Jake Peavy gets some more gold

On the heels on signing a two-year, $29 million extension with the Sox today, Jake Peavy also got word that he won his first Gold Glove award. He and Tampa Bay Rays' pitcher Jeremy Hellickson will both win the AL Gold Glove for pitchers this year.

Congrats, Bulldog!

Jake Peavy wants that dog pile with the Sox

Just the other day I half assed mapping out the upcoming free agent period for the Sox and looked at who might be coming back and who I expect to say goodbye to.

I for sure thought Jake Peavy was gone. It was documented that the Sox were not going to pick up the $22 million option on Jake's contact  (for good reason) and were going to pay the $4 million buyout. I fully expected the Sox to part ways with the self proclaimed bulldog.

Boy was I wrong. Not only does Jake get his $4 million buyout, but he inked a two year, $29 million extension with a player option for 2015 valued at $15 million if he pitches a certain amount of innings.

And good for Jake and the White Sox. I don't know if this could be considered a "hometown discount" but it's possible Jake could've got a longer guaranteed deal elsewhere. And really, I think Jake owes us for his first three injury riddled seasons. Peavy pitched pretty well in his first full season since 2007 going 11-12 with a 3.32ERA in 32 starts. His 219 innings pitched is the most since his 07 Cy Young season and his 1.10 WHIP was his lowest since 2009.

Rick Hahn continued to wheel and deal today by picking up Gavin Floyd's $9.5 million club option already seemingly solidifying the rotation for 2013.

With Peavy and Floyd back in the fold, they will combine with Chris Sale, John Danks, and likely Jose Quintana or Hector Santiago for next year's starting squad.

In other news, the Sox officially declined options on Kevin Youkilis and Brett Myers. Although, this doesn't mean they are necessarily goners.

The offseason begins...

The San Fransisco Giants are World Champions yet again and thus begins the baseball offseason today.

Eligible players were able to start filing for free agency today and there's no doubt there will be a lot of activity in the coming weeks on the White Sox front.

A.J. Pierzysnski, Francisco Liriano, Dewayne Wise & Orlando Hudson are all expected to file for free agency leaving them able to sign with any club starting on Friday. It's almost certain Liriano, Wise and Hudson will find other suiters. A.J. is the interesting case. Rick Hahn's first big decision as GM of our Sox will be his call on A.J.

There are club options on Jake Peavy, Brett Myers, Kevin Youkilis and Gavin Floyd. I fully expect to say goodbye to Peavy and Youkilis. The $9.5 million option on Gavin Floyd is also intriguing. Floyd has never come close to matching his big 2008 year where he went 17-8 with a 3.84ERA but the rotation will take a hit if/when Peavy departs. That will leave John Danks and Chris Sale as the only certains on the staff for 2013. The Sox may want to have Gavin in there as a back end starter.

Zack Greinke, Josh Hamilton, Edwin Jackson, B.J. Upton and Michael Bourn are among the players hitting the market. Don't expect the Sox to be shelling out the bucks for any of these guys. I would expect pitching and upgrading the bench as the top priorities for the White Sox this offseason. It will also be nice to see another third basemen that isn't named Brent Morel.

Ozzie Guillen is unemployed

I'm not going to rag on Ozzie.

I never was an "anti-Ozzie" Sox fan. But it became clear it was time for a change for the White Sox at the end of the 2011 when it seemed Ozzie was doing things to "spite" the team and Kenny Williams. It came to a blow at the end of the season when the Sox "nicely" fired him by trading him to the Miami Marlins.

Now, just over a year later, the Marlins have fired the man who gave the greatest joy to Sox fans  but managed to offended an entire segment of the Marlins' fan base and led his team to a pitiful 69-93 record in his first year has manager.

The Marlins went into the 2012 with high expectations. They spent a total of $191 million on Heath Bell, Mark Buehrle and Jose Reyes. They were primed with star players, a horrible looking logo and a dull looking ballpark.

Things quickly went south as Ozzie wasted no time offending a large portion of the fan base over comments he made prior to becoming the Marlins manager that praised Fidel Castro. The team play then offended the entire fan base by the All-Star break. The Marlins were a major disapointment with a 41-44 record but were God awful after the break only going 28-49.

Don't feel too bad for the guy, though. Ozzie is still owed $7.5 million so he'll be sitting pretty in South Beach and Chicago. Also expect to see him doing some sort of baseball analyst during MLB broadcasts.

Grading our 2012 White Sox

As it's time to watch other teams jump up and down in celebration I figure this is as good of time than any to mark my grades for the 2012 Chicago White Sox. Not because my opinion really means anything, but it's all I got right now.

The '12 squad far exceeded everyone's expectations and a 85-77 final record should've been enough to give the team a nice pat on the back. But this team will be known for their meltdown the final two weeks of season when they had what seemed to be a firm grip on the division lead.

The year saw bounce back years from guys who were absolute zeros in years past and continued struggles from a certain second basemen. (I'm looking at you, Gordon.)

I'm not going to get into the Ray Olmedo's or the Jose Lopez's or Jhan Marinez of the year because there wasn't enough of a sample size to warrant a grade. And whatever there was, it wasn't that impressive. 

So here it goes...

Infielders
Paul Konerko: B - Batted close to .400 through May but B.A. dipped big time to .263 in the 2nd half. The guy has played through more pain than he probably would say and plays a stellar 1st base. Although, the Sox could've used his bat in August/September.
Gordon Beckham: C- - The guy has a glove, no doubt. But doesn't provide much of anything off the bat.
Alexei Ramirez: C+ - You know what you are going to get from Alexi. Cold in April/May. Hot in June/July. Streaky in August. Nowhere to be found in September. The glove was maybe just above average as well.
Brent Morel: F - There's no way he's back in 2013. Right?
Kevin Youkilis: C - Burst on the scene in a late June trade. Seemed to care more about why the Cubs got more attention and getting game times moved than helping the team win in September. Granted, he played though a knee injury but highly doubtful he returns. It wouldn't surprise me Boston resigns him now that Bobby V. is gone.
Orlando Hudson: C- - Decent enough pick up to fill bench space early in the season but seems to be at the end of his career.
Adam Dunn: B+ - The guy isn't here to hit for high average. He's here to hit home runs. That's what he did. 41 of them to be exact.

Outfielders
Alejandro De Aza: B- - First full season in the majors. Good enough at the top of this order and played a good outfield. You got to wonder if this career minor leaguer can repeat this kind of success.
Alex Rios: A - By far this team's MVP of 2012. I was ready to write him off but proved me and pretty much everyone else wrong. Now, can he do it again? Or, do the Sox sell high?
Dayan Viciedo: C+ - Seemed to be Carlos Quentin without the mental instability.
Jordan Danks: C  -  If you would've told me in March Jordan would be the Danks brother that got the most playing time this season I would've automatically thought this team was losing 100 games.
Dewayne Wise: C+ - If you would've told me in March Dewayne Wise would be on this team I would've thought something went terribly wrong.

Catchers
A.J. Pierzynski: B+  - Could be the last year for one of the most beloved players to ever put on a Sox uniform. He made this year count.
Tyler Flowers: C - I still don't know if he's the answer but he has a good shot at being the everyday man behind the plate next year.

Starters:
Jake Peavy: B-  - First full season pitching on the Sox since coming over in 2009! Made the All-Star team but had some rough starts when the team needed him the most.
Gavin Floyd: D+ - Was he hurt the whole year? Will he never be the pitcher he was in 2008?
Phil Humber: D- - No, I can't believe a kid from Nacogdoches, Texas threw a perfect game.
Francisco Liriano: D+  - Maybe I'm being too harsh here but after his first few starts with the Sox that were good enough, he was demoted to the bullpen during the stretch run. Exactly for the time they traded him for.
Jose Quintana: A-  - This kid did everything right for a long time. Lost a few 1-0 games in the summer. Arm seemed to get tired late in the year. Most likely will get a shot in the rotation next year.
Chris Sale: A  - His first year as a starter far exceeded everyone's expectations. Was in the Cy Young talk for a little while until he clearly reached a wall in September.
John Danks: D  - Maybe a little harsh here. Should be an INC since he didn't pitch after mid - May but his starts before his injury weren't that impressive for a guy signed to a long term big money deal.

Bullpen
Addison Reed: B+ - Usually made things interesting but solidified the closers role with his 29 saves.
Matt Thornton: C+ - Got the job done sometimes, other times not so much. I don't remember being to enraged with him this year as I was in 2011. But he did post his highest ERA with the Sox since 2007.
Nate Jones: B+  - Stellar arm coming out of the pen. Hopefully he has more in the tank for next year.
Jesse Crain: C+  - Only appeared in 51 games this year due to time on the D.L.
Brett Myers: B-   -  Came over in a trade a week before the trading deadline. Could be considered for a spot in the rotation in 2013.
Hector Santiago: C-  - Was the team's closer in April and quickly resembled the 2011 Matt Thornton experiment. 
Leyson Septimo: F  - I never want to see this guy again.
Donnie Veal: B-  - Proved he could get left handers out.
Dylan Axelrod: D - Terrible.
Brian Omogrosso: B - Impressive in his 17 appearances.

