The White Sox head back on the road this weekend after sweeping the Twins in a brief three game home stand.  It was an important bounce-back for the Sox after a tough 3-7 road trip.
The sweep of the Twins put the South Siders back into a tie for 1st place with the Tigers, pending the results of Detroit’s game with the Indians on Thursday.  The Sox will see the Twins again in Minnesota next week after this weekend’s series with the Rangers in Texas
The Rangers are 6-5 since the All Star break and just took 2 out of 3 from the Red Sox at home.  The Sox have won 4 of the 6 meetings with the Rangers this year, including a three game sweep at US Cellular just before the All Star break.

Starting Pitchers

The White Sox will pitch Chris Sale, Phil Humber and Gavin Floyd in the series.  They will be opposed by Yu Darvish, Matt Harrison and Roy Oswalt.
The White Sox will get their first look at Japanese rookie sensation Yu Darvish on Friday.  Darvish has been about as good as advertised in his first season in the Major Leagues.  His 10.24 K’s/9 ranks 2nd in the American League, although he is walking almost 5 batters every 9 innings, something he didn’t do a lot of in Japan.
Chris Sale is looking to bounce back after a rough outing in Detroit in which he allowed 5 ERs in 7 innings in a loss to the Tigers.  The last time Sale allowed 5 runs in a start he gave up no runs in 8 innings against the Brewers.  Sale beat the Rangers back on July 3rd allowing 1 run in 7.1 innings, giving up just 5 hits.

Matt Harrison has faced the Sox twice this year and is 1-1 but has given up just 2 runs in 14 innings.  Lifetime against the White Sox he is 3-1 with a 2.79 ERA.  He has been the Rangers best starter throughout the season and is third in the AL in wins with 12.  He will be opposed by Phil Humber, who is also coming off a poor start against Detroit where he allowed 6 runs in 3 innings of work.  Humber has never started a game against the Rangers but in 3 relief appearances has a 1.69 ERA in 5.1 innings of work.  Humber is on the hot seat to keep his spot in the rotation and with a possible trade on the horizon needs a good outing.
Roy Oswalt is scheduled to start Sunday, although that could change depending on whether or not the Rangers make a deal for a pitcher.  The Sox teed off on Roy back on July 3rd scoring 11 runs in 4.2 innings off the veteran right hander.  That game set the tone for the Sox sweep.  In his two starts since then Oswalt has been pretty good giving up just 2 runs in 12 innings, striking out 9 while walking just 2.  He has allowed 4 home runs this year, 3 of them coming off the bats of White Sox hitters.  Gavin Floyd will be going against Oswalt in his second game back off the DL.
Gavin was not sharp in his first outing, but was able to battle his way through 6 innings and pick up the win.  Floyd faced the Rangers back in Texas in the first series of the year and was roughed up for 5 runs in 5.2 innings.  He also gave up 3 home runs including a titanic blast by Josh Hamilton.

Keys to the Series

Limit Josh Hamilton: There is no doubt that Hamilton had a special first half and looked like he was on his way to his second AL MVP award.  However, things have not been going well for Josh lately.  He was recently called out by Rangers owner Nolan Ryan in an interview for not having good at bats.  The numbers would tend to agree.  Hamilton is hitting just .154 in July.  He has only 4 extra base hits (one 2B, three HRs) and has driven in just 8 runs.  His OPS is a pretty sad .537 and he has struck 19 times while drawing just 6 walks (2 intentional).  Hitters of Hamilton’s ability don’t stay cold for long though.

The White Sox need to hope they can hold him down for another couple games and get out of Texas before Hamilton starts to heat up like the Arlington summers.
Don’t Stop Now Boys: Before the Twins series I said that the middle of the Sox order needed to step up, well they did.  Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko went 13 for 24 with 4 HRs and 11 RBI.  Konerko alone was 8 for 11, making me eat some crow after my column suggesting he be moved out of the clean-up spot.  The Sox also got their sparkplug at the top of the order going, as Alejandro De Aza had 4 runs scored and 3 stolen bases.
The Sox as a team hit 8 home runs off Twins pitching and with the warm air in Texas the ball should be carrying and there is no reason they can’t continue to put the ball over the fence.
New Look Pen: As documented on “Grab Some Bench!” earlier this week, the White Sox bullpen is finally starting to take shape.  Players know their roles now and can expect to be called upon in specific situations.  The Sox pen gave up just 1 run in 8.2 innings against the Twins.
With Humber and Floyd pitching back to back games the pen will likely be called on to chew up some innings. If the Sox can continue to get that kind of work out of the pen, then what was recently thought of as a weakness could quickly turn into a strength.

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Posted by GSB! Contributor, Matt Hoeppner.