Monday, August 4, 2008

Can the Scheduling Gods Help the White Sox?

Today is definitely a valley in the roller-coaster ride that has been the 2008
Chicago White Sox season. For the first time since Mid-May the Sox are out of 1st place in the AL Central. On top of that they just lost 2 out of 3 in series to with Royals. This was capped of by yesterdays 14-3 shelacking, at least the good guys didn't go down without a fight(literally).

Yesterday's game was indicative of the past month of baseball in which the ChiSox looked like they were in a consistent downward spiral. The once heralded pitching staff has lost the magic that they had in the early part of the season. In the past month the ERA of the bullpen has been 6.08. Also the Sox just finished up a crucial 10-game, AL Central road trip where the went just 4-6. The bats have been getting better and better but even with the improved hitting, that is just not going to cut it. The Twins just got back their ace from the '06 season and in his performance yesterday, he looked like the Liriano of old.

Right now, you're gonna see a lot of people jumping on the Twins Bandwagon. And I can understand why. But here are things to consider: 20 out 29 of the Twins next games are road games. The Twins are not the same team on the road as they are at the Triple H Metrodome. During that same stretch the Sox start off by having 16 of their next 19 games at home. Three of next five series following that are against teams with sub .500 records. At this point the Sox need any advantage they can get. After an August with the a favorable schedule, can they make up for the dismal month that was July?

2 comments:

Stormin' Norman Disciple said...

I think the Sox are in bigger trouble than it seems. Even with more home games, the bullpen is going to have to stop hemorrhaging runs.


Where's Nick Masset when you need him? Kind of makes you wonder whether getting a broken down old DH was the move the Sox needed to make...They should have gotten a reliever.

Unknown said...

The roller coaster leaves Sox fans to be empathetic. I have stopped having any expectations esp with Buerhle's performance Sat. There is no sure thing with the white sox. A 1-0 lead used to be a sure win, and now a four or five run lead is not safe. It's gonna continue to be a wild ride and as we all waited for the Twins to fizzle and the Tigers to surge we are now standing in the same position we were about a month ago. The season rests in the starters and the bullpen typically has fed off of them. Someone tell Vazquez and Buerhle they need to be consistent the next 8 weeks. Maybe we just need the Bronze Titan and his I miss Pablos Ozuna rants to pick up the slack.

free counters

Unique Visitors Counter