White Sox, Tigers Will Play Doubleheader July 24

The White Sox and Tigers will make up their rained out game from last week on Friday, July 24 in the form of a day-night doubleheader. Gametimes that day are now 12:05 PM Central time for the first game and 6:05 PM for the 2nd. The change has already been made to the official schedule.

The Big Hurt Loves Him Some ZizZazz

There is really no explanation needed.

Jose Contreras's Job in Jeopardy?

That's the word according to Mark Gonzales. After a third straight subpar start, the Sox might be taking a look around the organization for a replacement while he gets his head and arm screwed on right.

My take... The grass isn't always greener on the other side, despite what this Sox-fan blogger may believe. Yes, Jose is going through some troubles, but look at our organizational depth. Is there really anyone there that you can say has a better chance of being a quality MLB starter in 2009 than The Count has of figuring out his problems? I really don't know if I'm willing to trust Richard, Egbert, Broadway, or Marquez any more than I am willing to believe Contreras can overcome his early season struggles (a belief that, admittedly becomes shakier and shakier with each passing start). After three starts, I believe it's too early to start yanking guys.

That said, you can't completely pin this loss on Jose, the three runs the Sox scored off Bergesen tonight were 1 more than the Knights scored off him last week in Charlotte, and the Knights are probably the worst team in the International League. Yes, the curse of the "MLB Debut" continues for the Sox.

Whatever. Sometimes you lose. At least Alexei swung the bat well today.

Chicago Tribune recap / Chicago Sun-Times recap / MLB.com Wrap / B-R.com Box Score & PBP

Series Preview... at Baltimore, April 21-23

The White Sox round out their 10-game road trip with three in Baltimore to face the slumping Orioles. One week ago, the Orioles were fresh off a 7-5 win over the Rangers, pushing their record to 6-2, tied for best in the American League. Since then, they've lost 5 in a row, including a 4-game sweep at Fenway Park. They now sit at 6-7, a game out of last place in the American League East.

SERIES... at Oriole Park at Camden Yards; all three games start at 6:05 PM Chicago time.

TUESDAY'S PROBABLES... Jose Contreras (0-2, 6.97) vs. Brad Bergesen (MLB Debut)

WEDNESDAY'S PROBABLES... John Danks (1-0, 0.75) vs. Jeremy Guthrie (2-0, 4.32)

THURSDAY'S PROBABLES... Bartolo Colon (1-0, 3.86) vs. Adam Eaton (0-2, 11.25)

INJURY UPDATE... Orioles CF Adam Jones, one of their young up and coming superstars, is expected to return to the lineup tonight after leaving Sunday's game and missing Monday's with a tight hamstring. Hamstring injuries can be nagging, though, so I'll believe it when I see it.

The Orioles, however, will definitely be without Melvin Mora and Ryan Freel. Mora was placed on the DL last week with a hamstring injury and Freel was placed on the 15-Day Disabled List today after taking an errant pick-off throw to the head during yesterday's loss to Boston.

WHO'S HOT... Adam Jones. Even with missing a game and a half this past week, he's the only Oriole who has hit multiple HR over the past week and has hit .400/.571/.867.

WHO'S NOT... The O's pitching staff; Overall, the staff has an ERA of 6.69, 2nd worst in the American League but their bullpen has been especially rough, with an ERA of 8.12 this season, again, good for 2nd worst in the American League. The main culprits in the bullpen have been Brian Bass and Radhames Liz, who have ERAs of 11.57 and (not joking here) 67.50 respectively. Liz has allowed 10 earned runs and recorded only 4 outs this season and has a WHIP of 7.500.

WELCOME TO THE SHOW, BRAD... Tonight's projected starter for the O's is Brad Bergesen, who will be making his MLB Debut. He was selected by the Orioles in the 4th round of the 2004 Draft. The 23-year-old righty steadily worked his way up the organization over the years, but broke through last season at AA Bowie, where he started 23 games and posted a 15-6 record with a 3.22 ERA. He had an impressive spring for the Birds, but was sent to AAA Norfolk, where in 2 starts he has posted a 1-1 record and 2.45 ERA, however injury to Alfredo Simon and the massive incompetence of Liz have opened an opportunity for Bergesen.

