Southside Showdown » Mike Moustakas

Surprise Ace Jeremy Guthrie Hands White Sox Loss

Matt Adams — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 02:52:48 +0000

A rubber match with Jeremy Guthrie on the mound for the Royals, who came into the evening toting an ERA+ of 71 had simplicity written all over it. Jose Quintana, who has had a couple bad games following a game of bad luck, pitched 7 strong innings, allowing a pair of solo homeruns for the only tallies KC could muster. Problem is, the Sox mustered less (they were without mustard) against Guthrie. Instead of looking like a Rockies castoff, which is what he was before tonight, Guthrie looked like a staff ace as he held the Sox to 0 runs on 5 hits in his 8 innings to lead himself to his first victory in a Royals uniform.

Royals (47-63): 2
White Sox (60-50): 1

He's just as surprised as you are. (Peter G. Aiken-US PRESSWIRE)

The White Sox did begin with a disadvantage of their own, being without Alex Rios (stiff back) and Paul Konerko (aches and pains). The lack of offense certainly shone through. Alejandro De Aza stroked a pair of hits in his return from a sore back of his own but beyond that there wasn’t much cooking. Guthrie worked through the lineup time after time without walking anybody and striking out 6.

Youngsters Salvador Perez and Mike Moustakas were all that kept this game from being virtually void of offense on both sides. Moustakas struck first with 2nd inning blast and Perez added a solo shot of his own in the 4th. Guthrie did not come out for the 9th to finish what he started, instead the Sox had an opportunity to make it interesting against Greg Holland. And they did. Adam Dunn launched a double and came around to score on a single up the middle by A.J. Pierzynski. In the end, it was a too little too late scenario. That run would be the only that the Sox could manage.

Plus: Jose Quintana is not broken. I worried a little bit, after he was handed another no-decision 3 starts ago in a game he clearly should have won with ease. But the ship has been righted and we got another quality performance from the young Colombian.

Minus: Where are you, offense? Can’t win games without scoring runs. Can’t score runs without getting hits. The concept is easy, the execution is difficult. This time it was difficult against a guy that was probably a pair of starts away from a DFA. There is a silver lining though: the Yankees finally got it together against the Tigers and the Sox get to remain in first.

Player of the Game
A.J> Pierzynski – .053 Win Probability added

Source: FanGraphs

Dunn’s Third HR in Three Days Powers White Sox Victory

Matt Adams — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 21:17:36 +0000

Luis Mendoza was economical with his pitches Sunday afternoon against the White Sox. He walked 4, and struck out 6, yet when he walked out of the game in the 8th with one out he had only thrown 93 pitches. He’s only gone that deep into a game on one other occasion this season, but unfortunately for him, it did not translate into a win. Chris Sale, though a little less sharp than we’ve been used to seeing, was still effective through his 8 innings. He scattered 10 hits by issuing no walks, which only allowed one run to cross the plate putting the Sox in position for victory.

White Sox (49-39): 2
Royals (38-49): 1

Adam Dunn hit a HR in each game of the series with Kansas City. (Peter G. Aiken-US PRESSWIRE)

Adam Dunn hit his 28th homerun in the 1st inning. It would prove to be the difference, and we once again salute the Big Donkey. Dunn also struck out and walked in the contest, which, according to Christopher Kamka gives him his 14th “Dunn” of the season. The big man has hit a homerun in every game of the series. The other White Sox tally came in the form of a letdown, as the bases were loaded with nobody out in the 2nd. Alexei Ramirez smoked a grounder that was stabbed by Mike Moustakas at third. He tagged the base with his glove and tossed over to first for the double play. The run that came across during the play was the last that the Sox would manage.

After Sale had enough, everybody braced themselves for a cardiac save from Addison Reed: Closer. Reed took care of business, not in the most calming way possible, but he only allowed one hit to lock down the save.

The Indians lost and the Tigers won, meaning that the closest pursuers of the White Sox at the moment are no longer playing their home games in Cleveland. It will likely be a Chicago/Detroit battle down the stretch, and so it begins.

