Back and Ready for Some Baseball!

Hey everybody! White Sox Stats, News, and Info blog is back up and running!

Unfortunately, it appears that barring a miracle, the Sox will be missing the postseason this year. But there are still games left to be played, so here is what you should expect for the rest of this season, the postseason, after the World Series, and next season:

• The daily blog entries will return starting on Monday, September 12. Expect two entries a day, one being a game preview followed by a game recap.
• The featured articles that were supposed to be up and running by now, (What was Ozzie thinking?! and Stat of the Week) will be postponed until after the World Series.
• Upon the beginning of playoffs, there will be two to four posts a week recapping the playoff games.
• After the World Series, there will be anywhere from one to five posts a week depending on what occurs during the off-season
• Starting in Spring Training, the White Sox SNI podcast will be up and running! Stay tuned for more details...

What to Watch for: 8/10 White Sox @ Orioles

Tough Luck:
Phil Humber takes the mound tonight vs the Orioles. In his last 4 starts, Humber is 0-4 with a 7.97 ERA. His longest start during this personal losing streak was when he went 6.1 innings against New York in a 7-2 loss. Batters are hitting .475 (29/61) against him over his last 4 starts, with 6 walks, 17 strike outs, and 2 home runs.

Feel the Power:
In the month of August, the White Sox have hit 14 home runs, leading the American League. In July, they hit 18 home runs, their fewest total in July since they hit 17 in 1992. Last night saw rookie third baseman Brent Morel hit his second home run of the year, snapping a 165 at-bat homerless drought with a monster 413 ft blast in the 4th inning off Jo-Jo Reyes. Also last night, Carlos Quentin hit his fourth home run in the last six games.

Tough Luck Pt. 2:
Even with Humber's recent struggles, right handed hitters are being bamboozled by Humber this year. They are hitting 32-180 (.178), the third lowest mark in the majors this year behind Atlanta Braves reliever Jonny Venters (.168) and AL Cy Young contender Jered Weaver (.176).

Correction: 8/9 Recap

Minor correction to last night's recap. I wrote that the Sox were finishing a 3 game series vs the Orioles tonight. Instead they finish their 4 game series against the Orioles tomorrow night when Mark Buehrle takes the mound against the O's

8/9 Game Recap: White Sox 4 Orioles 3

Saturday September 4, 2010. The White Sox swept the Red Sox in a doubleheader to improve their record to 75-60.

That was also the last time the Sox had won 5 consecutive games.

Tuesday night, the White Sox beat the Orioles in a close 4-3 game, giving them a season high 5 game win streak. Gavin Floyd pitched well through most of the game, running into a rough patch in the 5th inning where he gave up 4 hits and 3 runs. He avoided trouble after Nick Markakis was called out stealing third on a blown call by third base umpire Phil Cuzzi, who ejected Orioles manager Buck Showalter after he came out of the dugout to argue the call.

The White Sox offense had a decent night tonight, with 7 hits and 2 home runs coming from Quentin (24) and Morel (2). Morel hit a monster blast in the 4th inning, his first home run in 165 at-bats (May 17). The White Sox bullpen, which had been shaky as of recent games, nailed down the win for Floyd by throwing 2 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing no hits and only 1 walk.

Tomorrow the Sox look to extend their win streak as they finish off their 3 game series at Baltimore when Phil Humber will take the mound against Tommy Hunter at 7:05 pm ET/5:05 pm MT on CSN.

What to Watch for: 8/9 White Sox @ Orioles

Some things to watch for tonight:

Hometown Villain
Gavin Floyd is on the mound tonight for the Sox. The Annapolis, Maryland native has dominated in 3 career starts at Baltimore, owning a 2-0 record with a 1.71 ERA, a 0.810 WHIP, and 13 strikeouts. His career numbers against the Orioles are also impressive, with Floyd sporting a 3-2 lifetime record with a 3.48 ERA and 1.065 WHIP to go along with 31 strikeouts.

South Side's Southpaw Struggles
This season, the Sox are 15-16 vs left handed starters, and White Sox batters are hitting .246 against lefties, the fourth lowest in the American League.

Konerko's Knee
Slugger Paul Konerko is in the lineup again tonight, in spite of his still injured knee. He will be batting third tonight as the designated hitter, with Brent Lillibridge getting the start at first in favor of struggling Adam Dunn. Konerko was injured July 31st after getting hit by a pitch by Red Sox pitcher, Andrew Miller.

Bullpen Blues
After posting a 1.24 ERA from June 16-July 29, the White Sox bullpen has struggled allowing 22 earned runs over 27 innings pitched over the last 10 games (7.33 ERA).

8/8 Game Recap: White Sox 7 Orioles 6

Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

That's what the White Sox did Monday night, scoring 2 in the 8th inning to come back and managed to grab a win over the Orioles, 7-6. Neither starter factored into the decision, as Jesse Crain picked up his 6th win on the year and Sergio Santos pitched a perfect 9th, striking out the side and picking up his 23rd save of the season. Orioles primary set up man, Jim Johnson was dealt the loss tonight as he allowed 4 baserunners and gave up 2 runs in 1 inning of work.

Chicago took an early lead in the 2nd inning, scoring 4 runs off starter Jeremy Guthrie (5-15, 4.34 ERA), courtesy of an Adam Dunn RBI single, and Pierzynski (6) and Beckham (9) went deep. Baltimore responded by scoring 3 runs over the next 3 innings, finally chasing Danks (4-9, 3.90 ERA) from the game after 6.1 innings. With runners on the corners and 1 out, Crain came in and, on a 1-2 fastball, gave up a 3 run bomb to J.J. Hardy.

In the top of the 8th, the Sox scored two on a Pierzynski sac fly and a Rios RBI single. Crain, Thornton, and Santos combined for 2 scoreless innings to finish out the game.

GAME NOTES:

Konerko Hurt:

A visit to the DL might do some good for the Chicago slugger. Konerko looked very sore tonight, hobbling from first to second after his 1st inning ground rule double, and slowing down and getting tagged out attempting to get into third base on a Quentin single in the 6th inning. Konerko's ailing knee, injured by an Andrew Miller pitch on July 31, is still giving Konerko problems running the bases. Konerko has stated that while he has no problem swinging the bat, he only starts to feel the pain when he starts running to first base. It seems that even though Konerko has been the team's best offensive weapon this season, and even with the White Sox 5 games back in a close AL Central pennant race, it might be better for the Sox to DL Konerko, rather than watch him painfully hobble around the bases.

Comedy Night at Third Base:

Monday night had both team's third basemen committing errors. The Orioles' Josh Bell misplayed a Paul Konerko grounder, watching it bounce over his glove and into left field during the 6th inning. Brent Morel followed that up in the next inning, when on a sac bunt attempt, John Danks fielded the ball and attempted to get the out at third. Morel caught the ball with time to spare, but when he went to apply the sweep tag, he watched as Orioles catcher, Matt Wieters, managed to kick the ball out of Morel's glove as he slid into third.

Misc. Etc.

• AJ Pierzynski hit his 6th home run of the season in the 2nd inning. Of his 6 home runs this year, only two came with runners on base. AJ's last multi-RBI home run came on April 29.
• Since going 0-8 with a 5.25 ERA over his first 11 starts, John Danks has gone 4-1 with a 2.20 ERA in his last 8 starts.
• White Sox offense has not been consistent this season, but Sox defense has been. The Sox lead the Majors in fielding percentage (.9984) and have committed the fewest errors (50).
• Since 2008, John Danks has the third lowest ERA amongst AL southpaws (3.66), trailing only CC Sabathia (3.25) and Jon Lester (3.28).