Chicago White Sox

CHICAGO -- Chicago White Sox starter Chris Sale threw a ball Saturday for the first time since he was scratched from his last start and pronounced himself on track to take the mound Tuesday against the Chicago Cubs. Sale played catch in the outfield before Saturday’s game and is planning on throwing a full between-start bullpen session at some point Sunday. “Yeah, it went real well,” Sale said. “It felt a lot better than I actually thought it would be.

Saturday, May 25, 2013   Today’s NewsTonight’s Game   White Sox vs, Marlins at U.S. Cellular Field (6:15 p.m., CT, FOX). Starters: Jake Peavy (5-2) for the Sox, Ricky Nolasco (3-5) for Miami. Sox Starting lineup:  De Aza, CF; Ramirez, SS; Rios, RF; Dunn, DH; Konerko, 1B; Viciedo,LF; Gillaspie, 3B; Keppinger, 3B; Gimenez, C.   Streaking   Alex Rios extended his career-high hitting streak to 18 last night with a sixth-inning single. It’s also the longest streak in the American League this season…Jesse Crain’s scoreless outing streak reached 19 (17.1 IP) in his league-leading 25th appearance.   Roster Move   Prior to tonight’s game, the Sox reinstated infielder Angel Sanchez from the disabled list and outrighted him to Class AAA Charlotte.   Quote of the Day   Chris Sale on friend and teammate John Danks (per whitesox.com), who returned to action last night after more than a year’s absence:   “He’s one of the best in the business. You don’t come across people like him very often, especially the situation he’s in and kind of what he is, a very down-to-earth, great guy and one of my best friends.”   Play of the Day   Jeff Keppinger’s 11th-inning walk-off single with the bases loaded that brought in pinch-runner Tyler Greene with the winning run in the Sox’s 4-3 win last night. Keppinger is batting .400 with eight RBI during his current six-game hitting streak.     Tomorrow’s Schedule   White Sox vs. Marlins at U.S. Cellular Field (1:05 p.m., CT, WGN) in the finale of the three-game series. Starters: Dylan Axelrod (2-3) for the Sox, Alex Sanabia (3-6) for Miami.   Did You Know…   …that Paul Konerko, who is hitting .314 in his last nine games, collected his first back-to-back multi-hit game with three singles (plus an RBI) last night. He homered and singled on Wednesday  night against the Red Sox before the Thursday off-day.   Photo/Video of the Day   The successful comeback of John Danks: 6+ innings, 3 runs, 4 hits, no walks and five strikeouts.   http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=27408941&topic_id=8879206&c_id=cws