Season comes to a close

It's a little bittersweet but the 2012 White Sox season comes to a close after tonight's 9-0 win over the Cleveland Indians. The win gives the Sox a final record of 85-77 under Robin Ventura's inaugural season as manager.

Seeing that the pressure was off, Gavin Floyd turned in his best start of the year. He pitched 7 innings of 3 hit ball. Floyd will end up with a 12-11 record on the year that was filled with mediocrity for him.

Dan Johnson who sat on the bench much of September clubbed three home runs tonight. There was also a Dayan Viciedo sighting. Viciedo looked everything the player Sox fans wanted him to be in September and went 3-4 including a 9th inning solo home run.

There's mixed emotions about this year as many, including myself, had low expectations for this squad. This team was in the race longer than in previous years and sat in first place for much of the season. So watching other teams celebrate their playoff births is a little tough to swallow.

Just two weeks ago the Sox were sitting in first place and counting down their magic number. A complete tailspin was about to unfold as they dropped every series until this one. Meanwhile, the Tigers manned up and are now gearing up for the postseason while the Sox will get to golf, hunt, drink, or whatever it is they do in the offseason.

Kenny Williams and Rick Hahn will have some decisions to make this offseason on players like A.J. Pierzynski, Gavin Floyd, Matt Thornton, and Jake Peavy.

It's already been noted that the Sox will not pick up the $22 million club option on Peavy and will exercise the $4 million buy out making him a free agent. The decision is will they sign him to a lesser multi-year deal which seems unlikely.

I would assume Kevin Youkilis is gone. Youk seemed to miss Boston more than he was interested in helping the Sox win the division and I'm sure there is a team out there willing to overpay for his services. 

The interesting story will be A.J. I would be all for resigning A.J. but at what cost? I'm not sure what catchers are out there to be had and I don't really consider Tyler Flowers to be a long term answer.

The Sox have been in MLB purgatory since the end of their 2008 playoff run. Not good enough to get over the top but not God awful either. As usual it should shape up to be an interesting offseason on the south side and Kenny Williams has been promoted to team President and Rick Hahn will take over G.M. duties.

You can tare up your playoff tickets now...

Apparently the Sox can score runs.

The problem is, at this point, it really doesn't matter. Sure, going into this game the Sox were technically "in it." But it would've taken a mircale just to get to a tiebreaker game on Thursday.

So naturally the Sox pounded out 11 runs on 15 hits giving the finger to their fans who watched them whiff away the last two weeks at the plate. The Sox also got a great starting effort from Hector Santiago who threw seven innings of shutout, one hit ball against an Indians team who has mailed it in.

It would've been nice for this one to matter. And for even a little bit after the game it did. But the Tigers showed up in the last two weeks and were able to take care of business. Their win over the Royals tonight clinched the A.L. Central in their favor making them division winners for the second year in a row.

I almost texted RISEABOVE to report the offensive behavior the home baseball team was exhibiting on the field today.

Collapse nearly complete

Today's 6-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays puts the Sox 3 games back in the A.L. Central with three to play nearing the completion of their late season meltdown.

Just two weeks ago the Sox seemed to have a hold on the division getting out to a 3 game lead after a win over the Tigers on a Monday afternoon makeup game.

You would've thought the Sox could, at the very least, go .500 the rest of the way keeping them in first. Nope. A 3-10 stretch coupled with the Tigers playing their best baseball of the year puts the Sox were they are today and the blame all on them.

The Sox seemed to play uninspired baseball the last few days for their home fans as today was the final home game of the year. The Sox dropped 5 of 7 at home capping their home schedule and providing no excitement for a fan base that was getting ready for postseason play.

Tomorrow will start the final road series in Cleveland. Nothing short of a miracle of the Tigers losing their last three against the Royals and the Sox winning their last three will keep this season alive. Even if that happened, the Sox would have to go to Detroit and play a tiebreaker game against Justin Verlander. Ain't happening.

Adam Dunn prevents mass suicide - MAGIC NUMBER: 9

A beautiful three run home run that just got over the fence prevented Sox fans everywhere from grabbing something a little more serious than the Smirnoff Hawk was talking about during the game.

Already having hit a solo shot to center field in the 6th inning that cut the Indians' lead to 3-2, Adam Dunn blasted an 0-2 pitch into the right field seats. The three run shot gave the Sox a 5-3 lead in the 8th inning.


Naturally things got a bit interesting in the 9th, but after an RBI double off the bat of Shin-Soo Choo, Donnie Veal recorded his first save to keep the Sox alone in 1st place with the 5-4 victory.

Chris Sale gave up 10 hits in his 7 innings of work but kept the Indians down to 3 runs. He threw a lot of pitches but battled to keep the Sox in the game allowing for the comeback. Add in a few key double plays turned by the Sox infield and you have a receipe for success the Sox have seemed to forgotten the last week.

As expected, no help came from the Royals who lost 6-2 to the Tigers tonight keeping the Sox 1 game in front of Detroit. The magic number does drop to 9 as there are just 9 games left for both the Sox and Tigers.

Hawk line of the game: 9/24/12

"If we don't start scoring some runs I'm going to get me some of that Smirnoff."

Somehow Sox end weekend in 1st

In the last five games the Sox have done everything in their power to give up their A.L. Central lead.

Losing 2 of 3 to the Royals and now getting swept by the Angels this weekend seemingly should've put the Sox in 2nd place. But the Minnesota Twins helped our cause. And really, after all the years of screwing the Sox out of the playoffs, it's about time the Twins do us a solid. They took 2 of 3 over the Tigers including a sweep of a doubleheader today in Detroit.

So with 10 games remaining in the 2012 season the Sox have a 1 game lead over the Tigers with a record of 81-71.

The offense, which has been pathetic, needs to kick it into gear as the team heads home to start a seven game homestand against the Cleveland Indians and Tampa Bay Rays. The homestand will complete the home portion of the schedule.

With the two losses by the Tigers today the Sox magic number drops to 10.

Seriously, I hate the Royals

Should I be pissed that the only team the Royals can beat is my beloved White Sox? Or should I be pissed that my beloved White Sox can beat the shit ass Royals?

Either way, it's annoying.

Tonight's 4-3 walk off win is their 12th win against the Sox this year. They've only won 68 games. That's about 18% of their wins. Thank God the two teams no longer have to face each other.

Unfortunately, I don't think the Royals will return the favor in the seven games they have remaining against the Tigers.

The Sox are going to have to earn this. Their remaining games are against the Angels, Indians, Rays, then closing out with the Indians again on the road.

The Tigers now square off at home against the Twins and Royals, then close out on the road to Minnesota and K.C.

The Sox magic number to win the A.L. Central did drop to 12 before the game even started as the Tigers were pounded 12-4 by the A's.It's too bad a 3-0 lead after four innings wasn't enough to keep the Royals down.



It's going to be a stressful final 13 games...

Just embrace it, boys

The White Sox are a home run hitting team. When hit the long ball, for whatever reason, they can do more with the bat.

Tonight, three solo home runs off the bats of Alejandro De Aza (on the 2nd pitch of the game), Gordon Beckham (in the 6th to tie the game 2-2), and Alex Rios (in the 7th) were enough to take care of the Kansas City Royals.

Gavin Floyd also pitched very well in the 3-2 win. Floyd went 7 innings giving up two first inning runs and just five hits.

A good win for the Sox as they will square off Bruce (Cy) Chen tomorrow night and because the Tigers pounded the Oakland A's to stay 3 games behind our Sox.

The win puts the Sox at 81-66 on the year and reduces their magic number to 13.

Sox extend A.L. Central lead to 3 games!

This afternoon's 5-4 win over the Detroit Tigers was not without it's faults. The Sox left 10 runners on base and went 2-13 with RISP. Not to mention a bonehead base running mistake Dewayne Wise in the 8th all could've made for a disastrous afternoon. But, the Sox showed some stones today with stellar defense and excellent work by the bullpen, namely Nate Jones, to pad their A.L. Central lead.

The Tigers led 3-0 going into the bottom of the 4th. The Sox had left the bases loaded in the 3rd inning and now found themselves with the bags loaded again in the 4th with two outs. Gordon Beckham was hit by a pitch from Doug Fister to get the score 3-1. Next batter Dewayne Wise then singled to tie the game 3-3 but with Beckham standing at third base, Kevin Youkilis lined out to end the inning.

Quintana's day was done after he gave up a lead off double to Miguel Cabrera and then a single to Prince Fielder to start the 5th. Nate Jones came on and gave up an RBI single to Sox-killer Delmon Young which gave the Tigers a 4-3 lead. Nate was able to get Jhonny Peralta to ground into a double play then Brennan Boesch to ground out on a nice play by Alexei Ramirez to end the inning.

The Sox bats went back to work in the 5th. With the bases loaded again and one out, Dayan Viciedo hit a routine ground ball that should've been an inning ending double play. But, Alex Rios, who in my opinion has been the team's MVP this year, went in hard to second base forcing a bad throw from Omar Infante that Price Fielder wasn't able to scoop up causing the ball to pass first base and scored two Sox runners giving the Sox a 5-4 lead!

When all is said and done, the play could be considered one of the big moments of the 2012 season. We'll see...


