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.

A Happy Easter Weekend on the South Side

You know, as bad as the Sox have looked at certain times this first week (I'm looking at you, Friday night debacle), today's 6-1 win over the Twins puts us back at .500 and 1/2 game out of the division lead in the increasingly uncompetitive American League Central.

Anyways, Happy Easter, everyone, I'm going out to dinner in a little bit, so check back tonight for recap of this weekend's series against Minnesota, as well as the upcoming series preview with the Tigers. I'll post that all before bed tonight.

Series Preview: Minnesota Twins, April 10-12

SERIES: at U.S. Cellular Field, Friday, April 10 - Sunday, April 12. Friday's first pitch is at 7:11 PM, Saturday's at 3:05 PM, and Sunday's at 1:05 PM

FRIDAY'S PROBABLES: Jose Contreras (7-6, 4.54 ERA in 2008) vs. R.A. Dickey (5-8, 5.21 in 2008)
SATURDAY'S PROBABLES: Bartolo Colon (4-2, 3.92 ERA in 2008) vs. Francisco Liriano (0-1, 5.14)
SUNDAY'S PROBABLES: Mark Buehrle (0-0, 3.60) vs. Nick Blackburn (0-0, 7.20)

Of course, the last time the Twins came to Chicago, the Sox won a memorable 1-Game Play-off for the AL Central title. The start to the 2009 season for last season's division frontrunners has been rough. The White Sox are currently hitting .198 as a team, last in the American League, while the Twins are hitting .219, third to last. With normal, early season temperature in the forecast, it's hard to see either of these teams mustering much offense.

The main storyline for the White Sox is the return of Jose Contreras and Bartolo Colon, each coming off injury-plagued 2008 seasons. Contreras's story is simply remarkable, he wasn't expected to make much of an impact until the All-Star break or later and here is he, starting Game #4. Colon makes his first appearance in a White Sox uniform since 2004. In limited action against the current Twins' roster, he has had some success, only allowing a .229 BAA and has yet to serve up a home run.

Finally, on Sunday Mark Buehrle makes his 2nd start of the season. After a good, but uninspiring debut Opening Day, he will be opposed by Nick Blackburn, who last faced the Sox in the aforementioned Play-Off Game, going 6.1 innings, allowing only 1 run on 4 hits. As for Saturday's starter, Francisco Liriano, who has seemingly been around for ever, has had very limited exposure to the White Sox roster; only facing 5 current players 15 total times.

This series also marks the return of Joe Crede to the South Side, fresh off signing a deal with the Twins. It's weird to see him parading around in their goofy pinstripes, but the Sox have planned a short video tribute for Crede and he has the option to make a quick address to the fans. So bust out those #24 jerseys one more time.

The Bats can Wake Up Whenever They Want

Another discouraging loss at the Cell today. After last night's shut out, the Sox pushed their scoreless inning streak to 17, failing to crack the scoreboard until the Carlos Quentin came home on a 1-out groundout by Jermaine Dye. Unfortunately, the Royals tagged 2 runs on Bobby Jenks the inning before, on a double-homer combo by Alberto Callaspo and Coco Crisp (career SLG of .328 and .409 respectively).

You have to feel for John Danks today, he pitched his heart out. Maybe not his best effort ever, but definitely enough to win. When you keep the other team off the scoreboard for 6 innings, you should be celebrating a win, especially when that other team is the Royals, but maybe these aren't your dad's Royals? Or, were we saying that same thing last year when they swept Detroit at Comerica in the opening series last year?

Yes, its only three games (a grand total of 1.9% of the season), but the Sox managed 5 runs and 18 hits in the three game series; 11 of those coming Opening Day, so its hard not to be frustrated right now.

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

POSITIVES

• John Danks is the most obvious. In his first start after some asshat at Sports Illustrated labels him one of the young pitchers at highest risk for injury, Danks pitched 6 strong innings, allowing no runs and just 3 hits. The only real justice of the day was that he wasn't saddled with a loss as has happened so often already in his young career.
• Carlos Quentin finally notched that first hit of the season, a lead-off double in the 9th that didn't quite spark the rally we hoped for. Still, even with his batting average sitting at .125, Quentin's at least been getting on base, with an OBP of .417, tied for second on the team.
• Overall, the pitching has been very solid. Opponents are hitting .194 against the Sox. The staff ERA is 2.00, and they're averaging more than 1 strike out per inning (1.17). Matt Thornton did a great job cleaning up a mess created by Mike MacDougal and Octavio Dotel continued to dominate; 2 IP, 6 K.
  

