Tonight We Dine In Hell
I know it would have been nice to finish off the Tigers with a sweep, but we just took two out of three from a team that had been raking. Watching Dye hit that home run off Todd Jones on Friday night reminded me of AJ walking off in 2005 against the Dodgers. The dead silence of the Comerica crowd was music to my ears as JD touched home plate and a real closer by the name of Bad Bobby Jenks got loose in the pen. I am not ready to bury Detroit just yet, but this is turning into a two horse race.
The sox enter the Baggie Dome with a 2.5 game lead after Minnesota went 2-4 on their road trip. This is as big a four game series in July can be, but regardless how it plays out there is plenty of baseball left to be played. The Sox have been on top of the AL Central since May 16th, but the team’s inconsistencies can make you forget that sometimes. The last time we met the Twins we came out of an offensive slump for a ridiculous outburst in a sweep that was over before Minnesota knew what hit them. I highly doubt the Sox will duplicate that performance, but on paper it looks like we have some good matchups as the Sox are throwing three left handers and the Twins are hitting 20 points lower against south paws.
The Twins are going with Kevin Slowey tonight who has won 3 out of his last 4, but the Sox have roughed him up for 14 hits and 11 runs in 8 innings this season. Chicago counters with Mark Buehrle who is 6-2 with a 1.76 era over his last nine starts. “This is one of the better stretches I have been on in my career for this amount of time,” said Buehrle who enjoys a 21-11 life time record versus the Twinkies. Advantage White Sox
Game two features Glen Perkins, a young lefty destined to give the White Sox fits, but the Sox did drop the Piranhas 7-5 in his June 9th start. Taking the hill for the Southsiders will be Clayton Richard who was praised by Ozzie Guillen after his first start. He struck out seven, but only lasted 4 innings. Advantage Twins
Game three will pit the young Gavin Floyd against the crafty veteran, Livan Hernandez. Livan has been finding ways to win despite an era of over 5, but Floyd is 2-1 versus the Twins this season and has a sparkling 2.11 era. Advantage White Sox
In the Finale, we will watch two good young pitchers square off in the form of John Danks and Scott Baker. Danks has struggled of late and has had trouble with the Twins, carrying an era of just under 9 in three starts this season. Baker on the other hand won his only start versus the Sox and has an era of 3 in July. Advantage Twins.
Chances are this series will be a split and another four games come off the schedule with the Sox still in first place, but the dome has been a house of horrors in the past. To quote King Leonidas, “Tonight We Dine In Hell!” I hope our boys are hungry.
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2 Responses
Hank Barbagallo July 31st at 3:55 pm
Hello Patrick,
I see many flaws in your writing, but that is to be expected when you are a monkey. This is one of the most important series that could happen in July? LOLOL. Why don’t you talk about the ‘34 series between the Yankees and the Expos that happened in July. Now that was a nail biter. And did you really refer to the Twins as Twinks? Why don’t you try liking women for once. I couldn’t even read any further at this point, you write too much. You try to mask your inefficiencies, baseball knowledge and word play, with massive amounts of word vomit. Don’t be silly. You can put it on the boooooaaaaaard, Yes! That’s the only thing I like about your team. Your drunk, senial announcers.
Pat July 31st at 9:12 pm
Hank, it is hard to take you seriously after you said the Yankees played the Expos in 1934. The Montreal Expos franchise started in 1969. Also, the nickname for the Twins is the Twinkies. Thanks for reading!