Intradivisional games central to Sox's success

[greasywheels121]

Intradivisional games central to Sox's success

By Dave van Dyck

 

First some good news for all those Cubs fans ready to tear up their Die-hard Cub Fan Club membership cards, courtesy of the White Sox.

 

Entering last year's All-Star break, the South Side version of Chicago's longtime losers was seven games out of first place.

 

Coming out of the break, the Sox dropped to eight games behind.

 

By Aug. 1, they were tied for first place (never mind that they finally finished second).

 

OK, so much for helping Cubs fans over their problems. It's time to see what's ahead for Chicago's only first-place team.

 

The White Sox begin the second half with a dreaded West Coast trip, but that quickly disappears into 5½ weeks of games against their own Central Division—save for a pair of three-game series against Boston. That intradivisional stretch includes 13 games against Detroit, 10 against Cleveland, six against Kansas City and three against Minnesota.

 

Now fast-forward to the end of the schedule, when the Sox face Kansas City eight more times and Detroit and Minnesota an additional six times each in the final two-plus weeks.

 

Unlike the Cubs, the Sox control their own destiny, because they face the Twins, their main division rivals, nine more times this season. The Cubs play the Cardinals only twice more.

 

"The thing about the second half," manager Ozzie Guillen said, "is that we're going to play our division more. In our division, we can take care of our own business. We don't have to lean on someone else.

 

"We have 14 games against K.C., 19 against Detroit, and that's how it's going to be decided."

 

Luckily—assuming things hold as they are—eight of the final 11 games are against Kansas City, which has a 31-54 record and is already 151/2 games behind the Sox. The other three are against Detroit—the team Guillen claims he has great fear about—which was the worst team in baseball last year.

 

"Everything is set up for the end," Guillen said.

 

It is, but the Sox may not need it if the early statistics hold up.

 

They are already 7-3 against defending Central champion Minnesota, including 6-1 in the formerly foreboding Metrodome.

 

And they are 16-8 (.667) against the Central, while the Twins are 22-19 (.537).

 

But there is one wild card to all this: The Sox, who had to play without a DH in National League cities, were 7-10 in interleague play. The Twins, who don't rely as much on the DH, were 11-7.

 

It would be a shame if that's what it came down to in the end, games lost because one of your top two hitters was forced to be a pinch-hitter just so Major League Baseball could generate some ticket revenue.

 

That aside, the Sox are in first place and interleague play is done—except for one makeup game Aug. 30 against the Phillies—so the Central Division race should come down to division rivalries.

 

And it's never too early to look even farther down the road.

 

"If we make the playoffs," Guillen said, "you could be surprised because we've got four good starters. You put [scott Schoeneweis] in the bullpen and have a better bullpen. We can go a little while because we can hit."

 

As for the Cubs, they're on their own.

[TLAK]

"The thing about the second half," manager Ozzie Guillen said, "is that we're going to play our division more. In our division, we can take care of our own business. We don't have to lean on someone else.

 

"We have 14 games against K.C., 19 against Detroit, and that's how it's going to be decided."

 

Luckily—assuming things hold as they are—eight of the final 11 games are against Kansas City, which has a 31-54 record and is already 151/2 games behind the Sox. The other three are against Detroit—the team Guillen claims he has great fear about—which was the worst team in baseball last year.

 

"Everything is set up for the end," Guillen said.

 

Spot on Ozzie! Be ready for them there Tigers or they will bushwhack you, bring your A game, be ready to compete and you can win this thing!

[RNemz43]

As for the Cubs, they're on their own.

 

beautiful

 

:fthecubs