NEGATIVES

• Uh, where to start? For brevity's sake, let's just run through the numbers: Alexei Ramirez... 0-4, 2 K, still looking for his first hit of the season; Dewayne Wise... Batting 8th, still hitless, 0-2, 1 K; Chris Getz... leading off 0-4, 1 K; Jim Thome... 0-4, 2K.
  
• Mike MacDougal still looks like shit.

I guess there's a little war of words brewing between Mark Buehrle and management over Buehrle's off-season workout plan (or lack thereof). Joe Cowley writes that the Sox want to see Buehrle work a little harder and get in better shape, but Buehrle is apparently fine with just kicking back and relaxing. While it's nice to think athletes try and take care of their bodies, it is hard to argue with Mark's results... 8 seasons with 30 starts and 200 innings? That's pretty much unheard of in this day in age.

Here's a good read from South Side Sox, one of the finer White Sox blogs out there, on the upcoming seasons for the Sox's minor league affiliates.

White Sox Heed My Call

Less than 12 hours after I posted, "Dewayne Wise continues to be brutal at the plate, he's now 0-8 with 4 strikeouts. Can we please give someone else a chance to fail at leading off tomorrow?", the Sox lineup for this afternoon's affair with Kansas City was posted on Scott Reifert's blog.

• Chris Getz, 2B
• AJ Pierzynski, C
• Carlos Quentin, LF
• Jim Thome, DH
• Jermaine Dye, RF
• Paul Konerko, 1B
• Alexei Ramirez, SS
• Dewayne Wise, CF
• Josh Fields, 3B

I'm not sure if I should be surprised or not. On the one hand, Ozzie can be as stubborn as a mule when it come to these things, so for him to renig on his assertion that having Getz lead off would put unnecessary pressure on him is actually surprising, especially so early in the year. Wise, however, really made this decision a no-brainer. I know, 2 games and 8 plate appearances is a very, very small sample size but he looked absolutely brutal. Perhaps the pressure of leading off was weighing on the mind of a guy who has been a career minor leaguer.

Anyways, the Royals will start Kyle Davies in today's rubber game. Considering how the current roster has hit off Davies (.329/.390/.671), I'm hoping for a "W."

Finally, real sad story out of Los Angeles. As I'm sure you know by now, Angels SP Nick Adenhart was killed last night, hours after making his 1st start of the season. He was one of the Angels most promising young players, and his last start of 2008 (and 2nd to last of his life) was against the Sox on May 12 in Anaheim. That game proved to be the lone win in his Major League career. I remember watching part of that game on TV and being impressed with his arsenal of pitches. I remember thinking once he learned how to pitch at the Major League level, he would be a pretty solid starter, and since he was only 21 (at the time), the sky seemed like the limit.

Now he's gone, killed in a hit-and-run by a drunk driver. He was 22. I am 25. Kind of puts things in perspective.

161-1 Still Possible.

You can't win them all. Zack Grienke made the Sox look bad all night. All night. Granted, it didn't help that the lone time the Sox got to Greinke, they were in their classic "Station-to-Station" style; lead-off singles by Jim Thome and Jermaine Dye poised the Sox for at least 1 run, but a double play courtesy of Paul Konerko and a weak ground out by A.J. Pierzynski ended the threat harmlessly. 2-0 Kansas City. You win some, you lose some.

Still disapointing, however, given Greinke's career stats at the Cell entering tonight's game: 8 G, 6 GS, 0-6, 7.78 ERA, 37 IP, 47 H, 32 R, 32 ER, 11 BB, 30 K, 1.568 WHIP. Tonight's line: W, 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K.

POSITIVES

• Gavin Floyd entered the year as a chic pick to regress after his breakout year in 2008. Instead, he was on top of his game, even without his best command. He still attacked hitters and featured that dominant breaking ball, striking out 9+ for the third time in his career.
• Josh Fields made another great play at third base and has made every routine play with ease. It doesn't hurt that he's 2/5 with a walk.
• The bullpen again looked good; Matt Thornton and Scott Linebrink were both effective, pitching a combined 2 perfect innings, striking out 4. The Sox team ERA is now 2.00, second in the American League only to Texas, believe it or not.

NEGATIVES

• Dewayne Wise continues to be brutal at the plate, he's now 0-8 with 4 strikeouts. Can we please give someone else a chance to fail at leading off tomorrow?
• Paul Konerko's also not hitting. Aside from the aforementioned double play, he struck out. In fact the only positive thing he did at the plate tonight was merely flying out in the 7th rather than grounding into another rally-killing double play.