MacDOUGAL GONE, EGBERT UP... The White Sox mercifully ended the Mike MacDougal Era today, designating the ineffective reliever for assignment. Jack Egbert will take his role in the Sox bullpen. Egbert's been less than great in Charlotte, but at this point, I'm willing to try anything.

ONE FINAL THOUGHT... A lot has been made of Bobby Jenks' struggles with the Orioles, and while it is true that Jenks has been tagged by Baltimore in the past (1-2 record, 8.49 ERA in 13 appearances against them), a lot of that seems to be luck. Jenks' BABIP against Baltimore is a shocking .512. .512!. That is over 200 points higher than his career BABIP of .291 and easily the highest against any team he has faced more than once. The current members of the Orioles, however, have not hit Jenks well historically, the current roster has a total of 5 hits off Jenks in 28 career plate appearances, and 3 of them belong to Brian Roberts (Nick Markakis and Aubrey Huff own the other two).

Poor End in Detroit, Good(ish) Start in Tampa Bay

Yeah, I'm a day late on the Tigers/Sox game from Wednesday, but there's not much about that affair I want to relive. Sometimes you just lose, and it looks like Wednesday's series ender in Detroit was just one of those games.

It'd be easy to pin that loss on another tough day at the plate for the Sox, but I don't think that paints the whole story. Armando Galarraga is just a good pitcher, and it's time people start realizing that. The more dissapointing aspect of that 9-0 loss was Jose's collapse toward the end of his outing, however, I remain optimistic. After his first two starts last year, Jose was 0-1 with a 6.17 ERA, with a .340 BAA in 11.2 IP. This year, he is 0-2 with a 6.97 ERA and has a .267 BAA in 10.2 IP. In 2008, he went 6-2 over his next 10 starts, posting a 2.19 ERA and holding opposing teams to a .191 BAA in 70 innings until arm problems started affecting him in early June. I think he just needs some time to work this out.

I don't have much else to say about that game, so I'll leave you with this good piece from South Side Sox, especially focus on the part about Jose's forkball. I've noticed he doesn't seem to be throwing it much so far this year. In fact the only thing he's been doing has been dropping his arm down for some reason, because every time he does it seems like he lays a fastball right in someone's wheelhouse.

WEDNESDAY: Tribune recap \ Sun-Times recap \ MLB.com Wrap \ B-R.com Box Score & PBP

I'll update this post later today with some thoughts on yesterdy's win. Check back!

Royals Lose Alex Gordon

A tear in the labrial cartilage of his right hip will send Royals 3B Alex Gordon to the 15-day Disabled List. Yes, that is the same injury Alex Rodriguez suffered in Spring Training, so I'm guessing recovery time is about the same, though I can't find anything to confirm that as the only news that exists right now is a regurgitated, 5-paragraph AP report.

Series Preview... at Tampa Bay, April 16-19

SERIES: at Tropicana Field; Thursday, Friday, and Saturday all are night games while Sunday's first pitch is at 12:38 PM Chicago time.

THURSDAY'S PROBABLES: John Danks (0-0, 0.00) vs. Jeff Niemann (0-1, 10.13)
FRIDAY'S PROBABLES: Bartolo Colon (1-0, 0.00) vs. James Shields (1-1, 3.65)
SATURDAY'S PROBABLES: Mark Buehrle (1-0, 2.38) vs. Scott Kazmir (2-0, 2.84)
SUNDAY'S PROBABLES: Gavin Floyd (1-1, 6.00) vs. Matt Garza (1-0, 1.93)

Obviously, this series is a rematch of last year's ALDS that the Rays took 3-1 from the Sox en route to the American League Championship. Despite their well documented dome woes last year, the Sox were 3-4 at Tropicana Field in 2008, though they did lose their last 3 games in Tampa. The Sox were 1-3 last year in their games against the Rays started by one of the four projected starters this series.

DOME WOES - Already mentioned, but the Sox really struggled under roofs in 2008; winning only 4 of 20 games in domes last year. They hit 31 points lower indoors than out (.236 v .267). One of the few players to swing well inside was Alexei Ramirez, who hit .340/.340/.532. Jermaine Dye, however, hit .163/.213/.275 indoors.

