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Cleveland Indians vs Chicago White Sox game #3


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2:10 PM ET, April 12, 2014

U.S. Cellular Field, Chicago, Illinois

 

Starting Pitchers

Cleveland: Masterson (0-0, 4.22 ERA)

Chicago: Paulino (0-1, 6.52 ERA)

 

 

I'm 2-0 starting game threads! Let's keep the streak goin' boys.

This was the game I figured we lose

 

 

 

Game Preview

 

Indians-White Sox Preview

 

After ending their recent struggles versus Cleveland, the Chicago White Sox hope to do the same against Indians ace Justin Masterson.

 

They'll get the chance Saturday while trying to hand the visiting Indians a fourth consecutive defeat.

Chicago (6-5) dropped 14 straight versus Cleveland before outscoring the Indians (5-6) 16-9 to win the first two of this four-game set. Conor Gillaspie had four RBIs on Friday as the White Sox improved to 4-1 at home with a 9-6 victory.

A season removed from ranking last in the AL with an average of 3.7 runs, the White Sox are scoring 6.4 per contest through 11 games. They didn't record their first nine-run game until May 15 last year but have scored that many twice, and also put up 15 at Colorado on Tuesday.

"I think if we keep doing what we've been doing and making strides in the right direction we can be a force, be a great team," said Chris Sale, who improved to 3-0 on Friday. "It's fun to watch."

A career .241 hitter coming into this season, Gillaspie is batting .343 while hitting safely in all nine games he's played.

Chicago hitters will be put to the test against Masterson (0-0, 4.22 ERA), who is 5-0 with a 2.14 ERA in his last eight starts against them. He allowed three runs over 31 2/3 innings and recorded two shutouts while winning all four versus Chicago last season.

The right-hander gave up three hits in seven innings of a 2-0 win at Oakland to open this season but yielded six runs in 3 2/3 innings of a 10-7 loss to Minnesota on Sunday.

"It seemed like it was one of those days in general," said Masterson, who tabled contract talks on a long-term deal with the Indians during spring training.

"You want to make some adjustments, but it just didn't happen."

Manager Terry Francona isn't too concerned with Masterson's latest outing.

"You know what, this was Masty's second time pitching," he said. "His first time out he was pretty good. I don't think you start to give up on your guys on April 6th. Not saying we don't want them to do better, but I think you can rush to judgment and miss out on some really good players."

Felipe Paulino (0-1, 6.52) takes the mound for the White Sox trying to rebound after he allowed six runs, nine hits and walked four in 4 1/3 innings of an 8-1 loss at Colorado on Monday.

"It's part of the game," Paulino said. "They got me, beat me. I got ahead in the count on guys and I never finished up. I have to figure out (how) to finish those hitters."

The right-hander hasn't faced the Indians since 2011, but has a 1.42 ERA despite going 0-1 against them.

Cleveland second baseman and Chicago-area native Jason Kipnis is 2 for 8 in the series and batting .205 following an All-Star 2013 season in which he hit .284 with 17 homers and 84 RBIs.

Teammate Asdrubal Cabrera had two RBIs on Friday and is 5 for 13 (.385) in three games after going 3 for 27 (.111) in the first eight.

Kipnis and Cabrera are a combined 1 for 9 with five strikeouts versus Paulino.

Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press

 

 

 

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Of course, after last season and Sale being 0-4 and an 8+ ERA against the Indians, you would have argued the chances were 50/50 at best of winning yesterday.

 

But yeah...I wouldn't exactly be betting the house on the White Sox. That said, almost everybody (other than Dunn maybe) is looking like different hitters than last year...different feeling, totally different team and offensive approaches that seem to be working well so far.

 

 

 

 

The Indians won 17 of 19 matchups with the White Sox during the 2013 season, and a large part of the success was courtesy of Justin Masterson.

 

Cleveland's ace hurler posted a 4-0 record against the South Siders with two complete games, a 0.83 ERA and 29 strikeouts over 32 2/3 innings. Masterson will try to carry that dominance into 2014 with Saturday afternoon's start at U.S. Cellular Field.

 

"I mean, I've always been good against the White Sox, historically," said Masterson, who is 8-5 lifetime with a 2.22 ERA against the White Sox. "I've probably had some bad games here or there, but I don't know if there's anything fancy about it. It's just kind of the way it is; some guys do well against certain teams more than others.

 

"Who knows? Maybe it's because it's my dad's favorite team growing up, maybe it has something to do with that. I don't think there's anything too crazy about it. It's just I've been able to be effective." (hometown discount to sign here, haha???)

