven't been able to get runs in and close games when given the chance (leaving men on base in the late innings in tie games/1 run games).

I don't mean to sound negative, but just the way they have been playing has really posed the question, "Is this team going to underachieve all year?" Its still early and a lot can happen in 100+ games, but if they don't start playing to their potential, this year is going to be one major disappointment.

Lets just hope they bounce back in Boston (easier said than done). Inconsistency has been leading to their underachievement. It seems like when the pitching is there, the offense isn't or vice versa. We need the entire team to focus and just start destroying teams, because they have the talent to do it. Really all their is to do now, for us, the fans, is to support our team and hope they get hot. If they can string together a few nice winning streaks we'll be right back in this thing.  Until then, lets just do what we can to support them and pray they figure this thing out.

Sox Inconsistency Costing them Games

The White Sox have been off and on all season. It has personally costed me a lot of frustration and pain. This post is going to be short and emotionless. They lost a game they should have won on Friday and lost a game they should have won again today (Saturday). There have been a lot of things piling up for this team that keeps costing us games. Im not going to write them in paragraph form, because I'll start rambling. So I'm just going to list them:

1. Complete lack of clutch hitting.
2. Leaving TONS of men on base. (They've left over 25 men on base in this series in Toronto alone)
3. Bad at bats
4. The pitching staff has given up A TON of 2 out hits/walks/runs (especially with 2 outs and no one on base)
5. Lopsided efforts (what I mean by that is when the pitching shows up, the offense doesn't and vice versa)
6. Questionable decisions by Ozzie
       A. Keeping Dunn in the lineup everyday (he needs some time off)
       B. Pinch hitting Quentin today for McPherson with 2 outs and the winning run on 3rd, instead of for Dunn with 1 out. I say this because with a runner on 3rd and one out all we need is some decent contact (Which we are not getting from Dunn) By the way, Quentin hit a deep fly ball that ended the inning, he does that in Dunn's spot and we win.
       C. Managing of the pitching staff and bullpen (don't get me wrong, I like Ozzie, just a few things I think he could have done better lately)
       D. One could argue that shuffling the lineup may help run production as we are putting men on base, but it seems that the same guys continue to come up in big situations and fail. Shuffling the lineup may bring different men up in big situations.

Those are the ones that have really stood out to me as of late. This team has been playing better than during their losing streak, but is still underachieving. With the starting pitching we have been getting and the amount of men we have left on base, this team should be over .500 by now. The above factors amongst other small things are going to need to change or this team will continue to underachieve. I don't mean to be a downer, but this team has way to much talent to have the record they have.

They have great potential, anyone can see that just by watching the games. Think of it this way, we've left all those guys on base and missed all of those opportunities lately and have still been right in the game at the end. It's just those small little changes that need to be made to get us over this hump. I still think we're going to be in the hunt by mid-summer. It has just frustrating lately to watch this team play such mediocre baseball when I know they're capable of great things.

I'm not even going to get into breaking down these last two games. All I'm going to say is:
We left a ton of men on base on Friday and wasted another great pitching performance from our staff.
Today (Saturday) we exchanged blows with the Jays, knocking the ball around the yard and tying it with 2 outs in the 9th. Edwin Jackson struggled, the offense actually gave the pitching staff some support. But the extra innings hit and the offense stalled yet again, until Corey Patterson of all people walked us off.

I leave you with this, we need to get over this hump and start producing and playing the way that I know this team can. If we can win tomorrow and split this double header and try to cool down a Boston team that is on fire right now. If we can salvage this road trip and come home close to .500 we'll really be ready to make up some ground.

We're in Toronto tomorrow at 12:07 over on Comcast Sportsnet. Say a prayer tonight Sox fans, we cannot afford to start losing again.

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Offense Provided by Juan Man

Phil Humber continued to prove himself on Thursday in Toronto. The White Sox right hander went 7.2 innings scattering 6 hits and 1 earned run giving the White Sox another stellar pitching performance from our starting rotation. The offense was provided by one player who has been starting to pick it up as of late. Juan Pierre, who is on an 11 game hitting streak and quickly earning trust back from his manager.

Pierre knocked in the first run of the ball game on an RBI single in the 5th, only to be countered with a Blue Jays Home run in the bottom of the 6th off the bat of Yunel Escobar. The score would stay tied at one until the 9th inning as both offenses struggled to score. The Sox would catch a few breaks in their last at bats, first on a throwing error by Blue Jay third basemen John McDonald, who fielded Alex Rios's ground ball and threw it into the stands, which of course resulted in Rios being awarded second base. After AJ failed to sacrifice Rios to third, Toronto threw a wild pitch (which essentially was just as good as if AJ had been able to get the bunt down). So after a throwing error and a wild pitch we had the potential winning run on third in the 9th. Beckham was then hit by a pitch and would then steal second with Pierre at the plate. Pierre then hit a ground ball behind the bag at first, which resulted in a foot race to first, as Marc Rzepczynski (Blue Jays pitcher) was slow to cover first, Pierre beat the throw and on yet another break in the inning for the White Sox, the ball was kicked into short right field, allowing Beckham to score from first.

Santos would come in to nail it down and preserve the 3-1 Sox victory.

This was a big win for our White Sox, the offense struggled again, the team is trying to claw their way back to .500 to contend for a division, and we just had a hard loss on Wednesday. All these things in mind, we really needed that game yesterday. We need to close out this road trip in a very strong way because after this trip we go back home and the schedule slowly starts to lighten up. If we can come home at .500 or very close to .500, that is going to put us in prime position to really tear up our schedule.

This win also moved the White Sox up into 3rd place. I know it doesn't sound like much, but when you consider how awful the team was playing just a few weeks ago and how far out of it we were, thats a moral victory right there. We need those small victories to keep us going and to shed light on the fact that we have been making progress, because with the way the Indians have been playing, its hard to feel like you've done much, when you win 11 games out of 14 and you still haven't picked up any ground on the division leading team. We just need to keep chipping away at these teams and we will come out on top. Is that a central division championship prediction for the Sox? Take it as is...