WHO'S HOT - No surprise that Evan Longoria has gotten off to a scorching start. He is currently hitting .441 over his first 8 games of the 2009 season, with an American League leading 5 home runs. However, Longoria will miss tonight's game, as he is home in California attending to a family matter. That said, its pick your poison with the Rays right now. Carlos Pena has 3 HR in the last 7 days and is hitting .321/.387/.714 in that time span, and Jason Bartlett is hitting .346/.370/.654, as well.

WHO'S NOT - Tonight's starter Jeff Niemann had a forgettable first start of the 2009 season, allowing 6 earned runs over 5.1 innings in a 6-0 loss at Baltimore Saturday, however, most of those runs came in the first frame; an inning highlighted by a Melvin Mora grand slam. Though he would appear to be a perfect candidate for the "unknown pitcher who comes out of nowhere to completely baffle the White Sox," never fret; one of Niemann's 5 starts in 2008 came against the Sox and he was soundly rocked; 5 ER, 8 R, 5 H, 4 BB over 3.1 IP in a loss on April 18.

NOT TO TOOT MY OWN HORN, BUT - The Rays were a very chic pick to make another run at the A.L. East crown and go deep in the play-offs, but I was more skeptical. My main reason; Tampa's bullpen, which posted an AL-worst 6.16 ERA in 2007 and then one of the AL's best 3.55 ERA in 2008. Bullpens can be notoriously inconsistent over the course of even a year, so it's no surprise to me that one of the main reasons being discussed on the Gulf Coast for the Rays' slower than expected 4-5 start is their bullpen. Currently, the Rays' bullpen has a 5.63 ERA, good for 10th out of the 14-team American League.

AND IN WHITE SOX NEWS - Chris Getz will be back at the top of the lineup tonight. After missing both games against the Tigers this week, Ozzie told MLB.com's Scott Merkin that Getz will resume his role as second baseman/lead-off hitter. The Sox also have realigned their pitching rotation. John Danks was supposed to get the start Tuesday in Detroit, but that game was rained out. Jose Contreras kept his regular spot in the rotation, in yesterday's loss, but Danks will start tonight and push everyone back a day.

ONE FINAL MATCHUP TO WATCH - Danks, Buehrle, and any other lefty vs. Tampa Bay's offense. If there was one Achilles' heel to last year's American League champs, it was their struggles against left-handed pitching. The Rays posted the 2nd worst batting average (.246) against lefties in 2008 and they were only 25-24 in games against opposing southpaws. John Danks has collectively held the Rays' current lineup to a .260/.316/.397 line in 79 combined plate apperances, while Buehrle has held them to a .268/.307/.357 line in 181 combined PAs. Only Carlos Pena, with 1 HR against each, has homered off the pair. Hell, even Clayton Richard had a great outing against these guys last year. It certainly doesn't hurt to start half your games against these guys with lefties.

Today's White Sox-Tigers Game Postponed

According to the Chicago Tribune, today's game agaisnt the Tigers is being postponed due to rain. No make-up date is available, but since they didn't even try to wait this rain out for more than 10 minutes before calling the game, I'm guessing they're not going to try a day-night doubleheader tomorrow, either.

After tomorrow, the Sox have two 3-game series left in Detroit; the first at the end of July; Friday 24-Sunday 26, and the second the very last series of the season, October 2-4. I'm guessing one of those 6 days will have a double-header, since the Sox and Tigers don't share an off day around any of those series, except for Monday, October 5, which would be the day after the regular season was supposed to have ended. Actually, the Sox and Tigers apparently only share 3 off days the rest of the season (that aren't part of the All-Star Break); April 30, June 15, and June 22.

Bad News for Dewayne Wise

After injuring his shoulder yesterday, Dewayne Wise was sent back to Chicago for further testing, and according to Mark Gonzales at the Tribune, the diagnosis is a Grade III shoulder separation; the most severe type of shoulder separation you can realistically get without suffering from major physical trauma (such as being in a car accident). According to Wikipedia (take this FWIW), the healing time required to come back could be up to 12 weeks. You can also check out this site, maintained by an orthopaedic clinic in Colorado, that's got some good information for those of you looking for a more authoritative source.

