Tagged: White Sox

Ozzie visits Target Field: Twins vs. White Sox 5/11

By: Kelly Thesier/MLB.com

MINNEAPOLIS — White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen never hid his disdain for the Metrodome and he’s eagerly anticipated the Twins’ move into their new ballpark.

But on a wet and cold day in the Twin Cities as the White Sox arrived for their first series at Target Field on Tuesday, Guillen couldn’t help but joke on his twitter account that this was a night when they needed the Dome.

The rain that dampened the area throughout the day on Tuesday has tapered off and the game is about to start as scheduled.

Joe Mauer is back in the lineup at catcher as is second baseman Orlando Hudson, who was given a day off on Sunday due to a sore shoulder. The Twins could make a roster move after the game to activate Jose Mijares if Mauer’s sore heel gets through the game all right.

White Sox (13-19)
Juan Pierre, LF
A.J. Pierzynski, C
Andruw Jones, RF
Paul Konerko, 1B
Alex Rios, CF
Carlos Quentin, DH
Mark Teahen, 3B
Gordon Beckham, 2B
Alexei Ramirez, SS
Pitching: RHP Freddy Garcia (1-2, 5.28 ERA)

Twins

(21-11)
Denard Span, CF
Orlando
Hudson, 2B
Joe Mauer, C
Justin Morneau, 1B
Michael Cuddyer,
RF
Jason Kubel, DH
Delmon Young, LF
Brendan Harris, SS
Nick
Punto, 3B
Pitching: RHP Kevin Slowey (4-2, 3.93 ERA)

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Thome in the lineup: Twins at White Sox 4/10

By: Kelly Thesier/MLB.com

CHICAGO — The Twins entered Saturday on a four-game winning streak and while some fatigue had set in from the club’s crazy travel schedule, the clubhouse was quite upbeat before the noon contest.

There is quite a bit for the club to be pleased about considering how the offense fared in Anaheim, their ability to pull out a close on in the first contest at Chicago and the fact that Monday will mark the official opener at Target Field.

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire seems particularly pleased with his club’s defense over the first five games. They’ve yet to make an error and he called shortstop J.J. Hardy’s play “unbelievable” so far this season.

A win today and the club will guarantee a great roadtrip, as it would give them series wins in both Anaheim and Chicago. Scott Baker is on the mound for the Twins, Jim Thome is in the lineup as the DH and Joe Mauer is back behind the plate after not starting on Friday (although he scored the winning run after drawing a leadoff walk in the 11th).

Twins
(4-1)
Denard Span, CF
Orlando
Hudson, 2B
Joe Mauer, C
Justin Morneau, 1B
Michael Cuddyer,
RF
Jim Thome, DH
Jason Kubel, LF
J.J. Hardy, SS
Nick Punto, 3B
Pitching: RHP Scott Baker

White Sox
(1-3)
Juan Pierre, LF
Gordon Beckham, 2B
Carlos
Quentin, RF
Paul Konerko, DH
Mark Kotsay, 1B
Alex Rios, CF
A.J. Pierzynski, C
Alexei Ramirez, SS
Mark Teahen, 3B
Pitching: RHP Freddy Garcia
 
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Thome’s return to Chicago: Twins at White Sox 4/9

By: Kelly Thesier/MLB.com

CHICAGO — Jim Thome sat in the visiting dugout at U.S. Cellular Field this afternoon and greeted the Chicago media, many like they were old friends. It’s no surprise since the man is seriously one of the nicest people you’ll come across, not only baseball but perhaps any walk of life.

Thome will have to wait until at least tomorrow to get a start against his former club. With left-hander John Danks on the mound tonight, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire chose to stick with Jason Kubel as his DH and Delmon Young is in left field. However, Thome will be available off the bench to pinch-hit and Gardenhire has already said how much he enjoyed watching Joe Crede hit a home run in his return to U.S. Cellular Field last April.

Joe Mauer is getting his first night off of the season and that means Drew Butera will make his Major League debut tonight, catching Francisco Liriano. Even though Butera is a rookie, Gardenhire said he has plenty of confidence in the catcher’s ability to keep Liriano calm during his start.