One more thing, did any of you watch for the Toronto fans booing Rios last night like I told you to? Because they definitely did, and it still blows my mind, because they got rid of him....

Anyway, we need this one again today, we have Buehrle on the bump today and first pitch will be at 6:07 over on Comcast Sportsnet. As Hawk would say, we need to sinch it up and hunker down today. Lets get this offense going!

Chest Pains in Texas

I'll try to keep this one short and emotionless, because I am not happy right now. The Sox needed this one today. They didn't get it, due to the offense and their inability to get ANY timely hitting. Now I am an absolute optimist when it comes to the Sox, but I'm also emotionally attached, every loss hurts, but this one today really killed me. We hit into 3 double plays and strand the entire state population of Rhode Island on the bases. We needed this series and what really gets me, is we played well enough to win today, in terms of base runners and pitching. Poor Gavin Floyd.... my God, he goes 7 innings and gives up 1 earned run and 3 hits.... and gets the loss? Excuse me while I go throw up....

I mean in the last 3 innings alone we left like 6 or 7 guys on base! It's like, "Hang on Ozzie, I'm getting on a plane to Texas right now, I'll come hit for ya." I mean how long can this inconsistency continue with this offense? It is way to talented to leave guys on base like this. What really kills me is the importance of this road trip and the fact that we should be 2-1. 

The 8th inning we have 1st and 3rd with 1 out and Dunn strikes out (thats new) and Pierre grounds out. We get nothing. 

Now, I wanna talk about something that really, really got on my nerves. My buddy Alexi Ramirez leading off the 9th. Lets break down the situation....

9th inning factors:

- Down 1 run (so we need base runners at all costs)

- Heart of the order

- The pitcher they bring in has control issues

- The pitcher they bring in has walked 12 in his 15 innings of work....

.... Put that all together and what does baseball for Dummies tell us? TAKE SOME PITCHES!!!!! WORK THE COUNT IN YOUR FAVOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Instead Einstein... pardon me... Alexi swings at the first pitch OF THE INNING! And flies out to center. We're already working up hill because we're down a run, now we're down an out after one pitch!! Think thats a stupid point for me to make? Well the pitcher went on to walk the next 2 batters on 9 pitches.... Imagine if Alexi would have just taken a few pitches, might have had an extra out and an extra baserunner. 

This offense is just knocking days and hours off of my life, every time they have a good game (last night) they come back and look like they've never picked up a bat before. The only way the Sox are getting back into this is if they stack up win streaks (big or small) and its hard to win when your offense strands Will County on the bases. I'm sorry if this has been an uncharacteristically bleak post, this game today just really bothered me. We just had so many chances, again Floyd and the bullpen do their job perfectly, and the offense just stomps all over our hopes and dreams. I've just never seen such a stacked offense stall like this. And the double plays? Good Lord, I started thinking, yea theres 1 out and a guy on first, we might as well just sac bunt and take our chances getting a base hit with 2 outs, at least we'd stay out of the double play (obviously thats exaggerated, but the double plays are really getting old). Its too bad that we don't get runs for double plays hit into, we'd be unstoppable. 

Again, its early in the year still, we're within striking distance of .500 and the division, and our schedule gets really easy pretty soon. Everything is going to be there for the taking, it's just up to the Sox to take it. 

My girlfriend just walked out of the room and she says, "Do you want anything?" (meaning to drink or eat)  And I responded with, "Timely hitting." This one is gonna be on my mind for a while....

Something to look out for an think about while we're in Canada:

- Take note on how many times the Blue Jays "fans" boo Alex Rios when he bats.....
Even though he gave them a lot of solid years and the Blue Jays were the ones who released him....

Lets bounce back again tomorrow and string some wins together. Sorry if I was negative, even the most optimistic fans have a breaking point sometimes. Go Sox. Everything will look better tomorrow after a big win over the Blue Jays.

Mother Nature Provides the Lightning and Quentin Provides the Thunder

The Sox went into Tuesday's game after a tough loss on Monday, needing a win. Thanks to Carlos Quentin, they were able to get that win. Quentin started the scoring off in the first inning with a solo home run to left field to put the Sox up 1-0. The Rangers answered right back with a run in the bottom half tying the game. Then it was Quentin again in the 3rd inning hitting an absolute bomb to right field displaying his power to all parts of the park with his second homer of the night. This put the Sox up 4-1. The Rangers answered back in the bottom half with a run, making the score 4-2 in favor of the White Sox where the score would stay for the next 3 hours.

Jake Peavy got the start and only lasted 3 innings.... not because he pitched poorly, but because mother nature had other plans. At the start of the 4th inning a nasty storm blew through Texas, forcing the Ranger's stadium personnel to evacuate all of the stands through the dugouts and into the clubhouses and tunnels underneath the ballpark. What followed was a doomsday type storm, showcasing huge hail, tornado type winds, thunder, lightning, and heavy rain. The rain delay lasted 2 hours and 58 minutes, finally allowing the Sox to continue to the game.

Out of the delay the Rangers would waste no time putting up 2 quick runs in the 5th only to be countered by a BOMB into the second deck by "The Grand Canyon" Adam Dunn. Which was then followed by a single by AJ, a sac bunt from Beckham and a RBI single by Brent Morel to make it a 6-4 Sox lead. Not to be out done the Rangers hit back in the bottom half again with an RBI single by Moreland to make it a 6-5 game. The Sox came out swinging in the top of the 7th putting another run on the board to make it 7-5, (seeing a pattern here)? Texas would put another one up in the 8th to make it 7-6 and with men on base, Ozzie would go to Sergio Santos for the 4 out save. He came in and shut it down in the 8th, just edging his way out of the jam he inherited (courtesy of Matt Thornton). The Sox tack on an insurance run in the 9th on Carlos Quentin's 3rd homer of the game to deep left field. Santos comes on in the bottom half and nails it down giving the Sox a huge victory.

