April 26th: Red Sox 10, White Sox 3
On Thursday evening, Phil Humber took the hill for the White Sox in his first start since recording the 21st perfect game in MLB history.
The Chi Sox dropped the game 10-3 to the Red Sox in the first of the 4-game set on the south side, as Humber struggled mightily. He surrendered 9 earned runs in just 5 innings, as all of the attention he’s been garnering seems to have gotten to him. In previous posts, I’ve expressed my confidence that Humber will be a very consistent piece to the White Sox team throughout the entire 2012 season, and I’ll stick to that.
I still expect Humber to be a very good back-end of the rotation guy. I’d be crazy to change my mind about that after just one start. And let’s be honest, there can’t be that many situations early on in the regular season with as much pressure as this one put upon Philip’s shoulders.
Still, it wasn’t a good game to see the White Sox drop, especially getting blown out by 7 runs. Coming off of two consecutive losses in Oakland, the south siders need this 7-game home stand to bounce back. Like I’ve said many times already, we’re early enough in this campaign that a win or two can have us forget about some ugly losses.
And while the last couple certainly have been ugly, there were still a few positives to take from Thursday’s ball game. Adam Dunn reached base twice, going 1-3 with a walk, and both Paul Konerko and Dayan Viciedo went 2-4, including the Tank’s 3rd home run of the season.
But let’s put this one behind us and move on to tonight’s game, in which the White Sox now need even more.
Boston improved to 8-10 on Thursday, but is still in 5th place in the AL East
April 27th: John Danks vs. Daniel Bard, 8:10 EST
This game will most likely have one main headline: whether John Danks can step up and be the number 1 guy, the “stopper” that the team needs and expects him to be, or not.
John Danks has not been phenomenal so far in 2012, with a line of 2-2 with a 5.11 ERA. Red Sox starter Daniel Bard is 1-2 with a 4.38 ERA, and has been in the headlines around Boston because it’s publicly documented that Bobby Valentine would rather have him in the bullpen as Boston’s closer.
We need the bats to come out early and often to give Danks some comfort taking the mound. The most any White Sox hitter has seen Bard in his career so far is Paulie, who has only faced the tall right-hander 4 times. So it’s hard to say if we have any match ups, good or bad, that stand out on paper.
Luckily for us Chicago faithful, however, a decent portion of the Boston lineup has seen Danks before, and has not had much success. We need these numbers to shine through and have Danks go out there and give the team a quality start. If he does, there will be no excuses for a loss.
Go get 'em, Johnny!
I expect Danks to pitch well give the team a shot to win. He knows that these are the exact games that we need to be able to rely upon him for, and while he’s gotten off to a slow start, it’s now his 5th start of 2012 and I think his nerves will all finally be completely settled.
So as I’ve said on “Grab Some Bench!” before, sinch it up and hunker down, White Sox…you’re all due!