Regardless of your feelings about Dewayne playing everyday in center for the Sox, it's tough to see a 31-year-old, after toiling through almost 1,000 career minor league games cut short what will probably be his last real chance to play everyday at the Majors, especially after he'd been playing well since moving down in the line-up.

The Sox purchased Jerry Owens' contract from Charlotte and added him to the 25-man roster, but Brian Anderson will be starting today in center field.

Nick Swisher, Relief Pitcher

Yeah, last night was not a great night to be a Yankee, as the Rays crushed New York, 15-5. Normally, this game wouldn't get any play here at all, save for the fact that the Yankees were so decimated and their bullpen so overtaxed through 1 week, that they resorted to having Nick Swisher pitch the 8th inning, and despite blazing fastballs in the mid-70s, he managed to last a full inning, striking out 1 (Gabe Kapler) and allowing no runs.

It's been a good start for the ex-Sox castaway who is currently leading the American League with a 1.150 slugging percentage and batting third for the New Yor Yankees. And it's good to see he's kep that goofy sense of humor about himself, despite the bold predictions from disgruntled Sox fans who thought New York would swallow him whole. From Newsday,

I wanted to try to compete, even though I am out there pumping 78 [mph] or whatever," he said. "You've got to find something to laugh about in that moment. If I'm the guy everybody's laughing at, I'm OK with that.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

This is apparently "unintentional movie reference series," but the White Sox won their first road game of the 2009 season, 10-6 against the Tigers at Comerica Field yesterday behind an offense that is currently clicking on all cylinders. Yes, the eternal pessimist will point to the fact that 5 of the Sox's 10 runs came via 4 homers, but that's really missing the forest for the trees. The Sox scored early and often, mixing some good situational hitting with a couple of their patented home runs, sensational defense, and the pitching was... enough.

Chicago Tribune recap \ Chicago Sun-Times recap \ MLB.com Wrap \ B-R.com Box Score & PBP

THE GOOD

• As posted earlier, Jermaine Dye and Paul Konerko's back-to-back home runs in the 2nd inning were the 300th of each of their careers. It is indeed the first time 2 teammates have ever hit a pair of such milestone home runs in the same game.
• Carlos Quentin hopefully put any doubts aside anyone has about the effects last year's wrist injury may still have. He clubbed a pair of homers, a two-run bomb off Zach Miner in the 4th that chased the Tiger starter and then a solo shot in the 6th off Eddie Bonine that he pretty much muscled out of spacious Comerica Field with one hand. Quentin now has 4 home runs in his last 4 games and is one off the pace of league leader Evan Longoria.
• Josh Fields and Dewayne Wise, both question marks at the start of the year had solid games again at the plate and in the field; Wise was 1-3 and since being moved to the bottom of the order, had been hitting .385. However, he separated his shoulder making a spectacular running catch in the 5th inning to help preserve a win for Gavin Floyd. Fields, meanwhile was 1-5 with a walk and scored a pair of runs, but made another nice play at third in the 8th, again, with the Tigers threatening.

THE BAD

• With Dewayne Wise sidelined for anywhere from 4-8 weeks, the Sox have recalled Jerry Owens from Charlotte. Yay.
• Brent Lillibridge got the start for the injured Chris Getz at 2nd and leading off and it was more the same for the Sox lead-off hitters. Lillibridge was 1-6 on the day with three strikeouts. Yes, his double to lead off the third inning sparked a 4-run "smartball" rally in the inning, but otherwise he was pretty brutal at the plate, striking out his final three appearances at the dish.

THE UGLY

• Gavin Floyd won his first game of the season despite his best efforts. He managed to get through only 5 innings, walking seven Tigers and allowing 6 earned runs. It seemed like every time the Sox staked him to a lead, he'd try his best to cough it up.
• DJ Carrasco had another scary outing, as well. With the Sox up 10-6, Carrasco relieved Floyd in the 6th and after getting Granderson to fly out, he immediately loaded the bases. Yet, somehow, he wiggled out his jam, too, striking out Carlos Guillen and then getting Ramon Santiago to ground back to him harmlessly. Still, I could have done without the drama.