This was a wild one in Texas on Tuesday, this game featured 3 home runs from one player, a 3 hour rain delay that cleared the stadium, and back and forth scoring right out of the rain delay for 2 straight innings. It was like watching a prize fight, two parties just exchanging blows back and forth until one came out on top, and lucky for us, it was our Sox. It was nice to see the team bounce back once again from a frustrating loss on Monday as well as keeping their focus through a 3 hour delay. The Sox need to come out of this road trip in the green, what I mean is, we need to have a winning road trip, its a tough one indeed, but we HAVE to take these series. If we can win each series on this trip (a tall order I know) we will come back to Chicago at the end of May at .500. That would be HUGE for this club

Ok, so real quick I just wanna break down each one of Quentin's homers, just because you'll be able to see just how dialed in he was, because he took 3 different pitches, adjusted to each, and went with each pitch, thats how you know a guy is dialed in.

Ok, so this is the first home run of the night. Now this is a breaking ball that hangs inside. Look at the balance he has here, he stayed back perfectly, he opens up his hips to get around because its inside, arms are extended to the ball (this is what you call "staying inside the ball) and my favorite thing, his head, perfectly down on the ball. He takes this one right down the left field line, keeping it fair all the way into the stands and rounds the bases.

Love this one, its his second home run on the night and this time its a fastball on the outside corner. But again, look at the balance. Stays back, gets his arms extended with his head down again and just goes with the pitch. What you gotta love about this one is notice how he didn't try pulling the ball, had he done that, it would have been an out to the left side, probably a ground out. Instead he takes what the pitcher gives him, keeps his weight back and just drills it, this time right down the right field line. Perfect.

This is his 3rd homer of the evening. Now this is just a hanging breaking ball, right over the plate. Again, picks up the spin, stays back on it and with his head down on the ball, shifts his weight and absolutely kills it to left center.

I really wanted to compare these 3 at bats because not only were they all homers, but each pitch was on a different part of the plate. You had the inside hanger, the outside fastball, and the slider right down broadway. And when you put them next to each other, you can really see 3 different adjustments to these 3 different pitches. When a guy can adjust like this and not miss on any of them, you know he's seeing the ball well.

The Sox need to keep this winning stuff alive. Im actually watching game 3 of this series as I write this and its not looking good. Our offense is stalling again. Lets hope we can get something going because we need to keep stacking up series victories. The Indians are on a losing streak, now is the time to start hacking away.

After this series wraps up in Texas we're headed north of the border for french fries and gravy..... We have the Blue Jays tomorrow, first pitch is at 6:07 (only in Canada) and thats over on Comcast Sportsnet. Look for a possible post after this game today in Texas, it'll depend on the outcome, I'm already a bit agitated with the way we've played today, so we'll see what happens.

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Sox Tack on Another Series Win

I apologize for not posting sooner, I realize that I have 2 games to talk about. Fortunately for me, both games I need to talk about turned out to be wins, which makes it a lot easier to write about. Ok, so the Sox drop a heartbreaker in the series opener and bounce back with vengeance. The offense exploded in the last 2 games of this series with the Dodgers, if I may reference my last post where I said that we will see if we have a great team here based on their ability to bounce back or not after that bad loss on Friday, well I think they answered my question.

First lets talk about Saturday, the offense exploded for 9 runs and Mark Buerhle was..... well, Mark Buerhle. He completely shut down the Dodgers and scattered 7 hits and 2 runs over 7 innings, vintage Buerhle. What was most impressive about this win for Mark was that it improved his overall inter league record to 24-6, thats best all time, in the history of the Big. Congrats Mark. On top of that, Buerhle is now 10-0 in his last 12 inter league starts.... that is an absolutely ridiculous stat, it really shows how dominant he is during inter league play. 

Sox came out and dominated this entire game from the start, knocking their ex teammate Jon Garland out in the 5th inning and shutting down the Dodger offense, highlighted by great pitching and pretty solid defense. Sox took this one easy, 9-2

Offensive highlights for this one:

-Paulie: 3 for 5 with 3 RBIs

- Alexi: 3-4 with 2 doubles and 2 RBIs

-AJ: 3 for 5 with 2 runs scored

This was a huge game for the Sox, because like I said they needed a strong game after dropping that heartbreaker on Friday. This game transitions nicely into Sunday's series finale. 

Sunday the Sox came out looking for yet another series victory and were hoping to improve to only 4 games under .500. Well with Edwin Jackson on the bump, they did just that. The big story in this one was the offense yet again (Edwin Jackson had an O.K game and the defense was pretty bad).

Alexi Ramirez was 4 for 5 with 5 RBIs and fell a triple short of the cycle (have a day). Juan Pierre must be reading my blog because he was 3 for 4 with 2 RBIs, getting on base like a leadoff man should. They knocked the ball around the yard and got on the board fast, posting 3 runs in the first inning off of 2 home runs (Ramirez, AJ). What was nice about this offensive effort was that it was relentless, they got up and instead of trying to cruise the rest of the way, they buried L.A, the continued to add to their lead, I love to see that! They have the type of offense that can burry a team and it was nice to finally see them play to their potential (almost). I say almost because despite all the runs, Adam Dunn is still struggling, imagine if we get him going how dangerous this lineup would be..... Another great sign is that Alex Rios is starting to hit, he is a big key to this offense, now that he's starting to hit, this teams production is going to drastically increase. Just as I said multiple times in previous posts, as the weather heats up, so will this teams offense....

Edwin Jackson was above average, he stuck around 5.2 innings, scattering 1 run on 5 hits. Threw a lot of pitches for only being in there for 5.2 innings. He is still having issues with getting ahead of the hitters, thus causing him to throw more pitches. But all in all he had a nice game.

