Saturday, May 14, 2005

No Cheap Thrill[s]

Random notes for a Saturday afternoon:

  • Through 1/5 of the home schedule the White Sox and their opponents are actually scoring about 22% fewer runs in USCF than on the road. The only columns up significantly in USCF are homers and triples. This would suggest that something about the venue -- weather? -- is at least partially responsible for the team's low-run-environment start. On the road, the Sox OBP is .337, which is decent. The opposition, which I collectively and objectively call "Evil", is sub-.310. (Evil is, of course, 9-27 so far.)
  • The Royals, after 36 games in 2003, were 23-13. A few more games will bury that tiring comparison.
  • The Twins draw Rogers tonight. Rogers has been excellent of late, easily the Rangers' best pitcher. This is good news for two reasons, first, he has a decent chance of whipping the Twins, and second, it means the Sox will miss him and Chris Young, and get Chan Ho Park, Pedro Astacio, and Ryan Drese instead. That's lucky... for the Sox.
  • The White Sox are now 10-2 in May after going 17-7 in April. They are 19-4 over the last 23 games.
  • Have the Twins ever been 6 back in the last 3 years? I don't remember and I'm too lazy to look. But let me tell you this: had the situations been reversed last night, with the Twins overcoming a 3-run deficit and the Sox blowing a 4-run lead, and the Sox 5 back, Sox fans would be on suicide watch today. The high profile blogosphere Twins fans who were so cocksure about their team catching the White Sox a week ago have fallen strangely silent for a while. Bat-Girl, where are you when we need you? Where's the LegoVision telling us how Morneau's going to start hitting .450 so your beloved Twins can stop sliding down the well?
  • Now I am getting worried about the bullpen not getting enough work. They are carrying way one too many pitchers with this rotation. The 12-man staff is a stupid idea unless your pitching is godawful and the starters can't be counted on to get past five regularly.
Cabrera tonight, pure wickedness. He's been unhittable in May at home, but both Tampa and Toronto whupped up on him in his two road starts. The only Sox hitter who has ever gotten a hit in his career off Cabrera is Gload, who is on the DL.

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