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

Welcome Back, Baseball

Here's a nice collection of photos that can be found on the Tribune's website showing the park staff getting ready for Opening Day. There's plenty of good ones, but 14 and 15 show some of the work that's been going on at Gate 5 and picture 22 is a nice one of the new scoreboard in left field.

Contreras, Colon Win Spots in Rotation

For all the pomp and circumstance that surrounds Opening Day, and all the ensuing drama that comes with a late-game 3-run homer, this little nugget from the AP recap might have slipped past even the savviest of readers,

Ozzie Guillen said Jose Contreras would be the team’s No. 4 starter with
Bartolo Colon in the fifth spot.

This means Contreras and Colon will be pitching the first two games of the series with Minnesota; The Count facing Nick Blackburn on Friday and Bartolo Colon squaring off against Francisco Liriano.

Neither had a Spring that begs for much optimism; Contreras did go 3-0, but he had a 5.82 ERA in 17 IP while allowing 26 total baserunners and striking out 14. Colon, in 15 innings of work wen 0-2 and posted a 6.60 ERA. Both guys are coming off major injuries in the past year (frankly, its amazing Jose can walk pain-free at this point). And here we go, putting 40% of our games in their hands.

God help us.

First Win in the Books

Well, it was worth the wait. The Sox opened the 2009 campaign one day behind schedule, but with results like this I won't complain. Great pitching and some timely hitting overshadow a few miscues on the basepaths and some other less than stellar performances at the plate for a 4-2 Opening Day winner.

Chicago Tribune recap Chicago Sun-Times recap MLB.com Wrap B-R.com Box Score & Play-by-Play

If all's well that ends well, then you couldn't have scripted today's game much better. Mark Buehrle didn't have his A-game stuff, but he pitched well enough to win today. A final line of 6 hits, 3 walks, 2 runs, and just 3 strike outs over 5 innings won't wow anyone, but the Royals had a runner in scoring position every inning he was on the mound. If you want to criticize Buehrle's efforts for allowing so many baserunners, I won't try and stop you, but there's still something to be said for bending but not breaking.

Of course, the hero of the game is good ol' #25, Jim Thome, who launched a 2-out, 3-run homer off Kyle Farnsworth in the 8th inning to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead. Youngsters Chris Getz and Josh Fields also had significant parts of today's win; both had a pair of hits and each scored a run. And if you're looking to truly feel good about today, note that all 4 runs the Sox scored today came with 2 outs.

Now for the bad, and believe me, there was plenty to go around. For one, Gil Meche more or less had his way with the Sox bats. Yes, he gave up 7 hits, but 5 of those came in the 2nd and 3rd inning. Meche retired the final 11 of 13 batters he faced, and one of those hits (Pierzynski in the 7th) got himself thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double. And speaking of bad baserunning, the Jermaine Dye looked particularly bad on the basepaths today, getting thrown out at the plate (by a good 10 feet... Nice call, Cox) in the 2nd and then was caught stealing to end the 8th... Why Jermaine Dye is testing arms of outfielders on short singles and trying to steal bases I have no idea, I know the Sox are pushing this whole speed/youth thing, but you still have to work with what you got.

Oh well, I can't complain too much. A win is a win.

Despite the outcome, even Royals fans are finding solace today.

From Upon Further Review, a Kansas City sports blog published by the Kansas City Star,

The Royals ran Buehrle out of their after five innings because of their solid
collective approach at the dish. Hope to see lots of that this year.

I guess hope really does spring eternal. Though, I'll admit the Royals have the look of a frisky team that's going to be a pain in the ass for somebody. Luckily, we have Jim Thome who absolutely murders the Royals.

First Place!

De-fault! De-fault! The two sweetest words in the English language! With today's postponement and losses by Cleveland, Minnesota, and Detroit, the White Sox and Royals are tied for first in the American League Central with a lofty 0-0 record. Now all that remains is to maintain for the next 181 days.

Despite being flanked by two Metra tracks, there has been a mystifying lack of Metra service to U.S. Cellular Field, but hopefully that's about to end. Metra, IIT, and U.S. Representative Bobby Rush are tentatively planning on breaking ground on a new 35th Street Station on the Rock Island District Line that runs just to the east of the Dan Ryan Expressway. The new station will be located at the corner of 35th and Federal St., on land donated from IIT and, if all goes well, South Suburban customers may finally be able to take the Metra to and fro Sox games as early as late 2010.