The defense was bad, they committed 3 errors, not much to say about that, they really just need to improve. 

This team has finally started to show us what a solid contender it can be, winning 7 of our last 10 and 11 of our last 16. What is pretty awesome to think about is that this team is still not playing totally to its potential. The reason I say that is because there are still guys in our lineup not hitting and the defense is still making multiple errors a game. The more confidence that continues to build with these wins, the looser guys are going to be. The looser they are, the better they play. Once we get Rios and Dunn going, this offense is going to be unstoppable and I promise you the defense will come around. 

Now we go on the road for a 3 city road trip. This is a big trip folks, we need to continue to play as well as we have been playing and continue to build the confidence. Because we are slowly creeping back into this thing and it would be a real shame to see all of our work this month go for naught because of this trip. First, we have Texas (in Texas) if we continue to do what we've been doing, were going to be fine. Lets focus on one game at a time and continue to play to our potential. About 2 weeks ago this club was 11-22, now we're 22-26. Pretty impressive if you think about it.

Quick injury report: Carlos Quentin has been benched because of a sore knee, reports indicate that he is fine and he will be available to play tomorrow in Texas. Which is good because last I checked, he's leading the majors in extra base hits...

We're in Texas tomorrow, we're gonna run Danks out on the bump, first pitch will be over on Comcast Sportsnet at 7:05. Go Sox, big series coming up. 

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Sox Can't Dodge a Heartbreaker

This is just a forewarning everyone, I'm still depressed from tonight's loss, this is going to be short and sweet.

The Dodgers came into Chicago on Friday night with the same record as our White Sox. Now I know I had said that sweeping this series would have been HUGE for the Sox. But after how this one ended, we need to pray that we bounce back tomorrow. The dodgers struck first with a 2 run homer off the bat of Matt Kemp in the first inning. After that, Phil Humber absolutely shut them down. The Sox answered right back in the 2nd with 3 runs on 5 consecutive hits (all after 2 outs) highlighted by a 2 run homer by Gordon Beckham. That would be it for the scoring until the 9th. 

Cue Sergio Santos. He comes on in 3-2 Sox lead in the top of the 9th inning. He gets the first 2 guys and with the crowd on their feet, that bases empty, and 2 outs, gives up a game tying home run to Russell Mitchell who was 1 for 13 since coming up from the minors...... Long story short, LA puts up 3 in the 10th, Sox bring the tying run to the plate in the bottom half of the 10th and only plate one. Sox lose, 6-4

Now, I am NOT ragging on Sergio, because he has been spectacular. Until Friday night, he had not allowed a run yet this season. Everyone is going to have a blown save here and there. He should be our closer and he deserves it. What magnifies the loss tonight is the fact that this team is still fighting an up-hill battle to try to recover from that awful losing streak we had. But we are still 9 out of our last 13 and still in good shape. I just pray and hope to God that this heartbreaking loss doesn't send us in a downward spiral. Because this team has shown that it can win and has shown that they are a good team. We NEED the win tomorrow, we really have to bounce back and show the world that this loss is in the past and we're here to stay. Bouncing back after tough loses is what great teams do, we'll see tomorrow if we have a great team on the South Side of Chicago. 

We got Mark Buehrle on the bump tomorrow against former White Sox and member of the 05 World Series team Jon Garland. First pitch is at 1:10 in the afternoon (weather permitting) and that's going to be over on Comcast Sportsnet. 

Try to get some sleep Sox fans, lets put this one behind us and come out ready tomorrow. 

Sox Offense Pounds Carmona Again

Fausto Carmona's ERA against the Sox is now more dense than the fog that lingered around the Cell on Thursday night. The White Sox offense exploded for 8 runs on 10 hits in Chicago against the Indians right hander. This was nothing new for the Sox this season against Carmona as they pounded him on opening day in Cleveland too.

I was in attendance yet again for Thursday nights game..... Shout-out to my good buddy Andy Pajak for acquiring awesome seats at an awesome price for the game (as seen below).

It was great to see a lot of offensive production, Alexi had a big double, Dunn knocked in a couple, and Paulie had a nice 2 RBI single. This offensive explosion was capped off by a line drive home run by Carlos Quentin in the 5th.

 Gavin Floyd had a nice outing, going 7 innings, only giving up 1 run (in the 1st) on 5 hits. He was the winning pitcher in this one. The bullpen came in and did their job, the only blemish on the bullpen's stat sheet tonight was a solo home run given up by Tony Pena in the 9th.

The White Sox defensive effort was a good one. They did commit 1 error, although it was on a tough attempt at a 6-4 double play (line out to short, throw to first) . Those types of errors are going to happen. Our struggle with errors this season has been minimizing silly mistakes and booting routine plays (which the defense has greatly improved on as of late). Defensive highlights for the Sox included a nice diving play by Alexi and a smooth 4-6-3 double play in the top of the 5th.

Now normally I won't do this, but a defensive highlight from the Indians tonight, was an unreal 1-6-4-3 double play. Thats the pitcher, to the shortstop, to the second basemen, to the first basemen. What happened was, there was a liner up the middle, deflected by the pitcher Joe Smith, away from Cabrera at short, who stops his momentum and bare-hands it and in one motion flips it behind his back to Everett for the force at second who throws it on to LaPorta at first. Just an unreal play. Folks, I was at the game tonight, and I gave Cabrera a standing ovation for that one. Truly a must see play.