It’s a time of substantial upheaval for the White Sox. -John Danks came back and was passable. Pitch F/X says he hit 91, which seems unlikely but is nevertheless nice. -Undead Paul Konerko is 5-9 in the last two games. -Hector Gimenez is starting at catcher for the second-straight night for whatever reason. -Angel Sanchez was waived, passed on, offered back to his original team, rejected, outrighted and placed on Triple-A Charlotte, which is great because now he can provide depth without that annoying obligation to keep him on the major league roster. Even if that depth is the sort of depth Ray Olmedo offered. -Gordon Beckham is apparently going to be enduring the normal amount of rehab for his surgically-repaired hand after experiencing soreness in his left wrist.. Dan Hayes has the explanation of how this isn’t a huge setback. “Hamate bone injuries normally take six-to-eight weeks from which to recover. So even if Beckham needed another 10 days to return to the White Sox he’d still be on par with most hamate bone rehabs.” -Alex Rios has an 18-game hitting streak going on. -Chris Sale still hasn’t been officially confirmed to start next week, but is keeping active. Chris Sale will play catch today .Side session Sunday. — Bruce Levine (@ESPNBruceLevine) May 25, 2013 But there’s still the Marlins in town, which proves to be a challenge that can be met even without all the pieces in place and in functioning order. The offense was spoiled milk on Friday night and was still enough to support a rusty and rehabbed Danks. White Sox lineup 1. Alejandro De Aza – CF 2. Alexei Ramirez – SS 3. Alex Rios – RF 4. Paul Konerko– 1B 5. Adam Dunn – DH 6. Dayan Viciedo – LF 7. Conor Gillaspie – 3B 8. Jeff Keppinger – 2B 9. Hector Gimenez – C Jake Peavy, SP Good thing Konerko is awake and responding to basic stimuli, since Adam Dunn and Dayan Viciedo have both added a lot more ineffectual waiving to their approaches recently. Dunn is hitless in his last three games and has struck out in half of his last 12 at-bats. Dayan Viciedo has only struck out in four of his last 12 at-bats, but the lack of restraint and balance is troubling. Since breaking a three-game hitless streak on May 15, Keppinger is hitting .344/.382/.500 and hasn’t struck out. His slump never made a whole ton of sense, so it’s leaving without a big mechanical adjustment isn’t something that needs much delving into. FanGraphs’ Jeff Sullivan said at the time of his signing that Keppinger “singles until he gets tired of singling,” so perhaps that’s what was going on. Not really, though, but you know what I mean. Marginal talents can fall on hard times very easily. Last night’s lineup didn’t exactly set the world on fire, but it being exactly repeated shows how much more stability the White Sox have compared to the Marlins Marlins lineup 1. Juan Pierre – LF 2. Placido Polanco – 3B 3. Derek Dietrich– 2B 4. Marcell Ozuna– RF 5. Chris Coghlan – DH 6. Justin Ruggiano – CF 7. Greg Dobbs – 1B 8. Adeiny Hechavarria – SS 9. Rob Brantly – C Ricky Nolasco, SP The Marlins switched last night’s leadoff hitter to the No. 8 slot because Juan Pierre is on a strict platoon and they seem to have no offense they can put at the first base position whatsoever. Given that they have Brantly at catcher, its odd that they give roster spots to both Jeff Mathis and Miguel Olivo, who are both deep shades of terrible with the bat. Traditionally–traditionally–Ricky Nolasco has struggled with the long ball. The two home parks he’s had in his career were a football stadium and the massive mausoleum they play in now. Where to Watch: Fox. Sorry, everybody who wanted to watch.

CHICAGO -- One day after his first major league start in more than a year, John Danks said he felt better than expected. Danks gave the Chicago White Sox six-plus innings and 76 pitches Friday, ultimately getting a no-decision in a game that turned into a 4-3 victory in 11 innings over the Miami Marlins. The left-hander said his surgically repaired shoulder held up well. “I was able to get through the workout [Saturday] and do everything,” Danks said.

Gordon Beckham's return to the White Sox has been delayed by some soreness in his surgically repaired left hand. Scott Merkin's story has quotes from Rick Hahn, and pretty much all the detail you'd want, even beyond this excerpt: "Initially, when you have this type of surgery, the general timeline is at least six weeks from the surgical date, which is next Tuesday," said White Sox general manager Rick Hahn "There was some scuttlebutt that he could be back as soon as this weekend, but that would have been ahead of schedule."So we are still kind of on that original time frame. His hand and the ligaments have to heal and get used to their new configuration in there without the specific hamate bone. [White Sox head athletic trainer] Herm [Schneider] and our doctors spoke with the operating surgeon last night, and this morning came up with this treatment plan for the next couple of days. It's something that happens. It's nothing to be alarmed about." Beckham started his rehab stint with five hits in his first nine at-bats. But after a three-hit game in Buffalo, he's gone 2-for-13. That probably has some to do with sample sizes, but you could see him working out his left hand during at-bats during his three-hit game in Buffalo on Sunday. So he won't return to action until Wednesday, the third game of a four-game series against Toledo. The good news? The Sox don't need Beckham's services as desperately as they did before, because Jeff Keppinger has finally started looking like Jeff Keppinger. He came through with two more hits against Miami on Friday night, including the walk-off single. He's hit safely in his last six games and eight of his last nine. He's batting .344/.382/.500 over that stretch, and while he's still not a particularly fluid second baseman, he's made key plays without the miscues that plagued his first few weeks filling in for Beckham. He's still got a long way to go, because this recent hot stretch has boosted his OPS all the way ... to .470. But there's reason to believe that Keppinger would take being dropped in the order as a relief, and not an insult. He chalked up his success in Tampa Bay to Joe Maddon letting him swing away, and maybe the constraints of the typical second-spot responsibilities cramped his style. Either way, if the Sox have seen the worst and they'll be getting the standard Keppinger package from here on out, he'll have his uses. Angel Sanchez might not be of use to the Sox anymore, though. With Beckham getting reps at short with the Knights and Tyler Greene hanging in there, Sanchez's return to a major-league roster has been blocked. The Sox placed Sanchez on waivers on Thursday, and he cleared them. Since the Sox selected him from the Angels in the Rule 5 draft, they had to offer him back. The Angels, who are chock-full of Sanchez-type players, passed on the reacquisition. So after all the red tape, the Sox will still retain Sanchez's services. They outrighted him to Charlotte today, which frees up a spot on the previously full 40-man roster.