The Rock Island District, for those unaware, runs between Joliet and the LaSalle Station Downtown. The line serves South Side neighborhoods like Beverly, Morgan Park, and Washington Heights and suburban towns like Midlothian, Oak Forest, Tinley Park, and New Lenox.

Finally, buried on the New York Times' website is a blog from Tyler Kepner, their baseball writer. Normally I don't even bother reading Kepner's writings, but when you pick the Royals to win the A.L. Central, I feel I must bring it up.

Opening Day Postponed (Updated)

As I'm sure you know by now, the White Sox have postponed tomorrow's Opener vs. Kansas City because of some very cold and snowy weather predictions. Opening Day is now Tuesday afternoon at 1:05 PM. Yeah, I understand the reasoning and I know there's not much the Sox can do in the face of Mother Nature, but this stinks because a) I have some friends with tickets that specifically took off work Monday to go to the Opener and I know some of them won't be able to duck out of work Tuesday. Yes, you can exchange any unused tickets from Monday's game for a slew of other April games but it's just not the same as going to the Home Opener, not to mention that was the only Premium pricing game of the month, so they're getting doubly jobbed. But it sucks for me because even if I was working Monday, I could have followed the game on the radio and I was hoping to write a Running Diary of Opening Day for the blog here... But Tuesday is Election Day in Illinois so I plan to be at work from roughly 5 AM-midnight (that's about right).

Oh well...

UPDATE: Well I guess it's not all bad. On Monday from 1 PM-3:30 PM, Comcast Sports Net Chicago will air last year's 1-Game Playoff against Minnesota. So yeah, it sucks we're another day from starting the 2009 season, but if you're thinking of turning your DVR or VCR off, you may just want to let it run.

Gammons Heaps Praise on Several Young Sox Hitters

In his latest blog over at ESPN.com, Senior Baseball writer Peter Gammons took time out of his usual busy schedule of fawning over the Red Sox to write about young and breakout players he watched over the past several weeks of Spring Training. Surprisingly, the White Sox (specifically Gordon Beckham, Josh Fields, and Alexei Ramirez) got some love.

Beckham got the most air-time, being named as one of Gammons' Most Impressive 20 (or so) young players he saw in action, and favorably compared him to other young and immediately effective players like Evan Longoria or Chase Utley, all of whom he describe have "the big league player walk." Fields and Ramirez were highlighted as 2 players he feels will have breakout years in 2009.

Always nice to get some national publicity, I'm still not expecting much out of Fields, but if he can be effective with the bat and adequate in the field, I'll be very happy. As for Alexei, if 2008 wasn't a breakout year for him, then I'm very excited to see what he can do in '09. And finally, while I'm happy Beckham will be in Birmingham this year to fine tune his game, it's also nice to see more and more people take notice of his intangible gifts, the gifts that help make good ballplayers great. You can't go wrong with guys that both traditional scouts and statheads simultaneously drool over.

White Sox Now 5th Most Expensive Ticket in Baseball

Team Marketing Report (TMR) released its annual analysis of the average cost of attending a baseball game for the upcoming 2009 season (Warning to those of you with a slow connection, this link is for a 2-page PDF file). The White Sox, with an average ticket price of $32.28, are the fifth-most expensive team to catch live in the Majors, up 6.6% from 2008 and about $5.50 more expensive than the league average. The Sox also claim the league's fifth most expensive Fan Cost Index (FCI), a rudementary tool designed to determine how expensive it is for a family of 4 to go to a game. The FCI adds up prices of tickets, parking, 2 beers, 4 pops, 4 hot dogs, 2 game programs, and 2 baseball hats. While the FCI has been criticized in the past (who really buys 1 hat at a ballgame, let alone 2?) it's still a decent ballpark figure (no pun intended) for the total cost of attending a Major League Baseball game. The Sox's FCI for 2009 is 224.11 up 4.4% over 2008.

If there's one nugget of good news from this report its that the Sox are still a bargain compared to their North Side neighbors. The Cubs average ticket price is $47.75 (47.9% higher than the Sox's) and their FCI is an even $305, 36.1% greater than the Sox's.

Billy Pierce to Throw Out First Pitch of '09 Season

Though there was hope that President Barack Obama would ceremoniously kick off the 2009 season with the First Pitch before the Home Opener, official word from the White House came today that being the Leader of the Free World apparently comes with some drawbacks; notably a packed schedule. Currently, the Obamas are in London attending a G20 conference and will spend the rest of the week galavanting about Europe.