(see here: http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2011_05_19_clemlb_chamlb_1&highlight_content_id=14977435&c_id=cle)

This was a huge win for the Sox, for the following reasons:
-Divisional game (swept division leaders)
-Series win (the series victories are starting to stack up)
-Only 5 under .500 now
-Improving the home record and home confidence (as they're home record has been bad so far)
-The offense broke out

We're starting to finally see this team playing to its potential. The offense is coming around, and as I've been saying, couple that with the pitching and defense we've been getting and this team is going to go places. I am really starting to get excited about this team, because as I've been saying, they have too much talent to not be a contender in this division. I think this is the beginning of the end of the Indians fantasy run. I think the team the Sox really have to look out for and worry about keeping up with are the Detroit Tigers. BUT, first, lets get back to .500. Thats our only goal, our only priority right now, get back to even. Once we do that, then we focus on the division.

Tomorrow we have our first inter-league game as the Dodgers come to town. Anyone wanting to get nostalgic can reference the 1959 World Series. First pitch is at 7:10 as Hawk and the Stone Pony will have that one for you over on Comcast Sportsnet. Hopefully the Sox can continue their dominance against the NL this year and continue to climb the ladder.

Finally, some food for thought: Will the Sox be over .500 by June 15?
Let me know what you think by clicking "Yes" or "No" on the poll in the top right corner of the page! Thanks!

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Peavy Blanks Division Leading Indians

Last season Jake Peavy suffered an injury that has never before been seen in the history of the MLB. Ill spare the medical mumbo jumbo, basically a muscle in his arm was completely separated from the bone. I've always respected Jake's tremendous talent, while at the same time being skeptical about him as a member of our Sox (because of his initial hesitation he displayed to come to Chicago). But after what he did last night, Jake, you're A OK in my book.

The red hot Indians came into Chicago for a 2 game series. In my opinion, the biggest series this club has faced all season (so far) for a couple reasons. First of all and most obvious of all, its a divisional game, not only that, its the first place team (don't get me wrong, I don't think the Indians will win this division, nor do I read to far into divisional leaders in mid-may). But in terms of momentum, this 2 gamer is a big one. The Sox have been playing much better lately and are turning things around, as Jake said in his post game interview with knock-out reporter Sarah Kustock "We have to beat the teams in front of us to become the team we want to be." Winning both games would not only bring the Indians that much closer to reality, but would also propel our Sox in the right direction (hopefully). I am looking at this series as not only 2 games closer to .500 and the top of the division, but a major confidence booster for this team. Thats what makes it so big, the mental impact it can have on our guys.

Quick game summary: The Sox put one on the board in the first with a sac fly from Dunn.

That was it for the offense, as the main story here was Peavy and the defense behind him. The defensive effort was capped off by a great sliding catch on the warning track by Brent Lillibridge (who by the way has really earned his spot on this roster, I love the way he has been playing when he gets his chances). No errors for the defense as Jake allowed just 3 lonely hits over 9 innings. As Hawk calls him "The Jakemiester" through one whale of a ball game (if I can steal an Ed Farmer phrase). Peavy throws the complete game, 3 hit, shutout..... who would have guessed it?  In just his 2nd start back. The man was touching 94 mph on the gun in the 9th...Wow. Thats really all you can say. Jake Peavy, this buds for you.

This was the type of game, that honestly, can swing an entire season, one of those games you look back on and say, "yup thats really when it turned around for us." You get your starter throwing an absolute gem, and you hold onto win a 1-0 game. Thats a dogfight right there. Thats huge for the mental makeup of a team.

This is that turnaround I have been talking about for the last month. This club has too much talent in every department to keep losing like they were. We've won 3 of our last 4 series (the one we didn't win was a 2 game split against the Rangers). The game tomorrow is huge for this club. Because without tomorrow, today's game means nothing (in terms of standings and record). We just need to start bunching up wins to get back to .500. Thats the bench mark, .500. We get back there, then we can start really looking at the divisional race. I still think this team will be back at .500 by early to mid June.

Im going to close tonight's post with a little food for thought:
With a 6 man rotation, will our starters be going deeper into games than they would have, had they not had that extra day off? Think about it....

I will be in attendance once again tomorrow night (3rd game in 4 days). Again I will do whatever I can to bring home what would be a HUGE win for this club. First pitch 7:10, Hawk and Stoney will have the call for you over on WCIU with Gavin Floyd on the bump. Go Sox.

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Dallas helps beat Texas

The White Sox recently sent Mark Teahan to the disabled list, opening up a roster spot for newly acquired Dallas McPherson who was just called up from triple A. Dallas pinch hit in the 8th inning, singling up the middle and more importantly, moving Beckham to third, setting up the winning run. I'll be honest Sox fans, I was at this game, I did not think they were going to win with the way it started. John Danks looked awful. Falling behind almost every hitter he faced, his pitch count was at an even 70 through 3 innings! He gave up 3 runs on 4 hits, walking 6. The walks are what killed Johnny tonight. But to his credit, he still managed to give his manager 6.1 innings, setting up another spectacular outing for the bullpen (Crain and Santos combined for 2.3 innings, giving up 1 hit and no runs out of the pen, Crain getting the win and Santos recording the save)

The offense has been struggling again to put up runs, mainly highlighted by double plays and failing to capitalize, stranding a ton of base-runners. BUT Brent Morel capitalized on 2 walks in the 8th. After a walk to Quentin and Rios, Morel stepped in and with a 1-2 count hit a missile into the left center field bleachers to tie the game.

The winning run was set up by a Beckham walk and a Dallas McPherson, White Sox debut, single up the middle. What I loved about McPherson's single was that he came up to the plate hacking. He sat first pitch, got what he was looking for and drilled it. Thats what I love to see, especially with an offense that has been struggling like the Sox have been. The winning run, came across to score after a wild pitch with Beckham on third. Another sign that our luck is changing. Now we just need to start hitting.

It was great being there and seeing a comeback win after such an awful start. But, I was just informed by my friend Pat who was at the game with me, that we made it on TV after the winning run scored. Which luckily is in the highlight on Whitesox.com. Although the stupid Comcast Sportsnet scoreboard is blocking most of my face, its still pretty cool to see yourself on TV.

