The White Sox return home to US Cellular Field Friday for their first real homestand since the All Star Break. The Sox started out the 2nd half of the season playing 16 of 19 on the road. Over that stretch the Sox went a respectable 7-9 but won their last two series against Texas and Minnesota.
The Sox will welcome in the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for the first series. The Angels are coming off a series win at 1st place Texas, where they scored 31 runs in 3 games after being shut out two games in a row coming into that series. The two teams split a 2 game series in Anaheim back in mid-May just before the Sox got hot.
***
Pitching Matchups
Game 1 will feature newest-Angel Zack Greinke (9-4, 3.39 ERA) against Phil Humber (5-5, 5.90 ERA). Sox fans were very familiar with Greinke during his time in Kansas City and he is the same pitcher you remember. Greinke pitched well in his first start with the Angels giving up 2 runs over 7 innings against the Rays but took the loss as he was outdueled by Jeremy Hellickson. The Sox saw Greinke when he was with the Brewers during interleague play and the results were not good. Greinke threw a complete game shutout back in June at US Cellular and the Sox lost 1-0.
In his career against the Sox, Greinke is 7-10 with a 3.98 ERA and a WHIP of 1.172. At US Cellular Field, though, Greinke is just 2-7 with a 5.49 ERA, so with the exception of his start in June, he has struggled at the Cell.
As for Phil Humber, it has been an up and down ride since his return to the rotation. He had good starts against Boston and Texas but a disastrous start against the Tigers. He has not faced the Angels this season but for his career he is 0-1 with an ERA of 2.57. The Sox will have to hope Humber breaks his trend of good start/bad start if they want to have a chance of beating Greinke.
*
Game 2 will be Ervin Santana (5-10, 5.97 ERA) against Gavin Floyd (8-9, 4.28 ERA). Santana has had a very tough season for the Angels as indicated by his high ERA. His WHIP is 1.422 and his strikeout to walk ratio is 1.73, almost .70 lower than his career mark. He has also given up 24 home runs only 2 less than he allowed all of last season in over 100 more innings. He hasn’t faced the Sox yet this year but in his career he is 4-4 with a 4.24 ERA in 12 starts. He has had success against the Sox in Chicago posting a 3-2 record with an ERA of 3.03.
Floyd has struggled, but maneuvered out of jams of late. Credit: Chicago Tribune
For the Sox, Gavin Floyd will make his third start since a short stint on the DL. The results have been mixed for Gavin since his return. He is 1-1 with a 2.13 ERA in 12.2 innings pitched BUT … he has 11 walks and just 2 strikeouts over that time. Before his DL stint Floyd had walked just 12 batters in his previous 5 starts.
While it is not uncommon for someone to have control issues after missing a few starts, Floyd needs to get the walk total down, especially against a team like the Angels.
*
The finale on Sunday will be Dan Haren (8-8, 4.59 ERA) against Francisco Liriano (3-10, 5.18 ERA). Haren has struggled in his 2nd full season with the Angels. After a 16 win season last year and leading the AL in strikeout to walk ratio of 5.82, Haren has seen his numbers go the wrong way. His K/BB ration this year is 3.39 a drop-off of 2.43. He has also seen his WHIP increase to by more than 0.30. Like Santana, he has also been prone to giving up the long ball as he has allowed 18 so far this year after allowing just 20 all of last year.
In 4 career starts against the White Sox Haren is 1-1 with a 4.18 ERA and a pretty sizeable 1.56 WHIP. He has won his last 2 starts though, giving up 3 runs in 12 innings against the Rangers and Rays.
The White Sox faithful will get their first live look at Francisco Liriano as he makes his home White Sox debut. Liriano looked pretty good in his first start with the Sox limiting his former team to 2 runs in 6 innings with 8 strikeouts.
He will look to continue that solid pitching this weekend against a team that has had his number this season. In 3 starts against the Angels Liriano is 0-2 with a 7.63 ERA. The good news is that all those starts came before May 7th when Liriano was struggling. As it has been noted he has been much better since his return to the starting rotation in early June.
***
Keys to the Series
Defuse the TNT Boys: Despite the major offseason acquisition of Albert Pujols, the Angels offense has been sparked by the TNT Boys: Mark Trumbo and rookie-sensation Mike Trout. What Trout has done this year as a 20 year old rookie is nothing short of amazing. In addition to leading the AL in batting average at .348, Trout also has 20 doubles, 5 triples, 18 home runs and 31 stolen bases. He is an exceptional fielder and has a solid throwing arm. He is a 5 tool player if there ever was one. About the only knock on him so far is that he does strikeout about twice as often as he walks. Still with a .410 on base percentage I don’t hear anyone complaining. Keeping him off the bases is imperative to keeping the Angels offense at bay.
Trumbo has followed up his impressive rookie campaign with an even more impressive sophomore year. He has 27 home runs and 69 RBI to go with a .298 batting average. He is tremendously strong and could do some damage in homer-friendly US Cellular Field.
*
Don’t forget about Albert: In case you missed it, Albert Pujols is still really good. Arguably the greatest hitter of his generation, Pujols got off to a very slow start with his new club. That is all in the past. Since July 1st Pujols is back to being Pujols. He’s hitting .330 with 10 home runs and 24 RBI with a 1.107 OPS in 26 games. He and Trumbo make one of the best middle of the order combos in the American League. White Sox starters will have their hands full dealing with this offense, which makes it even more important to limit the walks.
Pujols is back to being the threat everyone knows him to be. Credit: SBNation
*
Paging the White Sox defense: Seemingly out of nowhere the White Sox have had trouble catching and throwing the ball. The White Sox have given up 5 unearned runs in their last 4 games committing 6 errors in those games, and that doesn’t even count Rios’ mental error in the 9th inning of Wednesday’s game. Defense has been one of the Sox strong suits all year, which is why this current run of errors is so odd.
It could just be a case of a team that has been on the road for basically 3 weeks getting a little worn out and making some mistakes. It could just be that the baseball gods are trying to even things out a little. Whatever the reason, it has to stop. The errors cost them a game against the Twins and will certainly cost them against the Angels. When dealing with a potent offense that has been hot, like the Angels have been, you cannot afford to give them extra outs or hand them baserunners.
***
Outlook
On paper this looks like a tough matchup for the White Sox. The Angels will miss Peavy and Sale so the Sox will need the other guys to step up. The Sox do catch a break as they won’t see Jered Weaver, although they do have to face Greinke.
You can’t mention Sox/Angels without remembering AJ’s “drop 3rd strike” in ’05. Credit: Flickr
The Angels offense has been hot, but the White Sox have been putting up good numbers at home. I expect the crowds to be pretty good this weekend with the Angels in town, considering how well they drew in their last series against the Twins in the middle of the week.
With the Sox back home and a boisterous crowd there is no reason they can’t take 2 out of 3 against a team in the thick of the playoff race. It should be a close series and the outcome could hinge on one or two plays. Hopefully the Sox come out on top.
———
Posted by GSB! Contributor, Matt Hoeppner.