White Sox/Tigers head to head, who do you take?

[caulfield12]

1B Fielder over Konerko, although Paulie would have had the advantage up until a month ago.

2B Beckham is 18th out of 21 in OPS, at best average (overall) 2B, but Detroit has gotten little out of Santiago/Raburn, etc. This will change when/if the Tigers make a trade.

SS Ramirez with an edge over Peralta due to his defense and hot bat the last 4-6 weeks

3B Cabrera over Youk, although Kevin's been great since joining the Sox with 5 game-winning RBI's

LF Even, as Young has been on a huge tear recently

CF Jackson, with DeAza fading recently, especially against LHP...not enough walks, too many K's on breaking pitches

RF Rios in a runaway

C AJ this year, Avila last year

DH Dunn over Young/Boesch/Berry/Worth combination

 

Tigers 3

White Sox 5

Even 1

 

Although in all fairness, Berry has been very important recently and he doesn't really fit into any one position as he's been playing CF, LF and DHing.

 

 

Verlander and Sale, even, Verlander has almost identical numbers to last year when he was MVP, just a tick higher in ERA

 

Scherzer and Peavy, slight advantage to White Sox, Max has the better stuff, Peavy has been much more consistent and should be a 10+ game winner if not for our inconsistent offense and bullpen...recently, Scherzer has been dominating and leads the AL in K/9

 

Quintana over Fister, although this also could change again...

 

Porcello over ???, if it's Floyd/Danks, it's basically about even....if Humber, then advantage Tigers

 

Smyly/Turner over Axelrod/Hernandez/Stults et al Smyly was an early favorite for AL Rookie of the Year before succumbing to injuries

 

 

White Sox 2

Tigers 2

Even 1

 

 

Bullpen...don't even want to think or talk about right now

[elrockinMT]

Think positive

[LittleHurt05]

Bullpen...don't even want to think or talk about right now

 

Reed over Valverde

[mgaughan09]

Short answer: defense and pitching wins championships. In that case, Sox >>>>> Tigers

[flavum]

I don't know what to think about this race. Talk to me in 10 days.

[southsider2k5]

Chuck Garfien ‏@ChuckGarfien

 

White Sox have allowed 14 unearned runs, fewest in AL. On pace for 2nd fewest in full season since 1920. (Detroit Free Press)

 

The Tigers have allowed 46 unearned runs, tied for most in American League.

[MexSoxFan#1]

The Tigers are hot right now, they'll cool off, just need to play good defense and pitch well but it should be an interesting race the rest of the way.

[elrockinMT]

Chuck Garfien ‏@ChuckGarfien

 

White Sox have allowed 14 unearned runs, fewest in AL. On pace for 2nd fewest in full season since 1920. (Detroit Free Press)

 

The Tigers have allowed 46 unearned runs, tied for most in American League.

 

 

I may not remember the stat correctly but last night MLB-network showed the Sox with only 37 errors I think?

[southsider2k5]

I may not remember the stat correctly but last night MLB-network showed the Sox with only 37 errors I think?

 

White Sox are #2 in AL with 37 E. Detroit is #9 with 58. Sox have had 3398 chances in 92 games. Tigers have had 3373 in 93 games.

[RME JICO]

Sox have a slight edge overall, though these teams are pretty evenly matched.

 

Sox hit and allow more HRs, Tigers walk more and allow more walks. Sox score more, Detroit has better OPS. Detroit has better ERA, Sox have better BAA.

Edited July 20, 2012 by RME JICO

[southsider2k5]

Chuck Garfien ‏@ChuckGarfien

 

White Sox have allowed 14 unearned runs, fewest in AL. On pace for 2nd fewest in full season since 1920. (Detroit Free Press)

 

The Tigers have allowed 46 unearned runs, tied for most in American League.

 

Christopher Kamka ‏@ckamka

 

The White Sox have allowed 14 unearned runs this season; 6 of them have been on Zach Stewart's watch.

[kitekrazy]

Chuck Garfien ‏@ChuckGarfien

 

White Sox have allowed 14 unearned runs, fewest in AL. On pace for 2nd fewest in full season since 1920. (Detroit Free Press)

 

The Tigers have allowed 46 unearned runs, tied for most in American League.

 

League leading blown saves is the killer though.

[caulfield12]

Think positive

 

 

That was kind of the point of this thread.

 

If you think of it as 3 superstars against the White Sox, it seems pretty lopsided. Fortunately, baseball is a team game and Chris Sale would be a superstar if he played for a different team.

[southsider2k5]

Daryl Van Schouwen ‏@CST_soxvan

 

Tigers over last 19 games: 1st in AL in hits (198), 2nd in runs (105) and on-base pct (.363), 3rd in slugging (.465).

 

#WhiteSox 26-20 road record is tied with Rangers for fourth-best in baseball behind Braves (26-17), Yankees (27-18), Nats (27-20).

 

Peavy over his last eight starts: 1-5, 3.18 ERA. #WhiteSox have supported him with 2.54 runs a game in that span, 4th-lowest in baseball.

[GreatScott82]

Daryl Van Schouwen ‏@CST_soxvan

 

Tigers over last 19 games: 1st in AL in hits (198), 2nd in runs (105) and on-base pct (.363), 3rd in slugging (.465).

 

#WhiteSox 26-20 road record is tied with Rangers for fourth-best in baseball behind Braves (26-17), Yankees (27-18), Nats (27-20).

 

Peavy over his last eight starts: 1-5, 3.18 ERA. #WhiteSox have supported him with 2.54 runs a game in that span, 4th-lowest in baseball.

YEP. Time for the bats to WAKE UP! Verlander is not unstoppable.

[Kyyle23]

That was kind of the point of this thread.

