John Danks pitched well on Tuesday, but picked up the loss as he was doomed by the home run
Since I was unable to watch the game last night in which the White Sox dropped their 3rd straight game, I figured I’d change it up a bit and bring you guys a preview of tonight’s game, as the Sox feel the pressure building for them to get back on track. Since we defeated Detroit, not much has clicked for the south siders at U.S. Cellular Field. Tonight, Jake Peavy looks to continue his impressive start to the 2012 campaign as he faces Tommy Hunter in the 3rd of this 4-game set versus Baltimore. And while for nearly the entire season so far the Sox pitching has been superb, it’s their hitting that has been lackluster. Paul Konerko and A.J. Pierzynski have looked good, but the rest of the lineup has struggled to put anything together outside of an inning here and there. The White Sox [expected] starting lineup has fared well against Hunter, compiling a lifetime batting average of .333. However, it seems Hunter may have figured something out this year in Baltimore.
Tommy Hunter had a lot of pressure put upon him this season, being the Orioles’ number 1 go-to-guy. While the sample of statistics is limited, he has been good to this point, carrying a sub-3.00 ERA. However, Jake Peavy has looked quite impressive through his first 2 starts, too. Considering the mediocre offense we’ve seen so far, I predict this will be a low scoring game, and will probably be a close one, too. Hopefully the White Sox can be on the leading side of that affair, and give Hector “Screwgie” Santiago a chance to redeem himself after his poor performance Monday against the O’s.
Tommy Hunter is 1-0 with a 2.77 ERA
All in all, don’t expect the White Sox bats to start to look like they’re clicking on all cylinders for a while. That’s just how it goes for a team that plays most of their games in unfriendly climates. But if the pitching can continue to roll, the White Sox will be able to pick up some wins. In recent years, the White Sox have struggled to come out of the gates playing great ball, and so far it’s hard to tell how the Sox record will look come the end of May (or so). We’ve played two tough series, and already through 10 games have had an exciting winning streak and a worry-some losing streak.
Maybe this series against the Orioles just isn’t ours; maybe Baltimore has our number this given week and we just need to try to scrape out a win…there’s nothing wrong with that. But going forward taking on other out-of-division opponents like the Mariners and Athletics, we will quickly learn how much resolve Robin Ventura’s team has. For now, we can just hope that the Sox give fans something to cheer about before they head back out onto the road, as the Sox faithful don’t deserve to have their heads hanging this early in the year.
If we can get a win tonight, the losing streak could be forgotten. It’s early enough in the year that we can say that. So hopefully that’s the White Sox mindset going into tonight’s game as they battle to go back above .500 in the W/L column. And if our pitching continues its pattern of consistency they’ve had to this point and the offense can start to capitalize on golden opportunities, there’s no reason to think the White Sox can’t pick up a win behind Peavy tonight.
Peavy has two quality starts and one win to show for it so far in 2012
And yes, I know I always find a way to be as optimistic as possible. Somebody’s got to do that…right?