The White Sox will wrap up their nine game homestand this weekend with a series against the Oakland A’s.  The Sox and A’s have played 3 times so far this season with the A’s winning two out of three in Oakland back in April.  The White Sox come into the series 3-3 on the current homestand after losing two out of three to the Royals.  The A’s come in 5-5 in their last 10 games but just took two out of three from the Angels and are currently knotted up atop the Wild Card standings.

Pitching Matchups

The series kicks off Friday with Gavin Floyd (8-9, 4.43 ERA) facing off against former Sox pitcher Brandon McCarthy (6-3, 2.54 ERA).  McCarthy was once one of the top pitchers in the White Sox farm system and appeared in 65 games for the White Sox between 2005 and 2006.  He was then traded to the Rangers in the deal that brought John Danks to the South Side.
After 3 disappointing seasons with Texas he moved onto the A’s in 2011 and has pitched very well for them but has battled injuries.  McCarthy has been on the DL with shoulder soreness and will be making his first start since June 19th.  When healthy he has pitched well for Oakland, giving up more than 2 earned runs in just 2 of his 12 starts this year.  He has not faced the White Sox this season and lifetime he is 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA in 2 starts against his former club. Career at US Cellular McCarthy is 3-4 with a 4.78 ERA in 32 appearances.  It will be interesting to see what he looks like pitching for the first time in a month and a half.
For the Sox, Gavin Floyd is coming off another very Floyd-like performance.  He took the loss against the Angels on Saturday giving up 5 runs in 6.1 innings while striking out 6 and walking 3.  He was done in by a disastrous 1st inning where he hit the leadoff batter, gave up back to back hits, an RBI groundout and then walked three straight batters before striking out the next two.  He trailed 3-0 and at one point I wasn’t sure he was going to get out of the 1st inning.
After that he settled down and gave up just one more run until the 7th when Pujols put one into orbit and forced Gavin from the game.  He battled and kept the Sox in the game but ultimately he needs to be better.  Floyd faced Oakland back in April and took a tough luck loss giving up just 1 run on 2 hits in 7.1 innings as he was a victim of lack of run support.  Lifetime against the A’s he is 3-2 with a 2.17 ERA in 8 games (7 starts).
Game 2 of the series will Francisco Liriano (3-10. 5.03 ERA) going up against Tommy Milone (9-9, 3.91 ERA).  Milone has been up and down in his first year with the A’s.  He has had some stretches where he has pitched very well but will have a blow up game mixed in.  Of his 22 starts 11 of them are quality starts but he also has 6 games where he has given up 5 runs or more.  In his last 3 starts Milone is 0-3 with an ERA of 7.58 and opponents are hitting .316 off of him during that stretch.  He faced the Sox back in April and got the win throwing 8 shutout innings allowing just 3 hits without issuing a walk to go along with 5 strikeouts.
Francisco Liriano will be back on the mound for the White Sox on Saturday after exiting his last start after 5 innings and 72 pitches because of a bruise on his right quad suffered when he was hit with a comebacker off the bat of Maicer Izturis.  It will be Liriano’s third start in a White Sox uniform and his first two have been quite good.  He is yet to have a decision but has a 2.45 ERA and 12 strikeouts in 11 innings pitched.  Liriano has walked 5 batters in those 11 innings but opponents are hitting just .211 off him so if he stays away from the free passes he should be just fine.
He has made 2 starts against the A’s this year and is 1-1 with a 1.93 ERA and has struck out 24 batters in 14 innings while only walking 3.  Of the current A’s hitters with more than 3 plate appearances against Liriano only Jemile Weeks has had any success, going 4-10 with a double.
The finale of the White Sox 9 game homestand on Sunday will see Chris Sale (13-3, 2.59 ERA) up against Jarrod Parker (7-6, 3.55 ERA).  Parker is similar to Milone in terms of his starts this year.  He has had 12 starts where he has given up 2 earned runs or less but he has had 4 starts where he has given up 6 runs.  Also like Milone he has struggled a little bit lately.  In his last 3 starts Parker is 0-2 with a 6.62 ERA with opposing batters hitting .347 against him in those starts.  He faced the White Sox back in April in his first start of the season giving up 1 run on 7 hits in 6.1 innings.  One thing Parker does have going for him is that he is leading the league in home runs per 9 innings at 0.5.  He has given up just 6 homers in 116.2 innings this year. Also, he grew up a die-hard White Sox fan.
Chris Sale returned to the mound on Monday after 9 days off and looked like the old Chris Sale going 8 innings, giving up 2 runs and striking out 7 without issuing a walk in a win over the Royals.  Sale’s velocity was back up where it should be as he hit 95 mph on several occasions with his fastball.  Sale faced the A’s back in April getting a no decision in a game where he went 8 innings and gave up 2 runs on 6 hits with 5 strikeouts and no walks.  Lifetime against the A’s he is 1-0 with 1 save and a 4.38 ERA in 6 games.  No current A’s player has more than 4 plate appearances against Sale and only Yoenis Cespedes has more than 1 hit.