Nate Jones worked a 1-2-3 6th and recorded the first two outs of the 7th inning keeping the Tigers off the board. Robin Ventura atoned for not using Donnie Veal last Wednesday against Prince Fielder and called on the lefty to strike out the big bat. He did and was able to hand over the ball to Brett Myers in the 8th who also recorded a scoreless frame.

Robin used Myers, Matt Thornton, and Addison Reed in the 9th to close out the game. Each reliever got their man as Detroit didn't put any on base.

The 5-4 gives the Sox their 80th win of the season. A win total a lot of people didn't think they would reach at all. They now hold a 3 game lead in the A.L. Central heading to Kansas City to play the pain-in-the-ass Royals as the White Sox magic number goes down to 14.

Remember when the Sox could never beat the Twins?

Not too long ago a series against the Minnesota Twins would be infuriating. But luckily, with the Twins being God awful this season the Sox have come away with easy wins when they've needed them the most.

Today's 9-2 win gives gives the Sox a weekend sweep and a 14-4 season record over the annoying Twins. More importantly, it keeps the Sox in first place as the Tigers dropped their Sunday afternoon contest. The Sox now hold a 2 game lead in the A.L. Central with their 79-66 record.

The Sox exploded for six runs in the sixth after already leading 3-2. The inning was highlighted by Adam Dunn's lead off monster home run, Dayan Viciedo's two run jack, and Dunn singling in Gordon Beckham on his second at bat of the inning.

A strong offensive effort backed Jake Peavy who gave up two runs and four hits in six innings of work. Not bad, Jake. Although I would've liked to see that in one of his two starts against the Tigers this month. 

The first place Sox will head home to make up last Thursday's rain out with the Tigers. Jose Quintana will face off against Doug Fister. A win will go a long way in helping the cause to win the division. The Sox magic number now stands at 16.

Devine intervention

Holy shit.

I, like most Sox fans, felt pretty shitty about this team after last night's game. Knowing that the Sox had a 1 game lead in the division heading into Thursday's game against the Tigers with Verlander throwing made last night's loss even worse.

But, there's someone watching out for us.

Tonight's game was rained out and will be played on Monday afternoon at U.S. Cellular Field. The Sox will make a stop at home between their series in Minnesota and Kansas City to make up tonight's contest.

Early word is that Gavin Floyd and Doug Fister will make the starts for their respective clubs. Doug Fister was no slouch against the Sox on Tuesday night but I'd rather take our chances against him than Verlander.

So for now, the Sox hold on to their 1 game lead in the A.L. Central getting ready to face the Minnesota Twins this weekend. Hopefully a game or two can be gained as the Tigers will face the Cleveland Indians.

They're just making it so much harder for themselves

An 8-6 loss to the Detroit Tigers puts the Sox record against their A.L. Central foes to 5-12 which is truly pathetic considering the Sox are now just a game up on the second place Tigers.

Just a few more wins  against the Tigers and this series and last few weeks of the season could be very different.

I won't go in to much detail about this one because really, the 8-6 final score makes this seem much closer than it actually was.

 Detroit had an 8-1 lead heading into the 8th inning when the Sox were able to push across one run off Joaquin Benoit. Then, a three run home run off the bat of Kevin Youkilis who - GASP - wasn't bunting with runners on 1st and 3rd with one out, provided brief hand clapping by the 30,000+ in attendance.

Another meaningless run came across in the 9th but the damage was already done.

It seemed that Gavin Floyd was on a pitch count as he only threw 69 pitches through 4 2/3 innings. He threw well enough but Robin thought he should bring out a cavalcade of guys from the bullpen tonight. Hector Santiago, Brian Omogrosso, Leyson Septimo, and Dylan Axelrod threw a combined 3 1/3 innings giving up five runs on ten hits.

Brutal.

The Sox A.L. Central lead is down to 1 game as Chris Sale will try and keep the Sox in sole possession of first place tomorrow night against Justin Verlander.

Total buzzkill

Two hits through 7 innings and those being solo home runs generally won't win you many games.

Dewayne Wise and Gordon Beckham hit solo shots in the 1st and 3rd innings giving the Sox a 2-0 lead over Doug Fister and the Detroit Tigers. But, Jake Peavy's rough 5th and Francisco Liriano's bullpen debut in the 8th equaled a 5-3 loss for the Sox putting the Tigers back two games in the division.

Jake Peavy gave up a two run home run to Austin Jackson then a solo home run to Miguel Cabrera giving the Tigers a 3-2 lead in the 5th. Peavy then had thrown 117 pitches through 5 2/3 so Robin left the game in the bullpen's hands to keep it at a one run deficit.

Leyson Septimo, Nate Jones, Donnie Veal, and Brett Myers where able to work in and out of jams but Francisco Liriano made horrible use of the 4 pitches he threw in his White Sox bullpen debut.

I'm just going to copy the play by play...

Avisail Garcia hit by pitch. (First pitch)
Jhonny Peralta singles on a soft fly ball to center fielder Alejandro De Aza. Avisail Garcia to 3rd.
Alex Avila singles on a line drive to right fielder Alex Rios. Avisail Garcia scores. Jhonny Peralta to 2nd. 
Coaching visit to mound. 
Pitching Change: Jesse Crain replaces Francisco Liriano.  

Bravo Francisco, bravo!

Crain surrendered an RBI single to Andy Dirks that gave the Tigers their fifth and final run of the night.

Those two runs charged to Liriano proved to be big as the Sox were able to score a run in the bottom half of the 8th but nothing more.

You can also call Robin Ventura's managing decisons into question in this one.

Ozzie sharing his bunting philosophy with Robin.

With the Sox fighting back in the their half of the 8th, Kevin Youkilis came up to bat with nobody out and runners on 1st and 2nd. Youk was following up an RBI single by Alejandro De Aza and in a moment of Ozzie Guillen-esque managing, Robin (as it would seem) gave the sign for Youk to bunt. What makes it puzzling is that Youkilis HAS NEVER RECORDED A SACRIFICE BUNT IN HIS ENTIRE CAREER. Youkilis seemed out of place and ended up striking out for the first out of the inning.






Thanks, Robin. 

It would be nice to get at least one of the next two to guarantee sole possetion of first place after this series. It will be tough seeing that Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander are waiting for the Sox tomorrow and Thursday.

American League Central Standings:

Team	W	L	PCT	GB
Chi White Sox	76	65	.539	-
Detroit	74	67	.525	2.0

Bombs away!

For the first five innings of the first game of this big time four-game series against the Detroit Tigers, the Sox offense was doing their usual run and hide. But after the 2nd error of the night by the Tigers, the door was open for the Sox to shell Tigers' starter Rick Porcello.

Porcello was cruising through 5 1/3 only having giving up two hits and leaving Sox runners in scoring position in four of the first five innings. With one out in the sixth, Dewayne Wise reached 1st on a fielding error by Omar Infante. Paul Konerko then singled setting the stage for Alex Rios. Alex rocketed the second offering from Porcello into the left field seats giving the Sox a 3-1 lead. Next batter A.J. Pierzynski bombed a solo shot on the first pitch he saw to dead center field making it 4-1. Gordon Beckham added a two run shot in the eighth providing Addison Reed enough cushion to work with to get the Tigers' hitters 1-2-3 in the 9th.

Not enough can be said about Jose Quintana who threw the biggest game of his young career. After a shaky first three innings, Quintana settled down only giving up the one run in 7 2/3 innings.

The bullpen was strong as well. Donnie Veal got a huge third out in the eighth with Prince Fielder at bat with runners on second and third with the Sox holding onto three run lead at the time.

In other news, Gavin Floyd will start Wednesday's match-up against the Tigers and the guy who has been loving to give up runs, Francisco Liriano will be moved to the bullpen.

Tomorrow night, Jake Peavy and Doug Fister will match up for game 2.

American League Central Standings:

Team	W	L	PCT	GB
Chi White Sox	76	64	.543	-
Detroit	73	67	.521	3.0

If you watched after the fifth inning, you're better than I am

About the right face most Sox fans had while watching this game

There's not much to say about this one.

The Sox were abused tonight in their 18-9 loss to the Minnesota Twins. I tuned out during the 10-run Twins fifth.

It started off well enough. The Sox scored 3 in the first but Jose Quintana imploded giving up 7 runs to the Twins in the second inning. Phil Humber provided nothing to get the weak crowd excited about in the fifth. 8 of the 10 runs scored were off Humber when the Twins took a commanding 17-4 lead.

From there on out the likes of Jose Lopez, Hector Gimenez, Dan Johnson, and Ray Olmedo took over and rode out the embarrassing loss in front of only 15,000+ at the game.

It would've been nice to get this one too seeing the Indians again pulled out another victory over the Tigers meaning the Sox will still hold on to their 1 game lead in the division heading into tomorrow afternoon's series finale against the Twins.

It's never easy with this team.

It's a 29 game season

For whatever reason Detroit has become "one of those places" for the Sox. This year, they have lost 8 of 9 played in Comerica Park (including this past weekends sweep) and last year the Sox were 2-7 at the Tigers ballpark.

