White Sox Face Crucial Test at Minnesota Twins
The Chicago White Sox have drifted back in the AL Central and will need a road series win as the MLB odds underdogs when they visit Minnesota for three against the Twins.
During Sunday's TBS broadcast of the Braves' rout of the Dodgers, Dennis Eckersley mentioned he thought the Chicago White Sox had peaked too early this season. Chicago hit the All-Star break on a torrid 25-5 run that just pushed them into the AL Central lead after their poor start to the season.
My first reaction was to roll my eyes and say, "Great. Just what someone holding a couple of White Sox futures wants to hear, Eck."
The Hall-of-Famer might be right, however, and if Ozzie Guillen's club wants to prove Eckersley and others wrong, the next few days in Minnesota would be the perfect time. The ChiSox and Twins open a big three-game series at Target Field Tuesday night with Ron Gardenhire's boys up three games on the Pale Hose in the AL Central standings.
Bookmaker.com opened Minnesota as the minus 120 favorite for the series starter and set minus 120 for the 'under' 8½.
The two clubs know each other well from years past and 12 head-to-head battles this season already. Minnesota visited Chicago last week and took two of three, giving the Twins an 8-4 advantage in 2010 and five of the last six. The lone win for the White Sox came with John Danks (13-10, 3.19), their Tuesday starter, on the hill.
Danks has in fact pitched against the Twins in all four 2010 series between the two AL Central rivals. Chicago has won two of the four, going 1-1 here in Minneapolis and 11 at home, with the southpaw owning a 3.66 ERA in 27 innings.
Last week saw Danks and the White Sox 170 favorites when he tossed eight and allowed just one run. Just after the All-Star break, Danks had a start at Target Field that wasn't so pretty with six runs crossing the plate in his six innings of work. All six runs scored off Danks in the second inning, but he settled after that to get the win as Chicago rallied for an 8-6 triumph as small money line underdogs.
Minnesota will counter Danks with right-hander Scott Baker (12-11, 4.76). This will be Baker's third crack at the ChiSox with he and the Twins 2-0 in the previous two. Both of the other starts came against them in Chicago, the most recent a week ago on Aug 10 as the slight minus 110 favorite. Baker yielded five runs in six innings, four of them earned, but had the backing of a four-homer Minnesota assault in the 12-6 victory.
Target Field should be a nice place to be for a baseball game Tuesday. Forecasters are calling for mostly clear skies and a game-time temp in the mid-70s before dropping into the mid-60s. Winds are listed out of the SSW at 10-15 mph (mound out to LF corner).
Wednesday's rematch is a rematch of starting pitchers from last week in Chicago. Gavin Floyd (11-13, 3.70) will take on Francisco Liriano (13-10, 3.26), a battle Liriano and the Twins won 6-1 last Thursday as 120 favorites. Veterans Mark Buehrle (14-10, 4.05) and Carl Pavano (16-8, 3.27) close the series Thursday evening.
NOTE: W-L records displayed for starting pitchers are team records in games the pitchers start.
The Chicago White Sox have drifted back in the AL Central and will need a road series win as the MLB odds underdogs when they visit Minnesota for three against the Twins.
During Sunday's TBS broadcast of the Braves' rout of the Dodgers, Dennis Eckersley mentioned he thought the Chicago White Sox had peaked too early this season. Chicago hit the All-Star break on a torrid 25-5 run that just pushed them into the AL Central lead after their poor start to the season.
My first reaction was to roll my eyes and say, "Great. Just what someone holding a couple of White Sox futures wants to hear, Eck."
The Hall-of-Famer might be right, however, and if Ozzie Guillen's club wants to prove Eckersley and others wrong, the next few days in Minnesota would be the perfect time. The ChiSox and Twins open a big three-game series at Target Field Tuesday night with Ron Gardenhire's boys up three games on the Pale Hose in the AL Central standings.
Bookmaker.com opened Minnesota as the minus 120 favorite for the series starter and set minus 120 for the 'under' 8½.
The two clubs know each other well from years past and 12 head-to-head battles this season already. Minnesota visited Chicago last week and took two of three, giving the Twins an 8-4 advantage in 2010 and five of the last six. The lone win for the White Sox came with John Danks (13-10, 3.19), their Tuesday starter, on the hill.
Danks has in fact pitched against the Twins in all four 2010 series between the two AL Central rivals. Chicago has won two of the four, going 1-1 here in Minneapolis and 11 at home, with the southpaw owning a 3.66 ERA in 27 innings.
Last week saw Danks and the White Sox 170 favorites when he tossed eight and allowed just one run. Just after the All-Star break, Danks had a start at Target Field that wasn't so pretty with six runs crossing the plate in his six innings of work. All six runs scored off Danks in the second inning, but he settled after that to get the win as Chicago rallied for an 8-6 triumph as small money line underdogs.
Minnesota will counter Danks with right-hander Scott Baker (12-11, 4.76). This will be Baker's third crack at the ChiSox with he and the Twins 2-0 in the previous two. Both of the other starts came against them in Chicago, the most recent a week ago on Aug 10 as the slight minus 110 favorite. Baker yielded five runs in six innings, four of them earned, but had the backing of a four-homer Minnesota assault in the 12-6 victory.
Target Field should be a nice place to be for a baseball game Tuesday. Forecasters are calling for mostly clear skies and a game-time temp in the mid-70s before dropping into the mid-60s. Winds are listed out of the SSW at 10-15 mph (mound out to LF corner).
Wednesday's rematch is a rematch of starting pitchers from last week in Chicago. Gavin Floyd (11-13, 3.70) will take on Francisco Liriano (13-10, 3.26), a battle Liriano and the Twins won 6-1 last Thursday as 120 favorites. Veterans Mark Buehrle (14-10, 4.05) and Carl Pavano (16-8, 3.27) close the series Thursday evening.
NOTE: W-L records displayed for starting pitchers are team records in games the pitchers start.