Twins Looking to Clean up on Sox
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The Minnesota Twins will have yet another Central Division rival match up, as they travel to Chicago for a three game weekend series beginning tomorrow with the Chicago White Sox.
At the beginning of the season, the Central Division was thought to be a three team race, Detroit, Cleveland, and Chicago. Of course I thought of it as a four team race, adding Minnesota to the scenario. At any rate, this division was going to be the closest division race in the league. The preseason predictions had Detroit in first, followed by Chicago, and Cleveland challenging very hard, then the Twins finishing in fourth place, and Kansas City rounding out the field. As the season has unfolded, neither Minnesota nor Chicago have done as well as expected. The Twins are in third place rather than fourth, but now sit two games under .500, and 12.5 games behind first place. Chicago is surprisingly sitting in fifth place, 21 games under .500, and 22 games behind first place.
The series this weekend between the White Sox and Twins, will be about division pride. Who will win the season series? With six games left to play against each other, the Minnesota Twins lead the season series against Chicago 7-5. With two splits, and one series win a piece, these two team are pretty evenly matched. Three of the final six games will be played this weekend in Chicago, then the White Sox will travel to Minnesota September 21-23, for another weekend series, to close out their final three games against each other.
The pitching match ups are lasted below, with a scouting report. Tonight's match up will pit Twins veteran right hander Carlos Silva, against Javier Vazquez. Game two will be challenged by the young talented arm of Matt Garza, as he faces veteran right hander Jose Contreras. Finally, game three will be between two high quality veterans in Johan Santana for the Twins, and Jon Garland for Chicago. However it works out, this weekend will be an exciting few days for Twins fans everywhere.
Now, here are those scouting reports I promised you.
Carlos Silva vs Javier Vazquez
Twins: Silva made a valiant effort in his last start, batting through six innings when he clearly didn't have his best stuff. He gave up three earned runs in the win. Silva, whose contract with the Twins is up after this season, spoke after the game about the fact that he is distracted by his uncertain future. Silva is 0-3 against the White Sox this season with a 5.06 ERA.
White Sox: Vazquez allowed three earned runs on eight hits over six innings, losing his second straight decision in Cleveland's 7-0 victory on Saturday night. The right-hander also struck out six and walked one, while throwing 105 pitches. Vazquez has a 2-0 record against Minnesota this season with a 1.59 ERA. He has a 3-5 lifetime mark when facing the Twins.
Twins: Garza lasted just 5 1/3 innings in his start on Friday and gave up eight runs, four of which were earned. Worse than his pitching performance, though, was the way he fielded his position. His errant throw to third ended up costing the Twins two runs. Garza last faced the White Sox on July 6, when he pitched six scoreless innings.
White Sox: Contreras dropped his ERA below 6.00 for the first time since July 20 with 6 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball during a victory on Sunday over the Indians. Contreras walked a season-high six but also struck out five and scattered four hits for his second straight victory as a starter. Contreras has a 1-1 record with a 4.40 ERA in two starts against the Twins this season. The right-hander has a career mark of 4-3 against the Twins and has a 21-16 lifetime ledger at U.S. Cellular Field.
Twins: Santana admittedly did not have his best stuff in his last start, yielding four earned runs over six innings. Three of the baserunners that came around to score originated as walks, and the other run came from Santana surrendering his Major League-leading 30th home run. Santana is 2-0 with a 2.40 ERA against the White Sox in two starts this season.
White Sox: A month-long winless streak came to an end for Garland, who beat Detroit Tuesday for his first victory since July 27. The start also marked Garland's first trip to the mound since July 12 in which he allowed less than three runs in a game. Garland gave up just one run on seven hits over seven innings against Detroit, striking out four without issuing a walk. The right-hander has a 0-1 record against Minnesota this season and has a 7-7 lifetime mark when facing the Twins.
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