Yes, it was a pathetic showing over the weekend for our Sox. Losing three straight and now sharing the A.L. Central lead with the Tigers. All the Sox had to do was win one game this weekend and they would've been two games in front heading home. The sweep by the Tigers erases a hard fought five months of baseball that saw the Sox struggle in April and parts of May before getting their act together and surprising the baseball world and Sox fans by spending much of the season, 103 days of the season, in first place. Now, with the two teams tied for first, it doesn't matter how much the Tigers underachieved this year and how well the Sox have played, there are 29 games to decide the A.L. Central.

The Sox took over first place on May 29 and remained there until mid-June where a series loss to the Cubs of all teams took them down for a bit. The resilient Sox didn't waste any time getting back to the top. An extra inning 1-0 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers put the Sox back in first and it wasn't until a loss to the Tigers on July 21 that sent them 1/2 game back. The Tigers were able to sweep the Sox that weekend in July and gained a 1 1/2 game lead in the division. Many thought that would start the downfall of the team but again, the Sox fought back. They went on to win five in a row and regained first place, a spot in which they held on to and still do heading into the final stretch of games in September.

So it's not the ideal situation for the Sox to be in, but if someone said they would be 72-61 and tied for first place on September 3, I think we all would take it. Especially with everyone's expectations of this year's squad.

Before the Sox and Tigers play a four game series next week at The Cell, the Sox will have to take care of business against the Twins and the annoying Royals this week. A 10-game homestand is hopefully a good way to get back to their winning ways as the Sox have lost 7 of their last 10.

There is one long road trip in the middle of September where the Sox will travel to Minnesota, Kansas City, and Anaheim. The final homestand will be against the Indians and Rays before they close out the regular season against the Indians on the road.

Sox threaten, can't score

You would never know by watching tonight's game, but the White Sox actually lead the A.L. in batting average with runners in scoring position at .291 coming into tonight's game.

Unfortunately, that didn't factor into tonight's first of three against the Detroit Tigers.

The Tigers were basically giving the game away but the Sox would have none of it. They stranded 12 on base including a bases loaded nobody out situation in the 4th. To make it even uglier, the Sox went 0-13 with RISP. That's pretty talented.

Matt Thornton have up a bases clearing double to Delmon Young in the 7th to break a 4-4 tie. Young was thrown out at third but the damage was already done. The Tigers led 7-4 and the Sox wilted the rest of the way.

Jake Peavy wasn't good either. He lasted 6+ innings responsible for six of the Tigers' runs. Tigers' starter Doug Fister didn't impress, but the Sox let him off the hook in just about every inning.

The 7-4 loss puts the Tigers 2 games behind our division leading Sox with the series continuing Saturday and Sunday night.

It would be nice not to get swept, boys.

Non-stressful win

A four run first inning was all spot-starter Dylan Axelrod needed in tonight's 8-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles. Axelrod was everything the Sox needed and more tonight going 7 1/3 innings for the injured Gavin Floyd, giving up only one run and three hits.

Lots of positives to go around tonight. Aside from the stellar start by Axelrod, the offense put up 8 runs without the use of the long ball. Gordon Beckham went 3-4 at the plate and knocked in three of the eight runs while Alexei Ramirez and Adam Dunn both knocked in two.

A balanced 12-hit attack on Joe Saunders and Kevin Gregg through seven innings kept the Sox out of trouble and contributed to the big win.

To make things even better,Bruce Chen decided to beat another team other than our Sox. He twirled an eight inning gem over the Detroit Tigers helping K.C. in the 1-0 over Detroit.

The Sox now have a 3 game lead in the A.L. Central with 33 games left on the schedule. Tomorrow at 11:30am the Sox will wrap up this four game series then head to Detroit for a three game series.

Orioles pull a White Sox

Bruce Chen and now Wei-Yin Chen.

There's something with the Sox and lefty pitchers with the last name Chen. Generally something frustrating.

Chen's reaction to hearing he would be facing the White Sox tonight.

Tonight, the Sox began the first of four in Baltimore and seven on the road.

Coming into tonight the Sox have a 5-6 record in "the town of the big house" since 2009. Which is kind of surprising to me because I generally feel a sense of doom whenever the Sox play in Camden Yards.

Anyway, Lew Ford and Nate McLouth provided the big blasts tonight in the Orioles 4-3 win. Ford got the O's off to a 1-0 lead in the 2nd with his first home run of the year. Figures.

McLouth came up big for the A.L. Wild Card leading Orioles in the 8th. He blasted a 2-run home run over the right field scoreboard to give the O's a 4-3 lead which they didn't surrender.

Orioles starter Wei-Yin Chen threw what seemed like an effortless game going six innings only giving up two runs (one earned) and surrendering four hits while striking out eight Sox hitters. 

Francisco Liriano threw a lot of pitches in his five innings of work. 104 to be exact. Brett Myers was the loser tonight serving up the eventual game winning bomb to McLouth.

The loss puts the Sox at 71-56 on the season and now 2 games up on the Detroit Tigers who were off tonight. There's no use feeling bad about this one as tomorrow Chris Sale (15-4, 2.65ERA) will start against the O's Chris Tillman (6-2, 3.71ERA) who has been solid this year.

In other news, it has been reveled that Gavin Floyd has an elbow strain. Right now he isn't heading to the D.L. but his Friday start against the Tigers is going to now be Jake Peavy's start. The Sox are undecided who to start on Wednesday in place of Peavy. 

Youk slams Yankees

Boy, the Yankees are no Royals!

For the second consecutive night the Yankees got off to an early lead but the Sox fought back and pulled out another win against the A.L.'s best team. 

Francisco Liriano gave up two runs in the first inning but settled down to keep the Yankees off the board for the rest of the game and allowed the Sox to march back.

With the game tied at two in the fifth inning, Kevin Youkilis hit a fly ball that looked like it would be a long out. But the ball kept carrying and Nick Swisher kept going back to the wall. The ball carried over the fence and landed in the Yankees bullpen for a grand slam off Yankee starter Ivan Nova to give the Good Guys at 6-2 lead.

The Sox rolled the rest of the way and pulled out a 7-3 win which maintains the Sox two game lead in the A.L. Central with a record of 67-55.

It's pretty amazing that in games started by Chris Sale, Jake Peavy, and Jose Quintana against the Royals the Sox failed to win any of them. But in games started by Gavin Floyd and Francisco Liriano against the Yankees, the Sox pound away and erase the bad taste of the weekend sweep.

Tomorrow Chris Sale (14-4, 2.72ERA) will lend his golden arm to try and sweep away Phil Hughes (12-10, 4.23ERA) and the Yankees.

1 1/2 game lead with 42 games left

I fully expected a series loss in Kansas City over the weekend. What I didn't know was that it would raise a lot of questions about the team in the final 42 games of the season.

There hasn't been many things to question Robin about this year. Sure some moves here and there (As all managers.) but there was some mind boggling decisions made. The one big one was to keep pitching to the only bat in the Royal lineup...Billy Butler.

This guy kills the Sox and especially Jake Peavy. Coming into the series Butler batted over .400 against Jake.

Peavy pitched twice to Butler with first base open only to result in runs being scored.

The  usually steady defense also looked bad in committing four errors in Saturday's game.

Injuries were abound as well. Alejandro De Aza looks like a DL trip is in order as he has a sore oblique. Kevin Youkilis did not play on Sunday because of a sore knee.

Can you chalk this up to the Royals being the new boggieman?

On a nice note Adam Dunn hit his 400th career home run Saturday night in a losing effort. Dunn's blast was also his 35th bomb of the year.

The Baltimore Orioles did help the cause by taking their series against the Tigers. So for now the Sox still hold on to the lead in the AL Central.

There's no use in dwelling on the series because the Sox now host the New York Yankees at The Cell starting tonight.

Freddy Garcia will get the ball for the Yankees and Gavin Floyd will battle his demons for our Sox.

So much for sucking in Toronto...

The White Sox used and abused Blue Jays pitching the last couple nights blasting eight home runs in the last two games. Tonight four solo runs and an Alex Rios three run home run helped the Sox control a 7-2 win over the Blue Jays.

As noted on Monday, Toronto has been no place for our beloved. Coming into this series the Sox have only won three games north of the border in the last four years. Tonight, they won their third consecutive game and really, they should've swept this sorry team if not for dropping Monday's contest.

Francisco Liriano pitched very well tonight only giving up two runs in the 2nd off a Moises Sierra home run. Liriano worked 6 1/3 and gave up only three hits in addition to the two runs.

The Sox fought back right away cutting the Blue Jay lead to 2-1 with a Dewayne Wise solo shot. Dayan Viciedo and Tyler Flowers went back to back in the 5th to give the Sox a 3-2 lead.

Alex Rios belted a three run home run in the 7th which shut up loud Toronto fans that were ragging on Rios the whole series. Granted, I among many other Sox fans ragged on Rios over the last few years so Alex has done a great job with silencing his critics this year. 

Alex saluting the Blue Jays crowd in 2010.

Alexei Ramirez added one more home run in the same inning just for good measure to secure the victory. This is the first time since 2005 the Sox have won the season series against the Blue Jays.

On to more good news; Paul Konerko is expected to join the team in Kansas City tomorrow and play in the opening of a three game series against the Royals. His bat will be needed as the Royals (for some reason) only love to play well against our Sox. So far the Sox are 4-5 against K.C. and Kauffman Stadium is another house of horrors for the Pale House.