 

If you think of it as 3 superstars against the White Sox, it seems pretty lopsided. Fortunately, baseball is a team game and Chris Sale would be a superstar if he played for a different team.

 

Chris Sale IS a superstar. His body of this work this season speaks for itself, not the name on the front of the jersey.

[daa84]

YEP. Time for the bats to WAKE UP! Verlander is not unstoppable.

i miss the days when thome and dye absolutely owned verlander

[greg775]

YEP. Time for the bats to WAKE UP! Verlander is not unstoppable.

 

How the hell did the NL treat him like Jonathan Sanchez?

[caulfield12]

Chris Sale IS a superstar. His body of this work this season speaks for itself, not the name on the front of the jersey.

 

 

We'll find out tomorrow.

 

Superstars show up and dominate in those must-win games.

 

There's never been more of a game with that definition attached than Saturday's afternoon tilt.

 

 

"We've had this before," manager Robin Ventura said. "We go through it, and most teams do. Eventually, we'll get on another run putting everything together where you score runs and pitchers pitch well."

 

The Sox's third consecutive loss has coincided with the opportunistic Tigers winning three straight, and Detroit has won 11 of 13.

 

"We know this is going to be a battle and grind," Peavy said. "We talked about it from the get-go. We never ruled anyone out. Detroit is playing well and has made a nice run. We believe that we're going to do that as well."

 

Against Verlander (11-5), who has allowed three runs over his last 25 innings, the Sox didn't advance a runner to scoring position after De Aza's home run in the third staked Peavy to a 2-0 lead. That left Peavy (7-7), who has been the victim of low run support, with another frustrating defeat.

 

"I just nicked (Berry) ... and Cabrera is just Cabrera," Peavy said. "I made some pitches to him and then had to throw a strike. The cutter wasn't good. I felt like I made a good pitch to Prince. When it's not going your way, it's not going your way."

 

"We're not worried about anything," Alex Rios said. "Let's see what happens.''

Mark Gonzales, Tribune

 

They seem really calm right now. Saturday and Sunday, that will be tested. The Ventura "even keel" approach was due to encounter a storm at some point.

 

Edited July 21, 2012 by caulfield12

[Jake]

The Sox are all professionals, and they know that these series 90 games into the season don't mean s***. You want to win every game against the Tigers and you'd like to always be in first place, but there's a lot of baseball ahead of us. "Biggest series of the season" is a tremendous overstatement with all of the games left to play. The guys on the team are just trying to win because wins are good, not because their fans get too worked up over every divisional game. They also know that there a few guys on offense not clicking, we're short two starters, and our bullpen is full of unfamiliar names. Some of that will change and the sky won't be falling anymore.

[Dick Allen]

The Sox are all professionals, and they know that these series 90 games into the season don't mean s***. You want to win every game against the Tigers and you'd like to always be in first place, but there's a lot of baseball ahead of us. "Biggest series of the season" is a tremendous overstatement with all of the games left to play. The guys on the team are just trying to win because wins are good, not because their fans get too worked up over every divisional game. They also know that there a few guys on offense not clicking, we're short two starters, and our bullpen is full of unfamiliar names. Some of that will change and the sky won't be falling anymore.

I disagree. This is a huge series. If the Sox win 2 out of 3 they keep the Tigers off their back and maybeput some doubts in their minds, while perhaps building more confidence in themselves. If they get swept, it could all go south in a hurry. Head to head and division games are always important.

 

And the White Sox think its a huge series too. That's why Crane is going to be activated without a rehab assignment.

Edited July 21, 2012 by Dick Allen

[caulfield12]

The Sox are all professionals, and they know that these series 90 games into the season don't mean s***. You want to win every game against the Tigers and you'd like to always be in first place, but there's a lot of baseball ahead of us. "Biggest series of the season" is a tremendous overstatement with all of the games left to play. The guys on the team are just trying to win because wins are good, not because their fans get too worked up over every divisional game. They also know that there a few guys on offense not clicking, we're short two starters, and our bullpen is full of unfamiliar names. Some of that will change and the sky won't be falling anymore.

 

You just have a feeling each season when there are key points.

 

Two years ago, it was the Jenks blown game and then the Thome GS off Thornton to put the icing on the cake.

 

The White Sox are like a boxer who was just knocked down. They have these two games to get up off the canvas. All those conditions you're using as excuses have been there all season long, nothing's different...and Ventura isn't about to start making excuses now..."Well, the Tigers were always the favorite, they have more talent and a higher payroll, we have too many rookies to contend, they don't have any holes in their line-up other than 2B, we have 3-4-5 on any given night, etc."

 

We all knew 16/19 on the road was going to be a b****, and it has been. The Tigers also have a difficult schedule from here on out, too, but they also have a huge home field advantage with sellouts every game for the rest of the season...another advantage the White Sox won't have.

 

To top it off, they have the advantage of being able to go out and add a starter or 2B...and the luxury of having Smyly and Turner for the future, depending on who they trade (Castellanos, they've got 4-5 other really good prospects to go along with him).

 

The final game of that Red Sox series was an inflection point in the season. I highly doubt the Tigers if they get going are just going to collapse like the 2008 Twins did at the end.

 

That said, worst case scenario, we have a decent shot at edging out Boston and Tampa Bay simply because we have so many games against the Twins and Royals, if we can prove that we can beat them.

 

In all honesty though....Ellsbury, Crawford, Pedroia, Gonzalez, Ortiz, Middlebrooks, Ross/Sweeney, Salty and Aviles...there's just no way in hell to argue the White Sox have anything approaching the firepower of that line-up. They're better. But it will come down to pitching, as it always does, in the end.

Edited July 21, 2012 by caulfield12