In his place, the Sox will honor one of their all-time greats, Billy Pierce. It seems appropriate as this season is the 50th anniversary of the Sox's magical run to the 1959 American League pennant. Pierce pitched 13 seasons for the Sox, amassing a career 211-169 record and 3.27 ERA over 18 total years (he spent his first two seasons in Detroit and his last three in San Francisco). He's widely considered to be one of the bigger Hall of Fame snubs; his 119 career ERA+ is tied for 120th all-time and tied with such Hall of Famers like Red Faber, Rollie Fingers, and Bob Lemon and ahead of such Hall of Famers like Warren Spahn (118), Steve Carlton (115), Early Wynn (106), and Catfish Hunter (103).

At any rate, it's nice the Sox were able to turn dissapointment into a very nice gesture for one of the best and classiest players to ever play for the Pale Hose. Pierce embodies all that's good with the Sox, and it will be nice a way for him to celebrate his 82nd birthday, which was actually today.

Tribune Reveals New Ballpark Amenities, Food Choices

You definitely know a new season is just around the corner when we finally get a sneak peek at the new features and (more importantly) food items that will be at U.S. Cellular Field this year.

The highlight of the new food items has to be the Build Your Own Burrito/Nacho carts. For $7-$8, you can pick between beef or chicken and then load up with a bevy of toppings. The carts will be deployed in both the Upper and Lower bowls of the park, so fear not 500-level ticket holders. The Sox will also open a Wine Bar in the Lower Level this year, with a glass going for $7.50-$9.50. Lastly, luxury box patrons will also be able to order a mega 2-foot, 2-lb meatball sandwich, but unfortunately, those will not be available to the general public. I'm also looking forward to the Taste of the Ballpark special that will be available in the Upper Deck. $7.50 for a hot dog, pop, small nacho, and bag of popcorn is an awfully good deal... Pending the hot dog doesn't turn out to be a cocktail weine and there's more than 1 chip with the nachos.

On the less edible side of things, the highlight of this offseason's round of renovations is the new Out of Town scoreboard above the concourse in right field. You of course remember the old, slow board. Yes, it was antiquated and yes, the board was generally at least an inning behind in out-of-town scores (which was utterly ridiculous now that you can just check the scores your own if you have an iPhone, Blackberry, or some other web browser on your cell phone), but the old board did have some charm and it was one of the last features of the park that had lasted since it opened in 1991. That said, the new board does look very, very nice.

MLB Network HD Available

I don't know how long MLB Network has been available in HD, but I noticed the channel on my Comcast cable for the first time yesterday. I don't know about you guys with the dish, but apparently MLB-N HD is available in Chicago as well, on Channel 233.

The White Sox will be on MLB Network later today, as they take on the Brewers in Phoenix today at 2 PM. I'm uncertain as to when they make their regular season debut on MLB Network, but be sure I'll be writing about it when it finally happens. Today is the last game of the season at a Spring Training facility, the Sox wrap up their Spring schedule with a pair of games against the Diamondbacks at Chase Field.

Finally, anyone lucky enough to have tickets to Monday's Opening Day game against Kansas City, pack a spare blanket and get out the long underwear. From Tom Skilling,

Windy, unseasonably cold for the Sox's home opener, with wind chills in the
20s. Snow or snow showers heaviest near the lake. North winds 20-30 m.p.h and
gusty.

Scott Podsednik released by Rockies

The Scott Podsednik era ended in Colorado yesterday, as the Rockies released the former Sox outfielder to make room for 23-year-old Dexter Fowler. You can't blame the Rockies, Fowler has been tearing up the Cactus League this Spring to the tune of a .292/.342/.415 line over 30 games.

I just wanted to bring that story before someone suggests it...

White Sox Programming on MLB Network

Ah, the calendar has turned over to April and we're (thankfully) less than a week removed from Opening Day; an Opening Day that's looking pretty gloomy. But hey, it's still Opening Day, right?

Anyways, with the new season there's a lot more game oriented programming on MLB Network starting in April, including live games, a nightly highlight show, and weekly recap show Sunday night. That leaves less time for pre-produced programs, but the Sox are still pretty heavily featured on the Network.

As usual, all times are Central...

April 1, 7:00 PM - 30 Clubs in 30 Days: Chicago White Sox live from Glendale, AZ

April 2, 9:oo AM - Spring Training Game, White Sox at Milwaukee Brewers

April 12, 4:30 PM - 1959 World Series Highlights

April 14, 10:00 AM - 1959 World Series Highlights

April 15, 11:00 AM - Baseball Seasons: 1993

April 18, 7:00 PM - 1959 World Series Highlights

April 26, 6:00 AM - Baseball Seasons: 1993