Chicago White Sox

It was only 17 days ago that Donnie Veal lost his spot in the White Sox bullpen. An inability to find the strike zone -- especially against lefties -- forced the Sox to option him to Triple-A, with Brian Omogrosso coming up from Charlotte to take his place. Veal took the bad news well: @captainomo Congrats buddy! — Donnie Veal (@RealDVeal) May 1, 2013 Just got optioned to triple A Charlotte.Not happy, but definitely motivated.I'll be back in Chicago and even better when I return! — Donnie Veal (@RealDVeal) May 1, 2013 He also made good use of his return to Charlotte, because after four scoreless appearances, the White Sox brought him back into the mix today. Deunte Heath was optioned to Charlotte after Friday's game to make room. Veal got back to throwing strikes, as his overall line is pretty impressive for a couple of weeks: Year Tm W L G IP H R BB SO HBP 2013 Charlotte 1 0 4 8.0 10 0 2 10 1 But when you drill down into his splits, there's one thing Robin Ventura should probably know: Split PA H 2B 3B HR BB SO BA OBP SLG HBP vs LHB as LHP 10 5 1 0 0 0 2 .500 .500 .500 0 vs RHB as LHP 25 5 1 0 0 2 8 .227 .320 .273 1 While Veal got back to attacking hitters, he also resumed his tradition of maintaining reverse splits. He saw the same thing happen at Charlotte last year. Lefties didn't really punish him (.242/.356/.258), but they made him work harder than righties did (.195/.290/.227). That's what makes last year's stunning success against Prince Fielder and friends all the more stunning. But his subsequent performance against lefties, both with the Sox and Knights, suggests that two-month roll was an incredibly enjoyable anomaly. So as Ventura tries to get Veal back up to speed, I hope he won't pick the same situations that gave Veal problems over the first month. It sounds like he's going to be tempted to: The Sox had been down to one lefty in the bullpen, Matt Thornton. "You go through different spots in the game where it becomes important to be able to have them,'' manager Robin Ventura said. "I think even the way we've been using Matty, you can do more than that, but you're saving him for that one tough at-bat against a lefty. Donnie, we've had good reports on him of getting his curve back and it's nice to have him back." And it's understandable. Veal was so damned good against lefties in 2012 that it's easy to chalk up his lefty problems this season (.600 OBP!) to his sudden strike-zone allergies. But there's a lot of evidence saying he's not cut out for high-leverage LOOGY work, and using Veal in those high-leverage, one-batter situations could continue to backfire. His profile suggests he's more effective in full low-to-medium-leverage innings, and he'd be a better fit for that role in the majors than Heath. It'd just be nice if the Sox offense could give him some garbage time in order to allow Ventura to test him without risk. Don't hold your breath, though, because these Sox lead the majors in one-run games, making the low-leverage situation more myth than fact this season.

