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The second half gets underway with A.L. Central tightly bunched. The Guardians trail the Twins by two games (but none in the loss column) and the White Sox are three games out. The G’s start with an 11-game road trip to Chicago, Boston and Tampa which may have a lot to say about whether they are buyers or sellers at the trade deadline and how aggressive they will be.
The G’s will play Friday night, a doubleheader on Saturday, and Sunday afternoon. Quantrill, McKenzie, and Bieber will start for the G’s. No starter has been announced for the nightcap Saturday. Maybe Xavion Curry? The White Sox kill lefties so Pilkington may not be the best choice although he held them to 3 earned runs in 5 innings his last time out.
The Sox are 46-46 overall but have struggled at home with a record of 19-25. They also have had problems with the Guardians, going 3-6 against them. However, since April but these teams are 3-3.
The Sox are on a roll, having won 5 of their last 6 (against Cleveland and Minnesota) and outscoring them 41-11. They finished the first half in a very impressive fashion.
Both teams are average offensively, ranking 15th and 16th in runs per game with a wRC+ of 99. But for some reason the White Sox don’t hit well at home. Their home line is .239/.663 while on the road they hit .272/.725 - a huge difference. Hopefully that will continue this weekend.
Also, the Sox destroy left-handed pitching (.285/.792) while hitting just .250/.672 against righties. So if you want to limit the White Sox scoring it’s best to play them in Chicago with a right-handed pitcher starting, which is what we will have in three of the four games and maybe all four depending on who pitches Saturday night. I doubt we’ll have a bullpen game since we’re playing 11 games in 10 days.
The Sox are tied for last in walks but are third in batting average. They swing aggressively and hit line drives. But because they rarely walk they are just 19th in on-base percentage. They’re 24th in home runs per game, so they score mainly by stringing hits together as opposed to the walk/home run route.
Jose Abreu is wrecking the league, hitting .386/.979 in July. Luis Robert is hitting .328/.967 and Andrew Vaughn .281/.798 in July. Robert is hitting .393 against the G’s this year, but he is listed as day-to-day so maybe he’ll miss a couple of these games.
The White Sox are just below average in team ERA and Fangraphs ranks them 28th in defense. The Guardians rank 5th in team defense, so in a close game defense could be the difference. The Guardians have already scored something like 10-12 unearned runs against the Sox in nine games.
Lucas Giolito, the ultimate Guardian killer, faces Quantrill tonight. Gio has allowed just one earned run in 13.1 innings against Cleveland this year. Over the last 3.5 seasons Giolito has an ERA of 0.82 in 10 starts against the Guardians. For some reason the G’s are simply helpless against this guy.
Against the rest of baseball this season Giolito has a 5.40 ERA. Against the Guardians it’s 0.68. Last year in three starts it was 0.49. He absolutely owns the Guardians. It defies explanation, especially since the G’s hit righties better than lefties.
Quantrill has started two games against the Sox this year, allowing four runs in each start, going 6.0 and 6.1 innings. They have 17 hits against him in 12.1 innings despite not hitting right-handed pitching very well. Cal needs to figure out a way to do better against this team.
The big matchup will be Sunday with Bieber vs. Cease. Runs will be tough to come by in that one.
The G’s will play Friday night, a doubleheader on Saturday, and Sunday afternoon. Quantrill, McKenzie, and Bieber will start for the G’s. No starter has been announced for the nightcap Saturday. Maybe Xavion Curry? The White Sox kill lefties so Pilkington may not be the best choice although he held them to 3 earned runs in 5 innings his last time out.
The Sox are 46-46 overall but have struggled at home with a record of 19-25. They also have had problems with the Guardians, going 3-6 against them. However, since April but these teams are 3-3.
The Sox are on a roll, having won 5 of their last 6 (against Cleveland and Minnesota) and outscoring them 41-11. They finished the first half in a very impressive fashion.
Both teams are average offensively, ranking 15th and 16th in runs per game with a wRC+ of 99. But for some reason the White Sox don’t hit well at home. Their home line is .239/.663 while on the road they hit .272/.725 - a huge difference. Hopefully that will continue this weekend.
Also, the Sox destroy left-handed pitching (.285/.792) while hitting just .250/.672 against righties. So if you want to limit the White Sox scoring it’s best to play them in Chicago with a right-handed pitcher starting, which is what we will have in three of the four games and maybe all four depending on who pitches Saturday night. I doubt we’ll have a bullpen game since we’re playing 11 games in 10 days.
The Sox are tied for last in walks but are third in batting average. They swing aggressively and hit line drives. But because they rarely walk they are just 19th in on-base percentage. They’re 24th in home runs per game, so they score mainly by stringing hits together as opposed to the walk/home run route.
Jose Abreu is wrecking the league, hitting .386/.979 in July. Luis Robert is hitting .328/.967 and Andrew Vaughn .281/.798 in July. Robert is hitting .393 against the G’s this year, but he is listed as day-to-day so maybe he’ll miss a couple of these games.
The White Sox are just below average in team ERA and Fangraphs ranks them 28th in defense. The Guardians rank 5th in team defense, so in a close game defense could be the difference. The Guardians have already scored something like 10-12 unearned runs against the Sox in nine games.
Lucas Giolito, the ultimate Guardian killer, faces Quantrill tonight. Gio has allowed just one earned run in 13.1 innings against Cleveland this year. Over the last 3.5 seasons Giolito has an ERA of 0.82 in 10 starts against the Guardians. For some reason the G’s are simply helpless against this guy.
Against the rest of baseball this season Giolito has a 5.40 ERA. Against the Guardians it’s 0.68. Last year in three starts it was 0.49. He absolutely owns the Guardians. It defies explanation, especially since the G’s hit righties better than lefties.
Quantrill has started two games against the Sox this year, allowing four runs in each start, going 6.0 and 6.1 innings. They have 17 hits against him in 12.1 innings despite not hitting right-handed pitching very well. Cal needs to figure out a way to do better against this team.
The big matchup will be Sunday with Bieber vs. Cease. Runs will be tough to come by in that one.