Congratulations, Jermaine Dye & Paul Konerko (Update)

Jermaine Dye just took Zach Miner deep to lead off the 2nd inning for a 1-0 White Sox lead, but that home run is special because it is #300 for his underrated, but illustrious career. And speaking of milestones, he is currently 5 RBI shy for 1,000.

Gavin looked good in the 1st. Let's hope he can make this stick.

UPDATE: Paul Konerko just went back-to-back with Dye off Miner, for his 300th career homer, as well. I'm not even going to begin to speculate whether or not two teammates have ever hit their 300th career home runs in the same game, let alone in simulatenous at bats. Regardless, this is certainly something special that we likely won't see again for years, if again in our lifetimes.

Oh, and Paul is currently 40 RBI short of the 1,000 RBI plateau.

And as for the movie poster, well, they will be dining in Detroit tonight, so I figured the quote is still applicable.

Chris Getz Out of Line-Up

Bummer for Chris Getz as he will sit out today's game against the Tigers with a bruised arm. Getz is a native of suburban Detroit and played baseball at the University of Michigan, so this series was something of a homecoming for him. Brent Lillibridge, who started Saturday, will take over duties at 2B and leading off, presumably until Getz is ready to play again. Not sure when that will be however, Ozzie Guillen has already labeled him unlikely to play tomorrow, as well.

The Sox are currently hitting .041 from the lead-off position and have a .200 OBP mostly thanks to Lillibridge's 2 walks Saturday. Needless to say, the lead-off hitter has been the most disappointing area of the team after 1 week of play. I think most people knew the Sox weren't going to have a Rickey Henderson-esque lead-off hitter but this is beyond ridiculous.

The Sox needed only 5 games to go through 3 separate lead-off hitters, which seems to be a new franchise benchmark for futility at the top of the lineup. Ironically, however, the only season that seems to have started with as much uncertainty at the top of the order in the past 20 years was (you guessed it), 2005, when the Sox featured 4 separate lead-off hitters through the team's first 10 games; as far as I can tell, '05 and now '09 are the only 2 seasons since 1990 that the Sox have started more then 2 lead-off hitters through the team's first 10 games; in '05 Scott Podsednik, Pablo Ozuna, Willie Harris, and Timo Perez all lead-off by April 15 (Game 10).

Upcoming Series... at Detroit, April 13-15

SERIES: at Comerica Park, Monday-Wednesday; all three games start at 1:05 PM Eastern Time, or just after noon here in the Central Time Zone.

CURRENT STANDING: The Tigers are 4-3, currently 1st place in the A.L. Central, 1/2 game ahead of the Sox and are undefeated (3-0) at Comerica this season.

MONDAY'S PROBABLES: Gavin Floyd (0-1, 2.57) vs. Zach Miner (1-0, 1.59)

TUESDAY'S PROBABLES: John Danks (0-0, 0.00) vs. Rick Porcello (0-1, 7.20)

WEDNESDAY'S PROBABLES: Jose Contreras (0-1, 7.20) vs. Armando Galarraga (1-0, 1.29)

After an embarrassing opening series in Toronto, the Tigers righted their ship in a big way, sweeping previously unbeaten Texas at home and taking sole possession of 1st place in the Central division along the way; their 4-3 mark is 1 win better than both the Sox and Royals. Of course, any time Gavin is set to pitch against Detroit, we have to point out his impressive career numbers against the Tigers; 9 games, all of them starts, a 4-0 record and a 3.23 ERA with 41 strikeouts and just 15 walks in 53 IP. He's even better at Comerica, where 4 of those starts have taken place and he's 2-0 with a 2.62 ERA. If there's one guy to worry about with Gavin, its Placido Polanco, who has a career .381/.458/.667 line against Gavin in 24 career plate appearances, though he was substantially better against Gavin in 2007 than 2008.

It's also noteworthy that the Sox have dominated the Tigers in Detroit since they moved to Comerica Park in 2000, going 49-32 at Detroit during that span, the most wins the Sox have recorded at any park outside of Chicago since 2000. This past decade, the Tigers have only won the season series against the Sox once (2004, when they won 11 of 19 games).