Plus: Chris Sale getting it done without his best stuff. They always say that’s what separates the good pitchers from the great pitchers, and young pitchers seem to always struggle with it. Sale went out and didn’t miss bats the way that he typically does, but kept hitting his spots enough to not hand out any free passes and finagled an 8 inning 1 run effort.

Minus: A 410 foot wall in center field. The offense could have scored more runs, that would’ve have made everybody feel a little better. And they would have, had Alejandro De Aza’s 9th inning 407 foot blast been hit in any number of other stadiums. Kauffman has a deep center field and what would have been a 3 run 9th was downgraded to a simple scoring threat.

Player of the game
Chris Sale – .509 win expectancy added

Source: FanGraphs

White Sox Win 14 Inning Marathon in Kansas City

Matt Adams — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 05:55:02 +0000

For days avid baseball fans have been begging for the return of meaningful games to resume. When Friday night’s matchup between the White Sox and Royals hit the 5 hour mark, watchers were begging for the game to come to an end. It took 14 innings for things to finally wrap up. In a game where both Bruce Chen and Jose Quintana had short nights, the bullpens were taxed heavily. The starters combined for 9.2 innings, while the bullpens nearly doubled the workload with 18.1.

White Sox (48-38): 9
Royals (37-48): 8

Gordon Beckham felt sorry for us all and stepped on the plate so we could all turn in. (John Rieger-US PRESSWIRE)

The bats started early for the Sox. Adam Dunn may not have had the opportunity to get in the game on Tuesday, but in his first at-bat at Kauffman Stadium on Friday he showed why he was on the All-Star team in the first place by pulling a long bomb to right field. Alex Rios also took advantage of his first at-bat of the second half to show that there would be no rust for him following the gap in action when he took Chen deep himself to stretch the Sox lead to 3-0. Both sides utilized the long ball in regulation, Mike Moustakas and Jeff Francoeur each contributed solo shots off of Quintana, and Dayan Viciedo hit a 3 run shot, which at the time looked like it might be the difference. Clearly it was not.

Everybody in the bullpen got a shot, including Jhan Marinez, part of the return for allowing Ozzie Guillen out of his contract to finally come through on his threats to go to Miami, making his White Sox debut. He went 1.2 innings, allowed 2 hits and 0 runs.

Both sides saw their closers blow save opportunities. First up, big Jonathan Broxton came on in the 9th to lock it down for Kansas City, but Kevin Youkilis opened up the inning with a base hit and walks to Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko followed. The latter being a bit of a gift from home plate umpire Chris Guccione. 3 of the 4 pitches Paulie saw were probably low strikes, but Guccione didn’t like any of them and the bases were loaded. After Alex Rios popped out, A.J. Pierzynski stroked a base hit to tie the game, though Orlando Hudson, who had pinch run for Adam Dunn was thrown out at home trying to test Francoeur’s arm, which isn’t usually recommended. In the 12th, following a Gordon Beckham RBI double Addison Reed would come in and fail to lock the game down as well.

Finally, in the 14th inning, Kevin Youkilis would drive Gordo in on a sacrifice fly, extending his RBI streak to 8 straight games. This was apparently what the Sox were waiting for. Dylan Axelrod, who came in to pitch the final 2 innings, earned the win, and White Sox Nation was permitted to finally go to bed.

Plus: It seem s like a weird thing, but it matters that the White Sox were not had by Bruce Chen. Certain things seem to plague this team, trips to Minnesota always being one of them, and particularly unspectacular pitchers that have a few good outings against the White Sox build up a reputation that perpetuates failure for the Southsiders. So Bruce Chen, you are Bruce Chen, and nothing more.

Minus: Opportunities were missed, that is the only way that a game lasts 14 innings. But poor baserunning and some lucky breaks on line drives kept the Sox in the running. Throughout the entire game they never gave in which is definitely becoming a theme of the 2012 squad.