(I just paused the highlight and took a screen shot of it) Anyway, it was a good time, a lot better than Monday night, besides catching a ball in batting practice, the night was a total loss. Which is why I didn't write about it. If I ever don't post after a Sox game, its because A) I was too busy B) They played soooo poorly that I had nothing positive to say. Monday was one of those games.

Anyway, we NEED this offense to get going, they are getting good outings from starters and great work from the bullpen guys. I still have high hopes and expectations for this team, they just need to break out. As JP in the movie, Angels in the Outfield always said: "It could happen." And it will happen

We have the red hot, division leading Cleveland Indians (never thought I'd use the phrase, "red hot" or "division leading" in the same sentence as "Cleveland Indians") coming into town tomorrow for a 2 game set. Game 1 tomorrow is going to be over on Comcast Sportsnet at 7:10. We have Peavy on the bump, hopefully we can bring these Indians back down to earth.

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Sox Wave Goodbye to West Coast Woes with Win

Let me just start out by saying that I love watching Omar Vizquel play the game of baseball. The man is 44 years old and is more reliable than most guys on this team. He was 2-3 again today with a run scored and a huge sac bunt. Basically, he was doing it all. Anyways, the Sox went into the rubber match of this 3 game series in Oakland, looking to take their 3rd consecutive series (all on the West Coast). To be honest, I had low expectations for Sunday's game, as Cahill (A's starting pitcher) has been very tough this season and Buerhle has always struggled in Oakland. Ramirez drew first blood with a line drive homerun in the 4th, kicking off what proved to be a great day at the plate for him. Oakland answered back in the 5th, not to be out done, the Sox answered back in the 6th with a sacrifice missile to center field off the bat of Quentin.

Turning point in this game was the 7th. Rios leads it off with a double down the left field line. Here’s where momentum and a little bit of luck shifts towards the Sox. Omar lays down a nice sacrifice bunt, Cahill off the mound, fields it and throws it down the right field line, allowing Rios to score and Omar to go into second. Beckham then sacrifices Omar to third to set up a struggling Pierre (to fail once again). Pierre fails to lay down a squeeze bunt... TWICE... once to go with him being picked off of first base in the 1st inning and once to go with his Carl Winslow mustache... 

Anyway, Pierre grounds out after an awful showing at the plate, to set up Alexi to knock in Omar and what would prove to be the winning run. 

Offensive line highlights:

- Alexi, 3-4 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBIs (one being the game winner)

- Konerko, 2-4 (he's been doing it all, hitting to all fields, he’s hitting .327 folks)

- Vizquel, 2-4 one run scored and a sacrifice (proving, once again, age is just a number)

Lets talk about pitching and defense here real quick. The big story was Mark Buerhle. Usually terrible in Oakland, really stepped up for us today. He didn't have his great stuff, falling behind in counts early in the game, but he settled in as the game went on, shutting out the A's until the 6th inning. The line on Mark, 6.1 innings pitched, 3 earned runs, 6 K's and 3 walks. He battled out there.

The bullpen stepped up big for us once again. Crain came in for Buerhle in the 7th, had a little bit of a rocky start, but had good damage control as he inherited Buerhle's base runners. Thornton looked good again (which is a great sign for us) and Santo's, proving even further he is our closer, came in, walked the lead off man, but pitched over that walk, closing the door and setting a W in stone for the Sox. The bullpen looked solid, Sox fans, that is a great sign for us; the bullpen is going to be a HUGE factor in our success this season. They have been proving lately that their early season struggles were a fluke (just as this White Sox optimist has been saying all along).

Finally, a quick note on the defense. No errors again today, capped off by a great 4-3 unassisted double play turned by my man, Gordon Beckham. Took a rocket, in between hop up the middle on the backhand, ran and touched second and fired a bullet to Dunn at first. Beautiful. The defense has really been coming around as well, which is also a nice sign for us because we do have a solid defensive club.

Well to wrap up the West Coast trip, I would say it was a pleasant surprise (understatement of the month). Going out there, with the way we were playing combined with our West Coast history, I thought this road trip might burry this club. They proved me wrong. They won all 3 series, 2 of those wins were come from behind wins in the late innings and a lot of them were close. 

What does this tell us? Southsiders, it confirms what I have been saying this entire season: this team is coming around. The bullpen has been lights out, the defense has been solid, and the bats are waking up. The great news is, they still aren't quite playing to their potential, which means we still have a lot more in store for us. Now that the West Coast trip is over and we're approaching divisional/interleague play and our home stands are becoming more frequent, this team is really going to show you a lot. That is what I have been saying all year and I am anxious for them to break out. Its close friends, it really is. We have A LOT of baseball ahead of us, just keep an eye on the little things the Sox have been improving on, because those add up and become big things.

Now we come home for 2 with Texas and 2 with the division leading Indians and 3 with the Dodgers. We need to capitalize on this home stand. First, lets take care of the AL Champion Rangers tomorrow. We have Edwin Jackson on the bump and that game is going to be over on Comcast Sportsnet with the first pitch at 7:10. My beautiful girlfriend and I will be in attendance at this game and I will do all I can to bring home that W.

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Typical Oakland Outting for the Sox

Welp, we knew it had to happen at least once on this West Coast trip. The dreaded "typical" Oakland game. That’s exactly what we had today. Right out of the gate you could just tell it was not going to be a good one for the Sox. Tyson Ross, who has come on for Oakland and done a nice job in place of an injured Dallas Braden, took the mound today for the A's and completely shut the Sox down. There were a few innings we were able to put a few men on base, we just couldn't capitalize. Our hitters just looked bad from the start; their plate approach was off, their at-bats were horrendous, no one could really pick up Ross's short and quick release. It just looked like a lost cause from the get go. Meanwhile the A's caught all the breaks and hit the ball hard. Just like a said, a typical Sox game in Oakland...