Saturday, May 18, 2013 Today’s News This Afternoon’s Game White Sox vs. Angels at Angel Stadium of Anaheim (3:05 p.m., CT, FOX). Starters: Hector Santiago (1-2) for the Sox, Joe Blanton (0-7) for L.A. The Sox are now 4-1 on their seven-game road trip and looking for their fifth straight win. Sox Starting Lineup: Wise, CF; Ramirez, SS; Rios, RF; Dunn, 1B; Konerko, DH; Gillaspie, 3B; Viciedo, LF; Gimenez, C; Greene, 2B. Roster Move RHP Deunte Heath was optioned to Class AAA Charlotte after last night’s game and LHP Donnie Veal was recalled today to replace him on the 25-man roster. Veal pitched 8.0 scoreless innings over four games with the Knights after being optioned on May 1. New Look The Sox will be wearing camouflage caps today, Armed Forces Day, and Memorial Day vs. the Cubs to honor our troops. The jerseys also have a touch of camo in the script Chicago on the front and in the name and number on the back. Play of the Day The Chris Sale Show: Chris won his fifth game of the season last night, tossing a three-hit shutout along with 12 strikeouts over 7.2 innings in the 3-0 Sox victory–his second masterpiece against the Angels in a week. Including last Sunday night’s gem, Sale worked 16.2 IP, allowing no runs, four hits, three walks, 19 K’s and held the Halos to four hits in 53 at bats in the two games. He now has a career 0.38 ERA vs. L.A. and improved to 10-0 lifetime against the A.L. West. Additionally, he has recorded 23 straight scoreless innings, the longest by a Sox starter since Mark Buehrle’s 24.2 IP in 2001. Here’s a glimpse of Chris from last night’s outing: http://atmlb.com/Z2D0TH Pitching In Jesse Crain made his 16th consecutive scoreless appearance last night in relief of Sale and Addison Reed earned his 14th save. Quote(s) of the Day Robin on Sale: “He’s good, we know that…This is probably the best two games that he’s had (as far as) velocity and control..He’s growing into being the guy and going out there and proving it. You go through a team a second time–their lineup is tough enough even going through it once–then you do it back-to-back in a week, it’s a feather in his cap. It just proves how good he is. He wants to get better, he wants to be in that elite group. He’s proving it.” RV on Alex Rios having an All-Star caliber year. Alex has smashed go-ahead homers each of the last two nights, giving him a total of 10, and has now hit in 12 consecutive games: “He (was outstanding) last year. This is nothing new for us as far as him doing a lot of different things…Power-wise, getting on base, stealing bases, playing the outfield…he has a lot of talent. We know it, I think other people are starting to see it.” The skipper on Conor Gillaspie, who drove in the second Sox run of the game in the seventh with a clutch, two-out single and is now hitting .295: “He just makes good contact, he has a pretty simple approach. It was a big hit for us.” Take a look at Conor’s knock… Your browser does not support iframes. Tomorrow’s Schedule White Sox vs. Angels at Angel Stadium of Anaheim (3:35 p.m. CT, CSN). Starters: Jake Peavy (5-1) for the Sox, Jason Vargas (2-3) for Los Angeles. Did You Know… …that the White Sox now lead the American League in ERA (3.41)? Photo/Video of the Day Adam Dunn has hit four homers in the last four games and 10 on the season. Here’s his ninth-inning solo shot last night. htatmlb.com/Z2yq7Z

The White Sox have a 4-game winning streak going. September 14-18 of last season they had a 5-game winning streak and this is as close as they’ve gotten since. They can equal that this afternoon in Anaheim with a victory over the Joe Blanton-lead Angels. So yeah, the averages are with them. Joe Blanton has never had any great seasons. He’s participated in 10 of them now and this one is on its way to being the worst if he doesn’t right the ship. In his last outing he did not escape the 5th against the Royals as they put up 7 runs, all earned. The outing pushed his ERA back north of 6, where he has resided for most of the season. When he’s not chatting with fans on Twitter, Hector Santiago is taking the ball every fifth day and heading out to the mound. It’s been so far so good, despite having to battle through some errors in his last outing, a loss to Twins. That happens to be the last time they White Sox dropped a game, and I don’t think Hector really wants the team’s last two L’s to be next to his name. He’s managed to keep the ball in the zone and not hand out the free passes; if he continues that trend, the Angels pitching friendly park should help him out with the rest. It’s Armed Forces Day and the guys will be wearing camouflage uniforms as a tribute. Today’s Lineup: 1. Wise – CF 2. Ramirez – SS 3. Rios – RF 4. Dunn – 1B 5. Konerko – DH 6. Gillaspie – 3B 7. Viciedo – LF 8. Gimenez – C 9. Greene – 2B DeWayne Wise is leading off. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Lineup: 1. Erick Aybar – SS 2. Mike Trout – CF 3. Albert Pujols 1B 4. Mark Trumbo – DH 5. Josh Hamilton – RF 6. Howie Kendrick – 2B 7. Alberto Callaspo – 3B 8. Chris Iannetta – C 9. J.B. Shuck – LF Where to Watch Today’s White Sox game can be watched on FOX locally. 3:05 Central start time.