This could be a rough week

There are several places that usually spell disaster for the Sox. Minnesota (especially the old garbage dome), Oakland, Kansas City, and more of a recent phenomenon Toronto.

Since 2007 the Sox are 4-16 in the Rogers Center and generally play uninspired baseball.

Tonight was no exception as the Sox struck out 15 times at the plate and aside from Adam Dunn and Jake Peavy, the rest of the team was swinging and missing at everything a Blue Jay pitcher was tossing. 

Dunn hit is 397th and 398th career home runs tonight. His first came in the 4th inning to give the Sox a 1-0 lead. The second of the night came in the 9th to tie the game 2-2.

Peavy pitched well enough to win. He went eight innings only giving up two runs. One of those runs came off the bat of Moises Sierra (I don't know who he is either.). Sierra hit is first career home run that gave the Blue Jays a 2-1 lead in the 7th.

This is one of those games you'd wish they just had lost in nine innings because you knew at some point they would fall.

Thankfully, the game didn't go on too much later. The bottom of the 11th inning saw Leyson Septimo come on with one out and nobody on to relieve Jesse Crain. Septimo wasted no time in starting the process in getting his team back on the bus. He walked Kelly Johnson to make way for Nate Jones who gave up a single to Edwin Encarnacion to put runners on 1st and 3rd. David Cooper drove in Johnson with a single to end the game in a 3-2 Blue Jays win.

A disapointing but expected start to the road trip which will have the Sox playing in Toronto three more times this week then visit Kansas City for a three game weekend series. 
 
Before the game Robin Ventura gave some encouraging news about the status of Paul Konerko. Robin said Konerko checked out fine today with doctors and will be ready to begin light exercises on Tuesday.

It's unlikely Konerko will return on Friday when he is eligible to come off the seven-day D.L. as Ventura said that "everything would have to be perfect for that to happen."

Still, the news is promising as losing Paulie would be a big blow to the playoff push.

With the loss the Sox fall to 62-52.We'll see how the A.L. Central standings shape up after the Tigers/Twins game ends tonight. A Tigers loss will keep the Sox in first place by two games.

Tomorrow Jose Quintana will start for our Sox against Henderson Alvarez (7-9, 4.58ERA). Game time is the usual 6:07pm Canadian first pitch.

The week of A.J.

A.J. Pierzysnki had an unprecedented week belting five home runs in five games. Today's being a big time two run shot that gave the Sox a 3-2 lead in the 7th inning when he came on to pinch hit for Tyler Flowers.

This week also saw A.J. calling Twins' pitcher Nick Blackburn "a piece of shit" when he crossed home plate on Tuesday night in Minnesota. So it's been an entertaining week watching the White Sox with the verbal insults, walk off wins, and a 4-2 week. A.J. also gave Comcast Sports Net reporter Sarah Kustok a shaving cream pie in the face after Friday's walk off win when she was interviewing Alex Rios.

The Sox ended up winning this afternoon's contest 4-2 and won the weekend series against the Angels. The Sox have now gone 12-2 over their last 14 games at The Cell and 9-3 since getting swept by the Tigers.

And speaking of pieces of shit, it's a good thing the Sox were able to pull out the win today because the Cleveland Indians have become one of the more useless teams in baseball. The Tribe found a way to blow a three run lead in the 10th inning with two outs and nobody on for the Tigers. The Tigers scored 5 times in the 10th to stay 1 1/2 behind our Sox.

This week the Kansas City Royals come to town for a Monday through Wednesday series. This weekend will see the Oakland A's and their magical moneyball ways invade. Chris Sale will make his first start since July 27 for tomorrow's contest against Luis Mendoza who pitched pretty well against our Sox a few weeks ago in K.C.

Sox still appreciate the game and first place

We're four months into the season and the Sox currently stand 2 1/2 games in the A.L. Central lead heading into August.

July shaped up to be an interesting month. They played 16 of 19 on the road and went a respectable 10-9 with a four game series that they lost in Boston and were swept in Detroit. Through it all, the Sox stand victorious so far. All those questions posed at the start of the season have been bascially answered in the positive. Rios? You could argue he's been the MVP of the team. Dunn? 31 home runs. Peavy? Healthy and productive. Sale? Stud. Robin? So far, so good.

Still, as we head into the final two months there are some concerns with the club...

-The defense has been piss poor as of late and has started to cost games.

-Sale looked tired in his last start and he's already been pushed to have 10 days rest. Shutting down Sale for a long period of time could be a big blow to the rotation. If the Sox do make the playoffs would he be a reliable arm?

-Will Peavy stay healthy? That's always a concern.

-Does the trade for Francisco Liriano turn out to be the steal of the year?

-The bullpen has been a little shaky, especially Addison Reed in the closers role. He doesn't seem to like 1-2-3 innings.

-Humber/Floyd. This combo is such a wild card. Floyd has been better but Humber doesn't seem reliable. The Sox look like they're going to a 6-man rotation to give Sale and Quintana extra days rest. But how does that affect the rest of the staff?

Time will tell.

The Sox have played better at home as of late which is a good thing. They open a 9 game homestand this weekend and will have a 6 game stint at home at the end of the month. There's also a road trip to Toronto and Kansas City. Two places that give the Sox hell. All of this will lead up to 7 games against the Tigers in a 14 day stretch that begins August 31.

The Twins love walking-off against the Sox

On a night the Sox had a chance to gain ground in the A.L. Central race, the Twins scored another gift wrapped walk off win in front of their fans who by now, must expect some stupidity by the White Sox that leads to a walk off in every series.

To be fair, the Sox have played pretty well against the most annoying team in baseball. Coming into tonight the Sox were 7-2 against the Twins and have just swept the bottom feeders last week at The Cell.

But tonight after the Sox spotted Jose Quintana a 4-0 lead after the top of the 1st, the Twins stormed back with four of their own in the bottom half of the 1st and then took a 6-4 lead after the 3rd.

Normally after a starter gives up six runs in 3 innings he's yanked for the long relief man but Robin stuck with his young starter and was rewarded. Quintana was able to get through 7 innings without giving up any more runs and allowed the Sox to get back in the game.They tied it in the 8th off a Alejandro De Aza single but the recent lackluster defense came back to kill the Sox tonight and erased what could've been a nice comeback win.

The third, yes third, error of the game by the Sox tonight cost them in the 9th. Danny Valencia singled to start the Twins 9th and advanced on a sacrifice bunt from Brian Dozier. Unfortunately Valencia was able to advance to third on A.J.'s wild throw to Beckham at first base. The ball went down the line and advanced both runners with nobody out. That was pretty much the game as you knew the Twins would find a way to score. Jamey Carroll hit a sac fly to right which scored the winning run to cap the 7-6 loss.

Twins celebrate another magical walk off against the Sox.

Of the seven runs scored by the Twins tonight only FOUR were earned.

Tomorrow should be interesting as Fransico Liriano (and I never thought I would be saying this) will make his first start in a White Sox uniform against his former team. I'm kind of  cold on the Liriano trade. Not that I wanted to see more of Edwardo Escobar, but Liriano has been loving to give up runs the last few years so adding him to a staff that looks to be tiring a bit could spell disaster. Or perhaps Don Cooper has spotted a flaw with Liriano and we could have just stolen him away from our biggest rivals. Time will tell.

Tomorrow also marks the end of the non-waiver trade deadline. In other words, Christmas for Kenny Williams. He loves this stuff - especially when the Sox are in contention. So far we've been treated to Kevin Youkilis, Brent Myers, and Liriano. I wonder if  Kenny has any more tricks up his sleeve...

After all that, Sox back in 1st

After an all out ass kicking by the Detroit Tigers over the weekend which sent the Sox 1 1/2 games back of the AL Central lead, the Sox now find themselves back in first (tied with the Tigers) after two solid wins against the Twins.

Tonight, the Sox were down 4-2 in the 7th inning but scored 9 times in the 7th and 8th to put an exclamation point on the 11-4 win. Adam Dunn hit a two run home run that tied the game in the 7th and then Dayan Viciedo hit a  two run single with the bases loaded later in the same inning to put the Sox up 6-4.

Dunn continued to be the most productive .208 hitter in baseball the next inning. He doubled knocking home two more runs and then scored on an Alex Rios single. Alexei Ramirez followed up Rios with a two run home run to finish off the assault on the Twins bullpen in the 8th.

Jose Quintana was OK tonight pitching 6 1/3 innings giving up the four runs to the Twins. His biggest problem was Josh Willingham who blasted two home runs off Quintana.

The Sox finish the three game series and homestand tomorrow afternoon. Jake Peavy (7-7, 3.22ERA) will match up against Nick Blackburn (4-5, 7.46ERA).

Hawk line of the game: 7/23/12

"Robin has the best demeanour of a manager I have seen in all or part of seven decades."

I'll hold off judgement until after this series is over

You had to figure Friday night's game against Justin Verlander and the Tigers would be a loss. Verlander is a one-man unstoppable rebel force and the rest of the Tigers are rolling. Combine that with the slumping Sox and you get a 4-2 Tigers win that cuts the Sox 1st place lead to just a 1/2 game.

The Sox had a 2-0 lead going into the bottom of the 3rd inning thanks to an Alejandro De Aza two run home run. But that was all the fun the Sox would have tonight.

