September AL Central (OK, Tigers) Watch Thread - The Home Stretch

[TDog]

Originally Posted by Lip Man 1

Immigrant:

The Royals pitching staff is ranked in the bottom of the league in most categories, yet this "stellar" staff held the Sox to three runs or less in (drum roll please...)

12 of the 18 games.

Just sayin'

Lip

Just sayin' what? That you would rather look at out-of-context statistical averages than watch baseball? You're looking at season averages that are weighed down by players who are no longer on the team. The Royals season stats include 12 Jonathan Sanchez starts with an ERA over 7. Sanchez started twice against the Tigers this season (although that imay not be a good example because once he held them to just one hit over five innings in a Royals win in a game started by Verlander). Sanchez hasn't faced the White Sox since he gave up Alexei Ramirez' first American home run to lose a game in San Francisco in 2008.

Since the All-Star break, the Tigers have lost three of four games to the Royals. Were you paying attention at the end of August, Guthrie beat the Tigers 2-1 a day after Chen beat the Tigers 1-0?

And no one would argue that the Tigers don't have a better offense than the White Sox this year.

[SephClone89]

Detroit is hitting Bruce Chen like he's Bruce ****ing Chen.

2-0 Tigers, one out bottom of the 1st. Runners on first and second.

[JB98]

Four singles for Detroit in the first inning (so far) against Chen.

[PorkChopExpress]

Originally Posted by Lip Man 1

Tigers win 6-2, have beaten Kansas City eight out of 12 this year.

It sure would help if Kansas City could play these guys the way they play the Sox. Detroit doesn't seem to have a lot of trouble scoring runs off their 'vaunted' pitching staff.

Although I don't think anybody thought Verlander was going to lose to them.

Lip

I'm thinking they do play them the way they play the Sox, but Detroit can actually hit and score runs so the outcome is drastically different.

[JB98]

Tigers went 6-for-9 first time through the order against Chen.

[thomas35forever]

Do the Royals have a philosophy to **** us over in every form?

[SephClone89]

Bases loaded--Chen gets Infante to fly out to center, then Ks Cabrera and Fielder.

[Lip Man 1]

Thomas35:

Only because the Sox let them by rolling over and dying against this "awesome" pitching staff!

It'll be a tie with eight games left, the schedule is mightly against the Sox considering they have four with Tampa who is still in this, plus the hitters have been going south for a month.

Doesn't look good frankly.

We'll see.

Lip

[ChiSoxGal85]

How badly would it suck for the Sox to lead the division for the majority of the season, except at the end when it counts? There are no words.

[Lip Man 1]

ChiSoxGal:

Unfortunately it wouldn't be the first time would it?

----------------------------------------------

I post this here because it involves Cy Chen. This is from Mark Gonzales' column today answering fan questions on the Sox.

The fan wrote about the Sox blowing the playoffs because they couldn't beat a bad Royals team and a pitcher like Chen.

Here was Gonzo's response (the italics are mine):

"There have been times that Chen has been ineffective against the Sox, but he has been extremely effective over the past three seasons because of his ability to change speeds and hit his spots. Ventura and hitting coach Jeff Manto also have stressed the need to stick with a plan against Chen and not try to yank every pitch out of the park. I’ve seen a lot of situations where the approach was lacking."

In other words, the Sox fault lies with themselves because they can't make adjustments and simply swing for the fences and hope to get lucky.

That does explain some things I guess.

Lip

[SephClone89]

If I have to hear "Cy Chen" one more time...

[cub killer]

Originally Posted by ChiSoxGal85

How badly would it suck for the Sox to lead the division for the majority of the season, except at the end when it counts? There are no words.

I wonder if any team has gone wire-to-last day of regular season.

[JB98]

I know we're all of the mindset to complain about the Sox futility against Kansas City, but here's some food for thought:

White Sox
vs. Minnesota: 14-4
vs. Cleveland: 9-5
vs. Kansas City: 6-12
Total: 29-21

Detroit
vs. Minnesota: 8-7
vs. Cleveland: 8-10
vs. Kansas City: 8-4
Total: 24-21

When it comes right down to it, the Sox and Tigers have the exact same total of "bad losses" against the division dregs.

If the Sox lose this division, I'd argue the 6-12 record head-to-head with Detroit is the biggest fail. Just go 9-9 against the Tigers and this race would be close to over.

[CHISOXFAN13]

Chen has certainly settled down.

The Tigers could have broken this thing open a long time ago, but the Royals still have a chance.

[Lip Man 1]

Fan 13:

Let's hope for another miracle.

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JB: When all is said and done, if there is one game the Sox could be kicking themselves in the ass over it's going to be May 15th.

Blow a 6-0, 6th inning lead, at home, with supposedly a 'big game' pitcher (Peavy) on the mound. How would that game look in the win column right now eh? Particularly because it came against Detroit.

That was the game where I felt that Detroit said to themselves in essence, 'we own these guys...'

Maybe in the end it won't matter one iota but it's looking absolutely huge right now.

Lip