kapkomet Posted August 11, 2006 Share Posted August 11, 2006 By Bob Hull The White Sox continue a ten game home stand with a middle three game set versus the Central Division leading Detroit Tigers. After taking two of three from the Yankees in the first series of the home stand, the White Sox find themselves 8.5 games back in the Central Standings and .5 games up in the wild card standings entering this weekend's play. August 11, 12, 13 @ U.S. Cellular Field Probable Starters: Detroit Tigers CF Curtis Granderson 2B Placido Polanco C Ivan Rodriquez RF Magglio Ordonez SS Carlos Guillen 1B Sean Casey DH Craig Monroe/Dmitri Young LF Marcus Thames/Craig Monroe 3B Brad Inge Chicago White Sox LF Scott Podsednik 2B Tadahito Iguchi DH Jim Thome 1B Paul Konerko RF Jermaine Dye C A.J. Pierzynski 3B Joe Crede SS Juan Uribe/Alex Cintron CF Brian Anderson Pitching Probables: Aug 11, 7:35 PM: Jose Contreras (10-4, 3.75) vs. Justin Verlander (14-4, 2.79) Aug 12, 12:20 PM: Mark Buehrle (9-10, 4.89) vs. Kenny Rogers (11-5, 4.59) Aug 13, 1:05 PM: Freddy Garcia (10-7, 4.83) vs. Zach Miner (7-2, 4.05) Last 10 Games: Tigers: 6-4 White Sox: 6-4 Who's Hot/Who's Not: Ivan Rodriguez has had very timely hits in the past seven games. He is hitting .364 (8 for 22) and has two game winning hits in the last week. In his last eight games, Jermaine Dye continued his season of excellence. He is hitting .424 (14 for 33) over those eight games. Justin Verlander has been one of the "hot" stories this season, but not against the White Sox. He is 0-2 with a 11.42 ERA vs. the Sox this season. He has not started since Aug. 1 - missing his last start to allow his tired arm a break. Juan Uribe has not played since Aug. 4. Ozzie Guillen has voiced his displeasure with the inconsistent Uribe for taking his batting season-long batting woes into the field with him. Look for Uribe to get his chance to start fresh this weekend. Soxtalk Breakdown: The White Sox were swept after the All-Star break in Yankee Stadium and followed that series by dropping two of three to the Tigers in Detroit. The White Sox won their series against the Yankees this time around, while Detroit dropped their first series since June by dropping two of three to Minnesota. The Tigers of 2006 are really in the same mold of the White Sox of 2005 - great pitching and defense and timely hitting. The season is starting to get long in the tooth, and the time to narrow the gap is now. Look for the White Sox to play a good series versus Detroit this weekend - which makes the upcoming four game set in Detroit in two weeks very large. The White Sox need to narrow the gap to around 6 games in the Central to close out the weekend to have a shot at the Central crown; otherwise, Detroit will have the confidence of beating the defending World Champs as the season is winding down. This series is huge, and the Sox will play like it. Prediction: White Sox win 2 of 3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoRowand33 Posted August 11, 2006 Share Posted August 11, 2006 seems reasonable I hope that leylands strategy of downplaying everything hurt his teams intensity in the games Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YASNY Posted August 12, 2006 Share Posted August 12, 2006 QUOTE(GoRowand33 @ Aug 11, 2006 -> 03:28 PM) seems reasonable I hope that leylands strategy of downplaying everything hurt his teams intensity in the games Do you really think he is talking like that behind closed clubhouse doors? I think he just wants to refrain from saying anything that the Sox would put on a bulletin board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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