Jhonny Peralta stood at third base with two outs in the bottom half of the 3rd when Quintin Berry was hit by a pitch setting up runners  on the corners for the heart of the Tigers order. They did not disappoint the Tigers faithful either. Miguel Cabrera singled up the middle to cut the Sox lead to 2-1. Next batter Prince Fielder singled in Berry to tie the game and Delmon Young doubled to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead.

Jake Peavy otherwise pitched a decent game giving up another two out run in the 7th when the Sox already looked defeated.

Verlander dominated throwing 122 pitches in 8 innings giving up the two runs and only four hits.

I would hope the Sox can win at least one game this weekend keeping them in first place after this weekend's series. The big blow on this road trip has been the gut punching loss in Boston Thursday night. I hope that doesn't haunt the Sox going forward.

Chris Sale will try and keep out Sox off the slide Saturday afternoon with first place on the line. The game is now a 3:05pm start. 

Mind blowing loss

For the third time in about a month, Jose Quintana was having a great day on the mound pitching his ass off while the Sox only spotted him a 1-0 lead throughout the game. And, for the second time in about a month Robin Ventura decided to take Quintana out to start the 9th inning which led to disaster.

To be fair, Quintana had thrown 103 pitches of shut out ball. The questionable move was bringing in the inept Matt Thornton to start the 9th. 

Thornton gave up a lead off single to Carl Crawford, then the defense let him down by being unable to complete a double play off the bat of Dustin Pedroia. Two batters later Cody Ross (who the Sox made look like a Hall Of Famer this series) hit a three run bomb over the green monster facing Addison Reed for the walk off home run to give the Red Sox a 3-1 win. 

While you can say scoring only one run will pretty much guarantee a loss these days the Sox deserved better tonight as their rookie stud threw another gem at Fenway only to watch Thornton and Reed piss it away. The Sox drop 3 of 4 to the Red Sox while the Tigers creep a little closer in the division race as this weekend's showdown in Detroit looms.

The Sox now have just a 1 1/2 game lead in the A.L. Central as tomorrow you can probably already chalk up to a loss as Justin Verlander (10-5, 2.43ERA) will take the ball for the Tigers  against Jake Peavy (7-6, 3.12ERA).

I'll take it

So the Sox didn't "destroy" the Royals but they still took care of business by winning the weekend series. It's never easy against this team, especially in Kansas City where the Sox usually use one game to find a stupid way to lose.

Kansas City, Minnesota and Oakland are the three cities where I dread the Sox playing. It's generally a struggle and no matter how good the Sox are or how bad these teams are you'll see the Sox foul some big play up or allow a guy batting under .200 to hit his first career home run against them in walk off fashion.

Much like last night's game, Robin Ventura trotted the starter this time being Chris Sale out in the 8th inning with an already high pitch count. Sale looked like he was at the end of his game when he gave up back to back singles to Alcides Escobar and Billy Butler to start the inning. With disaster lurking in a 2-1 lead, Sale stayed in the game and got out of the jam by getting Lorenzo Cain to line out and Yuniesky Betancourt to ground into a double play. Addison Reed atoned for blowing Friday's game by locking down the save for the 2-1 win.

So while the Sox win the Tigers have now moved into 2nd place in the AL Central 3 1/2 games behind our Sox with Cleveland dropping to 4 back with their loss.

The Sox will travel to Boston for a four game series this week. With Gavin Floyd now being sidelined because of a sore elbow, Dylan Alxelrod will start Monday's game against Aaron Cook. Tuesday will mark the return of Phil Humber who will be coming off the DL. Starters for Wednesday and Thursday's games are apparently up in the air. 

Please, destroy the Royals this weekend

Tomorrow the Sox begin the second half of the season and play the first of the final 77 games of the year. Right now they sit in first place by 3 games and could do themselves a solid by taking care of business this weekend against the Kansas City Royals. Playoff teams pound on lesser teams. And if the Sox consider themselves a playoff team, it's time to end their struggles with the Royals as the two teams will face off 15 times between now and the end of the season.

Jose Quintana and all stars Jake Peavy and Chris Sale will start this weekend against Bruce Chen (7-8, 5.22ERA), Luke Hochevar (6-8, 5.14ERA) and Luis Mendoza (3-5, 4.50ERA).

The 10-game road trip will continue next week with four in Boston and a big three game series in Detroit next weekend.

The best of the 1st half

The Sox provided many surprises through the first 85 games of the 2012 season. The biggest surprise of all is probably the fact that they have finished the half in first place by 3 games.

Here are the five games (in no order) that stood out the most in a fun first half.



1. April 7: The first win on the 2012 campaign came with the help of Alex Rios. He blasted a solo home run in the top of the ninth inning with the game tied at three against the Texas Rangers. The home run came off Sox villain, Joe Nathan for the 4-3 win.

2. April 21: Phil Humber threw the 21st perfect game in MLB history and 3rd in White Sox franchise history in the 4-0 win against the Seattle Mariners. Humber struck out nine hitters and only threw 96 pitches.

3. May 30: In what could be one of the oddest games of the year, the Sox won their 8th game in a row over the Tampa Bay Rays, 4-3. Jose Quintana was thrown out in the 4th inning for throwing behind Ben Zobrist in retaliation for A.J. being plunked. Ventura was ejected as well. What will be the most memorable will be Hawk's epic rant on home plate umpire Mark Wegner that put Hawk in hot water with MLB.

4. June 28: Dayan Viciedo hit a go-ahead three run home run in the top of the 9th inning against the New York Yankees to lift the Sox to a 4-3 win that kicked off a four game series in New York.

5. July 4: Newly acquired Kevin Youkilis hit a walk off RBI single in the 10th to give the Sox a 5-4 win over the Texas Rangers. The night after the Sox pounded the Rangers 19-2, the Sox dug themselves an early 3-0 hole in the first inning. The Sox battled back with a four spot in the second and needed extras to finish off the two time AL Champions.

Walk off!

They sure have been fun to watch so far. (Well maybe aside from a crap stretch they had in late April.) It's looking like Jose Quintana will start the first game against the Royals to start the 2nd half. Jake Peavy and Chris Sale are expected to follow.

You knew starting Dylan Axelrod on three days rest would be a disaster, right?

Dylan Axelrod started in place of Chris Sale as the White Sox coaching staff thought it would be nice to give him today off so he could pitch in Tuesday's All-Star Game. Never mind the fact the Sox are in a division race against two teams where every game is going to count down the stretch. Nope, Axelrod was given the ball this afternoon as the Sox were looking to sweep the Blue Jays and this six game homestand.

You could debate the timing of giving Sale rest. Obviously Sale is going to get some starts off in the second half to keep the arm fresh. Sale is going to blow by his career high for innings pitched and he'll be needed if the Sox expect to win the division. But unfortunately right now the Sox don't have much to make a spot start in the rotation with Danks and Humber on the DL. So today looked to be a bullpen day from the start.

Axelrod gave up four runs in the first inning highlighted by two 2-run home runs by Colby Rasmus and Edwin Encarnacion.

In what would be the theme for the afternoon, the Sox fought back. Alex Rios blasted a three run home run in the bottom of the 1st to quickly get the Sox back in the game.

Unfortunately, Axelrod wanted to make this harder on everyone. He surrendered three more runs in the next two innings to put the Sox in a 7-3 hole after three innings. It became 8-3 after four when Brian Omogrosso entered the game in the 4th inning and promptly game up a solo shot to Jeff Mathis.

You would not be wrong to have left the game at this point of you were in attendance or turn off the TV if you were watching at home. But if you didn't, the Sox gave some thrills for the remainder of the game.

The Sox scored four times in the fifth getting the score to 8-7. Alexei Ramirez continued his hot hitting by knocking in two on a triple with one out. But, Dayan Viciedo and Tyler Flowers weren't able to bring the tying run home as they both struck out ending the threat.

The Blue Jays put another four spot on the board in the sixth. It helped their cause because the Sox came back with solo tally's sixth and seventh to get close but eventually ran out of gas and fell 11-9.

Robin Ventura got thrown out of the game after Hector Santiago looked to throw a first pitch strike in the ninth but was called a ball. Robin yelled from the dugout then ran out to yell at home plate umpire D. J. Reyburn for basically have two strike zones throughout the game. It was as animated as Robin as got all year.

So the Sox end the first half of this 2012 season at 47-38, in first place. Three games in front of the Cleveland Indians (44-41) and 3 1/2 games in front of the Detroit Tigers (44-42).

There really isn't much to complain about. This Sox team has exceeded expectations so far and is playing solid baseball.

In other good news, Jake Peavy was named to the All-Star Team today to replace C.J. Wilson. Peavy will join Konerko, Sale, and Dunn in Kansas City this week.

Those four can stay in K.C. after the game Tuesday as the Sox will kick off the 2nd half on Friday in Kansas City.

Sox win 19-2

It was just an all out ass kicking of the Texas Rangers tonight on the south side. The Sox hit 4 home runs and had 21 hits in the 19-2 win. Yes, 19-2.


Kevin Youkilis hit his first home run of his White Sox career in the first. It was a two run shot that preceded  home runs by Adam Dunn and Alex Rios. 

