Updated: April 29, 2005
White Sox living charmed life
By Rob Neyer
Here's why I don't believe the White Sox are the best team in the American League Central: Their pitchers obviously can't keep pitching as well as they have.
The White Sox are 16-6 because 1) their pitching's been fantastic, and 2) they've been exceptionally good in one-run games, going 9-2.
There's not a lot to say about those close games; as I'm sure you know, if you go 9-2 in one-run games you've probably been more than a little lucky
Can they keep it up?
Career 2005 M Buehrle 3.76 3.89 J Contreras 4.85 3.48 F Garcia 3.94 2.83 J Garland 4.68 1.80 O Hernandez 3.96 2.35
Particularly when you consider that if you look past their ERAs, they haven't really pitched all that well. A number of other staffs have struck out and walked roughly the same number of hitters as the White Sox, but without the resulting ERA. They've pitched better than they are and they've been lucky. Reality will eventually bite, and when it does the White Sox will have a middle-of-the-road staff, perhaps a notch or two better.
Can they win that way? Not the way they're hitting. The White Sox currently sport a .311 on-base percentage