Keys to the Series

Consistent Offensive Attack
The White Sox have not been able to put together a consistent offensive attack during this homestand.  They have had trouble manufacturing runs and stringing together multiple hits in an inning, instead relying on the home run ball.  Case in point: in Tuesday’s game in the 6th inning with the Sox clinging to a 1-0 lead Pierzynski and Viciedo lead off the inning with back to back singles.  Jordan Danks then comes up and is asked to lay down a bunt to move the runners to 2nd and 3rd.  Danks pops up the bunt to Hosmer who catches AJ off 2nd base and doubles him up, effectively ending the inning.  The Sox have not been able to do the little things. We know this team needs to hit home runs but that should not be the only way they can score.
During this homestand the home runs have accounted for 16 of the 24 runs the Sox have scored, or 67% of their run total via the homer.  That is a pretty heavy reliance on the long ball.  Combine that with the fact that the Sox are just 7 for 35 (.200) with runners in scoring position on the homestand and you begin to see how much they have struggled to put together multiple hits.  In fact 4 of those 7 hits came in the first game of the homestand, take that away and in the last 6 games the Sox are hitting .107 with runners in scoring position.  They must figure out a way to manufacture some runs and get clutch hits if they want to get back on the winning track.
Moneyball Part II
This A’s team seems to have taken a page out of the Hollywood script and has found a way to contend without a lot of high priced talent.  In fact the highest paid A’s player is Cuban rookie Yoenis Cespedes who makes $6.5 million.  The A’s total current payroll is $49 million, which is $6 million less than the combined 2012 salaries of Peavy, Dunn, Konerko and Rios.  Despite the low payroll Manager Bob Melvin is getting the most out of his team.  At 60-51 they are tied for the Wild Card and are ahead of the Angels, whose payroll is roughly $100 million higher.

How are they doing this?  Mostly with pitching and luck.  The A’s have the AL’s 2nd best team ERA at 3.47 and have a Major League high 15 walk off wins.  If they keep this up Brad Pitt might be coming back for a ‘Moneyball’ sequel featuring the likes of Brandon Inge and Josh Reddick.
Bench Play
The White Sox bench has gotten a lot of attention over the last few days with the Sox going without their “usual lineup” in each of the last two games against the Royals.  Jordan Danks, Ray Olmedo and Orlando Hudson all got starts against the Royals going a combined 3-15 (.200).  With Paul Konerko suffering a concussion on Tuesday and possibly headed to the 7-Day DL and Alex Rios, Kevin Youkilis and Alejandro De Aza a little banged up it is likely the bench will see more action this weekend against the A’s.
The Sox bench has been a weak spot all year but it hasn’t come into play because none of the regular starters have spent time on the DL.  Now with the nagging aches and pains starting to catch up the bench will be called on to give the starters a day off here and there.
The bench players need to take advantage of their opportunities and give the Sox a lift.  With the team struggling to score runs they cannot afford to have the bench players fill in and be automatic outs.  Look for Dan Johnson to possibly get called up if Konerko is in fact put on the 7-day concussion DL.  Johnson is currently leading the International League with 25 home runs for Charlotte.  He has Major League experience and could push Orlando Hudson off the active roster as he can play first base and third base if needed as well as DH.

Outlook

I really have no idea what to make of this series.  On paper the White Sox are clearly the superior team but the A’s are pesky and opportunistic.  This might be a case where they are catching the Sox at the right time while they are dealing with injuries and not hitting the ball.  I still believe the Sox have a good chance to win the series with the pitchers they are throwing out there but the bats will need to come alive.  If the Sox find themselves in close games late against the A’s I think it could be bad news.
The south siders have been extraordinarily resilient all season, and they’ll certainly need to be just that this weekend.

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Posted by GSB! Contributor, Matt Hoeppner.