A.J. Pierzynski was a man with a plan tonight as he went 3-5 belting a three run home run in the fifth. The home run was AJ's 15th on the year as he upped his average to .291 on the year. Obviously A.J. is going to try and make a statement this series in front of Rangers' manager Ron Washington for leaving him off the All-Star team.

The Sox on the night were 10-15 with RISP which backed another stellar start by Chris Sale. All Sale did was pitch 7 1/3 innings giving up one run and five hits against the AL's best team.

So the Sox remain 2 games in front of the Indians and now 4 1/2 in front of the Tigers.

Hopefully the Sox didn't blow through all their fireworks tonight. They still have a game tomorrow and a fireworks show after the game for 4th of July festivities. Dylan Axelrod and Scott Feldman will make the start for their respective teams for a 6:10pm start.

Sox remain in 1st despite rough June

After a 13-14 month of June the Sox remained on top of the AL Central by 1 1/2 games over the Cleveland Indians. That's the same division lead the Sox had heading into the month.

So after five consecutive series losses that saw the Sox go 5-10 you could say it could've been worse. Unfortunately where normally the Sox fatten up against NL teams, that wasn't the case this year as they went 6-9 against NL teams in June.

Their pitching staff took some hits as well. John Danks remained on the DL and Phil Humber joined him on June 22. Gavin Floyd had a couple nice starts but still continued to struggle through the month with a 2-2 record and 4.34ERA. Peavy, Sale, and Jose Quintana  remained stellar arms in the rotation while the bullpen had it's ups and downs.

On the positive side, Zach Stewart and Brent Lillibridge were sent to Boston for  Kevin Youkilis  to stabilize third base. The Orlando Hudson experiment wasn't working. Hudson was batting under .200 and was shaky at third.

July shapes up to be a tough month. The Sox will close out the first half at home with three against the AL's- best, Texas Rangers. Then three with the Blue Jays.

Home hasn't been too kind for the Sox. They have been unimpressive at U.S. Cellular Field with a 19-21 record. But, the Sox only play 9 of 25 games on the south side in July. (There is a three game series against the Twins at the end of the month.) Road trips will include stops in Kansas City, Boston, Detroit, Texas and Minnesota.  And don't forget the All Star Break next week. Paul Konerko, Chris Sale, and Adam Dunn will represent the White Sox. Jake Peavy has a chance to join them as he is on the final vote ballot.

It will be interesting to see how the standings shape up on July 31. The Tigers seem like they're coming around and the Indians look like they'll continue to contend.

Yankees currently have 7 ex-Sox

Just an observation while watching Cy Kuroda baffle Sox hitters this afternoon.

7 of the 25 members of the current Yankee squad are ex-White Sox players.

Dirty .230 in 2008 with the White Sox

Nick Swisher
Dewayne Wise
Boone Logan
Chris Stewart
Andruw Jones
Jayson Nix
Freddy Garcia


That's a lot of crap wearing the pinstripes.

Sox do what they needed to do on and off the field

With the pitching staff that the Twins trotted out for this three game series there was no reason the Sox should have lost this series. Really, they should have swept the Twins but their usual problems with Francisco Liriano reared its ugly head in Monday night's lifeless 4-1 loss.

On Tuesday and Wednesday the Twins ran out Liam Hendriks and Nick Blackburn. Both starters have ERAs over 6 and were a combined 4-9 heading into this series.

The Sox squeaked by with a 3-2 win on Tuesday night then blasted Blackburn this afternoon with a 21 hit attack leading to a 12-5 win to capture their second consecutive series win.

With the score already 2-0 in the fifth, Adam Dunn hit a two out 3-run home run. Dunn's 24th home run snapped his 0-24 streak at the plate. Alex Rios batted next and belted a home run to continue his hot hitting.

Rios' home run was the sixth and last run Nick Blackburn would give up for the day. Fortunately, the guys coming out of the Twins bullpen didn't fare much better. The next three Twin relievers combined to pitch 2 2/3 innings giving up 6 runs and 11 hits.

The balanced offensive attack was even done with Paul Konerko, Dayan Viciedo, and Gordon Beckham getting the day off to back another stellar Chris Sale start. Newly acquired Kevin Youkilis went 3-4 at the plate with 2 RBIs.

The low point of the game was Will Ohman who came on to pitch the final two innings of the blowout. Ohman gave up three runs, hit two batters, gave up two hits and one home run.

Apparently that's what you've to do to get your ass kicked off the team. After the game, Ohman was given his walking papers and DFA'd. 

Yes, it is you, Will.

So really, the crap Ohman pulled during the game benefited the team as a whole as we'll no longer have to deal with his bullshit.

With the Indians loss the Sox open up a 2 1/2 game lead in the AL Central. Their largest lead since June 3.

Thursday opens up a big four game series in New York against the Yankees. Dylan Axelrod, Jose Quintana, Jake Peavy and Gavin Floyd will start the four games for the Sox. Ivan Nova, Adam Warren, Hiroki Kuroda and Phil Hughes will pitch for the Yankees.

Trade for Youkilis already equals a win

Toward the end of this afternoon's game word was spreading throughout the ballpark that Zach Stewart and Brent Lillibridge were traded to the Boston Red Sox for Kevin Youkilis. The funny thing was, Lillibridge came in the game to pinch run for Paul Konerko in the 9th inning.

In a repeat of Friday night's ballgame the Sox and Brewers went into extra innings scoreless only this time the game saw the Sox pull out a run.

After a walk to Adam Dunn to put runner's on 1st and 2nd, Brent Lillibridge was due up to bat in the 10th inning. Due to the trade happening while the game was in extras, Brent was pulled for pinch hitter Eduardo Escobar who hit a walk off single in the gap in left center field to give the Sox the 1-0 win and their first series win since early June. (They had dropped their previous five series.) Even better, the win puts the Sox back in first place by a 1/2 game since Cleveland lost earlier in the day.

So in essence, the Youkilis trade has already shown some benefit to the team.

Zach Stewart had been sent down to the minors after his joke of a start last week against the Cubs. Stewart gave up six runs in 5 2/3 innings of work that Monday night and Brent Lillibridge wasn't doing much with the bat this season batting .175 with 2 RBIs in limited playing time this year.

All in all, this is a good trade seeing that the Sox sent off two players that weren't doing anything, got some cash from the Red Sox, and now have a real third basemen as Orlando Hudson has been an ass at third and is batting .194 in 28 games. Hudson will most likely be used as a utility man off the bench.

I don't expect Youkilis to be the player he was a few years ago but he should be a steady glove at third and provide something off the bat...at least more than what Morel and Hudson were. Hopefully.

4th series loss

Things are getting rough for the south siders as we hit mid-June. Series losses to the Blue Jays, Astros, Cardinals, and Dodgers have the Sox sitting at 35-31 before starting round two of the Crosstown Classic tonight.

The Sox still sit in first place by a 1 1/2 over the Indians but now just 3 games over the Tigers who have seemed to wake up during interleague play.

Yesterday Jose Quintana was throwing a gem in LA. Just 77 pitches though 8 innings kept the Dodgers off the board while the Sox were hanging onto a 1-0 lead.

For some reason Robin (Or Coop) decided to take Quintana out and have Addison Reed start the 9th. Don't get me wrong, I totally get the whole "Reed is the closer" argument. But Quintana was effortless Sunday afternoon and didn't have any stress in the 8th. I would've liked to see him at least attempt the close out his own masterpiece.

The normally steady Addison Reed gave up the tying run in the 9th and Matt Thornton wasted no time in the 10th to give up the game winning run for the 2-1 loss.

Brutal.

The series was bookended by bad losses as Friday night was similar when Thornton uncorked a wild pitch to let the winning run score in the 8th just after the Sox tied the game in the top half of the frame.

Friday also capped my summer baseball trip in LA as I witnessed the pathetic loss.

Dodger Stadium is a pretty interesting place. The massive 50,000 seat stadium didn't fill up until later in the game. The fans weren't as brutal as I expected them to be as they seemed more concerned about starting the wave.

Hopefully tonight the Sox can get back on track against the Cubs. Zach Stewart will get the start against Matt Garza.

Stewart is getting the nod so Peavy and Sale get an extra few days of rest.

Good Jake, Bad Gavin, Two losses

The Sox lost 2 of 3 in St. Louis but still managed to gain a game on the Cleveland Indians thanks to the Cincinnati Reds.

The Sox didn't get anything going against Lance Lynn during Wednesday night's 1-0 loss. On Thursday, Gavin Floyd was his usual piss poor self giving up all 5 Cardinal runs in 4 2/3 innings of work. Gavin walked Cardinal starter Jake Westbrook twice while having problems with Allen Craig (2-3) and David Freese (2-4, HR, 3 RBIs.) in the 5-3 loss.

The plus on the trip was seeing new Busch Stadium which was obviously filled with odd Cardinal fans but still has that new park feel. The downtown ballpark had nice sightlines and spacious concourses.

However, with the exception of the "make your own macaroni & cheese" stand, the ballpark food was nothing special.

The Sox now head to LA to play the Dodgers clinging to first place by 1 1/2 games.

Hopefully I'll see better baseball Friday night.

