From One Sweep to Another? – Lineups 8/22

The White Sox are threatening to take part in back to back sweeps. Sweeping the good team (against a team with the AL’s best record, no less) and getting swept by the bad. Things look pretty good for that, with ace Chris Sale taking the hill. Sale had a “bad” start his last time out and took a loss in Kansas City. He also threw 117 pitches, a total he’s only passed one other time this season (and therefore in his career). It’s only been a matter of weeks since a start was skipped to combat a dead arm and try to mitigate the effects of his ever-increasing total workload. It will be interesting to see after such a start if Sale shows any ill-effects or if he can keep the velocity up to what we’ve generally seen from game to game over the course of the first half of the season.

Phil Hughes could potentially be a problem. He could also potentially lay a complete egg for the Yankees. It can definitely go either way with him, and in his last start he put forth 7 innings and 0 ER against the Red Sox for the win. Then, there were 4 unearned runs scored, and I didn’t see the game to be able to tell you if he lucked out with the official scorer or if he really pitched well enough to earn that 0 and that W. Through the course of the season it seems the more strikeouts he accrues the better his overall results. If the Sox want to put some runs on the board, they’re going to have to make contact.

Tonight’s Lineup:

1.Wise – CF
2.Youk – 3B
3.Big Donkey – 1B
4.Paulie – DH
5.Rios – RF
6.AJ – C
7.Dayan – LF
8.Alexei – SS
9.Gordo – 2B

No surprises if you’ve been around for the past week. Dunn will play first instead of Paulie, and we’ll look for A.J. Pierzynski to continue his carnage against right handed pitching.

Where to Watch
Game available in Chicago on WCIU, YES in NY and ESPN2 will be carrying for out of market viewers. 7:10 start time.