The White Sox return home on Labor Day after another disastrous road trip ends with a sweep in Detroit and the loss of sole possession of first place.  Much like in July the Sox lost three out of four to an AL East team before being swept out of Detroit and surrendering control of the division.  And much like before the White Sox will come home and try to right the ship against the last place Twins.
In years past this would scare many Sox fans but this year the Pale Hose have handled the Twinkies, winning 9 of the 12 matchups with them this year.  The Twins come in having won just 5 of 19, but they did just take 2 out of 3 from the Royals in Kansas City, impossible as it is to believe that anyone can win a series in KC.

Pitching Matchups

As is the case in September, these pitching matchups can change daily so make sure to check back for any changes but as of now, these are the scheduled starters …
The Labor Day matchup will have the Sox throwing Hector Santiago (2-1, 3.91 ERA) against Samuel Deduno (5-2, 3.72 ERA).  Deduno will be making his 11th start since being called up in early July.  He has pitched pretty well making quality starts in 6 of his 10 outings thus far and he is coming off his best start of the year when he threw 7 scoreless innings against Seattle, allowing just 2 hits and striking out 9.  That great start however, followed his worst start of the year where he was tagged for 7 runs on 11 hits in 5 innings against the Rangers.
Deduno has never faced the White Sox in his career and no members of the Sox have had an at bat against him.  The Sox should probably try and be patient at the plate as Deduno is walking almost 6 batters per 9 innings and his K/BB ratio is about 1:1.
For the Sox, Hector Santiago will make his first Major League start on Monday.  Santiago started the season as the closer, was moved to middle relief, then sent down to the minors to get stretched out, recalled, and now will finally get a chance as a starting pitcher with the big club.  Santiago made three starts with Charlotte in August and threw 14.2 scoreless innings, allowing just 9 hits while walking 6 and striking out 13.  Opponents hit just .188 off of Hector in those three games.

Against the Twins this year Santiago has made 2 appearances, throwing just two-thirds of an inning and allowing a run on 2 hits with 2 walks.  No current Twin has more than 4 at bats against Santiago with Ben Revere (1-4) and Joe Mauer (1-2) logging the only hits.  If he can find some control and not walk people, Hector should have a good start against the Twins lefty heavy lineup.
Game two of the series will feature a couple lefties as Jose Quintana (5-3, 3.17 ERA) goes against Scott Diamond (10-6, 3.21 ERA).  Diamond has been the Twins’ best starting pitcher this season and leads the team in wins and ERA.  He is coming off a sub-par performance against Seattle where he was hit for 5 runs in 7 innings and took the loss.
In August Diamond went 1-2 with a 4.10 ERA and opponents hit .294 off him.  The White Sox have faced Diamond twice this year and beaten him both times scoring 8 runs in 13.1 innings, although just 5 of the runs were earned.  In those 13.1 innings Diamond has walked just one Sox hitter while striking out 7, so he won’t overpower hitters but he won’t walk them either.  Several Sox hitters have had success against Diamond including Konerko (.300, 1 double), Rios (.333, HR), Jose Lopez (.375) and De Aza (.625).  Alexei Ramirez (1-11) and Gordon Beckham (0-7) have struggled against Diamond.
Quintana is coming off his worst and shortest outing of the year against the Orioles.  The Sox rookie was hit for 5 runs on 7 hits in just 3.2 innings and allowed 2 home runs.  Things unraveled quickly for the young southpaw and it looked like he was starting to feel the effects of the career high in innings he has reached.  His ERA has risen by 0.41 in his last two starts.
He will look to right the ship against the Twins, a team he will face for the third time this season.  He did not have a decision in either of the first two starts against Minnesota allowing 4 runs in each outing.  Josh Willingham has given “Q” fits this year, hitting .800 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI.  The Twins M&M boys, Mauer and Morneau, are a combined 5-12 off Quintana.  You would think that he would be able to handle the Twins lefty heavy lineup but so far a few mistakes, especially to Willingham, have cost him.