With Mauer out of the lineup, J.J. Hardy is batting in the third spot. Hardy has certainly gotten off to a hot start, he enters Friday batting .313 with two homers, and Gardenhire felt good putting him at that spot.

Also, the team seemed pretty chipper this afternoon for having arrived in Chicago around 6 a.m. this morning. The team bus had to deal with rush hour traffic on their drive into the city, and Gardenhire even joked that he had to do a double take when he saw joggers out running as they arrived into town.

Twins
(3-1)
Denard Span, CF
Orlando
Hudson, 2B
J.J. Hardy, SS
Justin Morneau, 1B
Michael Cuddyer, RF
Jason Kubel, DH
Delmon Young, LF
Brendan Harris, 3B
Drew Butera, C
Pitching: LHP Francisco Liriano

White Sox (1-2)
Juan Pierre, LF
Gordon Beckham, 2B
Carlos Quentin, RF
Paul Konerko, 1B
Andruw Jones, DH
Alex Rios, CF
Omar Vizquel, 3B
Alexei Ramirez, SS
Donny Lucy, C
Pitching: LHP John Danks
 
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Let’s Go Go White Sox?

It’s not very often that you see Twins fans rooting on the Chicago White Sox. OK, it almost NEVER happens.

But with the White Sox being the only team left to play the Tigers this season other than the Twins, Minnesota fans have to hope that Chicago can pick up its fair share of wins over Detroit down the stretch.

That’s why it’s no surprise that Gordon Beckham and Jake Peavy became instant favorites in Minnesota on Friday night. Beckham hit a two-run home run and Peavy threw seven scoreless innings to take a 2-0 win over Detroit in the series opener, cutting the Tigers lead to two games over the Twins in the AL Central with nine games left to play.

“I just got a text from someone saying the Twins fans are happy,” said Beckham after the contest.

While the White Sox have been eliminated from the race, they certainly understand the importance of them continuing to play hard over the final stretch of games as they can have an impact on the AL Central winner.

“We’re out, but we have to play very important games against Detroit,”
White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. “It’s not an important game for
us, but I think we continue to go out there and we continue to have a
job to do and win as many games as we can. We should prepare ourselves
mentally every day. We’ve got to continue to play the same way we
should be playing.”

And the White Sox have become aware that they can make a few more friends in Minnesota if they continue to win.

“As a matter of fact, I’ve got a guy who dates a girl in Minneapolis,
and I just got quite a bit of texts, and he said, ‘You guys are
popular,'” said Peavy. “He said we’re heroes there tonight.”

The make-or-break roadtrip begins: Twins at White Sox 9/21

The Twins critical 10-game, 11-day roadtrip kicks off tonight in Chicago against the White Sox. Currently Minnesota sits 3 games behind the first-place Tigers in the American League Central race. They’ll have a chance tonight to pick up a half-game as Detroit is idle today — their final off day of the season.

While many people have written off Chicago as they now sit 6 1/2 games back of the Tigers in the division, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire isn’t so quick to do the same. He reminded everyone that the White Sox still have these three games to try to make up ground on the Twins and six left with Detroit as well.

“I don’t think the Sox are quitting right now,” Gardenhire said. “When you get a chance to play the other teams that are aehad you, that always makes you feel a little bit better about it. I’m sure the Sox are thinking that too

“They’ve got as much life as we do. We’re just a little closer. They’ve got six games with [Detroit]. We’ve got four.”

Also, the Twins aren’t skipping any starters with the off day but it sounds like they’ll make one alteration. Gardenhire said that the four big guys will be starting against Detroit in that series — meaning everyone besides Jeff Manship. So Manship will start tomorrow vs. Chicago and then he’ll stay on five days to pitch on Sunday at Kansas City. Nick Blackburn will be pushed back a day to start Monday, the first game of the series in Detroit.