The Tigers have been getting it done with their offense. They rank near the top of the American League in most major offensive categories; notably Runs Scored (41, 2nd), Team Batting Average (.284, 3rd), and AB per HR (23.2, 4th). Individually, Miguel Cabrera is leading the charge, with a .520 BA after the first week of the season, 2nd in the American League and Brandon Inge already has 4 HR on the year, also good for 2nd in the A.L. To make matters worse, Cabrera has hit the current Sox staff well over his career, especially Jose Contretas, who he is 7-10 against in his career with a ridiculous line of .700/.769/.800, though he has only hit 1 HR in 72 combined plate appearances against the entire pitching staff (that lone HR, if you recall was courtesy of Octavio Dotel last June and was of the walk-off variety).

At any rate, its difficult to peg any team after just one week, but this Tigers team has been particularly vexing. After losing 3 of 4 from Toronto in an ugly series in which they were outscored 24-16, they bounced back at home against the Rangers blowing them out in a three-game sweep by a combined 24-9.

One Final Matchup to Watch: Paul Konerko/Jim Thome vs. Fernando Rodney. Rodney has inherited the Tigers' closing role in the wake of Todd Jones' retirement and Joel Zumaya's continued arm troubles. Rodney has been around for years now, but is still relatively unknown to many Sox hitters; 9 of them have seen him 4 times or less in their careers. Though Rodney has owned A.J. Pierzynski (0-8, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 4 K), he has fared less well against Konerko and Thome, who are a combined 8-19 (.421) against Rodney and Thome is the only active Sox hitter to have taken Rodney yard, a solo home run on September 18, 2006.

All Things Considered, Not a Bad Weekend

Sorry, some internet problems last night I had to work out, and by the time they were fixed, it was time to hit the hay.

Safe to say after Friday night's embarrassing 12-5 loss to the Twins, the prospects for this weekend looked pretty dismal; the Sox had scuffled to three straight home losses to division opponents, their pitching had gone completely south, and the bats were still nowhere to be found.

Thankfully, baseball is a game that's always full of surprises and short memories, and as down as the Sox could have been Friday night, two straight excellent games on Saturday and Sunday have really cleaned the taste in my mouth.

So what to make of this weekend? Hopefully the Sox team that showed up on Saturday and Sunday are the real White Sox, and Friday's game was just one of those shitty games that unfortunately come up every now and then over the course of a 162-game marathon.

Friday

Its hard to pinpoint one "dissapointing" part of a game you lose 12-5, but the most obvious was Jose Contreras's 1st start. He only lasted through five innings and allowed 4 runs on 7 hits and was basically hit relatively hard all game by a team that has slumped out of the gates offensively to start the season. Crede's home run was stroked and it just seemed like Jose couldn't miss any bats. The bullpen was bad and the offense was bad (even though that was the high water mark for runs in a game). I'm trying not to relive that game as much as possible, so let's just moved on to the weekend.

Saturday & Sunday

I think this is exactly the team that Kenny Williams envisioned when he crafted this roster. I wish I could have watched Saturday's win, but Fox chose to broadcast the Cardinals/Astros game in our market so I was relegated to watching ESPN GameCast. Still, from the highlights I saw, its safe to say Colon's stuff looked fantastic. I'm still not sure if we can realistically get him 31 more times this season, but if he can make it through 20 starts in 2009, I really like the way this roster is coming together.

It's also nice to see Dewayne Wise put together a few nice games. Thankfully, Ozzie ended the Wise leading off experiment early and Wise has flourished deeper in the lineup, going 2-3 Sunday with a very nice sacrifice bunt. I still prefer Anderson for his defense (especially on the road at large outfields like Comerica), but the outfield at the Cell is much smaller so if Dewayne is swinging a sweet bat, I don't think his defense is that much of a negative.

Finally, Chris Getz left Sunday's game early after taking a pitch from Twins reliever Craig Breslow just above the elbow to the back of the arm. Brent Lillibridge pinch ran for Getz and finished the game at second base. Right now, it doesn't look like anything severe, and he's just diagnosed with a bruise, but it's something to keep an eye on.