The finale of the three-game set on Wednesday afternoon will feature Jake Peavy (9-10, 3.28 ERA) and P.J. Walters (2-2, 5.40 ERA).  Walters will be making his 8th start of the year for the Twins and his first since June 13th after being reactivated from the 60-Day disabled list.  He was placed on the DL back in June with shoulder inflammation and made 8 rehab starts for AAA Rochester before being reinstated on September 1st.
His one start against the White Sox this year was a good one when he got the win giving up 2 runs on 5 hits with 8 strikeouts and went the distance for his first Major League complete game.  No Sox player has more than 4 plate appearances against Walters and only Konerko (2-4) has more than one hit.
Peavy is coming off a very disappointing outing against the Tigers where he allowed 6 runs in 6 innings and took the loss as things got away from him in the 7th inning on Friday night.  Some have said that the innings and pitch totals are taking a toll on Peavy and while that could be true, that was his first poor outing in since mid-July.
Even though Peavy has not won a game since August 1st (against Minnesota), he hasn’t pitched badly and has been the victim of lack of run support.  Jake will face the Twins for the 4th time this season and has handled them well in his first three outings going 2-1 with a 2.25 ERA.  He is striking out more than a batter and inning (21 K’s in 20 IP) while walking just 5 batters.  Other than Ben Revere (7-16, .438) no Twins batter has had very much success against Peavy.  As a team current Twins batters are hitting .254 with no home runs and 25 strikeouts against Peavy.

Keys to the Series

Wake up the bats: The White Sox offense has gone into a run scoring slump, highlighted by their pitiful performance with runners in scoring position in the Detroit series where they were just 2-for-27 (.074).  Both of those hits came with 2 outs in the 9th inning of the final two games of the series when the Sox were down by 5 and 3 runs respectively.  That is unacceptable and downright pathetic.
The Sox have to find a way to start producing runs.  De Aza’s return to the top of the lineup should help but Adam Dunn’s oblique injury doesn’t sound like it’s going away.  Hopefully they can figure something out back in the friendlier hitting dimensions of US Cellular Field because if they don’t, this could get ugly in a hurry.

Sweet Home Chicago: After starting off the season sub-.500 at home and dominant on the road the White Sox have flipped the script.  They are now 38-26 at home, winners of 7 straight and 11 of 15 at the Cell.  This is the start of the second-to-last homestand for the Sox and they better take advantage of it.  All 10 of the games are against division opponents, culminating with the big 4 game showdown with the Tigers.
The Sox have done a good job of putting bad road trips behind them and coming home and getting back on the right track.  As I said back in July after a 1-6 road trip that ended in a sweep in Detroit the Sox came home and swept the Twins to start a 5 game winning streak.  It may feel as if the season is slipping away but the Sox are still tied for first place, I hope fans come out and support the team as they come down the stretch in a very exciting season.
Starting Pitching: The Sox need someone to step up and have a good start.  The regular starters have had a tough go of it the last few weeks and the Sox staff, which had been a model of consistency, has struggled to work deep into games.
In the last 10 games the only White Sox starter to earn a win was Dylan Axelrod who pitched brilliantly against the Orioles in a spot start.  It is time for someone, anyone, to step up and be a stopper and get this thing back on the right track.  The Twins are not a great hitting team and this is the perfect time to get everyone feeling better about themselves.

Outlook

I wouldn’t call this a “must sweep” series because there are still too many games left and they are still in a tie for first place.  However, they do need to win almost every series from here on out and against lesser opponents the Sox need to take advantage.
The Sox have handled the Twins this year and there is no reason to think they can’t do it again.  They have played very well at home lately and have been able to put bad road trips behind them and I expect them to do it again.  Two out of three is the minimum here.

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Posted by GSB! Contributor, Matt Hoeppner.