The defining moment for me in this game came in the 4th inning. Alexi led off with a walk, followed by an Adam Dunn double, giving the Sox 2nd and 3rd, no outs. A HUGE opportunity to cash in and make Ross work on that mound. What happened next just confirmed even further my dislike for Alexi Ramirez. Paulie, in an attempt to bring one in and move one over, tried hitting the ball the other way, unfortunately his line drive was caught by the first basemen Barton....... who then threw the ball across the diamond, to double off Alexi Ramirez, who for whatever reason was off on contact. Now folks, what is it that you learn in little league about base running when someone hits a line drive with less than 2 outs? YOU FREEZE AND MAKE SURE IT GETS THROUGH!! Good Lord, I couldn’t even believe it, where in the hell does he think he's going on that play? Either way, thank you Alexi, for killing a rally, a potentially huge and game changing inning, and most importantly, minimizing Ross's pitch count! We needed to get him out of there as soon as possible! That inning could have required him to throw a lot more pitches, running up his pitch count (thus knocking him out earlier than the 8th inning...) 

I just don't understand where our heads are sometimes on this team. I have seen more errors and stupid mistakes already this year, than I think I ever have in all my years watching baseball. Its no wonder our record is so bad. 

Paulie provided the only offense, blasting a 2 run bomb in the 6th.

Here’s another thing... does anyone want to do me a favor and remind Juan Pierre that he’s a leadoff man? Because he needs to start acting like one. He has really been putting together some awful at bats lately. He's not taking as many pitches as he should be, he’s trying to bunt in situations that don't call for it, and most of all, he has been hitting so many fly balls to the outfield! He’s a lead off man for Christ's sake! Hit the ball on the ground! The offense is struggling because he doesn't get on base anymore, we need that jump-start, we need that threat on the base paths to get the offense going. Its been very frustrating watching him hit lately. 

Anyway, not to rag on the team too much, just some things I've noticed. But still, the road trip has been a pleasant surprise, you can't win them all (especially on the West Coast). Lets just hope things continue to turn around like they are, so when we come home this week we can really start playing some ball. 

Mark Buehrle has never had good luck in Oakland (at all), we have him on the bump tomorrow against a very tough Trevor Cahill. Lets just hope we pull this one out tomorrow, because it would be a HUGE win for this club, capping off a great road trip. 

That game is going to be a 3:05 start over on Comcast Sportsnet

We need you Mark, lets hope the offense can get to Cahill early and Buehrle finally finds some success in Oak town. 

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Angelic comeback for Peavy/The Sox and Athletic in Oakland

Again, I would like to start by apologizing for not posting after Wednesday night's game, I've just been really busy. I will get back to posting daily here shortly, so hang with me.

Lets start on Wednesday in the series finale in Anaheim. For the first 7 innings, I was deathly afraid that I had jinxed the offense with my  "West Coast Offense" post. The offense struggled with timely hitting again, stranding a small village on the base-paths.  Well, I'll be honest here Sox fans, I did not think they were going to pull that one off on Wednesday, especially after the blown call in the 7th on a stolen base at second which would have ended the inning, came around to score. BUT, the Palehosers proved me wrong. Putting up one run and a mild offensive threat in the 8th and a stellar display of heart to add 2 more in the 9th. Omar Visquel AGAIN, proving age is just a number at 44 drove in the tying run, capping off a 2 hit, 2 walk 9th inning where the Sox sent 7 men to the plate. It was truly awesome to see this team come out and battle back in the 9th. Not only that, but to come back and put 2 more on the board in the 10th, highlighted by a Dunn double and an intentional walk wild pitch.

Let me just say here people, that wild pitch on the intentional walk is HUGE for us. Not only did it give us the winning run, but Sox fans, we're starting to catch breaks. In baseball sometimes its better to be lucky than to be good. There is an invisible force in baseball, it controls momentum and flow. For the better of 3 weeks the White Sox could not catch a break to save their lives, these little corky things that are starting to go our way just goes to show that the baseball gods are shifting this force in our favor and with that comes wins. Call me crazy, but thats just how it goes.

Big story for this game as well, was the return of Jake Peavy. Jake looked pretty decent, scattering 7 hits and 4 runs over 6 innings, not great, but not horrible considering. In all fairness he didn't get much help from his left fielder on a ball that was ruled a hit but should have been caught (costed him a run) and a blown call at second base on what should have been an assist for AJ as he gunned him down, the runner was called safe, next pitch, came around to score (another run charged to Jake). Really could have been 5 hits and 2 runs over 6 innings. Again, not bad, but most importantly, he looked healthy. With this 6 man rotation, Peavy is going to need to step it up and pitch like he's capable, he does that, expect big things out of this team.

Offensively, the Sox hit the ball, they put guys on base, the only problem was, we stranded A LOT of men on base. But we racked up 15 hits (A great sign) Adam Dunn is starting to heat up (Another great sign) He hit a homerun that as Hawk Harrelson said "The Grand Canyon wouldn't have held." It was an absolute bomb. Quick line on the notable offensive performances: Dunn was 4 for 5 with 3 runs scored, a walk, a dinger and a double (just a monster day). AJ was 4 for 6 with a huge RBI in the 9th and a double. The rest of the guys scattered 7 hits, just needed some better timing on some of those hits and the game wouldn't have even have needed extra frames. But it shows that the offense is coming around, which is HUGE for this club right now. With the pitching we've been getting, the offense coming around is great news.

Anyway, after the wild pitch we tack on an insurance run and head to the bottom of the 10th with a 6-4 lead. Cue Matt Thornton. Thornton came out looking like his old self again (minus the beard).  He went 3 up 3 down to earn his first save of the year. BUT, in case you still haven't seen it, Paulie, the Captain, made 2 PHENOMENAL plays at first in the 10th. One on a line-drive over his head that he jumped and snow-coned, robbing Izturis of extra bases. And then one of the plays of the year (to end the game)

Tori Hunter is up and he shows bunt (for some reason).