 

Masterson will try to prevent the White Sox, who will send Felipe Paulino to the hill, from winning a third straight, after Chris Sale and the resurgent offense pushed the home team to a 9-6 victory Friday. As shown by the White Sox performance with the bats in this series, this is a different White Sox offense to be faced by the right-hander.

 

Adam Eaton has reached base safely 12 times in his last four games. Alexei Ramirez has hit in all 11 games played this season, Conor Gillaspie has hit in nine straight and Jose Abreu makes an impact even when he's making outs. They are playing with more life and producing better at-bats, which kind of goes hand and hand.

 

"Well, they're a better lineup. With Eaton leading off, who is more of a scrappy guy, harder to get out, makes you throw a lot of pitches," Cleveland pitching coach Mickey Callaway said. "You've got Abreu, who's kind of a game-changer. You can't just go up there and kind of take him for granted. You have to make sure that, 'Oh, OK, I might have to pitch around somebody in the lineup now.' Adding those two guys in the lineup makes them a lot better team."

 

"One thing I will say, is I think for the most part, top to bottom, the outs that we are making, it seems like that they are deeper in the counts," White Sox designated hitter Adam Dunn said. "We are, as a team, having a lot better quality at-bats maybe than we did last year -- especially early. But again, when you are scoring runs and getting some hits, it looks pretty good."

 

White Sox: Bullpen work can be contagious in a positive way

The White Sox relief crew entered Friday's contest with a 6.75 ERA and .302 average against, ranking them 15th in the American League in both categories. But with the three innings of scoreless baseball thrown by Daniel Webb and Matt Lindstrom on Thursday, manager Robin Ventura believes success can be contagious.

 

"When you get guys that come in from the bullpen, you have to have belief first," Ventura said. "You have to have that momentum going that everyone is doing their part and doing their job. Guys come in and they get it done. This leads to the next guy coming in and having that belief and pulling for each other. There's part of that that is true."

 

Jake Petricka allowed two runs over two innings in relief of Sale on Friday. Maikel Cleto threw a scoreless eighth, and Donnie Veal yielded one run in the ninth.

 

 

 

Worth noting

• The White Sox have scored 37 runs over the first five games at U.S. Cellular this season. They scored 48 runs over the first 14 games at home in '13.

 

• White Sox outfielder Alejandro De Aza celebrated his 30th birthday on Friday

 

from mlb.com

Edited by caulfield12
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I can't remember the last time we started a lineup with 7 of the 9 hitters batting from the left side. Might be the key to beating Masterson.

 

1.Adam Eaton - CF

2.Leury Garcia - 2B

3.Conor Gillaspie - 3B

4.Jose Abreu - 1B

5.Adam Dunn - DH

6.Alexei Ramirez - SS

7.Alejandro De Aza - LF

8.Adrian Nieto - C

9.Jordan Danks - RF

 

Felipe Paulino - SP

 

Indians Lineup:

1.Nyjer Morgan - CF

2.Nick Swisher - 1B

3.Jason Kipnis - 2B

4.Carlos Santana - C

5.Michael Brantley - LF

6.Asdrubral Cabrera - SS

7.Ryan Raburn - DH

8.David Murphy - RF

9.Mike Aviles - 3B

 

Justin Masterson - SP

 

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QUOTE (raBBit @ Apr 12, 2014 -> 11:38 AM)
Paulino has one bad start (in Colorado of all places) and he goes from offseason darling to whipping boy.

Yeah, people like to bust out their jump to conclusion mats way too early around here. I definitely thought was he getting a bit too much love from some posters this off-season, but I'm still not going to write him off after two f***ing starts.

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QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Apr 12, 2014 -> 05:38 PM)
I can't remember the last time we started a lineup with 7 of the 9 hitters batting from the left side. Might be the key to beating Masterson.

 

1.Adam Eaton - CF

2.Leury Garcia - 2B

3.Conor Gillaspie - 3B

4.Jose Abreu - 1B

5.Adam Dunn - DH

6.Alexei Ramirez - SS

7.Alejandro De Aza - LF

8.Adrian Nieto - C

9.Jordan Danks - RF

 

Felipe Paulino - SP

 

Indians Lineup:

1.Nyjer Morgan - CF

2.Nick Swisher - 1B

3.Jason Kipnis - 2B

4.Carlos Santana - C

5.Michael Brantley - LF

6.Asdrubral Cabrera - SS

7.Ryan Raburn - DH

8.David Murphy - RF

9.Mike Aviles - 3B

 

Justin Masterson - SP

Leury Garcia batting second goooood lord

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