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports Did you remember that Adam Dunn doesn’t even like baseball that much? In fact, he dislikes baseball so much that he wanted nothing to do with the round object hurled at him on a daily basis. He used to shoo those annoying baseball away with home runs, but now he’s just taking the honey badger approach to things, swinging himself into oblivion in 2013 with a .148/.242/.375 triple-slash through 88 PA in April. There was just one problem — the Chicago White Sox are paying him some $30 million through 2014 to … not do that. So, the slugger started to revert back to his old approach, and well, lets just say all parties are just a little bit happier these days. The White Sox, having gotten off to a rough start to the season, now find themselves right in the mix of things at just four games out of the top of the AL Central, thanks to a season-high four-game win streak. Dunn, on the other hand, also finds himself in a four-game hitting streak. Coincidence? Nah. Including his solo home run against the Los Angeles Angels‘ Garrett Richards on Friday’s 3-0 White Sox win that really put the game out of reach, the 33-year-old now has four homers in the last four games, part of a. 304/.360/913 triple-slash in that 23-AB run over the last week. No, obviously no one is really expecting that Dunn is going to be hitting anywhere close to .300 anytime soon, but obviously having that all-important power threat back has keyed the White Sox offense over the last few games, as long as he can stay somewhere above the Mendoza line to show it often enough. Even more importantly, though, is that the slugger is rebuilding that that pillar that made him a one of the best three-outcome hitters in the game — walks. Though it’s still not quite back to his excellent career rate of 16.2 percent, Dunn has pushed his walk rate in May to 11.1 percent, up from a dismal (for his skill set) 9.1 in April. Working more advantageous counts will obviously give him better pitches to look at, and thus more pitches that he can drive out of the yard. He’ll still swing and miss on strike three at many of those pitches, of course; but as the White Sox are gladly finding out, an Adam Dunn that Ks on a 1-2 pitch is a whole lot different from one that Ks on a 3-2 pitch.

South Side Sox is a place on the internet where baseball fans obsess over their favorite team. We like the internet (after all, it's the thing that binds us all together), and we like poring over the slightest details in a much larger enterprise, it's safe to say a fair number of us will be seeing "Star Trek Into Darkness" this weekend. "Into Darkness" is the 12th installment in the Star Trek movie franchise, but only the fifth movie to be released during the summer; which means only five Star Trek movies have been released during baseball season. Throughout the 1980's, the White Sox free TV outlet in Chicago was WFLD Channel 32. The Sox were on 32 from 1982 through 1989. The arrangement started when WFLD was owned by Marshall Field's, and it continued as the station changed hands from Field Communications to Metromedia to Fox. During that time, WFLD was also the outlet for reruns of the original Star Trek TV series. White Sox games would frequently preempt Star Trek (and other Channel 32 shows like Son of Svengoolie). Here's what the White Sox did on the premiere day of the Star Trek movies. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. June 4, 1982 Ninth inning heroics from Tom Paciorek were not enough to push the White Sox over the top. The Sox lost to the Texas Rangers 4-3 in Arlington. The Rangers touched LaMarr Hoyt for two runs in the 1st and two in the 5th. The White Sox had a hard time solving the knuckleballing Charlie Hough...until the bottom of the 9th. With one out, Tony Bernazard hit a triple to center field. Bernazard scored when Rangers first baseman Dave Hostetler couldn't handle a ground ball from Steve Kemp. Greg Luzinski followed with a pop up to the shortstop. Wimpy's two run homer brought the Sox within one. But Harold Baines fly ball to right field ended the game. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. June 1, 1984 It was a slugfest at Comiskey Park as the White Sox beat the Oakland A's 6-4. Joe Morgan got the A's on the board in the 1st with a solo shot off of Tom Seaver. Harold Baines responded with a two run shot in the bottom of the 1st that scored Vance Law. Bruce Bochte hit a two run shot in the 2nd that put the A's up 3-2. The Sox fought back in the bottom of the 3rd, when Vance Law hit a homer that scored Rudy Law (that has to be some kind of baseball first). The A's would get one more in the top of the 6th, when Juan Agosto walked Mike Davis with the bases loaded. With the game tied at 4 in the bottom of the 6th, Greg Walker hit a two run shot, and that turned out to be the winning run(s). Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. June 9, 1989 Both the White Sox and the Star Trek movie franchise were at a low ebb in the summer of 1989. The Final Frontier is considered to be the worst of the franchise, and 1989 was the worst White Sox season since 1976. But that night, the White Sox put the screws to the Minnesota Twins, winning 8-3 at the Metrodome. The Sox scored three runs in the 1st - with two outs. Harold Baines started with a solo homer. Ron Kittle walked, which was then followed by singles from Ivan Calderon, Carlton Fisk, and Dan Pasqua. A Carlos Martinez single with the bases loaded in the top of the 3rd made it 5-0 White Sox, which was more than enough for the ageless Jerry Reuss to get the victory. Star Trek. May 7, 2009 Mark Buehrle almost had two no-hitters in 2009. The White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers 6-0, thanks to a dominant pitching performance from Buehrle, who took a no-hitter into the 7th. The White Sox jumped on Armando Galarraga early. A Jermaine Dye single scored Chris Getz. A Paul Konerko double scored Dye and Jim Thome, and an AJ Pierzynski homer cleared the bases. The Sox were up 5-0 and never looked back. Only three Star Trek TV series premiered during baseball season. The original Trek hit the air on September 8, 1966. But that was an off day for the White Sox. Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered in Chicago on September 30, 1987