                                          Bunts it towards first base.

                                           Paulie Runs in, Bare-Hands

                                   FLIPS IT BEHIND THE BACK to a sprinting Thornton who....

                                          BARE-HANDS it himself and...

                                          Beats Hunter to the bag by a step!!

Gordon Beckham Jumps in the air like a giddy school girl as Thornton Celebrates (Love it, I was just as giddy as Beckham after that play)

Just a nasty play and what I loved about it was the celebration/relief you could see coming from the Sox dugout. Finally, a come from behind win, the bullpen shuts it down, the defense shows up. You could just see this collective sigh as if to say "The losing streak from hell is over." Just a great win for the Sox, just what they needed going into Oakland.....

Ok, now onto Friday night in Oak town. The Sox had one big inning in the 2nd, sending 8 men to the plate an plating 4 runs. Again, we caught another big break, as Brandon McCarthy attempted to pick Pierre off of first and threw the ball down the right field line. Just another example of the baseball balance shifting back towards favoring the Sox. This inning was highlighted by a 2 run double by Omar Vizquel, again showing age isn't worth a damn. Humber has one bad inning (the 7th) giving up a parade of jam shot singles, he's pulled after 6 innings pitched to make way for Jesse Crain who nails it down and pitches out of it, minimizing the damage. The Sox give up 3 that inning. Making it a 4-3 game. The defining moment in this one, Thornton comes on in the 8th and walks Coco Crisp, who ends up at third base with 2 outs. What happened next boggled my mind. Crisp, apparently channeling his inner Jackie Robinson, tries to steal home outright. Fast ball comes in from Thornton, AJ catches it and dives forward, tagging Crisp as he slides into home trying to tie the game. The Home-plate ump rings him up, we'll go to the 9th, still leading by one. Santos comes on in the 9th, 1-2-3 nails it down. White Sox winner.

Big story again for me on Friday night was Phil Humber, he pitched a Whale of a ball game, only had trouble in one inning, which really was unlucky. He gave up 3 soft, jam shot singles. Nothing you can do about those. But what was big for me, was after we scored our runs in the 4th, he came out and just shut it down, that has been a problem for this pitching staff, preserving runs. Especially since the offense has struggled to put runs on the board, its totally detrimental to the offense for our pitcher to come out right after the bats put a couple tallies on the board and give the runs right back. Humber came out and shut the A's down completely. He preserved that lead, thus preserving the offense's confidence. He was huge in this win. He has earned his spot in the rotation.

This was a huge win for our Sox people, we never win in Oakland (or on the West Coast for that matter) But coming off of a huge comeback win on Wednesday and sitting through an off day, to come out and find a way to win again on Friday has got to be big for the psyche of this team. As I have been saying all along, when this offense starts hitting, this team is going to stack up the Wins.

I am making this proclamation/prediction right now. You mark my words, on the 4th of July your Chicago White Sox will be in first place in the AL Central. Bold? Maybe, but look at their schedule in June..... This team will explode. Just remember you heard it here first.

Alright, we got the 2nd game of the Oakland series tomorrow at 3:05 and thats over on Comcast Sportsnet.

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West Coast Offense

Hey all, I first would just like to apologize, I know it has been a while since I last posted. Between final exams and the frustrating way the White Sox had been playing, I didn't have much to say or much time to say it in.

Ok, so the Sox go out to the West Coast to get their usual West Coast woes out of the way..... or so we thought. Let me flashback to 3 games ago now, on Mother's Day, in Seattle. This was the game that I think is going to be looked back upon as the turning point in our season. Offense is struggling a little bit throughout the game, we're getting a great pitching performance out of our starter.... again. The bullpen comes in and nails it down. That was the first big key. Then in the top of the 10th, the White Sox string some hits together, they get production from guys who have really been struggling, guys like Rios, Dunn, Beckham. Big hits, they throw a 3 spot on the board and win the game. Next 2 games, the offense has been scoring runs, they look more confident. Thats huge, because the pitching has been SOLID as of late. We go into Anaheim last night and shut out the Angels while putting 8 runs on the board.  You can just see the confidence coming back to this offense. Which is absolutely huge, because I've been saying all along, when this offense comes around, this team is going to be fun to watch. Another big one tonight in Anaheim, we got Danks on the mound, lets get him a win huh? No better time than tonight to get him his first win, because we all know, he deserves a lot better run support than he's been getting.

This offense has really started to turn it around, and on the West Coast of all places. I didn't see that one coming, I honestly thought this road trip was just going to make things worse because of the way they always play out there. But hey, I'll take it, no better place to get things going!

Another quick point I'd like to touch base on, the White Sox have announced they will go to a 6 man rotation with the return of Jake Peavy. Interesting move, I've never seen this done, but you cannot argue with the job Phil Humber has done in the 5 spot. With Peavy coming back and an extra days rest for each starter, this combination has the chance to really shut down some opposing bats. I'm a little bit of a purist when it comes to baseball, so I wasn't sure what to think about a 6 man rotation, BUT, that extra day off could be huge for our guys. They have been pitching sooo well on 5 days rest, I can only think an extra day will help their outings.  I'm also interested to see how Peavy is going to hold up. Sox fans, if Peavy comes back and pitches like himself and stays healthy, with the way this offense is coming around, and how the other 5 starters have been lights out, couple that with the bullpen settling in, sit back relax and strap it down, this team is going to start charging in the standings.

I have been saying throughout this entire losing streak that this team WILL make a run. Mark my words Southsiders, they're about the break out. There is still a ton of time left and this team, in my opinion, is the best team that Ken Williams has every put on the field. Yes, better than the 05 team, give them time and watch them gel. I STILL think this is going to be a special year.

9:05 start tonight, thats over on comcast sportsnet. Big one tonight Sox fans. Lets get the W