David Banks-USA TODAY Sports For John Danks, Friday night’s outing was one of great meaning. The 28-year-old lefty made his first start since May 19, 2012, as the Chicago White Sox defeated the Miami Marlins 4-3 on a Jeff Keppinger walk-off single in the 11th. With shoulder problems that later turned into season-ending surgery last year, Danks’ start Friday evening at U.S. Cellular Field symbolized his return. Although the anticipation for Danks return to action wasn’t exactly Derrick Rose-like, the city of Chicago certainly missed the left-hander. This was very evident throughout the entire game Friday, as Danks continued to receive loads of cheers, including a standing ovation and a tip of his cap as he departed in the seventh. Throwing six-plus innings, allowing three runs on four hits and striking out five, Danks was impressive for someone making his first Major League start in over a year. What was most encouraging of Danks’ outing was his control. The left-hander didn’t allow a walk and was getting ahead of hitters the entire night. After a few rehab starts where he struggled to throw strikes, Friday showed Danks command is where it needs to be in order to compete at the Major League level. Last night was certainly special for both Danks and the White Sox. However, Danks’ next start will truly show if he is ready to be the guy the Sox gave a five-year, $65 million extension to a few winters ago. If he’s able to pitch effectively in his next outing and doesn’t have any sort of setback, the Sox already dominant rotation will receive another quality starter. Matt Malecha is a Chicago White Sox writer for RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattMalecha and add him to your network on Google.