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- When a former Cy Young Award winner knows you by name, even before reaching the big leagues, you must be doing something right. That's how it was for Addison Reed when he joined the Chicago White Sox in 2011, a wide-eyed Southern California native who became familiar to Jake Peavy while Reed played for San Diego State. "We kind of knew of each other before we played together," said Peavy, who pitched for the San Diego Padres when Reed was in college.

Chris Sale's performance tonight couldn't quite match his one-hitter from Sunday. He didn't go the distance, and he allowed way more baserunners, and even had to escape a jam. In terms of stuff, though, he bested himself. It took Sale a couple innings to hit his stride, which put 98 pitches out of the question. He issued a pair of walks in the first inning to spoil the perfect game bid, and lost the no-hitter on Howie Kendrick's leadoff single in the second. But he erased Kendrick with a double play, and after freezing Hank Conger with a slider to end the inning, he was 35 pitches deep, but well on his way to glory. He couldn't have thrown his slider any better.. Of his 12 strikeouts, he finished eight of them off with the breaking ball, and they became even harder to hit as the game wore on. Sale executed two unhittable backdoor breaking balls against the Angels' two best hitters in the sixth inning. He started the frame with his biggest strikeout of the night, throwing the lowest, bottom-most backdoor slider allowed by Comcast's K zone to Mike Trout on a 3-2 count. Instead of a leadoff walk, Trout had to grab some bench, and he hated the call. Two batters later, he did the same thing to Mark Trumbo to get ahead 1-2. Two pitches later, with Trumbo covering the outside corner, Sale threw a 94-mph dart on the inside corner to end the inning. Sale's final line: 7 2/3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 12 K, 113 pitches, 79 for strikes. His streak of 23 scoreless innings has lowered his ERA to 2.53, and the win improves his record to 5-2 on the season. He only needed one run, and Alex Rios gave it to him before Sale even took the mound. C.J. Wilson, whom Sale defeated in the one-hitter, retired the first two batters on seven strikes, and he started Rios out 0-2, too. But his 10th pitch and 10th strike -- a high cutter -- landed in front of the rocks in left-center for his 10th handsome home run of the year. Wilson did his job to keep it close with seven strong innings of his own, but the Sox scratched him for another run before he left. Dayan Viciedo flared a single to center with one out and moved to second on a hit-and-run groundout by Jeff Keppinger. Up came Conor Gillaspie, who had hung in nicely against the lefty Wilson with nothing to show for it over his first two at-bats, didn't have that problem with his third. He redirected a Wilson fastball right past the pitcher's outstretched glove to bring home Viciedo, giving the Sox a 2-0 lead. Adam Dunn hit a laser to right for a solo shot (his eighth), providing for Addison Reed the maximum save cushion. Reed didn't use it, as he recorded his second straight 1-2-3 save, and 14th overall. Bullet points: The Sox did commit an error, as Tyler Flowers' rushed throw to get Trout at second got past Keppinger. Trout moved to third, but Sale stranded him there by getting Josh Hamilton to pop out. Since last year, the Sox are 9-1 when Tom Paciorek sits in. Sale is 10-0 in his career against the AL West. Record: 19-21 | Box score | Play-by-play | Highlights

(Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports) The Angels saw the ball off of Chris Sale as well as you can see it now. “And the White Sox have their longest winning streak of the year….four!”  The famous quote from Rookie of the YEar (which had “two” instead of “four”) sounds a little better tonight, because Chris Sale dominated the Angels to extend the Sox’s already season-high winning streak to four games with a 3-0 victory. Sale extended his personal scoreless streak to a whopping 23 innings by giving up only three hits and three walks over seven and two-thirds innings, tallying a season-high 12 strikeouts.  Sale outdueled C.J. Wilson of the Angels (who for some reason, owns a car dealership in the Countryside area) and got just enough offensive support from Adam Dunn (who else?) and company to bring the Sox within two games of breaking even. Alex Rios began the scoring for the Sox with a solo homer in the first inning.  Conor Gillespie hit a clutch two-out RBI single to score Dayan Viciedo in the 7th inning.  Dunn added an insurance run in the ninth inning with a solo shot of his own, his third homer in as many days. Addison Reed shut the door with a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his 14th save in 15 chances.  Tonight’s shutout of the Halos brought the Sox team ERA to 3.49, good enough for second best in the American League. On a side note, boy was it nice to hear Tom Paciorek in the booth with Hawk again.  Wimpy brought excitement and knows exactly when to talk to complement Hawk. Up Next: Hector Santiago takes on Joe Blanton at 3:05 on Saturday on Fox.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Chris Sale ran his scoreless streak to 23 innings Friday and Alex Rios homered for the second straight game as the visiting Chicago White Sox won their season-high fourth straight game with a 3-0 victory against the Los Angeles Angels. How it happened: Sale wasn't as unhittable as the last time he faced the Angels, but he was just as unbeatable. Six days after slinging a one-hit shutout against the Angels, Sale breezed through their batting order again, this time giving up three hits while striking out a season-high 12 in 7 2/3 innings.

Friday, May 17, 2013 Today’s News Tonight’s Game White Sox vs. Angels at Angel Stadium of Anaheim (9:05 pm., CT, CSN). A rematch of last Sunday night’s starters: Chris Sale (4-2) for the Sox, C.J. Wilson (3-2) for the Angels. Sale, of course, was dominant on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball in his last outing, pitching a complete game one-hitter in the 3-0 Sox victory. Over his last five starts, Chris has allowed two earned runs or less and worked 7.0-plus innings pitched. He also owns a 15.1 scoreless IP streak and has faced 61 consecutive batters without giving up a walk. Furthermore, Sale is 9-0 with a 2.79 ERA lifetime vs. the American League West. The nine-game winning streak is the longest among active pitchers vs. the division. Sox Starting Lineup: De Aza, CF; Ramirez, SS; Rios, RF; Konerko, DH; Dunn, 1B; Viciedo, LF; Keppinger, 2B; Gillaspie, 3B; Flowers, C. Jake in Spotlight Jake Peavy, off to a great start with his 5-1 record and 2.96 ERA, was an in-studio guest this afternoon on the CBS Sports Network’s Jim Rome Show. Jake faces the Angels on Sunday. Sports and Marketing Career Fair Play of the Day Alex Rios’s homer in the fourth inning that broke a scoreless tie in the Sox’s 5-4 victory. The solo blast was estimated at 440 feet. http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?c_id=cws&gid=2013_05_16_chamlb_anamlb_1&lang=en&content_id=27181363&mode=video Quote of the Day Robin spoke about Adam Dunn’s offensive resurgence as the Sox slugger followed up his two-homer performance on Wednesday, going 2-4 with a double and an RBI last night: “I think it’s his at bats…He hit a hard ball to left-center, the double, then knocking in the run. Those are important when you continue to add those day after day.” Tomorrow’s Schedule White Sox vs. Angels at Angel Stadium of Anaheim (3:05 p.m., CT, FOX). Starters: Hector Santiago (1-2) for the Sox, Joe Blanton (0-7) for the Halos. Did You Know… …that White Sox starting pitchers lead the American League in ERA (3.55) and are 10-6 with a 2.88 ERA and 17 quality starts over the last 26 games? During that 26-game span, the starters lead the league in ERA, opponents average (.219), opponents on-base percentage (.294), WHIP (1.07) and baserunners per 9.0 innings pitched (9.96). Photo of the Day Happy Birthday to former Sox star Carlos May, believed to be the only athlete in history to wear his birthday on the back of his uniform.