Going for some road watchin'

Tonight's nice 6-1 win over the defending World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals was a nice set up to my upcoming Sox road trip that will take place Wednesday and Thursday in St. Louis and Friday night in Los Angeles when they play the Dodgers

Jose Quintana did everything he could to make his case to stay in the rotation when John Danks returns next week.  Quintana sparkled in his 5 1/3 innings of work only giving up one run. He only had a two run lead to work with thanks to Orlando Hudson's two out  two run triple in the second inning. He then kept the Cardinals down until the sixth inning when he gave up an RBI single to Allen Craig.

Quintana left the game with two runners on but Nate Jones induced a double play off the bat of Tyler Greene to end the threat. From there the bullpen combo of Matt Thornton, Jesse Crain, and Addison Reed shut the door while the Sox bats put some separation between the two clubs.

Adam Dunn hit a massive solo home run in the eighth to put the Sox up 4-1 and  in the same inning A.J. Pierzysnki hit a two run home run to cap the scoring effort.

Robin Ventura and his coaching staff will have some tough decisions to make in a few days when Danks is ready to come off the DL. Do they move Quintana to the bullpen? Keep him in the rotation and send Floyd or Humber to the bullpen?

I would move the increasingly aggravating Phil Humber to the bullpen to straighten his crap out. I expect Gavin Floyd to get back on track and he has more of a track record than Humber.

Phil has been a career minor leaguer until he had a nice 1st half of the 2011 season and of course  a perfect game this past April. Hopefully the perfect game doesn't give him a free pass to get bombed out of the park for the rest of the season.

Regardless, Quintana has shown some balls since being put in the rotation. With the win tonight, he improves his record to 2-1 with a 1.98 ERA. Not to mention pitching for a first place team most of the time.

The Sox improve to 34-27 and increase their AL Central lead to 1 1/2 over the Cleveland Indians and now 6 over the Detroit Tigers. Both AL Central foes lost night.

I'll get photos, observations, and hopefully more Sox wins  from both St. Louis and LA this week as these are two parks I haven't been to.

Some nights you just lose, Stone Pony

There wasn't much to see at The Cell tonight and judging by the paid attendance, Sox fans thought the same. Even though the offense was able to put up five runs, the Blue Jays pounded Phil Humber early on and didn't let up when it looked like the Sox were trying to chip away at the deficit.

Humber walked three batters in the first inning leading to a Blue Jays run which served as an omen for the rest of his night. The Blue Jays then blasted two 2-run home runs in the fifth off Humber to give them a 5-1 lead which ended Phil's night at five innings of work giving up the five runs and four walks.

Zach Stewart provided no relief in his 2 2/3 innings giving up an additional four runs. It's a damn shame too because the Sox were able to put some runs on the board late in the game on a A.J. Pierzysnki 2-run bomb and Adam Dunn's 18th home run of the year.

All of that goes for not in the 9-5 loss on a cool evening on the South Side.

The Sox seem to struggle against the Canadians and perhaps that's the reason the marketing department decided to offer $5 tickets on select seats to this series. And when I mean select seats, I mean the worst possible seats you could get - the few sections in the Upper Reserved by the foul poles.

I applaud the Sox for recognizing fans' concerns over ticket prices and trying to get people in the park to see a first place team. But by putting the worst seats in the house on sale for $5 that's basically saying "We'd like to have a crowd, but really don't care that much." I understand lower level seats on the infield and down the lines aren't going to be discounted and nor should they, but at least put the bleachers on sale or some lower reserved outfield seats - make it more appealing than throwing rejuvenated fans in the upper barren corners of the 500 level.

With the loss and Indians win over the Tigers, the Sox hold a 1 1/2 lead in the AL Central over the Indians and a 6 game lead over the Tigers.

Tomorrow Jose Quintana (1-0, 1.69ERA) will make another start in place of John Danks against Blue Jay starter Brandon Morrow (6-3, 3.26ERA).

Classic Hawk meltdown in 8th straight Sox victory

The Sox are getting more fun to watch everyday. Today's 4-3 victory over the Rays marks their 8th win in a row and completes their second consecutive series sweep.

Even better, this game had an epic Hawk rant for the ages.

To set the scene; yesterday, A.J. Pierzysnki slid into second base with his spikes high nailing Ben Zobrist in the right shin. Today as retaliation, Rays' pitcher Alex Cobb plunked A.J. in the third inning. Which was nice too because A.J. ended up scoring in the inning and seeing that the Sox won by a run the Rays will probably look at that at being a stupid move in hindsight.

So anyway, in the fourth Jose Quintana retaliated by throwing behind Ben Zobrist. The pitch was low and behind the right handed batter. Home plate umpire Mark Wegner immediately threw Quintana out of the game and later Robin Ventura for arguing the case that Wegner never warned benches when A.J. was hit or when Quintana threw behind Zobrist.

What we got was maybe, just maybe Hawk's greatest rant. Deadspin link to full video.

But in the end, the Sox were victorious yet again and opened a 1 1/2 first place lead over the Cleveland Indians. Just two weeks ago the Sox were 17-21 and 4 1/2 games behind the AL Central leaders. Now heading into June the Sox are 29-22 and will open up a nine game homestand against the Seattle Mariners. Friday looks to be a good pitching match-up, Jake Peavy (6-1, 3.07ERA) will duel with Seattle's Felix Hernandez (4-4, 3.17ERA).

Your first place Chicago White Sox

I gotta admit, I thought James Shields was just the guy to shut down the hot hitting Sox for a night. Couple that with Phil Humber going and I was thinking a loss for this evening. Even as Shields seemed like he was cruising along, the game was close enough that a few key hits here and there would get the Sox the lead.

A bit more than "a few key hits" was had in the Sox half of the sixth inning as it seemed Shields was figured out and the Sox went to town.

With the Sox trailing 2-1 entering the sixth, nine guys came to the plate and connected for five straight hits to open up a four run lead.  Even more impressive none of the five runs scored off the long ball. Three straight singles by Alex Rios, A.J. Pierzynski, and Dayan Viciedo, an Alexei Ramirez double, an Orlando Hudson single and Alejandro De Aza force out accounted for the five runs.That's what we call efficient.

As usual, no Sox win would be complete without the use of the long ball. Today it came in the eighth courtesy of Dayan Viciedo who destroyed a Cesar Ramos offering to dead center field to cap the 7-2 victory.

I should've done a count of times Hawk was pimping White Sox season tickets during the broadcast. Seemed every other batter Hawk was reading promo copy pushing season ticket plans. Most likely because as usual, Kenny Williams came out yesterday and did his annual "fans need to show up" speech.

Just a little memo to Kenny and Brooks; Yes, the Sox are playing some very good baseball as of late. (And when I say as of late, I mean in the last two weeks.) Sox fans have been fooled before in seeing a hot streak turn into nothing. Hopefully the winning baseball keeps up and The Cell fills up. Fans should come out for the upcoming 9 game homestand starting Friday. Unfortunately, the dynamic pricing structure the Sox do for ticket sales now doesn't do any wonders for fans wanting to come out to see a good Sox team on the field. Ticket prices are lowered when tickets are less in demand (when they're losing) and seem to raise when the tickets are higher in demand (when they're winning, playing "marque" teams, etc). The upcoming homestand should be an interesting indicator of how the faithful feel about this team.

But back to positive stuff. The Cleveland Indians were dispatched by the Royals this fine evening meaning the Sox move into first place by the slimmest of margins, a 1/2 game with their 28-22 record. As I right this, the Red Sox are beating the Tigers, which is also a good thing because you know at some point they're going to wake up.

Tomorrow the Sox will look for the sweep of the Rays. Jose Quintana (1-0, 1.54ERA) will make his second career start for the Sox and will face off against Alex Cobb (2-0, 2.25ERA)

4 days of Sox: 5/26 - My hands hurt from clapping so much

The Sox are in one of those stretches were they can do no wrong. Three 4-run innings were able to offset Jake Peavy's sub-par outing Saturday afternoon against the Cleveland Indians.

Jake was given a 4-0 lead after the first inning but the Indians were able to take the lead in the third scoring 5 times. But the offense that refuses to let up fought back in the home half of the third. Back to back doubles by Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko tied the game at five. Alex Rios then singled to score Konerko to give the Sox a 6-5 lead. Two batters later Dayan Viciedo launched a two run home run to the seats in right to put the Sox up 8-5.

Jake still wanted to keep this contest interesting and served up a two run bomb to Jason Kipins (His second home run of the game) to get the Tribe back to within one in the fifth. 

Peavy kept the Indians down in the sixth and allowed the Sox offense to put up another four spot in the 7th and then two more in the 8th off an Alex Rios home run.

The 14-7 victory saw Konerko go 4-4, Alex Rios and Dayan Viciedo go 3-5. Viciedo accounted for 5 RBIs while Rios drove in 3.

The last four games saw the Sox belt opponents 40-18. They are winners of 8 of their last 10 and now stand 1 1/2 behind the Indians with a record of 25-22. I'll take it.

The Sox will conclude their series and homestand today with a 1:10 game. Hopefully the Sox will be banging more home runs this afternoon and the temperatures are expected to be in the mid-90's



4 days of Sox tracker:
# of beers: 10
# of fans seen wearing "All in" shirts: 3
# of home runs hit by the Sox: 12
# of wins: 4
Total time of four games: 11 hours 22 minutes