Table of Contents Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of the Daily Notes. 1. Actual Ways in Which Tom Koehler Was the Best 2. Today’s MLB.TV Free Game 3. Today’s Complete Schedule Actual Ways in Which Tom Koehler Was the Best Introduction Miami right-hander Tom Koehler made his second consecutive impressive start on Friday, recording a 2.79 xFIP over six innings of work versus the Chicago White Sox (box). Koehler was not Friday’s best starter in terms of overall run prevention; however, he was Friday’s best in no fewer than three other ways. No. 1: Average Velocity Among Starters As the following table indicates (taken from here), Tom Koehler recorded the highest average four-seam fastball velocity among all of Friday’s starters: Rank Name Team IP vFA 1 Tom Koehler Marlins 6.0 93.6 2 Jordan Zimmermann Nationals 7.0 93.0 3 Tyler Chatwood Rockies 6.0 92.8 4 Chris Tillman Orioles 5.0 92.7 5 Justin Masterson Indians 6.0 92.7 Here’s an example of Koehler’s fastball, thrown at 94 mph to Hector Gimenez in the fifth inning: No. 2: Curveball Run Value Among Starters As this table indicates (taken from here), Tom Koehler also recorded the highest single run value via the curveball among all of Friday’s starters*: Rank Name Team IP wCU 1 Tom Koehler Marlins 6.0 1.6 2 John Lackey Red Sox 7.0 0.6 3 Lance Lynn Cardinals 6.0 0.4 4 John Danks White Sox 6.0 0.3 5 Tommy Milone Athletics 7.0 0.2 Here’s Koehler’s curveball, in this case to Dayan Viciedo for a fifth inning strikeout: *That is, among all pitches classified as a curveball by MLB Gameday’s PITCHf/x algorithm. It’s possible that what Koehler was throwing in some instance might also be called a slider. In any case, the point is academic for our purposes: Koehler would have still tied Anibal Sanchez for highest slider value (link). No. 3: This Fictional, Unnamed Metric This final table indicates that Koehler was the best among all of Friday’s starters by this totally fictional and unnamed metric, as well, recording 14 of them, whatever they are: Rank Name Team IP ??? 1 Tom Koehler Marlins 6.0 14 2 Anibal Sanchez Tigers 9.0 12 3 Lance Lynn Cardinals 6.0 10 4 Tyler Chatwood Rockies 6.0 7 5 John Lackey Red Sox 7.0 4 Credit to Brooks Baseball for PITCHf/x data. Today’s MLB.TV Free Game Colorado at San Francisco | 16:05 ET Juan Nicasio (46.1 IP, 117 xFIP-, 0.3 WAR) faces Barry Zito (50.2 IP, 116 xFIP-, 0.6 WAR). Nicasio’s fastball remains about 1 mph lower than last season on average — nor does it appear to be trending upward at the moment. Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: San Francisco Radio or Television. Today’s Complete Schedule Here’s the complete schedule for all of today’s games, with our very proprietary watchability (NERD) scores for each one. Pitching probables and game times aggregated from MLB.com and RotoWire. The average NERD Game Score for today is 5.0. Note: the following table is entirely sortable. Away SP Tm. Gm. Tm. SP   Home Time Freddy Garcia BAL 1 8 5 5 9 TOR R.A. Dickey 13:07 Scott Kazmir CLE 7 9 7 8 6 BOS Jon Lester 13:35 Billy Buckner* LAA 5 5 4 6 2 KC Jeremy Guthrie 14:10 Juan Nicasio COL 3 7 3 5 2 SF Barry Zito 16:05 P.J. Walters* MIN 4 3 5 8 6 DET Doug Fister 16:08 Travis Wood CHN 3 5 6 5 9 CIN Homer Bailey 16:10 Vidal Nuno* NYA 6 6 5 7 4 TB Matt Moore 16:10 Jeff Locke PIT 2 7 4 5 5 MIL Mike Fiers* 16:10 Ricky Nolasco MIA 4 0 5 0 8 CHA Jake Peavy 19:15 A.J. Griffin OAK 5 6 4 4 1 HOU Lucas Harrell 19:15 Jonath. Pettibone PHI 3 1 3 2 4 WAS Dan Haren 19:15 John Gast* STL 6 2 5 2 5 LAN Ted Lilly* 19:15 Mike Minor ATL 7 8 6 7 3 NYN Dillon Gee 19:15 Andrew Cashner SD 5 6 5 4 5 AZ Wade Miley 22:10 Derek Holland TEX 9 4 8 6 10 SEA Felix Hernandez 22:15 To learn how Pitcher and Team NERD Scores are calculated, click here. To learn how Game NERD Scores a

Mike DiNovo – USA TODAY Sports The Chicago White Sox have not seen their $56 million man John Danks take the bump since May 19, 2012. But after a long, grueling rehab, Danks was finally ready to return to US Cellular Field and take on the Miami Marlins. Considering Danks has been facing minor league lineups for the past few weeks, the Marlins were the perfect team to face in his return, since their whole lineup is full of replacement level players. Nevertheless, White Sox fans– and probably Danks — were very anxious to see how the left-hander would pitch in his first game in over a year. If I were to sum up Danks’ start in one word, I would have to go with satisfactory. Danks pitched into the 7th inning Friday night, earning a no decision in Chicago’s 4-3 win over the Fish. His final line of six+ IP,  three ER, zero BB and five Ks had to please every White Sox fan watching, especially the no walks part of that stat line. Danks’ control has been his main issue while rehabbing, and was always an issue when he did have his struggles on the Southside. Outside of his pitching line, just watching Danks work his pitches was very promising. His changegup — which is his key pitch — was very sharp, and he really didn’t make a whole lot of mistakes. The only bad part about Danks’ performance was the two-run home run he allowed to a left-handed hitter, but you cannot expect him to be perfect. Fans have the right to be optimistic about a rotation with John Danks, but everyone has to remember that he was pitching against the worst offensive team in baseball. Nevertheless, this start was definitely a step in the right direction for Danks and the White Sox. Hopefully, it’s a sign that good things are coming for the Palehose.

