Preview of game 163
Game 163 is scheduled to start at 6:30 tonight, in Chicago (which is a travesty I won’t address again). The white sox are starting John Danks against the Twins’ Nick Blackburn. Both starters have pretty ugly numbers against the opponent. Danks is pitching on three days rest, while Blackburn is pitching on five days rest. Danks has terrible numbers while on three days rest, and given the total number of innings he has pitched this year and given his relative inexperience this can’t help him. That extra day should help Blackburn because he is in the same boat. High innings total, young arm, etc. Not sure what else to think. Guillen used four relievers yesterday (Thorton, Dotel, Linebrink and Jenks) I’m guessing most of them will be available today since none pitched more than one inning. I think Thorton only faced a few batters, so I’m sure he will be asked to come in and get Mauer-Morneau out at some point late in the game.
I think this game will be close, but I honestly don’t like our chances. We play like children on the road, and Blackburn has been pretty unimpressive in his last few starts. Especially the ones on the road. Will gardy start Cuddyer against the lefthanded starter instead of Kubel at DH? Probably. Not sure if that is wise considering the do or die nature of this game. Also, I think the game is on TBS, not sure if it will be on FSN as well.
Go Twins.
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I also don’t like the Twins’ chances. Sitting in the clubhouse with their bags packed, watching the White Sox inexorably defeat a division opponent, watching Alexei Ramirez hit that grand slam, watching the champagne in the room get warm, realizing that home fields only give magic to one team and it won’t be them. Then boarding a plane late at night to fly into enemy territory.
Believe me, the White Sox want this. The fans want it. I was at the bar for that sixth inning. When the Tigers’ pitchers lost their GPS signal and couldn’t find the catcher, the Sox nodded like they deserved those wild pitches, like they knew they were coming. When Ramirez stepped up to the plate, everyone knew what was going to happen.
And when he made contact, the place erupted. I left shortly afterwards, to a cacophony of heckles, most printably to the tune of “See you tomorrow.”
We’re going to need ice in our veins and runs on the board to win this one. I don’t know if we’ll have either. It’s time for these players to show what they’re made of.
Oh, and a good game by Morneau could win him the MVP. He needs to put us on his back tonight.
The fact that the wind is blowing out doesn’t help us. If you check out twinkietown.com they have a excellent preview. They make the point that the Sox lose most of the advantge they have playing at home by starting Danks. Two of his three starts at home against the twins were bad. This might be me grasping at straws….
I think the bigger issue with Danks is that he’s going on short rest, and hasn’t done well this season on short rest.
But really, this is exactly the kind of situation where we tend to make someone look really good — he’s facing adversity, we’ll come out flat, and everyone will say “Danks really showed his mettle tonight!”
Man I hope I’m wrong about this.
By the way, check out this awesome graph at Hardball Times.
It visually shows how all the teams in the AL score runs … and the White Sox and Twins really couldn’t be any different.
Of course, with the conditions the way they are in Chicago, I think it’s the circle sizes on this graph that make the most difference.
From Buster Olney:
“The numbers of the hitters in the middle of the Minnesota lineup against Danks are staggering: Joe Mauer is 8-for-12, Justin Morneau is 7-for-16 with two doubles and three homers and Michael Cuddyer is 7-for-12. But keep in mind that Danks has evolved in a big way as a pitcher this year, taking long strides forward.”
I like those numbers, and I think it does mean Cuddyer will get the start. (Although given that the numbers actually indicate that Cuddyer would be a good option here, that probably means Gardy will keep him on the bench.)
Just learned this little tidbit about the game being played at the Cell instead of the Dome:
“Just in case Sox fans wanted to thank someone for tonight’s play-in game being at The Cell rather than the house of horrors that is the Metrodome, thank Jake Hahn.
It was assistant general manager Rick Hahn who won the coin toss for the Sox this month, calling heads after his oldest son told him to the morning of the toss.”
That’s right folks! Despite winning the head to head series, not only was there going to be a tie-break game, the Twins didn’t even get to call the coin toss.
What’s going on here? Is there anyone that can make a case for this being at all fair? Why were these decisions made? Is this in the rules? That the team with the worse head to head record gets to call the coin toss to determine home field advantage?
I doubt it. It’s more likely that there’s an unwritten rule that says larger media markets get the advantage. This is getting more and more frustrating the more I find out about it.
I think Kubel has decent numbers as well. So it will be nice to have a threat off the bench no matter who starts.
Stay out of the DAMN DOUBLE PLAYS!
my 2 cents
I’m nervous but hopeful. I don’t think who calls the coin toss is really relevant, given that it’s a 50/50 shot no matter what, but I do think the head-to-head record should count first. Even if the Sox won homefield by that calculus we would all (begrudgingly) accept that it was fair.