Here are today’s lineups:

Twins (76-73)
2nd place in AL Central, 3 games back
Denard Span, CF
Orlando Cabrera, SS
Joe Mauer, C
Jason Kubel, RF
Michael Cuddyer, 1B
Delmon Young, LF
Jose Morales, DH
Matt Tolbert, 3B
Nick Punto, 2B
Pitching: RHP Nick Blackburn (10-11, 4.34)

White Sox (73-77)
3rd place in AL Central, 6 1/2 games back
Scott Podsednik, CF
Gordon Beckham, 3B
A.J. Pierzynski, C
Paul Konerko, DH
Mark Kotsay, 1B
Jermaine Dye, RF
Carlos Quentin, LF
Chris Getz, 2B
Alexei Ramirez, SS
Pitching: RHP Daniel Hudson (0-0, 4.76)

A reminder you can follow me on Twitter  @kellythesier

Wednesday Lineups: Twins vs. White Sox

Here are today’s lineups:

White Sox (64-69)
3rd place in AL Central, 7 games back

Scott Podsednik, DH
Gordon Beckham, 3B
Paul Konerko, 1B
Jermaine Dye, RF
Carlos Quentin, LF
Alexei Ramirez, SS
Alex Rios, CF
Jayson Nix, 2B
Ramon Castro, C
Pitching: LHP Mark Buehrle (11-7, 3.89)

Twins (67-65)
2nd place in AL Central, 3.5 games back

Denard Span, CF
Orlando Cabrera, SS
Joe Mauer, DH
Justin Morneau, 1B
Jason Kubel, LF
Michael Cuddyer, RF
Brendan Harris, 3B
Mike Redmond, C
Nick Punto, 2B
Pitching: LHP Brian Duensing (2-1, 4.37)

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Welcome September!…Tuesday Lineups: Twins vs. White Sox

After it sounded like the Twins wouldn’t call any players up today when rosters expanded, the club decided to make one move after all. Infielder Brian Buscher was promoted and is expected to join the team shortly before game time, manager Ron Gardenhire said.

The switch to indeed bring Buscher up now, although he’s been playing through a sore thumb, came after Gardenhire told general manager Bill Smith that he needed another backup infielder on the bench. So that’s the only move for now. It still sounds like Matt Tolbert (knee) and Anthony Swarzak could join the club at some point in the near future.

The big topic of the day of course was the two moves the White Sox made on Monday night — trading away Jim Thome and Jose Contreras. Neither club seemed to view it as Chicago completely throwing in the towel but I’ll have more on that in a story later.

Here are today’s lineups:

White Sox (64-68)
3rd place in AL Central, 6 games back

Scott Podsednik, LF
Gordon Beckham, 3B
A.J. Pierzynski, C
Paul Konerko, 1B
Jermaine Dye, DH
Carlos Quentin, LF
Chris Getz, 2B
Alex Rios, RF
Alexei Ramirez, SS
Pitching: LHP John Danks (12-8, 3.82)

Twins (66-65)
2nd place in AL Central, 3.5 games back

Denard Span, CF
Orlando Cabrera, SS
Joe Mauer, C
Justin Morneau, 1B
Jason Kubel, DH
Michael Cuddyer, RF
Brendan Harris, 3B
Delmon Young, LF
Alexi Casilla, 2B
Pitching: RHP Jeff Manship (0-0, 5.14)

A reminder you can follow me on Twitter  @kellythesier

Wednesday Lineups: Twins vs. White Sox

White Sox (51-50)
2nd place in AL Central, 2.0 games back

Scott Podsednik, CF
Gordon Beckham, 3B
Jermaine Dye, RF
Paul Konerko, DH
Alexei Ramirez, SS
Mark Kotsay 1B
Carlos Quentin, LF
Jayson Nix, 2B
Ramon Castro, C
Pitching: RHP Jose Contreras (4-9, 4.08)

Twins (51-50)
2nd place in AL Central, 2.0 games back

Denard Span, LF
Joe Mauer, C
Justin Morneau, 1B
Jason Kubel, DH
Michael Cuddyer, RF
Joe Crede, 3B
Carlos Gomez, CF
Nick Punto, SS
Alexi Casilla, 2B
Pitching: LHP Brian Duensing (0-1, 5.50)