Did you know that White Sox attendance is actually ahead of 2012? Through 21 home dates last year, 425,695 fans paid to enter U.S. Cellular Field. There have been 21 home dates this year, attracting 440,463 fans. So far, attendance has outpaced 2012 by a comfortable margin. In fact, attendance could have been way ahead of last year, if not for two games that were postponed due to weather. That's a remarkable accomplishment, especially since the White Sox marketing department has been running into some fairly significant headwinds. In addition to being bad (until very recently), the White Sox have not been very fun to watch. The offense can't find the big hit. The defense has a hard time catching the ball. Pitching has been the only fun part of the White Sox game. The weather has been terrible. April of 2013 was the wettest April in Chicago since 1947. April was also cloudier (59 percent cloud cover compared to 48 percent), and cooler. All three should have conspired to push attendance way down. What's the deal? Is it a hangover from last year? Are the White Sox finally getting the attendance bump they should have received while they were in first place last summer? Maybe. But a good performance doesn't necessarily mean increased box office the following year. The White Sox won the AL Central in dramatic fashion in 2008, but fewer fans went to the ballpark in 2009 (the Great Recession is partially to blame). The 2010 White Sox won 88 games, which was a nine-game improvement over the previous year. The good result, combined with the "All In" marketing campaign, should have inflated the numbers for 2011. It didn't happen. So this is a legit attendance bump. People are interested in White Sox baseball, despite the weather and the results. Let's start with the most obvious difference between 2013 and 2012: Family Sundays. The Sox cut the cost of tickets and parking; children can run the bases after the game; fans can get autographs from current and former players; the team also wears the uniforms from 1983. So far, there have been three "Family Sundays." I will also include the weather conditions, because they do play a role in whether people actually show up. April 7: Cloudy, 52 degrees. 18,708 April 21: Cloudy, 53 degrees. 19,587 April 28: Cloudy, 64 degrees. 22,677 May 12: Cloudy, 52 degrees. 22,088 Compare that to Sunday dates from this time last year: April 15: Sunny, 73 degrees. 25,143 April 29: Cloudy, 47 degrees. 22,811 May 13: Sunny, 58 degrees. 22,636 May 27: Sunny, 93 degrees. 22,182 Sundays have been fairly consistent. In 2012, the April 15 game was part of the home opener series against Detroit. The April 29 game was against Boston, and Red Sox Nation tends to travel well. But Sunday attendance leveled off at 22,000 - where it would remain until the Sox hosted the Brewers in late June. The first two Sundays of 2013 were played under different conditions. The April 7 game against Seattle was the final game of the opening homestand. April 21 was more of the same, with the added fact that the team had won just three of their last 11. But attendance bounced back to 22K with the games against the Rays and Angels. The White Sox pulled out all the stops on Sundays, but the added perks aren't driving the bump in attendance. There are two theories: No. 1: Between the sub-par product and lousy weather, the lower prices actually boosted attendance. The numbers could have been much lower, if the White Sox charged prices from 2012. No. 2: There is a baseline level of White Sox fans. The Sox attract around 2 million fans, give or take a hundred thousand fans. No matter what the White Sox do to move the needle, there is a fixed amount of people who will always show up. In 2012, the White Sox posted their best attendance numbers in July, after the winning streak that put them into first place, but before Bears season (the Bears opener on Sept. 9 was one of the worst wa

CHICAGO -- First baseman Paul Konerko is starting to swing the bat, and that is good news for the Chicago White Sox and the veteran’s teammates. The 37-year-old team captain had three hits Friday, including a go-ahead single in the seventh inning and a one-out base hit in the 11th that led to the winning run in the 4-3 victory over the Miami Marlins. "I am out there fighting and competing," he said. "I am just [looking] at the situation in front of me and trying to bring your work into the game.